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Homecoming (Kanye West song)

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"Homecoming"
Song
B-side"Good Night"[1]

"Homecoming" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West featuring uncredited vocals from Chris Martin, lead singer of the British alternative rock band Coldplay, whom he met during an impromptu jam session at Abbey Road Studios in 2006. It was released as the final single from West's third album Graduation (2007). It was released in the United Kingdom as a digital download and was due to be released as a physical single on February 4, 2008.[2] 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.[3]

Background

"Homecoming" serves as a tribute to West's hometown of Chicago, Illinois. By using an extended metaphor that personifies the city as a childhood sweetheart named Windy, West rhymes about his love for Chicago and his guilt over leaving "her" to pursue his musical dream.[4] West's opening and closing lines lyrically reference "I Used to Love H.E.R.," a similar metaphoric hip-hop song written by his close friend, label-mate, and fellow Chicago rapper Common, who would later make two cameo appearances in the single's music video.

The lyrics for "Homecoming" were originally recorded by Kanye West with GOOD Music recording artist John Legend singing a different chorus on a song called "Home." This track circulated on West's 2003 mixtape Get Well Soon... as well as on the advance copy of The College Dropout, which was never released due to a leak.[4][5][6] The original version possesses West's once trademark soulful vocal sample-based hip-hop production style.[5] "Homecoming" contains lyrics that are different than John Legend's because Chris Martin requested that Kanye West change the song's lyrical content.[7]

Music video

Screen shots of the music video for "Homecoming" were posted by Kanye on his official blog on March 6, 2008.[8]

The official music video for "Homecoming" was released on April 1, 2008 by Kanye West on his official Vimeo account.[9] Kanye later posted the video on his official blog.[10]

The entire video is in black and white. The video features a montage of Kanye walking through many different areas of his home city of Chicago. Common, Kanye's label mate makes an appearance in the video. Chris Martin is featured in the video playing the piano and singing the chorus of the song, mostly in silhouette.

The video was directed by Hype Williams and it was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. BET placed it at #84 on the Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2008 countdown.[citation needed]

Track listing

  • UK:
  1. "Homecoming"
  2. "Stronger" (Andrew Dawson Remix)
  • Australian iTunes - Single[11]
  1. "Homecoming"
  2. "Good Night" (featuring Mos Def and Al Be Back)

Charts

Chart (2008) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[12] 32
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[13] 27
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[14] 17
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[15] 35
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[16] 79
Denmark (Tracklisten)[17] 15
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[18] 13
Invalid chart entered Germany2 17
Ireland (IRMA)[19] 5
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[20] 26
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[21] 39
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[22] 22
Norway (VG-lista)[23] 11
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[24] 19
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] 38
Turkey (Billboard Türkiye) 21
UK Singles (OCC)[26] 9
US Billboard Hot 100[27] 69
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[28] 53
US Hot Rap Songs (Billboard)[29] 15
US Pop 100 (Billboard)[30] 50
US Rhythmic (Billboard)[31] 27

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[32] Platinum 1,000,000*

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Country Release date
United Kingdom February 18, 2008 (2008-02-18)
United States May 13, 2008 (2008-05-13)
Australia[33] June 16, 2008 (2008-06-16)

References

  1. ^ "iTunes - Music - Homecoming - Single by Kanye West". Phobos.apple.com. 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
  2. ^ HMV.com
  3. ^ UK Music Charts | The Official UK Top 75 Singles: Week of Mon 24 Mar - Yahoo! Music UK
  4. ^ a b Greene, Jayson (2007-09-10). "Kanye West Graduation – Music Review". Stylus Magazine. stylusmagazine.com. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  5. ^ a b Benbow, Julian (2007-09-11). "After the Hip-hop Hype". The Boston Globe. Globe Newspaper Company. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  6. ^ Ahmed, Insanul (September 21, 2011). "Kanye West × The Heavy Hitters, Get Well Soon (2003) – Clinton Sparks' 30 Favorite Mixtapes". Complex. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
  7. ^ Dharmic X (2013-11-21). "Kanye West: "I Will Never Be on The Same Level Rap-Wise as Jay Z"". Complex. Complex Media, LLC. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  8. ^ kanYe West : Blog
  9. ^ HOMECOMING on Vimeo
  10. ^ kanYe West : Blog
  11. ^ Australian iTunes - Homecoming - Single Retrieved: June 13, 2008
  12. ^ "Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – Homecoming". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  13. ^ "Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – Homecoming" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  14. ^ "Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – Homecoming" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  15. ^ "Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – Homecoming" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  16. ^ "Kanye West Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  17. ^ "Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – Homecoming". Tracklisten. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  18. ^ "Kanye West feat. Chris Martin: Homecoming" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  19. ^ "Chart Track: Week 5, 2008". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  20. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Kanye West feat. Chris Martin" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  21. ^ "Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – Homecoming" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  22. ^ "Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – Homecoming". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  23. ^ "Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – Homecoming". VG-lista. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  24. ^ "Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – Homecoming". Singles Top 100. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  25. ^ "Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – Homecoming". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  26. ^ "Kanye West: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  27. ^ "Kanye West Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  28. ^ "Kanye West Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  29. ^ "Kanye West Chart History (Hot Rap Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  30. ^ "Kanye West – Awards (Billboard Singles)". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved December 18, 2012. {{cite web}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |work= at position 1 (help)
  31. ^ "Kanye West Chart History (Rhythmic)". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  32. ^ "American single certifications – Kanye West – Homecoming". Recording Industry Association of America.
  33. ^ Herald Sun HiT Australian release dates. Retrieved on June 19, 2008
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