Wils Ezequelle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJmnvhAOIBo

Ghost! By Kid Cudi

                The song Ghost! By Kid Cudi is an existentialist song because it contains absolute systems, alienation, forlornness and individuality. The individuality in the song is found by one repeating sound that extends throughout the song and the rest of these traits are found in the lyrics sung by Kid Cudi. This song relates to the book “The Stranger” by Albert Camus because they both exhibit existentialist traits.

References to absolute systems are present in the song “Ghost!” by Kid Cudi. The line “down the road with no lights on” in this song exemplifies Kudi’s choice to stray away from where everyone else is going and be an individual. Cudi is breaking free from the absolute system to become who he wants to be, not what society wants him to be. He followed the path of his destiny and this was a path of darkness. This quote relates to when Meursault, from ”The Stranger” by Albert Camus, says “He wanted to talk to me about God again, but I went up to him and made one last attempt to explain to him that I had only a little time left and I didn’t want to waste it on God.” This is when Meursault is being spoken to about his beliefs and the man is confused as to how Meursault is blind to God. The father is trying to push belief in God upon him but Meursault is not listening to what he has to say. This shows that Meursault is not conforming to the absolute system of the belief in any religion. Meursault has decided not to connect with anything that he can’t physically see or feel; therefore he is not conforming to the absolute system of religion. In both of these instances the character being focused on isn’t obeying a specific absolute system or in Cudi’s case just absolute systems in general. Nearly everything in life is an absolute system of which one is expected to follow the rules of, however the choice can always be made to become the person one wants to be, not the person that they are expected to be.

The trait of alienation is also present in the song “Ghost!” by Kid Cudi and the book “The Stranger” by Albert Camus. When Cudi says “I hope they understand that I really understand that… they don’t understand,” he exemplifies alienation. Cudi is saying that he accepts the fact that no one understands him. He believes that no one will ever be able to completely understand him because of the idea that everybody’s meaning of life is different and that his belief of happiness may be very different than other peoples. His life is very complex with many different decisions that he has made that he doesn’t expect anyone to be able to relate to and understand. Meursault in “The Stanger” also experiences alienation in his life. He shows this in his conversation with Maria when he says “Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had last time, that it didn’t mean anything but I probably didn’t love her.” This is saying that Meursault doesn’t think that love means anything and that he doesn’t know if he loves her. He says that he probably doesn’t which implies that he doesn’t know what it is like to love someone. No one can understand him because no one knows what it is like to have never loved anyone. The fact that he has never loved before means that his meaning of life is much different than someone’s meaning of life that has loved, which makes it so that no one can fully understand him. Both of these characters exhibit the feeling that no one can ever understand their life but themselves.

Kid Cudi also speaks of experiencing forlornness in his song “Ghost!” When he says in his song “But I want to know one thing, when did I become a ghost” he is speaking of forlornness. Cudi is experiencing the realization that he has to make his own meaning of life. He is realizing that he has become a ghost of himself and has lost his originality and now has to recreate his meaning of life. This all causes him to have a sense of isolation because it is up to him to decide who he is. This isolation and lack of positivity in his life causes him to be depressed. The realization that he must create a meaning for his life is a large and complex idea that is very intimidating to think about. Meursault also experiences a feeling of forlornness but not to the same extent as Cudi does in his song. Meursault never really reaches the point of realization that he has to define his own meaning of life, but he does suffer through the feeling of isolation and he has no meaning of life. Meursault has never thought about what the meaning of his life is and therefore has no personal idea of his meaning of life. Both Cudi and Meursault experience of forlornness, however Cudi experiences it much more drastically than Meursault does in their lives.

In Kid Cudi’s song “Ghost!” individuality is expressed, however this trait is expressed through the music of the song rather than the lyrics. The general sound of the music in the song is low and repeating with the same noise. This trend of low sounds carries throughout the entire song. Also in the song is one higher pitched ringing noise that is much higher than the rest of the music. This sound is present throughout the whole song with a certain rhythm that repeats itself. This sound is representing individuality because is unique from the rest of the music that goes along with the song. The other music sets an absolute system of a lower beat and this sound is showing how to be an individual one must break out of their shell and not let absolute systems define who they are. One must make their own personal idea of themselves as an individual and what that looks like to them. Meursault states that he had “pretty much lost the habit of analyzing himself,” he is claiming his sense of individuality. Meursault is becoming his own person by not analyzing himself because he isn’t being limited as much by absolute systems if he isn’t constantly analyzing himself to see how well he is fitting in with other people. He has given up on the idea of self evaluation and become a more individual person. Cudi and Meursault experience great amounts of individuality in their lives and they embrace it as individuals.

The song “Ghost!” by Kid Cudi is existentialist because it contains individuality, forlornness, alienation and absolute systems. These traits are not all found in the lyrics of the song, individuality is found in the music used in the song. Existentialist traits don’t always have to be found in the lyrics of a song, they can be hidden in underneath layers of the music. All four of these traits are found in the book “The Stranger” by Albert Camus in the character Meursault. Because of these traits, Meursault is comparable and similar to Kid Cudi. Both individuals experience very similar feelings in their lives