"Homecoming" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his third studio album, Graduation (2007). The song was written by West and Warryn Campbell, who served as the producers, along with English singer Chris Martin of Coldplay, who makes a guest appearance. Martin came up with the concept during a jam session with West at Abbey Road Studios in February 2006. It was a re-working of West's 2001 recording "Home (Windy)", which was inspired by Common's "I Used to Love H.E.R.". The recording featured John Legend and a different beat, with a theme around West's hometown of Chicago that was maintained for the final version.
On February 2, 2008, "Homecoming" was released in the United Kingdom by Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings as the album's fifth and final single. It is a hip hop song with elements of gospel and pub rock, accompanied by Martin's arena rock piano. The singer also performs the chorus, questioning returning home and adding a hint of reggae. In the lyrics of the song, West delivers an ode to Chicago and narrates his relationship with the city. He personifies Chicago as a childhood sweetheart named Wendy, expressing his guilt and rejection from her after leaving for fame.
"Homecoming" received mixed reviews from music critics, who were mostly divided in their responses to Martin's feature. Some praised West's lyricism and emotional impact, while a few critics identified the song as a highlight of Graduation. It was later ranked as among West's best songs by numerous publications, including The Jamaica Observer and CraveOnline. The song charted at number 69 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while reaching number 15 on the Hot Rap Songs chart. It was more successful in Europe, peaking within the top 10 of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The song attained top 40 positions in 11 other countries, including Norway and Denmark. In the United States, the song was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was certified platinum in Denmark by IFPI Danmark and in the UK by British Phonographic Industry.
An accompanying black-and-white music video was filmed in Chicago during November 2007 and released in April 2008. The video features a montage of West traversing the streets of the city and showcases its landmarks, alongside cameos from his friends and rap acts there. It was nominated for Best Hip Hop Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. West delivered a live performance of "Homecoming" at The Box nightclub in August 2010, accompanied by Legend at the grand piano. The rapper performed the song at the Global Gathering in 2008 and Coachella in 2011. Dave delivered a piano cover of it live in April 2022.
Background
"Homecoming" was produced by West and record producer Warryn Campbell, who served as co-writers with Coldplay's lead vocalist Chris Martin. On February 13, 2006, Coldplay played a live show for BBC Radio 2 at London's Abbey Road Studios, where West was in attendance. West had wanted an appearance from Martin on "Homecoming" to crossover to working with the member of a mainstream band; they collaborated on the song after the show. The rapper felt them being in the same place showed the collaboration was meant to be and brought by God, saying he "serve[d] as a vessel". After fellow rapper Jay-Z heard the song himself, he decided to invite Martin to make a guest appearance on one of his songs. The collaborators worked on "Beach Chair", released before Graduation on Jay-Z's Kingdom Come in 2006. On fellow album track "Big Brother", West references the tension that came from Jay-Z having a feature from Martin after he told him of their collaboration. West recalled that he was initially reluctant for their collaboration due to his competitive nature, later regretting this. In December 2008, West praised Coldplay's for their consistent musicality and representing British stadium music.
"Homecoming" was a reworking of West's track known as "Home (Windy)" that was recorded for a demo tape in 2001; the term "Windy" in its original title referred to Chicago's nickname of Windy City. The track relied on a looped sample of harmonious vocals from Patti LaBelle and the BlueBelles's 1963 cover of the show tune "You'll Never Walk Alone", accompanied by West's boom bap production. It featured a hook from singer John Legend under his real name of John Stephens, singing about soldiers who did not make it back home. "Home (Windy)" circulated under the new title "Home" on numerous mixtapes that West released over the years, including Get Well Soon... in 2003. "Home" was also available on an advance copy of West's debut studio album The College Dropout (2004), the same year that Legend released his debut Get Lifted with the rapper's production. However, this version was never released due to a leak months before its intended initial release date of August 12, 2003. West used the opportunity to refine The College Dropout, as the project was significantly remixed, remastered, and revised prior to being released. In the end, "Home" and a number of original album tracks were retracted. West revised or reused lyrics from his early demo and mixtape tracks, such as basing "Homecoming" on "Home".
Writing and development An entirely new beat was made for "Homecoming", even though it used verses from "Home", while Legend's hook was replaced by a chorus from Martin. The song served as a loving, emotional ode to Chicago. West expresses a metaphoric narrative with a feminized personification of Chicago, depicting the city as a childhood sweetheart. The rapper kept most of his lyrics from the original, which were inspired by his labelmate and fellow Chicago rapper Common's "I Used to Love H.E.R." (1994) and he changed certain ones as Martin requested him to. He led Martin to forgo his typical midtempo balladry in favor of flashier, inspirational piano work. Martin's pounding piano was looped to begin off-beat for a raw, hip-hop sound, which displays a gospel influence recurrent in West's productions.
