MUSIC ANALYSIS PROJECT BY: DZENITA SABLJAKOVIC

KANYE WEST Born June 8 th, 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 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.