"Good Morning" is the first song from American hip hop recording artist and record producer Kanye West's third studio album Graduation (2007). The song was produced by West and contains samples from the recording "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" by English singer and pianist Elton John. As the opening track, the song serves as an introduction to the musical and lyrical themes of the album. West establishes the academic narrative of it, celebrating his graduation in the realm of hip hop and rapping about his skepticism of higher education over thumping, off-kilter boom bap drums.
The composition of "Good Morning" is both light and dark in tone and retains keyboard-laden, electronic instrumentation in addition to being imbued with poignant introspection. The song's atmospheric hip hop production harbors a subdued measure of progressiveness as West incorporates New-Age and ambient elements. His pensive verses are largely built on self-aggrandizing undercut with self-criticism and explore lyrical concerns pertaining to anti-establishment. The song's lyrics express motivational declarations of triumph and contain numerous pop-culture references.
"Good Morning" received generally favorable reviews from contemporary music critics, who praised its production as well as West's wordplay. West performed the song as the opener of the set-list on his worldwide Glow in the Dark Tour (2008). In the years since its release, the song has been covered and remixed by a variety of hip hop artists, record producers and musical groups.
Though not released as a single, an animated music video was produced for "Good Morning". The video was produced by Japanese animation studio OLM and directed by Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami, who had designed the album artwork of Graduation and the cover art for the album's singles. The surrealistic visuals of the video take influences from Japanese anime and utilises cel-shaded animation. The narrative is centered around West's anthropomorphic teddy bear mascot Dropout Bear. He overcomes various obstacles while racing through a futuristic city in an effort to reach his college campus in time for his graduation ceremony. The short animated feature was released to widespread critical acclaim and is often cited as one of West's most artistic music videos. It was included in the 'best-of' lists of publications such as Billboard and Complex, and has been showcased in multiple art museums.
