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Homecoming (Kanye West song)

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B-side
  
"Good Night"

Recorded
  
2001–2006

Released
  
February 18, 2008

Genre
  
Hip hop

Homecoming (Kanye West song)

Format
  
12" CD digital download

Studio
  
Various Fever Recording Studio (North Hollywood, Los Angeles) Abbey Road Studios (London, England) Sony Music Studios (New York, New York) The Record Plant Ocean Way Recording (Hollywood, California)

"Homecoming" is a song by American hip-hop recording artist and record producer Kanye West. It was included as the twelfth song on the track-listing of his third studio album Graduation (2007). The track was produced by West with Warryn Campbell and features guest vocals from Chris Martin, lead singer of the English alternative rock band Coldplay. West met Chris Martin by chance at the famed Abbey Road Studios in London, England on February 14, 2006. Afterwards, the two artists held an impromptu jam session and recorded the track. Kanye West wrote "Homecoming" as a tribute dedicated to his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. His song's conceptual lyrics feature an extended metaphor where he uses a love interest to speak on his relationship with her. The composition is actually a re-recording of a track known as "Home (Windy)" that originated from a demo tape dating back to the year 2001. The early recordings of "Home (Windy)" exhibit West's once trademark soulful vocal sample production style. In addition, the lyrics of the original chorus are different and were sung by singer John Legend, who was known at the time as John Stephens.

Contents

It was released as the final single from his third studio album Graduation (2007). "Homecoming" was released in the United Kingdom as a digital download and was due to be released as a physical single on February 4, 2008. However, the physical single was cancelled due to downloads starting to decline before the release. It was, however, released on vinyl single on 18 February. "Homecoming" reached Number 9 in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2008, (for the week ending date January 26, 2008), on download sales alone.

The single was met with moderate commercial success, reaching the top twenty on international charts. However, the song received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. Many praised West's introspective lyricism and storytelling abilities, but others panned Chris Martin's appearance due to him not being from Chicago. An accompanying music video for "Homecoming" was directed by Hype Williams and filmed in the city of Chicago. Shot entirely in black-and-white, the music video features a montage of Kanye West walking throughout the streets of Chicago and showcases its landmarks, monuments and people.

Background

"Homecoming" was written by American hip-hop recording artist and record producer Kanye West with Chris Martin, lead singer of the English alternative rock band Coldplay. West co-produced the track with record producer Warryn Campbell. In an interview with Billboard, West first revealed that he had collaborated with the Coldplay frontman. This was for a song that was entitled "Homecoming," and West also alluded that it just might be released as the lead single for his third studio album Graduation. The collaboration occurred just the year prior when Kanye West and Chris Martin met and teamed up for an impromptu jam session at the Abbey Road Studios in London, England on February 14, 2006.

The song itself is in fact actually a re-vamping of a track known as "Home (Windy)" that originated from a demo tape dating back to the year 2001. The track circulated under the new title "Home" on West's 2003 mixtape Get Well Soon... It was also available on the advance copy of West's debut studio album The College Dropout, which was never released due to a leak. As the album's fifth and final single, "Homecoming" serves as a tribute to Kanye West's hometown of Chicago, Illinois. He rhymes about growing up in the city, his love for Chicago, and his guilt over leaving "her" to pursue his musical dream. Kanye West lyrically references "I Used to Love H.E.R.," a rap song that was written by his close friend, label affiliate, and fellow Chicago rapper Common. He would make cameo appearances in the single's accompanying music video, which was filmed in Chicago.

Recording

The recording sessions for "Homecoming" took place at five different recording studios. They were the Fever Recording Studio in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, the Abby Road Studios in London, England, the Sony Music Studios in New York City, and The Record Plant and Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood, California. The track was then mixed at Chalice Recording Studios in Hollywood, California and Chung King Studios in New York City. "Homecoming" features a guest appearance from Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, who sings the song's chorus. On February 14, 2006, Kanye West and Chris Martin met one another for the very first time at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London, England where they recorded this track. West had just finished a show at Abbey Road the band just so happened to be recording their music in a studio there at the exact the same time. West was at Abbey Road working on the theme song for the soundtrack of the action film Mission: Impossible III. Meanwhile, Chris Martin was in the next studio recording a radio gig that had been held at Abbey Road for the national radio station BBC Radio 2. Upon their discovery, West did not mind the interruption by Martin and after the band's show, the two joined in a recording booth for an impromptu jam session.

