And yet, his steady presence in the celebrity limelight couldn't eclipse his musical talent. With his outsized personality, he courted plenty of controversy, posing for the cover of Rolling Stone as Jesus Christ, claiming that "George Bush doesn't care about Black people" during a televised Hurricane Katrina fundraiser, and infamously interrupting an awards speech by Taylor Swift in 2009. This flamboyance made for good press, something that West enjoyed, for better or worse, throughout the course of his career. With a backpack and brightly colored polo shirt, his dapper fashion sense set him apart from many of his rap peers, while his attitude often came across as boastful and egotistical. Early on, West paired his beats with tongue-twisting raps and outspoken confidence. And after new buddy Pusha T gets done his gentle snarl of a guest verse, Kanye returns with the sort of heartbroken, resigned singsong, finally ripping away from the bravado he shows so well.One of the most influential and critically lauded artists of the early 21st century, Kanye West went from hip-hop beatmaker to worldwide hitmaker as his production work for artists such as Jay-Z led to a major-label recording contract and, ultimately, a wildly successful solo career that counted an unbroken string of chart-topping, multi-platinum albums and nearly two-dozen Grammy Awards for classic sets like 2005's Late Registration, 2007's Graduation, and 2010's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Lonely piano plinks gradually find company amid string whooshes and beautifully melodic puddles of bass. Here, he finally shows some of the self-awareness that comes with time: "I just blame everything on you/ At least that's what I'm good at." That endlessly requoteable chorus (alas, edited on the official stream) has legs, and Kanye's arrangement locates a warmth he's been missing lately. On that album, he had nothing but rage for the "stupid L.A.
Instead, they read like an embarrassed retraction of all the bile he threw at an ex on 2008's musically masterful, ethically fucked 808s and Heartbreak.
Lo and behold, the "Runaway" lyrics have nothing to do with Taylor. And as the VMA moment fades into the rearview, "Runaway" is able to stand as just that: a song, and a seriously goddam good one at that.
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