“The New Workout Plan” – The College Dropout
This song absolutely slays me. It’s a really simple satire of America’s culture of gender stereotypes. Women are praised for their looks and men are praised for their status. It centers around a fictional work out video called “Kanye West’s
Get Right for the Summer Workout Tape” complete with fictional testimonials from women during the song that I swear sound so legitimate it took a little while before I realized this was straight parody. The lyrics start out like any typical work out tape, “tuck your tummy tight and do your crunches like this,” then move to a more Kanye-themed work out, “give head, stop breathe, get up, check your weave. Don’t drop the blunt and disrespect the weed” (which in itself is a hilarious “work out” ritual). But the best is when they start getting real, “pick up your son and don’t disrespect your seed.” But not to worry because with Kanye’s Work Out Plan, you’ll be able to pull an NBA player, and you won’t have to work at the mall anymore. The satire is brilliant and the song is fun as hell.