Amazing (Kanye West song)


"Amazing" is a song by American recording artist and record producer Kanye West from his fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak. It was released to US rhythmic contemporary and urban contemporary radio stations as the third single from the album on March 10, 2009 by GOOD Music and Def Jam. The song was written by West, who co-produced it with Jeff Bhasker. The song includes vocals from American rapper Young Jeezy and was produced by West along with co-producer Jeff Bhasker. It also features background vocals from Mr Hudson and Tony Williams. The musical style of the song includes piano, bass and drums. The lyrics see West boasting and attempting to capture some of his former bravado, though his auto-tuned vocals on the song sound draggy, low-pitched and depressed.
Since being released, "Amazing" has received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Young Jeezy's appearance was commented on by a number of them, as well as the song's position on 808s & Heartbreak. The song peaked on the Swedish Singles Chart and US Billboard Hot 100 at number 42 and 81 respectively in 2009, and it was later certified platinum in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2015. The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Hype Williams and includes aerial shots of the Hawaiian Islands, with appearances from both West and Young Jeezy. The video was well received by critics.
"Amazing" received nominations at the 2009 BET Hip Hop Awards as well as the Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. It was used by the NBA during the 2009 Playoffs, and is featured on both the NBA 2K10 and NBA 2K13 soundtracks. UFC Fighter Frank Mir has walked out to the song before his fights.

Background and conception

"Amazing" marked the second musical collaboration between West and Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy. West had previously made a guest appearance on Jeezy's single "Put On" in May 2008, with his contribution marking the first time he used Auto-Tune for his voice on record. "Put On" was nominated for the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in 2009, standing as the first collaboration between West and Young Jeezy to be nominated for a Grammy Award. Jeezy spoke of fellow album track "RoboCop", which he co-wrote, stating: "You know how you hear some songs and they just sound big? That's one of them. Right away, it just sounds like a big hit."
Co-writer and producer Jeff Bhasker discussed the song's conception: "That was actually the first song I brought the beat and the music. I started the idea and was like, 'That's hot.' So I brought that music and he brought his editorial to it and then wrote the melody, and said we're gonna get Jeezy on it. We were searching for sort of a tribal-ish drum sounds and that just came out. It's a very simple and dark sounding piano figure."

Composition

"Amazing" is musically inspired by the sentiments of 1980s pop music and has a stark, stripped-down modern hip-hop sound. The song combines usage of piano with bass and drums in its musical style. The track includes West boasting and trying to capture some of his former bravado and is a hype up song. Despite West's arrogance shown, his vocals sound draggy, low-pitched and depressed, with auto-tune being used, and he mutters "I'm a problem that will never ever be solved." This problem was partly created by bravado, since masculine pride has long been used as a force for the obliteration of vulnerability in rap, including usage by the likes of DMX and the Geto Boys. West has assistance from the grunting of vocalists Mr Hudson and Tony Williams in the track. Young Jeezy delivers a rap verse with raspiness in his voice, which is the only part of the track to include a rap.

Release and reception

On November 24, 2008, the track was released as the fourth track on West's fourth studio album 808s & Heartbreak. Five months later, "Amazing" was serviced as a single to US rhythmic contemporary and urban contemporary radio stations on March 10, 2009, and had been known to be scheduled for release as a single since February.
The song has since received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Alex Macpherson of The Guardian pointed to Young Jeezy's guest appearance as being among "the isolated moments of levity" on the album that "are a relief." The song was praised by PopMatters Dave Heaton for being "filled with unusual sounds" and Heaton elaborated, writing of West's performance: "At first you just notice how the coldness of his voice, singing a purposely repetitive tune, is balanced by choir-ish vocals and keyboard. But there's also lower, growling backing vocals that eventually turn to a Chewbacca-like grunt, which together with the beats conveys a toughness even while the song creeps forward with gentle melancholy." Heaton pointed to Young Jeezy's feature as "the perfect choice for the cold atmosphere of the album." "Amazing" was described by Jon Caramanica of The New York Times as something that "sounds as if it were recorded inside a whirring old grandfather clock, a collection of precisely moving parts neatly interlocking — classic Kanye." Scott Plagenhoef from Pitchfork slammed the song, calling it one of 808s & Heartbreak's "low points" and blaming Young Jeezy's appearance by opining that "when the mood is broken up by outsiders or actual rapping, the results aren't pretty." Retrospectively, Okayplayer author Shamz branded the song as what puts him to sleep.