The initial outcome of the early recordings of "Home (Windy)" brandished West's once trademark soulful vocal sample production style. Additionally, the lyrics of the chorus were sung by singer John Legend, who was known as John Stephens at the time. The original chorus contains a set of lyrics that are entirely different than that of Chris Martin's. On "Homecoming," Chris Martin sings about Kanye West returning to his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. In contrast, John Legend sang about soldiers who did not make it back and return home from war. This is due to the fact that Chris Martin asked Kanye West to change the lyrical content. It was Martin who came up with the song's new concept and also requested to alter the production aspect. In regards to this, West had already the hip-hop beat for what would later on become the track "Heard 'Em Say," the third single from his sophomore album Late Registration. However, Chris Martin reportedly advocated, "No this track's beat needs to be more like a homecoming or something."

Composition

"Homecoming" is a hip-hop song that lasts for a duration of three minutes and twenty-six seconds. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by EMI Music Publishing, it is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 88 beats per minute. "Homecoming" is composed in the key of E minor, while Chris Martin's vocal range spans from the note D4 to the note E5. The song follows a basic sequence of Em–D/F♯–Em/G–G–Am7–D/C–Cmaj7–Bm7–Em–Bm7 as its chord progression. Within two verses, Kanye West does his rapping style over heavy yet buoyant drums and a throbbing, melodic bass. Meanwhile, Chris Martin sings the song's chorus and plays a gospel-tinged piano motif. Martin does his laid-back croons over a groove that is built around the keys and atop the stomping beat. At one point, West has Martin singing the song's brief bridge and outro as if he were of a reggae singer. Martin's use of the "e-yo-oh-oh" vocals is a style reminiscent to that of famed Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley. All the while, the chatter of a noisy, cheering crowd can inexplicably be heard lurking in the background throughout the track.

The composition was written as a heartfelt homage dedicated to Kanye West's hometown of Chicago, Illinois. His lyrics on the narrative track is where he finds himself rapping about growing up in Chicago. The song begins with West's voice uttering the line, "Yeah! And you say Chi city! Chi city! Chi city!" Dressed in a Chris Martin chorus, the jubilant ode to his Chicago upbringing is but one of many touching nods to the footsteps that propelled him forward as a hip-hop artist found throughout Graduation. West employs an extended metaphor that personifies the city as a childhood sweetheart named Wendy. He rhymes about his love for Chicago and his guilt over leaving "her" to pursue his musical dream. West tells the story of how the childhood sweetheart slipped through his fingers. His emotive lyricism captures his bittersweet relationship with the place that he once called home. The song's opening and closing lines lyrically reference "I Used to Love H.E.R.," a similar metaphoric rap song written by West's close friend, label affiliate, and fellow Chicago hip-hop artist Common. Common would later make two cameo appearances in the single's accompanying music video, which was filmed in the city of Chicago.

