http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUQHFqO6HvY
This is a very brave song, a jazz song on a big hip-hop album; a song about one thing and one thing only; a song about being brave and letting down your guard; a bold stylistic and lyrical choice, to bring a brilliant vocalist, but a female jazz vocalist, onto a testosterone-heavy hip-hop album, and it pays off: it's easily the most memorable song on the album, short and sweet and to the point and even a little romantic, musically proficient and just generally incredible. It has this sense of timelessness. Hiding behind a persona, as an actor, a musician, even just a person — this is common, it's always been common, it'll always be common. And begging someone to let that down and show their true self for even a moment, to stop pretending to be cool, that's touching. Hip-hop and especially OutKast-style hip-hop, about being sexy and rich and talented, it so built up on itself, a balancing act that says this guy is great because he's rich because he's talented because he doesn't try because he's great, this is promotional. There are no people like Kanye West. It's braggadocio. But this is not a song that pretends to be honest. This is a song that is honest.
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