Run This Town
| Run This Town | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Jay-Z feat. Kanye West and Rihanna | |
| publication | July 24, 2009 |
| length | 4:27 (Album Version) 4:34 (Single Version) |
| Genre (s) | Hip-hop , R&B |
| text | Shawn Carter , Kanye West, Robyn Fenty , Ernest Wilson , Jeff Bhasker, Alatas Athanasios |
| music | Kanye West, No ID |
| Award (s) |
Grammy Award for Best Rap Song , Grammy Award for Best Rap / Sung Collaboration |
| album | The Blueprint 3 |
Run This Town is a 2009 song by US rapper Jay-Z , which was created in collaboration with Kanye West and Rihanna , who co-produced it with No ID . It was released as the second single from Jay-Z's eleventh studio album The Blueprint 3 .
In January 2010, the song won a People's Choice Award in the Favorite Music Collaboration category. It also received two Grammy Awards in the categories " Best Rap Song " and " Best Rap / Sung Collaboration ". So Jay-Z got his tenth, Kanye West his fourteenth and Rihanna her third Grammy Award.
background
Run This Town sampled the song Someday in Athens by the Greek band The 4 Levels of Existence . The album's second official single was supposed to be Off That featuring Drake , but was eventually changed to Run This Town starring Rihanna and Kanye West , as Jay-Z confirmed in an interview with Tim Westwood : “We're decoupling Run This Town . It's me, Rihanna and Kanye. ”The song made its radio debut on July 24th at 9:11 am in the US. The official single was released on iTunes on August 11, 2009. It was officially released on Urban Radio the week of August 9, 2009. It was released in the UK on August 31, 2009. Rihanna's entry was her first musical appearance after her violent argument on February 8 with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown . It should be noted that the album version of the song has a slightly faster tempo than the single version.
On July 20, 2010, the instrumental version of the song by ES Posthumus was officially released on US iTunes .
Critical reception
Run This Town received several critical votes. About.com believes Jay-Z's presence and writing style are missing.
However, Pitchfork Media praised the song and said that there was something for everyone.
Digital Spy said, “Three of the greatest stars in the world of hip hop and R&B on one song. Run This Town is never traded as a flop, it is a huge success. Kanye's rap ("Reebok baby, you need to try some new things, have you ever had shoes without shoestrings?") And Rihanna's "hey-hey" chorus make Jay-Z's rap superfluous, which certainly wasn't the goal. The chaotic, military march beats are impressive. But even this song still doesn't seem to be enough for a rap legend. "
Music video
The video was filmed on August 6, 2009 in Fort Totten Park, New York City and directed by Anthony Mandler . It was shown for the first time on August 19, 2009 on MTV Germany . It shows people wearing masks and holding torches. Rihanna takes some kind of bandana from her mouth and starts singing the intro, while explosions start around her in the park. Then Jay-Z sings the second verse in a temple-like setting. For most of the video, the trio can be seen on a small platform with a mob around them. Kanye West sings his verses in a cave where only a torch can be seen as a source of light. Like Jay-Z and Rihanna, he also wears a bandana around his head.
In the United States, the video premiered on MTV on August 20 . In other countries it also premiered on their MTV channels and on the Internet. Anthony Mandler, the director of the video, said:
"There's a tone and feeling to the song, there's a militia, a march and a kind of rambunctious energy to it that, for me, I immediately wanted to tap into. I showed [Jay] some references from the classic rebellious zones of the world. We live in very orderly society in America, but when you get into Brazil, you get into the Middle East, you get into Africa, you get into Eastern Europe, when you get into places like that, there's a different sort of 'we run this town '[going on]. There's less order and more chaos. So we looked at a lot of those references, new photos and historical photos, to capture that kind of falling-apart feeling. We wanted you to feel uneasy throughout the piece. We wanted there to be a constant layer of tension through the piece. Even in the way I shot - where the camera comes by Jay, it doesn't stop on him, it goes to Rihanna - there's kind of this chaos of revealing and covering and concealing. And things happen offscreen that you don't see. I think people are really gonna flip on this. "
The video was released on iTunes on August 25, 2009.
It reached number 11 on BET 's Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2009 Countdowns.
Live performances
Jay-Z, Rihanna and West sang Run This Town on The Jay Leno Show on September 14, 2009.
Commercial win
Run This Town climbed to number three in the third week of its chart presence on the Billboard Hot 100 after the song debuted at number 88 and rose to number 66 in week two. The song reached number 2. It is Jay-Z's second-highest chart position in his career as a lead singer. 1,437,573 copies were sold in the US in November 2009 and over 2 million copies in May 2010.
