I don’t know about any of you readers out there (if there are any : > ), but I’m getting a little tired of writing about the Diamonds remix. However, I think that if I explore some other aspects of the song, I’ll be able to shake off that boringness and keep this Grammy-winning song fresh and interesting.

Today, let’s talk about intertextuality. Although we can say that the Diamonds remix is one “text” (by “text” I mean one unified piece of work, or a song), we can also say that the Diamonds “text/song” is always already composed of multiple “texts.” Kanye’s MC-ing can be considered to be one text, while the sample/beat that the song employs can be considered as another text. I would like to examine how these two texts work with each other and how the song’s combination of these two texts creates/affects the song’s meaning or message. Thus, I want to talk about the “intertexuality” of the song (”inter” is a prefix that means “together” or “between”). And after reading this post, maybe you can add your own “text” in response to my “text.” And then we can have a conversation about this blog’s intertextuality. But I digress…

I’ve spent a lot of time (perhaps too much ; >) talking about Kanye West’s lyrics, so today let’s start by talking about the other dominant text in the song: the musical beat. The musical beat is also composed of multiple texts (the synthesizers, the drums, etc.), but let’s focus on the musical beat’s use of a sound clip from Shirley Bassey’s song “Diamonds Are Forever.”

“Diamonds Are Forever” was preformed by Bassey, the wildly popular singer from Wales, for the soundtrack of the eponymous James Bond film, “Diamonds Are Forever,” released in 1971. The song, somewhat ironically, compares men to diamonds, holding the latter up as a representation of everything that men (or sexual relationships with men) cannot promise. Unlike men, diamonds can satisfy a woman. Kanye West’s song uses the first verse of the song, as well as the chorus (”Diamonds are forever”). However, as we’ve already discussed, West isn’t talking about men here; he’s talking about, among many things, the problematics of the bling bling culture that diamonds tend to symbolize in certain spheres society, including certain spheres of hip hop culture.

And that is exactly, in my opinion, what the sample brings to the song. By using the Bassey chorus, West testifies to the fact that diamonds-as-status-symbols have been used carelessly and without a critical eye by white people ever since diamonds were first discovered and marketed. In addition to bling bling, the sample also connects other stereotypical aspects of hip hop culture to dominant white Anglo-European culture.

Let’s do some brainstorming here…

What are some of the white-controlled, media-driven stereotypes of hip hop culture? Heterosexism? Misogyny? An obsession with sexuality? Arbitrary or savage violence? Dominant masculinity? An obsession with power? An obsession with wealth, fancy cars, quality booze, and weapons?

Can you tell where I’m going with this?

Now, all of those stereotypes that I just listed can be easily found in any James Bond film, not to mention the overall emphasis that is place on these things by the entire collection of Bond movies! And how often does James Bond come under the critical eye of the white media? Probably not as often as hip hop does…

But, like I said before, West isn’t simply say’n, “See, white boys enjoy all this things too, so it’s okay for some hip hoppas to glorify these same things.” No, West is tell’n us that we all have to look critically at the “diamonds” in our own life, or the things that we glorify without thinking about the consequences of our glorification of them.

West’s lyrics and the Shirely Bassey sample force the careful listener to think about how the combination of these two texts creates a whole new meaning that is different from the meaning that is expressed in each individual text. In his lyrics, West is thinking critically about the diamonds he owns, but when we hear Shirely Bassey singing soulfully/sexually about the diamonds that she owns, the listener is also encouraged to think about the “diamonds” of white culture and how all of these diamonds are part of a similar system.

Teachers in the liberal arts and sciences fields should, like Kanye, encourage their students to examine the intertextuality of seemingly unified “texts.” The text might be Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, or an historical event like the Civil War, or an old fable. It doesn’t really matter. For the Austen novel, we can think about the historical texts that the novel ignores. One of my favorite English professors at U.I.U.C. once asked the class, “That Bennet girl likes to show off her skills on the piano in order to get attract her man and prove that she is a member of ‘high society,’ but where do you think those pretty piano keys come from? They are made out of ivory from elephant tusks, which come from Africa and were brought to England via colonialism. When Miss Bennet plays the piano, it must be very hard for her not to get her fingers bloody!”

(Sub)texts like colonialism may be hidden in seemingly unified texts, from James Bond films to historical accounts to hip hop songs, but that doesn’t mean that they are not there and are not important to the meaning that we gain from the text. Indeed, they are actually integral parts of the text’s meaning.

When teachers encourage students to examine the various (sub)texts that they see in a certain text, the act of learning becomes an activity that both teacher and student take part in. Instead of presenting the student with “right” or “wrong” answers, the teacher gets to explore various (sub)texts alongside the student, all the while letting the student take charge of his or her own education, letting the student take ownership of his or her own thoughts, language, and power.

The Diamonds remix can be a great gateway into the complexities of intertextuality for many students; and it is a gateway that many students,as well as teachers, might find fun to walk through.