Accolades

Amazing" was nominated for the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2010, which made it the second collaboration between West and Young Jeezy to earn a Grammy Award nomination. The song ultimately lost the award to the single "Crack a Bottle" by Eminem featuring 50 Cent and Dr. Dre. At the 2009 BET Hip Hop Awards, the song was nominated for the Verizon People's Champ Award, ultimately losing to "Throw It in the Bag" by Fabolous featuring The-Dream.

Music video

Background and synopsis

The music video for "Amazing" was filmed in Kauai, Hawaii and directed by Hype Williams, who rented a helicopter with West for it; there was a high production value. West blogged about being in Hawaii on March 27, 2009, with Rap-Up reporting on April 13 that West had shot the video in the country. On the same day that Rap-Up reported him to be in Hawaii, West posted stills from the music video on his blog and wrote "AMAZING feat. YOUNG JEEZY directed by HYPE WILLIAMS coming soon. Here's some stills till then!" On April 23, 2009, the video premiered on BET's 106 & Park; West had released multiple music videos for 808s & Heartbreak by this time.
The video includes a series of aerial shots of the Hawaiian Islands and sees West contemplating nature whilst feeling lonesome. Young Jeezy has a cameo in it, along with a girl wearing a bikini by the fire.

Reception

The music video was released to positive reviews from critics. Amrit Singh claimed that the "aerial shots of Hawaii are inherently amazing" and wrote of West's appearance that "seeing him contemplating nature by his lonesome has a certain poetry to it." Despite not being a fan of "Amazing" itself, Shamz of Okayplayer praised the video, writing "Hype Williams really put his foot in this video. I'm contemplating booking that flight to Hawaii as we speak." The staff of Pitchfork looked at the music video as what "has some seriously high production values." The music video ranked at number 91 on BET's Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2009 countdown.

Commercial performance

Along with "See You in My Nightmares", "Amazing" charted without actually being released as a single following the debut of 808s & Heartbreak. In North America, the song entered at number 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 63 on the Hot Canadian Digital Singles chart on the week of December 4, 2008.
Although the song relapsed the following weeks from its initial debut, "Amazing" re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 to peak at number 81 on May 14, 2009 after being released as a single. The song entered the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at number 96 for the issue date of March 28. The song moved up four spaces to reach number 92 on the chart one week later. That next week, "Amazing" entered and peaked at number 22 on the US Hot Rap Songs chart for the issue dated April 11, 2009. In the same week as this entry, the song climbed again on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart to reach the position of number 74. "Amazing" peaked at number 65 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for the issue date of April 18. It was certified platinum in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling 500,000 certified units on April 1, 2015. On June 12, 2009, the song debuted on the Swedish Singles Chart at number 42.

Live performances

"Amazing" was first performed live on BET's 106 & Park on November 25, 2008. Backed by a seven-piece band, West performed the song alongside Young Jeezy before segueing into the two's previous collaboration, "Put On". West provided another live rendition of "Amazing" during his appearance on VH1 Storytellers on February 28, 2009. On March 21, West performed the song as the intro for his GOOD Music concert at Levi's/Fader Fort during SXSW. He performed the solo part of the song on July 5 in Hyde Park, London for his headline slot on the final day of the Wireless Festival 2009.

In the media

"Amazing" was used by the NBA during the 2009 playoffs as part of their advertisement campaign, with the likes of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant being sequenced playing basketball alongside the audio. The song was used in the video games NBA 2K10 and NBA 2K13. UFC fighter Frank Mir has used "Amazing" as his entrance music for his fights. A tribute version of the song was included on Piano Tribute Players' 2014 album Piano Tribute to Kanye West. West's daughter North revealed in her first-ever interview on August 28, 2017 that it is her favourite song by him.

Personnel

Information taken from 808s & Heartbreak liner notes.

Certifications

Release history