“Running Away” by Vano 3000 (ft. BadBadNotGood & Samuel T. Herring)

“Running Away” does not really have a meaning to speak of. The main featured vocals, as explained later in the post, are from another track entitled “Time Moves Slow” (2016). So if you want a better understanding of what they are supposed to mean in their original context, we recommend reading our analysis of said song.

“Running Away”

Indeed based on hip-hop standards, “Running Away” would actually be classified as an instrumental. That is to say that rap artists in particular have a history of dropping their own vocals over instrumentals which themselves featured sampled voices, usually to be found in the chorus, such as for instance Jay-Z’s “Hard Knock Life” (1998). 

But in some cases, they may even rap in conjunction with the sampled vocals – think of Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” (2007) in that regard. Said vocals may and often do fit into the theme of what the rapper himself is talking about. 

And sometimes they are sampled for that specific purpose, i.e. with the subject of the song it is going to be featured in mind beforehand. But most often actually, such vocals are added to an instrumental just because they sound good. A perfect example is the case with “Running Away”. 

And then, it becomes more up to the rapper who decides to rhyme over it to come up with lyrics that in some way, shape or form comply with the sample.

That may all sound pretty confusing, but what we’re trying to get at is that Vano 3000 most likely sampled “Time Moves Slow” primarily based on the simple reality that he was in fact able to derive a dope sample from it, not necessarily in the name of replicating its meaning. 

But at the same time, the phrase “running away is easy; it’s the leaving that’s hard” is pretty deep sounding in and of itself. But again, it’s not like Vano is trying to philosophize or anything like that, even if said phrase may have some type of meaning. Or put most simply, even though this track features vocals this track is meant to be enjoyed primarily as an instrumental.

Vano 3000

As of the unofficial release of this track in late May 2021, Vano 3000 is an underground artist from Florida. Vano owes his sudden rise of notoriety to TikTok. He has an established presence on SoundCloud with his page, as of mid-July 2021, boasting of nearly 6,000 followers. But the reason we’re writing about him today is because this song, as alluded to earlier, went viral.

Vano originally hails from Brooklyn. However, he moved with his family to Florida, more specifically a city called Hollywood (according to his currently unverified Genius bio). This move occurred during his early teens. 

And FYI, Vano is actually a producer by profession.

The first track he uploaded onto TikTok which achieved a mild viral status was one called “Very Special”. This was in early 2021.

Writing Credits for “Running Away”

This track relies heavily on an earlier tune entitled by “Time Moves Slow” by a Canadian band called BadBadNotGood. Said song features the vocals of an American singer named Samuel T. Herring. 

So that’s why both BadBadNotGood and Samuel T. Herring are listed as features on “Running Away”. This is even though neither of them collaborated with Vano 300 directly. Moreover BadBadNotGood, not Vano, are credited as the writers of “Running Away”.

Vano rather produced it, once again relying on vocals from “Times Moves Slow”.

Official Release Date of “Running Away”

Being the underground artist that he is, Vano 3000 did not set about clearing the sample from “Time Moves Slow” before he utilized it. This of course posed an issue when “Running Away” itself became famous, and he wanted to sell copies to generate income. 

This resulted in the track eventually receiving its official release on the date of 21 June 2021. And in that case it was not issued under Vano’s own initiative but rather by Innovative Leisure. Innovative Leisure is the L.A.-based music label that originally put “Time Moves Slow” out.

Virality of “Running Away”

The virality of this song on TikTok was buttressed by it being associated with Adult Swim. Adult Swim is a late night programming block of various shows which the Cartoon Network has been airing since 2001. 

Indeed Adult Swim has a history of being affiliated with various musicians, such as the mid-aughts collaborative project, between Danger Mouse and the late MF Doom, entitled “Danger Doom”.