She said, "'Ye, can we get married at the mall?"
I said, "Look, you need to crawl 'fore you ball
Come and meet me in the bathroom stall
And show me why you deserve to have it all."

from Kanye West (Ft. Jay-Z) – Niggas in Paris Lyrics on Rap Genius

Certain malls have fancy auditoriums where one can have a huge wedding — Kanyeezy will only spend that kind of “family money” on a girl who can fuck him good (even in dirty, public places). This isn’t the first instance of Yeezy discussing getting married in a bathroom, either…

Personally, I would never fuck in a bathroom (can you say “cooties”?!).

“Crawl before you ball” is a play on the idiom “crawl before you walk”; it means you have to pay your dues before making it big. In this case, the girl will literally be crawling (or at least on her knees).

Also, the crawl/ball line can also be read as crawl/bawl, a clever double entendre served up by Yeezy to demonstrate that even after all the hoops Ye has made them jump through, they will still probably end up weeping, because he can’t be tied down to one woman. Sadly, they will probably end up doing their bawling right after their balling. And on the bathroom floor too.

Oh, ‘Ye…

The Mall is a street in London, famous for leading up to Buckingham Palace, and for being the place where people gathered to see William and Kate after the Royal Wedding.

Since he does mention the Royal Couple later, I would not be surprised he’s referring to THIS Mall rather than this one…

Add the fact that this song is part of Watch the Throne, and it’s worth asking what better place to marry than a street famous for a Royal Wedding? If it’s fit enough for British Royalty, then I guess it’s fit enough for hip-hop royalty. Like Yeezy,

right?

Ye is also referencing a long-time theme that appears throughout his music, but most recognizably in 808s and Heartbreak: the rap game’s gold-digging females'—and America as a society in general’s capitalist—consumerist, materialistic obsession. Having a girl ask him to get married at a mall reinforces how obsessed she is with materialism and possessions. She most likely wants to immediately begin spending his money, but Ye scolds her and tells her she needs to earn her own, or put some work in to their relationship before he is willing to just spend on her.

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