Critical reception

Following its release, "Homecoming" received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. Nick Levine from Digital Spy describes the track as an "impressive slow jam" and refers to Chris Martin as "the Sting of our times." Giving the single four out of five stars, Levine noted, "This could quite easily have become a crass exercise in mutual back-slapping, but, thankfully, Martin seems to have brought out West's inner softie, making 'Homecoming' the bragging rapper's most affecting moment to date." Pitchfork Media's Mark Pytlik wrote that the song feels like it hits all the right notes. After his admittance that "Homecoming" exceeded his expectations, Jackie Im of Treblezine called track's hook incredibly catchy and summarizes the composition as a "nice little pop song that leads into Kanye’s most earnest moment." He also compared Chris Martin's piano playing to that of English singer, pianist and composer Elton John. Similar sentiments were expressed by Jon Caramanica from The New York Times, who thought the piano jam recalls that of early Billy Joel. Writing for NME, Louis Pattison reported "Homecoming" as being a "solid" track while NOW Magazine editor Jason Richards labeled it as the highlight of Graduation. While he upholds the belief that Graduation contains "a couple of real clunkers," Kyle Ryan of The A.V. Club wrote that with songs like "Homecoming," the album also has "its usual share of West gold." Slant Magazine muses that in contrast to Jay-Z's earlier collaboration with Chris Martin on "Beach Chair" from his comeback album Kingdom Come, West's track "just might make Coldplay acceptable for the cool kids again." Ann Powers, writer for Los Angeles Times also believed that Kanye bests Jay-Z's earlier use of Martin's vocal abilities. On a similar note, Paste reviewer Ross Bonaime wrote that when comparing the songs, West uses Martin in a much more successful manner and regards the combination of the two recording artists as "undeniably pretty great."

On the other hand, several critics question the song's authenticity due to the fact that Chris Martin doesn't hail from Chicago. The A.V. Clubs Nathan Rabin chalked the collaboration up as an example as to how West's a broad musical palette can get him into trouble, writing that Martin doesn't embody Chicago's rich musical heritage. Calling the song an "interestingly flawed venture," music writer Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian, chided "If you're rapping about growing up in Chicago, don't duet with a singer from Devon. Emote though he may, Chris Martin can't convince anyone that he is moved by the memory of 'fireworks over Lake Michigan.'" exclaim's Del Cowie decrees that due in part to Chris Martin's appearance, "Homecoming" doesn't evoke the emotional connection that a hometown ode should elicit. Noah Love of CHARTattack stated that he could have done without Chris Martin crooning over the song and said West is still finding his lane as a lyricist. Greg Kot, music critic for Chicago Tribune, was dismissal of the song's instrumentation, writing "Chris Martin coos over a cornball piano riff." Kot denounces that "Homecoming" falls flat and adds up as the album's biggest misstep.

Paste magazine ranks "Homecoming" as Kanye West's fifty-first best album track. Complex lists both the original John Legend version and the Chris Martin version of "Home"/"Homecoming" at thirty-eight among West's one-hundred best songs. For their list of Kanye West's 10 Most Stripped-Down, Minimal Songs, head writer Jordan Darville of ChartAttack placed "Homecoming" at number four. In regards to the song's inward lyricism, he wrote, "The synth-rap epics on Graduation are on a race to outdo each other, which make its introspective moments that much more deeply felt." Billboard cites "Homecoming" as among Kanye West's ten most romantic songs and wrote that it is one of the most loving hometown tributes that rap music has to offer.

Chart performance

In the United States, "Homecoming" first entered at number sixty-eight on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart on May 22, 2008, where it eventually peaked at number fifty-three. The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number ninety-six, for the issue dated June 7, 2008. That very same week, "Homecoming" also debuted at number nineteen on the Hot Rap Songs chart. The next week, "Homecoming" climbed thirteen spaces to number eighty-three on the Hot 100 chart . For its third week on the Billboard Hot 100, "Homecoming" moved up twelve spaces to number seventy-one. In the end, the song reached its peak position at number sixty-nine on the Hot 100 for the issue dated June 28, 2008. Weeks later, for the issue dated July 12, 2008, "Homecoming" reached its peak position at number fifteen on the Hot Rap Songs chart. "Homecoming" debuted at number eighty-nine on the Canadian Hot 100, where it peaked at number seventy-nine.