It also debuted at number 16 on the Irish Singles Chart based on downloads alone, peaking at number four the following week. The song went digital on August 30, 2009 in the UK . On the second day after its release, the song reached number one on the UK iTunes charts. On September 6th, Run This Town peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart and Jay-Z got his first number one hit as a lead singer and his fourth overall. He previously topped the charts twice with Beyoncé with Crazy in Love and Déjà Vu and his third together with Rihanna in 2007 with Umbrella , which stayed at number one for ten weeks. Run This Town was the third number one hit for Rihanna (after Umbrella and Take a Bow ) and the third for Kanye West, who previously topped the charts with Stronger and American Boy (along with Estelle ). The song was also Rihanna's seventh top two hit. The song sold 62,000 in the first week.
The song reached number 66 in Australia on September 14, 2009. In the second week, the song jumped to number 25 and ultimately reached number 10.
In Germany the song only reached 18th place, in Austria only 29th place and in Switzerland the top ten with 9th place.
Run This Town had a chart placement in a total of 15 countries plus the European Hot 100 Singles Charts. It reached the top ten of eleven of these.
Charts
|
|
Awards for music sales
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
||
 Australia (ARIA)
|
 platinum
|
70,000 |
 New Zealand (RMNZ)
|
 gold
|
7,500 |
 United States (RIAA)
|
2 × platinum
|
3,490,000 |
 United Kingdom (BPI)
|
platinum
|
600,000 |
| All in all |
1 × gold 4 × platinum |
4,167,500 |
Main article: Jay-Z / Music Sales Awards
Individual evidence
- ↑ Monica Herrera: Run This Town . In: The Hollywood Reporter , August 8, 2009. Archived from the original on August 14, 2009. Retrieved on August 9, 2009.
- ↑ The 4 Levels of Existence .
- ↑ Shaheem Reid: Drake Is Glad He's 'Delivering' With Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige Collabos . In: MTV , MTV Networks , June 19, 2009. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
- ^ Shaheem Reid: Jay-Z Denies Blackballing Chris Brown From BET Awards . In: MTV , MTV Networks , July 22, 2009. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
- ↑ Shaheem Reid: Jay-Z's 'Run This Town' Makes Radio Debut . In: MTV , MTV Networks , July 24, 2009. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
- ↑ R&R :: Going For Adds :: Urban . In: R&R . Archived from the original on August 13, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
- ↑ Pete Lewis: Jay-Z: A B&S Classic Interview December 1998 . In: Blues & Soul , B&S, August 20, 2009. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
- ^ Daniel Kreps: Rihanna Returns and Kanye West Shines on Jay-Z's “Run This Town” . In: Rolling Stone , Jann Wenner , July 24, 2009. Archived from the original on July 27, 2009. Retrieved on August 9, 2009.
- ^ Run This Town / Posthumus Zone (Medley) - single
- ↑ About.com . About.com. September 19, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
- ^ Run This Town Music Review . Pitchfork Media. September 19, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
- ^ Run This Town . DigitalSpy. September 19, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
- ↑ Jayson Rodriguez: Jay-Z's 'Run This Town' Video: Check Out A Preview Here! . Mtv.com. August 14, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
- ↑ Joyce Eng: Rihanna, Jay-Z and Kanye West to Kick Off Jay Leno Show . In: Seattle Post-Intelligencer , August 7, 2009. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
- ↑ Samantha Hayden: Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kanye To Welcome Jay Leno To Primetime . In: Billboard , Nielsen Business Meida, Inc, August 6, 2009. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
- ^ Paul Grein: Week Ending Aug. 16, 2009: King Of Country Boots King Of Pop - Chart Watch . In: new.music.yahoo.com . Yahoo! Inc .. August 9, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
- ↑ Chart Post: Billboard Hot 100 Singles (October 28 - November 4, 2009) . atrl.net. October 28, 2009. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
- ^ Grein, Paul (May 26, 2010). "Week Ending May 23, 2010: Direct From 1972, The Rolling Stones" . new.music.yahoo.com. Yahoo! Inc.
- ↑ >> IRMA << Irish Charts - Singles, Albums & Compilations >> . Irma.ie. September 10, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
- ^ Pandora Archives . Pandora.nla.gov.au. August 23, 2006. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
- ↑ Pandora Archive (PDF; 449 kB) Pandora.nla.gov.au. August 23, 2006. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
- ↑ ARIA . ARIA. September 14, 2009. Retrieved September 20, 2009.
- ↑ a b c d e Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
- ↑ 2009 Year End Swiss Singles Chart . Swiss Music Charts . 2009. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
- ↑ Charts Plus Year end 2009 (PDF; 391 kB) Charts Plus. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
- ↑ ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2010 Singles . Australian Recording Industry Association . September 30, 2010. Retrieved October 13, 2010.
- ↑ Latest Gold / Platinum Singles . RadioScope. Archived from the original on October 14, 2008. Retrieved October 13, 2010.
- ^ RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - "Run This Town" . Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved October 13, 2010.
- ^ Gary Trust: Ask Billboard: Rihanna's Best-Selling Songs & Albums. Billboard , June 23, 2015, accessed April 27, 2017 .
