Good Morning (Kanye West song)
Encyclopedia
"Good Morning" is a song
by American
rap
artist Kanye West
. It serves as the opener for his third studio album
, 2007
's Graduation
. The song was produced by West and contains samples of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight
" as sung by Elton John
. It also contains vocals provided by Connie Mitchell
and Tony "Penafire" Williams, concluding with Jay-Z
's reiteration of a lyric taken from his own album intro track, "The Ruler's Back". Though not released as a single, a music video directed by Graduation album artwork designer Takashi Murakami
was produced for the track.
ese pop art
ist Takashi Murakami bringing to life the various designs he had composed for Graduations album artwork through the use of cel-shaded animation
. Its story takes place within a futuristic metropolis called Universe City, whose inhabitants are anthropomorphic creatures. The protagonist of the video is "Dropout Bear", West's longtime mascot, who – as with previous albums – appears on the cover of Graduation. The story chronicles Dropout Bear overcoming various obstacles in an effort to reach his college campus in time for his graduation ceremony.
An edited version of the animated video was used as pre-release promotion for the album. In April 2008, the video was shown in its full length during a tour of Murakami's work at the Brooklyn Museum
. The video was also featured in an exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. The video was made available to the public upon its release in the iTunes Store
on August 26, 2008.
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rap
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
artist Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
. It serves as the opener for his third studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
, 2007
2007 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2007.-January:*January 1 - George Shearing is knighted for services to music in the Queen's New Year Honours List. Evelyn Glennie becomes a Dame...
's Graduation
Graduation (album)
Graduation is the third studio album by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released September 11, 2007 on Roc-A-Fella Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2005 to 2007 at Chung King Studios and Sony Music Studios in New York City and at Chalice Studios and The Record Plant...
. The song was produced by West and contains samples of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
"Someone Saved My Life Tonight" is an Elton John song from his album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. John originally wrote and recorded it in A-flat, though after having vocal cord surgery in 1987 that resulted in the loss of his falsetto range, John began performing the song in a...
" as sung by Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
. It also contains vocals provided by Connie Mitchell
Connie Mitchell
Connie Mitchell is an Australian pop singer and the lead vocalist with the Sydney band Sneaky Sound System. She appears on the band's singles "Pictures", "I Love It", "UFO", "Goodbye", "Kansas City", "When We Were Young", "16" and "We Love"...
and Tony "Penafire" Williams, concluding with Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
's reiteration of a lyric taken from his own album intro track, "The Ruler's Back". Though not released as a single, a music video directed by Graduation album artwork designer Takashi Murakami
Takashi Murakami
is an internationally prolific contemporary Japanese artist. He works in fine arts media—such as painting and sculpture—as well as what is conventionally considered commercial media —fashion, merchandise, and animation— and is known for blurring the line between high and low art...
was produced for the track.
Music video
The music video for "Good Morning" is essentially the result of JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese pop art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
ist Takashi Murakami bringing to life the various designs he had composed for Graduations album artwork through the use of cel-shaded animation
Cel-shaded animation
Cel-shaded animation is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make computer graphics appear to be hand-drawn. Cel-shading is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon. It is a somewhat recent addition to computer graphics, most commonly turning up in video games...
. Its story takes place within a futuristic metropolis called Universe City, whose inhabitants are anthropomorphic creatures. The protagonist of the video is "Dropout Bear", West's longtime mascot, who – as with previous albums – appears on the cover of Graduation. The story chronicles Dropout Bear overcoming various obstacles in an effort to reach his college campus in time for his graduation ceremony.
An edited version of the animated video was used as pre-release promotion for the album. In April 2008, the video was shown in its full length during a tour of Murakami's work at the Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
. The video was also featured in an exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. The video was made available to the public upon its release in the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
on August 26, 2008.
Personnel
Information taken from Graduation liner notes.- Songwriters: Kanye West, Elton John, Bernie Taupin
- Producer: Kanye West
- Recorders: Andrew Dawson, Anthony Kilhoffer
- Mix engineer: Andrew Dawson
- Assistant engineers: Bram Tobey, Jason Agel, Nate Hertweck, Matty Green
- Keyboards: Andy Chatterley
- Additional vocals: Jay-Z, Tony "Penafire" Williams, Connie Mitchell