I saw a recent interview with Kanye in which he was justifying his narcissism by proposing that he is two people, Kanye West the product and Kanye West the person.

"I have the right to talk in third person because I'm me as a person, but also I'm a walking brand."

At the moment I think Mr. West is developing into a master of consumerism, a master or a victim, it's a very thin line. Either way, the one song from 808's & Heartbreak that I've actually willingly listened to is Welcome to Heartbreak.

Dad cracked a joke, all the kids laughed,
But I couldn’t here him all the way in first-class.
Chased the good-life, all my life long,
Look back on my life, all my life gone,
Where did I go wrong?"

This song falls in the realm of Peter Gabriel's Big Time, Eminem's Say Goodbye to Hollywood, Lily Allen's The Fear, Hector Lavoe's La Fama or The Beatles Drive My Car.

The consistant theme in all of those songs is the duality of success and the abandoment of self. One of the principles of economics I actually remember from business class was that the real cost of something is what you have to give up to get it. That said, ambition is a complicated subject, one needs to be fully aware of who one is and one wants before devoting to a particular end. The way to do that is by being brutally honest with yourself, a task not many are willing to undertake. In western culture this is exceedingly hard to do as there are so many factors influencing our perception of who we are or rather who think we are. It's important to ask oneself, is what I want, what I want? In the words of Hector Lavoe:

"Porque yo soy La Fama, soy aquel que la gente reclama pero nadie puede compreder..."