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Understanding Runaway: Kanye& #39;s Greatest Triumph.
Kanye& #39;s greatest song is heavily contested, and I have no business debating that. But Runaway is Kanye& #39;s greatest triumph, overcoming the social shame he put himself into by releasing a masterpiece in public eye
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Kanye& #39;s greatest song is heavily contested, and I have no business debating that. But Runaway is Kanye& #39;s greatest triumph, overcoming the social shame he put himself into by releasing a masterpiece in public eye
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In 2009, Kanye famously interrupted Taylor Swift to which he subjected himself to a self-imposed exile. Little did we know that Kanye was working on his grand opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
But Runaway by itself stands as a work and accolade of its own.
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But Runaway by itself stands as a work and accolade of its own.
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Runaway is a perplexing song when it comes to genres. It is classified as rap, but it feels classical and ancient, especially with its structure.
Runaway is a triumph on its structure, sound design, topic matter, and historical significance. It also imitates life.
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Runaway is a triumph on its structure, sound design, topic matter, and historical significance. It also imitates life.
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The introduction of Runaway is simple, just a single repeating note. It& #39;s like a song waking up into existence, and slowly changing tone and building body. The intro of runaway is like the innocence of a child, unpolluted by darkness.
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But then we get into vices, and Runaway& #39;s verse and chorus is about giving a toast to the assholes and fools of society. Those that grew up and gained hate. Ended up being misunderstood. Disliked. The song captures the complexity of life.
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This is how Kanye felt. He felt that he grew up as this innocent, pink polo kid in Hip Hop making his own mark, only to become controversial and hated by everyone. He feels misunderstood, and the 2009 incident felt like a nail in the coffin.
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So then the song dies. At 6 months, after a full verse from Pusha T and all on more vices, it ends. But then the outro starts, and it& #39;s like looking back at life through a super cut, reclaiming that innocence of birth mixed in with your developed self.
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What sounds like a distorted electric guitar, throughout the outro, ends up being Kanye& #39;s voice put through a modulator. And this is incredibly poetic - it& #39;s his way of saying I can create something great even if my voice and my thoughts are confusing and nonsense.
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But remember how I said Runaway operates at multiple levels? Runaway is also a testament to the infinite age of sound. It takes a classical structure and a classical instrumental and combines it with one of the most modern genre& #39;s hip hop so seamlessly.
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It& #39;s a way of also saying that we often see rappers as ghetto or poor, people of the "streets", but rap could be opulent and rich. Kanye does this by mixing rap so well w/ sounds of a past that were the property of aristocrats. I& #39;d actually call Runaway "Opulent Rap"
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This is only proven by the music video. Ballet is always seen as an "acquired taste" - something that snobs would love. Rap was never seen that way. Kanye combined the two as a testament of showing how incredible he and his co-musicians can be.
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Runaway was also Kanye& #39;s way of showing he could create beauty w/o a beat or drums. He& #39;s always seen drums as his weakness. But the outro of Runaway captures so much without them - a Trinity of his distorted voice, a piano, and a string orchestra.
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It& #39;s also one of the few songs that proves that sometimes less is more. Kanye eviscerates so much emotion in runaway while literally using just a few notes on the piano. He creates such a feeling w/o any effects or chopped up samples. It& #39;s just simple.
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At the end of the day, Runaway proved that Kanye could create "perfect music" - music that could be hummed by a 3 yr old, without the need for any clever lines or lyrics, and still be seen as a masterpiece.
Which is exactly what it is... a masterpiece.
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Which is exactly what it is... a masterpiece.
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As an epilogue, I have 3 other interpretations of Runaway. There are at least two dozen more. And that& #39;s what makes it great.
A whole documentary could be made about this song. It& #39;s so simple and so powerful and the fact we could talk so endlessly about it, is why it& #39;s so great
A whole documentary could be made about this song. It& #39;s so simple and so powerful and the fact we could talk so endlessly about it, is why it& #39;s so great
If you like this type of commentary, be sure to follow @KanyePodcast. He does this stuff but w/ 10x the detail!
