Production Breakdown: Every Beat From Kanye’s “Dark Twisted Fantasy” Album (Updated!)

"Runaway"

Ah, “Runaway,” the single that spawned one of the most insanely over-the-top music videos in the history of over-the-top music videos. It’s also the longest (at 9:07), and contains quite a few samples. Of course, some of ‘em are a little incidental, like the vocal snippets used in Kanye’s VMA performance which, though omitted from the early leak of the single, made it into the album version of “Runaway”(complete with spinny stereo effects!) Those, by the way, were borrowed from a live version of “Mary Jane,” the ‘78 single by Rick James.

This isn’t the actual version sampled on “Runaway” (the version credited is “Live at Long Beach, CA’ 1981,” and James seems to be in Germany in this clip), but you can hear a similar “Look at’cha!” at 3:07. The audience pictured apparently were not “shining like beautiful stars” that night (to quote a Rick James ad-lib sampled on the VMA performance but not on the album version of “Runaway”) Better luck next time, Germany.

The next one is really incidental, but too amusing not to mention. As Nathan remarked upon in his guest production breakdown a few weeks back, that “Funky President” “Hey!” sample was featured heavily in this SNL performance of the record.

 

Well, one of those ‘Hey’s did make an appearance on the album – the clean version, anyway. While Kanye recorded his own “hey” to cover up the reference to his dick (you know, the dick he sent pictures of to girls on MySpace), the “Funky President” “hey” is retained in the next line: “I don’t know what it is with females, but I’m not too good with that (hey!)”

 

On a totally unrelated note, since when is “jerk-offs” considered clean language? By my estimation, that’s at least as risque as “asshole,” and would probably be even more awkward for a parent to have to explain to a curious youngster. But I could write a whole damn column on the vagaries of musical censorship, so let’s get back on topic.

The main sample behind Kanye, Emile, Jeff Bhasker and Mike Dean‘s beat – the break – has been the source of some confusion, thanks to the fact that it’s a second-order sampling from another hip-hop cut. Specifically “Tha Basement,” a track off Pete Rock & CL Smooth‘s classic ‘92 debut, Mecca and the Soul Brother.

 

The sample listed on the liner notes, however, is “Expo 83,” an instrumental single by funk-soul group The Backyard Heavies; the intro to Pete Rock’s beat seems to have been drawn from this record’s ending fade-out.

 

I think we can be fairly certain that crediting the Heavies joint was an ass-covering measure, and that the actual sample was grabbed from the intro of Pete Rock’s joint. For one thing, attentive listeners will be able to hear those bouncy, echoey keyboard(?) chords from the rendition heard on “The Basement” at some points in “Runaway.” Sure, Kanye could have experimented till he figured out the precise mix of effects, or just asked Rock if he remembered how it was done, but… what would the point have been?

I’m not sure what I can say about ‘Runaway’s vocoder-assisted outro that I haven’t already said. So, at the risk of sounding like a broken record here goes: his is yet another twist on the recurring theme of vocal distortion. I should add, though: how many other rappers could end a single with three solid minutes of vocoder noodling over melodramatic strings, and have it actually work? Only Kanye.

Well, that wraps it up for 2010; I hope y’all have the best holiday vacation OF ALL TIME uh, ever. Tune in next year for the thrilling conclusion to my beautiful, dark twisted breakdown of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Peace out!