Devil In a New Dress is the eighth song on Kanye West’s fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. It starts off with the iconic “I love it, though. I love it, though, huh, you know.” which I believe is Kanye referencing that this is the only song he didn’t produce. And even though he didn’t produce it he still loves it. From here it moves into the chorus “Uh, put your hands to the constellations. The way you look should be a sin, you my sensation.” Kanye is implying that the girl he is portraying in the song looks so good that it leads to thinking sinful things. He pronounces sensation as sinsation which helps to portray this idea. By saying “put your hands to the constellations” he is saying when you see a girl that looks that good the best thing to do is praise god. He continues “I know I’m preachin’ to the congregation. We love Jesus, but you done learned a lot from satan.” he is uses the idiom preaching to the choir to let us know that the girl he is depicting is also a Christian but her ability to make other people sin is similar to that of Satan. The chorus continues on “I mean, a n***a did a lot of waiting. We ain’t married but tonight I need some consummation.”  Consummation is the first time a couple has sex after they are married, which in the eyes of the lord completes the union. Kanye is saying he has waited long enough and he wants to skip the wedding bells. He also leaves a six second pause in between waiting and we ain’t married. 

He starts off the first verse with “May the lord forgive us, may god be with us. In that magic hour, I seen good Chistians make rash decisions, oh, she do it.” Although he takes a biblical tone he is referring to hook up culture and how people will lower their standards after a certain hour. “What happened to her religion? Oh, she lose it?” Kanye is saying the extremely pretty girl who lowered her standards to be with him has “lost her religion” which is a popular phrase in pop culture to signify immorale actions. “She putting on her makeup, she casually allure.” He is praising the girl’s natural beauty, but he is also implying that she is a natural temptress. He goes on “Text message break ups, the casualty of tour. How she gon’ wake up and not love me no more?” He is talking about all the things that come along with touring like the groupies, partying, and the excitement that makes it hard for a musician to keep a relationship. He also ponders love and how quickly it can change. “I thought I was the asshole, I guess it’s rubbin’ off.” We all obviously know that Kanye has developed a negative representation in the media and he comments on it here, saying his girl has been hanging around him so much that she is starting to pick up his attitude. “Hood phenomenon, the LeBron of rhyme” Kanye is saying his ability to rhyme is equivalent to the skills LeBron established at a young age. “Hard to be humble when you’re sitting on a jumbotron. I’m looking at her like, ‘this is what you really wanted, huh?’” Kanye is continuing with the basketball reference, While LeBron is playing, Kanye is on the jumbotron because he is famous. The girl he is with seems unimpressed by this and it confuses him. He ends the verse with “Why we argue anyway. Oh, I forgot, it’s summertime.” There can be two interpretations of this line. One, would be that he tours in the summertime and it’s another “casualty of tour” or that they argue so much he forgets the true root of the argument. 

After the chorus we go into the second verse. Kanye starts “When the sun goes down, it’s the magic hour, the magic hour. And outta all the colors that’ll fill up the skies. You got all that green on your mind, I can see it in your eyes.” Here Kanye refers to a different magic hour, either sunrise or sunset. He is admiring all the colors but most importantly the one he thinks his girl likes the most, green which is money. He is kind of calling her a gold digger. “Why you standing there with your face screwed up? Don’t leave while you’re hot, that’s how Mase screwed up. Throwing shit around, the whole place screwed up. Maybe I should call Mase so he could pray for us.” Kanye is comparing his relationship to Mase’s career because Mase left the industry right after he dropped his album Harlem World. Kanye doesn’t want his girl to ruin their relationship like Mase ruined his career. Mase also became a pastor after he left the industry. “I hit the Jamaican spot, at a bar, take a seat. I ordered the jerk, she said you are what you eat. You see, I always loved that sense of humor. But tonight, you should have seen how quiet the room was.” In this line Kanye’s girl is calling him a jerk by saying “you are what you eat”. “The Lyor Cohen of Dior Homme. That’s ‘Dior Homme’ not ‘Dior Homie’”. This is a less catchy version of Kanye’s nickname at the time “The Louis Vuitton Don”. Diot Homme is a high-end brand of men’s clothing. “The crib scarface, could it be more Tony?” In the movie Scarface Tony Montana lives in a very lavish home, kanye turned Tony’s name into an adjective. “You love me for me, could you be more phony.” Kanye is referencing superficiality which is a theme throughout this album. I believe he is saying that he is so “phony” that if you love him for him then you must be equally as phony. 

After another chorus we get the third and final verse which features Rick Ross. It starts “Lookin’ at my bitch, I bet she give you a bone.” He is talking about an erection but more importantly he is using a play on words. In referring to the girl as a “bitch” he is referring to her as a female dog thus a dog is giving someone a bone. “Lookin’ at my wrist, it’ll turn your ass to stone.” Rick Ross is actually referencing the watch he wears which is Versace and the Versace logo is the face of Medusa so looking at his watch will turn you to stone. “Stretch Limousine, sipping rose all alone.” Ross could be saying one of two things, that he enjoys being a rapper and enjoying the luxuries that come with that or that he is lonely.  “Double-headed monster with a mind of its own.” Ross is saying he thinks with his penis. “Cherry-red chariot, excess is just my character. All black tux, n***a’s shoes lavender.” chariot is another mythology reference standing for a red car. He is also saying everything about his character is excessive. “I never needed acceptance from all you outsiders. Had cyphers with Yeezy before his mouth wired (Uh), before his jaw shattered.” Rick Ross and Kanye (Yeezy) have known each other since 2002, before Knaye got into his car accident, when they were both just getting into the rap game. “We still speedin’, running signs like they don’t matter, uh” Ross references his carefree and reckless lifestyle, despite seeing the consequences it may have. “Hater talkin’ never made me mad. Never got that, not when I’m in my favorite paper tag. Therefore, G4s at the Clearport.” Rick Ross is essentially flexing on his haters by saying they can’t bother him when he’s in a new car that still has the paper plates. “When it comes to tools, fool, I’m a pep boy. When it comes to dope, I was a quick export. Never tired of ballin’, so it’s on to the next sport.” I believe the sport he’s referring to is selling drugs, handling guns, and other illegal activity which he’s claiming to be good at. “New Mercedes sedan, the Lex Sport. So many cars, DMV thought it was mail fraud.” This is another way that Rick Ross is flexing that he has so many cars. “Different traps I was getting mail from Polk County, Jacksonville, right in Melbourne. Whole Clique appetites.” Tapeworms cause you to be hungrier than normal, so Rick Ross is saying that his whole crew was hungry for money. The next notable line happens to be the last one in which Ross says “I’m makin’ love with the angel of death. Catchin’ feelings, never stumbles, retracin’ my steps(uh) uh.” I believe in this line Ross is referencing “flirting with death” and saying that his lifestyle keeps him living on the edge. 

All in all, this is one of my favorite Kanye West songs. It is nostalgic and makes me happy when I listen to it despite the themes. In this song Kanye once again proves that he can manipulate words and phrases to insinuate something completely different from the meaning.

West, Kanye & Robets, William, “Devil in a New Dress”, Roc – A – Fella, 2010 

West, Kanye, My Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy, Roc – A – Fella, 2010