The song was described as "very emotional" by West during an interview with Concrete Loop on October 5, 2007. Inspired by his worldwide stadium tour with Irish rock band U2 from 2005 to 2006, he redesigned the song for it to be chanted. During the recording and production of Graduation, West was listening to other bands like Keane, the Killers, and Radiohead for heavy inspiration. Accordingly, the new composition features sharp piano flourishes placed over booming, stadium music to accompany a sing-along pop chorus. Meanwhile, the piano accompaniment is laden with energetic minor chords and results in arena rock.
Recording
West and Martin met each other for the very first time when Coldplay played a show at Abbey Road on February 13, 2006. The rapper originally spent a one-day session in the venue's Studio Two recording strings, then booked the Studio Three for the week's remainder. Engineer Mirek Stiles spent this time working with different vocals takes and loops alongside the production team of West, who was then joined by Martin in the control room. West and Martin engaged in an impromptu jam session that included Martin singing into a Neumann U 47 and resulted in "Homecoming"; the singer came up with the concept. A beat was played to Martin from West intended for his 2005 single "Heard 'Em Say", to which he responded by suggesting it should be "more like a homecoming or something". Studio Two, used for an initial session, was the same studio the Beatles recorded in and West later had his photo on the wall of Abbey Road alongside the band in 2021. At the time of recording, West was traveling around the world to meet collaborators. This was a different approach to his later years when people visited him to collaborate, and he frequented the Record Plant in Hollywood with percussionist Jon Brion. West also traveled to the Sony Music Studios in New York City (NYC), the Fever Recording Studio in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, and Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood to record "Homecoming". The song was mixed at Chalice Recording Studios in Hollywood and Chung King Studios in NYC.
West retracted the original vocal sample of "You'll Never Walk Alone" for "Homecoming" and replaced it with a looped piano riff, which he decorated over a stadium-friendly beat. Much of Graduation contained glossy, synthesizer-based productions influenced by West's experimentation with electronic music. He opted for a contrasting style on "Homecoming", with a more stripped-down and piano-based instrumental to complement the introspectiveness of its lyrics.
Composition and lyrics
Musically, "Homecoming" is an upbeat hip-hop song, with a duration of three minutes and twenty-six seconds (3:26). The track is a gospel-inflected jam, featuring an anthemic stadium beat and elements of pub rock. The song includes a raw, arena rock piano riff from Martin, which is looped. Martin plays an energetic piano, adding gospel elements. The instrumental of the song relies on the piano, as do the energetic minor chords. Its instrumentation also consists of percussion and heavy drums.
According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by EMI Music Publishing, the song is set in common time, with a moderate tempo of 88 beats per minute. "Homecoming" is written in the key of E minor, and Martin's vocal range spans from a low of D4 to a high of E5. The musical composition uses four-measure phrases, which follow a basic chord progression of Em–D/F–Em/G–G–Am7–D/C–Cmaj7–Bm7. Opening on a hammering E minor triad, the song's piano arrangement begins off-beat and incorporates flourishes. Throughout the track, the noise of a cheering crowd can be heard faintly in the background.
Lyrically, "Homecoming" serves as a love ode to Chicago from West and Martin. West uses introspection in a narrative that follows his bittersweet relationship with Chicago as his hometown across the song's two verses, personifying the city as a childhood sweetheart named Wendy. The rapper identifies her as "Windy" in the lyrics, mentioning that she "likes to blow trees". He acknowledges that the childhood sweetheart slipped away and expresses guilt over having left her for fame, not being able to feel at home after leaving despite rejection from her. The lyrics reference Common's "I Used to Love H.E.R.", a rap song that similarly tells of a metaphoric relationship with a woman. After each verse, Martin sings a smooth, sing-along pop chorus that poses the question of "Do you think about me now and then? / 'Cause I'm coming home again". His vocals were compared by The Observer and Digital Spy to that of musician and singer-songwriter Sting, frontman of the British post-punk band the Police. Despite being from Devon, United Kingdom, Martin sings of a memory of fireworks at Lake Michigan, one of the North American Great Lakes. The singer also croons on the chorus and he delivers the line "e-yo-oh-oh" in a reggae style, evoking Jamaican musician Bob Marley.
Promotion and release In January 2007, West told Billboard that he was considering releasing the song as the lead single for Graduation. "Homecoming" was first previewed when the digital radio station BBC Radio 1Xtra hosted an "Audience With Kanye West" event at the BBC Radio Music Theatre in London on August 13. West guided a specially selected audience through Graduation, playing the album on his MacBook Air laptop via a speaker system. "Homecoming" was one of the tracks that West played during a listening session for Graduation at the New World Stages in Manhattan, NY on August 28, 2007. Inside an auditorium, West revealed his influences and aspirations. West played the songs from start-to-finish uninterrupted, with special programs of the lyrics handed out. When an audience member asked West why "Home" became "Homecoming" with a new beat, he replied that he believed the original would not suit stadiums, but that the lyrics were too good to not use.