MUSIC A

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KANYE WEST

• Born June 8th, 1977

• Born in Atlanta, Georgia

• 37 years old today

EARLY LIFE

• Grew up as an only child.

• Grew up with divorced parents.

• Spent more of his time living with his mother.

MUSIC CAREER

• Musical career started in the 90’s.

• He was first a producer but really wanted to pursue a career in hop hop and rapping.

• Debuted his first album in 2003.

• First album “Through the Wire”

• His first single peaked in the top 20 in Billboard.

• Has won 21 Grammy awards up to date.

RUNAWAY

• First performed at the 2010 VMA’s.

• Released as a single on his 2010 album “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.”

• Featured Pusha T.

• For creativity, the theme of the music video for “Runaway” included ballet dancers.

RUNAWAY (CONTINUED)

• Inspiration to write the song included:

o His feelings towards the media’s perception of him. Vulgar lyrics are used to call out media story writers and paparazzi.

o Failed relationships and the feeling of unhappiness he got from those failed relationships.

HEARTLESS

• Like “Runaway”, “Heartless” is also about the feeling of unhappiness from a failed relationship.

• Released as a single in 2008 from the album “808s & Heartbreak.”

• The song sold 5 million copies in the United States.

RUNAWAY LISTENING GUIDE

• Throughout this piece, the main focus of rhythm is on the piano keys.

• Once the rapping starts, a more upbeat tempo joins the piano keys to make the feeling more aggressive. It brings the three dynamics together.

• When Pusha T. begins (4:00-5:00) the tempo slows and the piano keys overtake the melody/beat in the background. Once Kanye begins his verse again the tempo picks up.

• Once the lyrics are finished, all of the focus is back on the piano keys. (5:00-6:00) The tempo fades and the soft keys become louder.

• (8:00-9:00) The piano keys start to fade and an electric guitar joins in and keeps it’s own rhythm, until the very end it changes up and the song finishes off with a chord from the electric guitar.

HEARTLESS LISTENING GUIDE

• Heartless starts with a rhythmic beat, and that beat stays the same throughout the entire song.

• Every few seconds in the chorus between 1:00-2:00 one beat is louder than the rest, and the rest sounds more soft.

• 2:00-3:00 Before the chorus, there is a pause in the rhythm to create more of an impact leading into the next part of the lyrics in the piece. It lasts a few seconds before picking up again and repeating the same rhythm.

• 3:30, the song starts finishing and the lyrics fade while the rhythm of the beat overpowers them one more time before the piece is completely finished.