Blame Game
"Blame Game" is a song by American hip-hop recording artist Kanye West from his fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). The song features recording artist John Legend and was produced by West, Justin Franks, and Mike Dean. The song features a hip hop skit provided by comedian Chris Rock. It uses the piano composition "Avril 14th" by Aphex Twin. Lyrically, the song contains West's thoughts on past break-ups and explores themes of unrequited love, heartbreak, and spousal abuse. Midway through the song, Rock delivers an extended monologue as the new boyfriend of West's past lover.
For other uses, see Blame Game (disambiguation)."Blame Game"
2010
7:49
- Kanye West
- DJ Frank E
- Mike Dean
Critics were generally complimentary and praised Legend's vocal delivery. The appearance by Rock was widely noted as a surprising element of the song and received mixed criticism, though some critics described it as a highlight. It charted on the South Korean Gaon Chart at position 81. West and Legend performed "Blame Game" together on Vevo Presents GOOD Music at SXSW. The song was featured in West's 2010 short film Runaway. West planned to produce a music video for the song featuring Amber Rose but she declined the offer of appearing and West scrapped the video.
Composition[edit]
"Blame Game" is built on the piano composition "Avril 14th" by Aphex Twin.[15] The song begins with a minute long introduction sung by Legend.[17][19] "Blame Game" has a lush, cello-driven production with predominant piano.[17] After Legend's introduction, West raps his verses in a highly melodic manner, almost singing his lines.[19] West's forceful delivery expresses hurt and contempt.[11][20] The song's soulful sound juxtaposes West's angry lyrics: "been a long time since I spoke to you in a bathroom, ripping you up, fuckin' and chokin' you".[21] He subsequently raps less antagonistically and repeatedly confesses "I can't love you this much".[22]
West's vocals are substantially manipulated throughout the song from "naturally clear-sounding and ominously pitched-down as it pans back and forth",[21] as they are slowed down, sped up, edited substantially, and altered in various ways, giving the song a brooding, ominous mood.[21][23] Pitchfork writer Ryan Dombal wrote that this effect "bottoms out with a verse in which Kanye's voice is sped up, slowed down and stretched out ... The effect is almost psychotic, suggesting three or four inner monologues fighting over smashed emotions."[24] AbsolutePunk's Drew Beringer commented that the vocal altercations gives the sense of the "multiple personalities and paranoia he tries to overcome."[23]
On "Blame Game", West attempts to call his past lover, but he receives a call back instead and he hears a conversation between her and Chris Rock,[25][26] who begins an extended monologue approximately five minutes into the song.[27] Chris Rock performs a vulgar, profanity-ridden sketch in which he compliments his lover's dress sense and sexual technique, and asks her who taught her these skills.[19][28] Each time he asks, the answer is the same: "Yeezy taught me." Rock proceeds to thank 'Yeezy', stating that he will support him by buying the album and threatens to 'shoot a bootlegger'. Rock finishes the skit by telling West's past lover that "Yeezy taught you well".[19][29] Andy Gill of The Independent commented that a similar "alliance of aristocratic piano and cello with less rarefied elements underpins 'Blame Game', a brutal rumination on West's sexual appetite".[18][30]
Reception[edit]
"Blame Game" received mostly positive reviews. The Village Voice's Sean Fennessey said that it is "not the flashiest or most forward-thinking song on the album, but certainly the most earthbound. And therefore the most important."[31] Chicago Sun-Times writer Thomas Conner complimented Rock's "hilarious, X-rated spiel" and cited the song as the best example of West's ability "to contrast the light and dark pieces against each other, the profane and the sacred", writing that it utilizes "Legend's soft, pretty voice to sing a smooth, troubling refrain."[17] Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield called it one of the funniest of West's career, a "confessional" song where he "honestly struggles to figure out why he has to be such a douchebag."[22] Steve Jones of USA Today cited the song as the album's pièce de résistance that "plays out with growing hostility over John Legend's moody piano work."[32] Nitsuh Abebe of New York mused that the song successfully showcased a "gloomy and elegiac" presentation.[33]
David Browne of Time called it "that rare, effortless fusion of penthouse-boudoir R&B and hip hop grit", but was ambivalent about its segue "into an interminable, decidedly unfunny skit in which a guy keeps asking a woman how she learned such mind-boggling bedroom moves."[26] In contrast, Kitty Empire of The Guardian felt that "comedian Chris Rock is hilariously foul-mouthed at the end of Blame Game."[25] Becky Bain of Idolator called the song epic, but felt that Rock's appearance served as a detriment to the song, writing; "we’d kill the last two minutes with Rock’s unfocused, not-as-funny-as-we-think-it’s-supposed-to-be rambling, but otherwise, this is quite a beautiful track."[6] "Blame Game" charted on South Korean Gaon Chart at position 81.[34]
Marketing[edit]
The song was also featured in Runaway, a 35-minute music video directed by West set to music from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.[35][36] After a traumatic dinner sequence, the song is played during a tense moment between West and the phoenix.[37] At the Vevo Presents GOOD Music musical presentation, the song was performed by both West and Legend together.[38] The two performed a few songs together before Legend performed his own single "Ordinary People" separately.[38]
A planned music video for the song was going to feature an appearance by Amber Rose, however she declined the offer.[39] Rose commented that she passed on the video because she "just felt like Chris Rock's part was disrespectful", believing that the song painted her in a negative light.[12] Another reason for her declining to appear in the video because of her then-current relationship with rapper Wiz Khalifa, feeling that appearing in an ex-boyfriend's musical venture would be disrespectful to Khalifa.[12] West told Rose that both "Blame Game" and the Runaway film were partially inspired by his relationship with her.[12]
Credits adapted from liner notes for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010).[40]