Kanye West’s “Good Morning” Lyrics Meaning

There are two premises to the featured narrative which need to be established from the onset in order to fully appreciate Kanye West’s “Good Morning”. First is that Kanye’s first-three albums, which this being the third, were all based on an educational theme. The two preceding project are respectively entitled “The College Dropout” and “Late Registration”. Secondly, Kanye himself is in fact a college dropout.

Making such a decision draws a considerable amount of criticism especially when, like West, said individual earned a scholarship.  Thus the implication would be that Yeezus was a brilliant student – or at least one with notable potential – in order to receive such an award. But he still goes on to portray himself as the anti-student in “Good Morning”. He portrays himself as one that never actually did well in school due to lack of focus and by implication interest. 

And this plays into the overall message of the song. And the said message is one in which Kanye, an individual who shunned higher education, still very much succeeds in his chosen career. That is to say that the way American society is structured ideologically, a college degree is seen as one of the integral steps to career success. However, Kanye still “graduated”, i.e. became accomplished in his field, without such documentation.

Indeed he goes on to taunt the school valedictorian who is “scared of the future”. According to him, the school valedictorian graduates while still being “stupid”. However, he (Kanye), the lackluster student and dropout, is rather the one who blew up. 

Conclusion

So for those who described this song as being a bit anti-establishment, such an analysis is spot-on. And as far as Kanye’s temperament, whereas we all know he tends to have an ego this is not necessarily a case of the artist exalting him. Rather, as aforementioned, this track serves as a celebration. Yeezy took the road less traveled, i.e. the riskier path.  And now that it has been made clear that he has in fact succeeded, he is reveling in his success. And in doing so, he simultaneously chastises some of those who followed the herd.

Release Date of “Good Morning”

This is the leadoff track from Kanye West’s third-studio album “Graduation”, being released with the project on 11 September 2007. It is a product of Def Jam Records and Roc-A-Fella Records. And for the record, Kanye also opened the setlist of his 2008 Glow in the Dark Tour with “Good Morning”. It was also the first song from the aforementioned album he began working on.

Meanwhile, the first time the track was played publicly was via a BBC Radio 1Xtra event entitled “Audience with Kanye West”. The said event was held on 13 August 2007.

Creation of “Good Morning”

The instrumental to this track, which Kanye produced, relies on a sample of a 1975 Elton John song entitled “Someone Saved My Life Tonight“. As such, in addition to Yeezy, Sir John and his trusty writing companion, Bernie Taupin, are also credited as co-writers of “Good Morning”.

The instrumental was also inspired by the fact that while Kanye was working on “Graduation”, he was simultaneously producing “Finding Forever”. That was his homey Common’s 2007 album which itself topped the Billboard 200. In fact it was so successful that it was nominated for the Best Rap Album Grammy Award (in 2008). It however, ultimately lost to “Graduation” itself.

You may have noticed that the lyrics to this song are quite simple, especially for a rapper of Kanye’s caliber. Well, he actually made it so intentionally. And the reason being is that he noticed that simpler lyrics are easier for large crowds (i.e. arenas) to get into during live performances.

The track also contains a sample of Jay-Z’s 2001 track “The Ruler’s Back”. 

Music Video

Kanye enlisted Takashi Murakami to direct the music video to the song. Some reports say that Yeezy directed it himself. But either way it was the talents of Murakami, a Japanese artist who West admires, that was responsible for the animations contained therein. This is the same artist who designed the artwork (i.e. Kanye as an anthropomorphic teddy bear) for “Graduation”. Said video was met with universal acclaim. It even helped make the song popular despite the fact that it was never released as a single.

There is also an exclusive video clip, which Kanye himself designed (alongside Derrick Lee). Kanye used the said clip to premiere the song at an event in New York City on 28 August 2007. It is actually a montage synchronized with the audio, and it utilizes some footage from the classic movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968). 

Singles Produced by “Graduation”

Below are the 5 official singles Kanye released from “Graduation”:

• “Homecoming”
• “Flashing Lights”
• “Good Life”
• “Stronger”
• “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”