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"Good Morning" is the opening track from Kanye West's third studio album, Graduation (2007).[1] The song features backing vocals from Connie Mitchell and The World Famous Tony Williams, neither of whom are credited.[2]

It features the narrative of waking the listener up on Graduation Day, while Kanye raps about reminiscing on his college days and receiving his "rapping degree" in the third verse.[2]

Production[]

The song's melody is based around Elton John's 1975 song, "Someone Saved My Life Tonight". Vocals from Jay-Z's 2001 song, "The Ruler's Back", are also sampled in the outro.[3]

Background[]

A leaked demo of the song revealed that Ye was working on the song as far back as May 2006. This version features more minimalistic production compared to the released version with no verses.[4] It was first previewed by Ye on August 13, 2007, when BBC Radio 1Xtra hosted an exclusive event with Ye.[1]

Music video[]

The music video for "Good Morning" was released on August 25, 2008.[1] The video takes place in a fictional, futuristic city named Universe City. In the video, the Dropout Bear wakes up and realizes that he is late for his graduation ceremony. He quickly dresses himself up and starts up his DeLorean, but it breaks down, forcing the Dropout Bear to find another way to get to school. First, he tries to ride the bus, but the line is too long, so he tries to catch the subway instead. However, the doors on the subway close right before the Dropout Bear could get in, so he had no choice but to walk. During his trip, he is chased down by a ghost, who eats the bear and transports him to an alternate dimension with lightning bolts all around. Finally, the bear falls down a hole and goes back into Universe City. The bear then arrives at his school just in time and takes off his jacket to reveal his robe and graduation cap, and accepts his graduation certificate. Afterward, the bear talks with his classmates (who are all also animals). They all throw their graduation caps in the air to celebrate. At the end, the bear rides into space in his DeLorean with several of his classmates.

The video was directed by Takashi Murakami, who also created the cover art for Graduation, and later, KIDS SEE GHOSTS (2018).[1] A clip of the video was leaked onto the Internet on November 12, 2007.[5]

Live performances[]

The song was performed as the opening track on the setlist for Ye's Glow in the Dark Tour.[6]

Lyrics[]

[Intro]
Uh, uh
Uh, uh

[Chorus]
Good mornin'
Good mornin'
Good mornin'
Good mornin'

[Verse 1]
Wake up, Mr. West, Mr. West
Mr. Fresh, Mr. By Himself, he's so impressed
I mean, damn, did you even see the test?
You got D's, motherfucker, D's, Rosie Perez
And yer ass barely passed any and every class
Lookin' at every ass, cheated on every test
I guess, this is my dissertation
Homie, this shit is basic, welcome to Graduation

[Chorus]
Good mornin'
Good mornin'
Good mornin'
Good mornin'

[Verse 2]
Good mornin', on this day we become legendary
Everythin' we dreamed of
I'm like the fly Malcolm X, buy any jeans necessary
Detroit Red cleaned up
From the streets to the league, from an eighth to a key
But you graduate when you make it up outta the streets
From the moments of pain, look how far we done came
Haters sayin' you changed, now you doin' your thing

[Chorus]
Good mornin'
Good mornin'
Good mornin' and—
Good mornin'

[Verse 3]
Good mornin' and look at the valedictorian
Scared of the future while I hop in the DeLorean
Scared to face the world, complacent career student
Some people graduate, but be still stupid
They tell you, "Read this, eat this, don't look around
Just peep this, preach this, teach us, Jesus"
Okay, look up now, they done stole yo' streetness
After all of that, you received this

[Chorus]
Good mornin'
Hustlers, that's if you're still livin', get on down
Every time that we hear them
Good mornin'
Hustlers, that's if you're still livin', get on down
Every time that we hear them
Good mornin'
Hustlers, that's if you're still livin', get on down
Every time that we hear them
Good mornin'
Hustlers, that's if you're still livin', get on down

[Outro]
Get on down
Get— Get on down
Get on down
Get— Get on down

Trivia[]

  • This is the first opening track from Ye's albums that isn't a skit.

References[]

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