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Homecoming" was directed by Hype Williams and filmed in the city of Chicago. Prior to its release, Kanye West posted screenshots taken from the video on his official blog on March 6, 2008. West released the music video for "Homecoming" on April 1, 2008 through his official Vimeo account and later on his blog. The music video is was filmed entirely in black-and-white, with Williams taking a simplistic approach for the visuals. The video features a montage of West walking throughout many different areas of Chicago, with camera angles and slow-motion shots of the city's streets, monuments and people. Among the several various locations and landmarks of Chicago that are shown include Millennium Park, DuSable Museum of African American History, Tribune Tower, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Sears Tower, and the Cabrini–Green housing projects. Additionally, some of West's old friends, early supporters of his music, and local acts such as L.E.P. Bogus Boys can be seen following him around the city. Most notably, West's friend, label-mate and fellow Chicago rapper Common, who is referenced during the song, makes two cameo appearances. There are moving silhouette parts throughout the video where West and Chris Martin respectively are seen rapping the song's two verses and singing the chorus while playing the piano. There are also quick shots of Kanye West performing on top of a van while surrounded by reflective mirrors.

The music video was generally well received by both fans and critics. It was was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. In addition, the television network BET placed the music video at number eighty-four on their Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2008 countdown. On their list of Kanye West's forty-two best music videos, Complex ranks the video for "Homecoming" at number twenty-seven.

Live performances

West included "Homecoming" within the setlist of his Glow in the Dark Tour, which began on April 16, 2008 at the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington. The composition is but one of the many, various songs taken from West's first three studio albums that West uses for his conceptual concert. They serve to form a space opera storyline that tells the tale of how a stranded space traveler struggles for over a year making attempts to escape from a distant planet while on a mission to bring creativity back to Earth. In the narrative, West performs the song when he finally manages to return home to the planet of Earth. Near the end of the tour's North American leg, with singers and a percussionist/DJ behind him, West performed "Homecoming" during the final night of Lollapalooza 2008 in August in his hometown of Chicago, where he co-headlined the festival with Nine Inch Nails. "Homecoming" was among a list of songs that West performed during a 90-minute set when he headlined the annual dance music festival Global Gathering on July 25, 2008. West was accompanied by backup singers, a disc jockey and three pairs of drums while the concert featured a liberal use of lighting and smoke effects. On December 31, 2010, for the grand opening of the luxury resort casino and hotel Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on New Year Eve, rapper Jay-Z co-headlined the celebration with Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin. Kanye West joined Jay-Z and Chris Martin for a performance of "Homecoming." It was the very first time that Kanye West, Jay-Z and Chris Martin performed the song as a trio.

Cover versions

"Homecoming" has been covered and remixed by other hip-hop artists. A remix for "Homecoming" was produced by DiscoTech for inclusion on Sky High, a remix mixtape that was mixed and compiled by DJ Benzi and Plain Pat. The mixtape features remixes by various DJs and record producers of songs taken from West's first three studio albums. It was made in anticipation of the release of his fourth studio album 808s & Heartbreak. The remix project was commissioned by Kanye West himself the year prior. He handed over a cappellas and other session tapes to DJ Benzi, who then spent his time trying to match different and DJs and producers to certain tracks. Like every of the other tracks, "Homecoming" (DiscoTech Remix) had at least five revisions recorded before being completely finished. The song was given a new club-friendly dance tune. "Homecoming" was lyrically referenced by Ab-Soul on the track "Non Fiction" by Rapsody from her debut album The Idea of Beautiful. Rockabye Baby! covers "Homecoming" and uses it as the closing track of their tribute album, Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Kanye West. The Florida production team Urban Noize dedicated to Kanye a remix EP entitled Mr. West that features eight remixes of his songs. "Homecoming" was among them, and the remix instrumental is tailored with a laid-back jazz vibe.

Personnel

Information taken from Graduation liner notes.

  • Songwriters: Kanye West, Chris Martin, Warryn Campbell
  • Producers: Kanye West, Warryn Campbell
  • Recorders: Bruce Buechner, Andrew Dawson, Anthony Kilhoffer, Greg Koller
  • Mix engineer: Mike Dean, Andrew Dawson
  • Assistant engineers: Matty Green, Anthony Palazzole, Andy Marcinkowski
  • Percussion: Jon Brion
  • Sound design: Sean Cooper
  • Project coordinator: DJ Reflex & Sandra
  • Additional vocals: Chris Martin
  • References

    Homecoming (Kanye West song) Wikipedia