Good Morning (Kanye West song)
West establishes the academic narrative of it, celebrating his graduation in the realm of hip hop and rapping about his skepticism of higher education over thumping, off-kilter boom bap drums.
[8] John imparted that with the assistance from an artist such as West or Pharrell Williams, both of whom he tremendously respects, he wanted to bring his songs and melodies to hip hop beats.
[14][15] When West played "Good Morning," scenes from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey were broadcast on a screen while lights flashed in sequence with the thumping beat of the track.
[16][17] Beginning in early 2006, West had overseen the recording and production of Graduation simultaneously with Finding Forever (2007), the seventh studio album of his close friend, fellow Chicago hip hop artist and label affiliate Common.
[20] Common was helpful in facilitating the composing process, as West producing songs for his album would sometimes either lead to the making of hip-hop beats or inspire creative ideas which were applied towards his own project.
[22] The track's murky, slightly off-kilter drum-machine beat that West crafted aligns with the J Dilla methodology he channeled and maintained throughout Finding Forever in tribute to the recent passing of the underground hip hop producer.
[55][56] Alongside motivational declarations of triumph, the lyrics of "Good Morning" are home to energetic, amusing word play laced with numerous pop-culture references.
"[60] Natalie Weiner from Billboard has named "Good Morning" as one of West's most uplifting anthems, saying, "The Elton John sample, combined with Kanye's anti-establishment fervor, will make anyone feel better about their relative lack of diplomas.
"[51] RapReview's Jesa Padania also considered "Good Morning" to be a strong way to start the studio album and expressed affinity for the song's simple yet soulful hip-hop beat.
[53] The Michigan Daily writer Brian Chen claimed the recording "stands among the best of West's productions, combining gospel howls, synthesizers and strings, all over a bone-crushing bass.
[29] Although he withholds the belief that it's West's musicality that's a true measurement of his talent, Kathwadia nevertheless commended his improvement as a rapper and marked the Malcolm X lyric as the album's standout line.
'Ye would take over the world, watch it crumble around him, then get more artistically daring with each subsequent release—Good Ass Job would never show up, and he would abandon the things that make this song great: it's focused, three-verse structure, gently building beat, and sweet sense of melancholy.
[71] The collaboration first came about when West visited Murakami's Kaikai Kiki Co. studio in Roppongi Hills during a brief trip to Tokyo, Japan in the midst of touring the year prior.
[73][74] Often called "the Warhol of Japan," Murakami's surrealistic visual art is characterized by cartoonish creatures which appear friendly and cheerful at first glance, but possess dark, twisted undertones.
[77] It also attracted the attention of Marc Jacobs, creative director of Louis Vuitton, who recruited Muramki to revise the traditional LV monogram brand logo for their line of handbags and accessories.
[83] The music video found its way online by means through a fan's camera after a private screening at the Geffen Contemporary in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles, California.
[18] Dropout Bear contends with a variety of unfortunate setbacks and overcomes a series of trials and tribulations as he races through the city in an effort to reach his college campus in time to attend his graduation ceremony.
[90] Upon realizing that he's late, Dropout Bear jumps out of bed, brushes his teeth, dons a varsity jacket and runs out of his apartment to his car, which is modeled after a DMC DeLorean.
Adam Itkoff from The Source complimented the video, stating that West's visual collaboration with Murakami is a testament to the way that his imagination can catalyze illustrious pieces of art.
[93] Writing for MSN Music, writer Sam Greszes remarked, "Not only is the song itself great, but the video for "Good Morning" is a technicolor dreamscape full of 3D flair.
She explained that:While many may attribute Kanye's fascination with the film to his similarities with Marty, he also possesses an extremely Doc Brown-like quality—a frenetic nature that prompts him to bounce outrageous ideas around that have the people around him in initial disbelief, but his out-of-the-box propositions often came into fruition as ingenious works of art that were far ahead of their time ... Kanye is notoriously known for making a whole lot of last-minute decisions that will either make or break the anticipated outcome, similar to how Doc Brown's sudden assertions dictated whether or not someone would just stay stuck 30 years in the past forever.
Billboard cited West's work with Murakami, which consists of the making of the video in addition to the creation of the album's artwork, as being among 13 pairings in the realms of music and high-art that are amazing moments in true art-pop.
[89] Sharing similar sentiments, MTV staff writer Adam Fleischer placed "Good Morning" at number 14 on the list of West's top 25 most innovative videos.
Even though his monogram project with the fashion house Louis Vuitton had brought him international mainstream attention five years earlier, Murakami acknowledges the fact that many of the millennial youth who have gravitated towards his work learned about him through his joint efforts with musicians such as West and Pharrell Williams.
[104][105] The very next day, West opened his concert for the World Wide Bape Heads Show during Springroove 2008 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan with "Good Morning".
[107] West would often begin his elaborate concerts by playing a discordant leitmotif of "Stronger," implying that he'd start the show with a performance of the hit single, only to segue into a live rendition of "Good Morning".
[110] After conversing with the disembodied female voice of an onboard computerter named Jane, West performs on a barren, tilted, moonlit stage shrouded in smoke before a large LED screen that depicts scenes from the science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
[111] Near the end of the tour's North American leg, with singers and a percussionist/DJ behind him, West performed "Good Morning" during the final night of Lollapalooza on August 3, 2008, in his hometown of Chicago, where he co-headlined the festival with Nine Inch Nails.
[122] Speech of the alternative hip hop group Arrested Development lyrically references "Good Morning" in the opening lines of "Any Tree But That" on their sixth studio album, Strong (2010).
The trailer briefly displays The Game rapping in a recording booth and DJ Skee at his laptop before a mixing console inside the control room of a studio decked with bottles of Corona Extra as "Hoodmorning" plays in the background.
