Kanye's allusion to the Romans in his song "Blkkk SkkkN Head" makes no goddamn sense to me. The lyric in question is "I keep it 300, like the Romans, 300 bitches, where the Trojans?" Now, the mention of the number 300 is surely in reference to the 300 Spartans who stood with a little over a thousand other Greeks on the final day of the Battle of Thermopylae against the Persian Army and were slaughtered to the man. The mention to Trojans, a popular condom brand, also seems to be a reference to Greek culture, this time of Troy, which was destroyed by an army of united Greek city-states, Sparta being one of chief peoples present. But despite both of these, Kanye says "I keep it 300, like the Romans," not "I keep it 300, like the Spartans," and I can't for the life of me figure out why.
Why?
WHY?
no one cares, this song is like 3 years old, why the fuck did you write a paragraph about it, jfc
>>65233199
>no one cares
I care
>only just figuring this out
nice one
>>65233097
He's subbing one ancient civilisation for another. He knows that it was the spartans and not the romans. Basically, he's saying they were pretty much the same but in a passive way that doesn't really deserve attention.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_century_BC
>>65233097
The Romans also fought a battle at Thermopylae in their war with the Seleucid empire, during their gradual takeover of Greece. Rome's enemies attempted to use the same defense as the 300 spartans hundreds of years before, but the same trick couldn't work twice. So "keeping it 300 like the romans" has a bit of double meaning: King Leonidas did the impossible, but then the Romans subverted it by winning at Thermopylae where the Persian army had lost.
The mention of Trojans in this context is also interesting because of the mythological connection between the Trojans and the Romans (both the Greeks and the Romans believed the Romans to be descended from Trojan warriors who fled the east after the fall of their city).
talentless hack, there is ur answer
Kanye's just stupid, there's no depth to this.
theres nothing to figure out, I had these thoughts like 3 years ago. He's just slightly autistic. Musics not great, not terrible, he just has a little baby autism
>>65233097
If you write 300 in Roman numerals it's CCC, which is an abbreviation for something.
>>65233199
>no one cares, this song is like 3 years old, why the fuck did you write a paragraph about it, jfc
i care
>>65233556
calm cool and collected
>>65233472
I could go on to add that the Roman conquest of Greece, which this line clearly references, was the origin of the hundreds of thousands of Greek slaves that the Romans distributed through their empire. The culture of these slaves permanently altered the culture of Rome itself, and their descendants went on to have a crucial role in the operation of the state. Within a generation of the beginning of the imperial period, most of the day-to-day operations of state were carried out by Greek slave-administrators.
Given Kanye's interests and pet issues in American society, I can see why this bit of history might inspire him.
>>65233097
>this time of Troy, which was destroyed by an army of united Greek city-states, Sparta being one of chief peoples present.
Better than that- Sparta kicked the whole thing off because that's where Helen was taken from. So when Kanye sings
>300 bitches, where's the Trojans?
there's a very specific double meaning- if Menelaus had just the one attractive woman, and a damn dirty Trojan took her, Kanye has 300, and has all the more reason to keep an eye out for offending Trojans.
>>65233556
this meme makes me laugh so fucking much. i mean kanye is ok in small doses but how far some people reach
