Run This Town
"Run This Town" | ||||
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Single by Jay-Z featuring Rihanna and Kanye West | ||||
from the album The Blueprint 3 | ||||
Released | August 9, 2009 | |||
Recorded | 2009 | |||
Studio | Avex Honolulu Studios (Honolulu, Hawaii) Roc The Mic Studios (New York City, New York) Westlake Recording Studios (Los Angeles, California) | |||
Genre | Rap rock | |||
Length | 4:27 (album version) 4:34 (single version) | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) |
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Jay-Z singles chronology | ||||
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Rihanna singles chronology | ||||
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Kanye West singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Run This Town" on YouTube |
"Run This Town" is a song by American rapper Jay-Z featuring Barbadian singer Rihanna and fellow American rapper Kanye West. Released on July 24, 2009, it was written by the artists alongside Athanasios Alatas, Jeff Bhasker, and No I.D., the latter producing it with West.[1] "Run This Town" was released as the second single from Jay-Z's eleventh studio album, The Blueprint 3.
The song was a commercial success, reaching number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the charts in the United Kingdom. It additionally made top ten chartings in ten other countries including in Australia, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.
"Run This Town" won
Background
"Run This Town" is the second official single from the album
The song was originally intended to feature just Jay and Rihanna, but he also wanted Kanye on it, because he felt that it would fit the texture of the song. So one day when Kanye was in New York, he came in at 10am and in two takes he was done.”[5]
The song made its radio debut on July 24, 2009, at 9:11 am to coincide with the album's release date, September 11, 2009.
Reception
Critical reception
"Run This Town" received mixed reviews from music critics. Following the leak of the song, Tom Breihan, Pitchfork gave a positive review. "The new Jay-Z/Rihanna/Kanye West track from 'The Blueprint 3', leaked this morning, and it bangs. Jay's 'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)' left the impression that The Blueprint 3 might be a cantankerous grumpy-old-man rap album, but 'Run This Town' totally obliterates that. Thanks to a molten motivational Rihanna chorus, it's pop-friendly as hell, without compromising Jay's fundamental hardness. And Jay is actually rapping like he cares, something he's only done intermittently over the last few years. Still, Kanye gets the hottest line on the song: 'What you think I rap for, to push a fuckin' RAV 4?'"[10] Following the album's release, Pitchfork made another review of the song, again praising the track. "There's something for everybody: Jay [-Z] sounds engaged in a way he rarely has since unretiring, Rihanna coos those "ay ay"s the radio loves, and Kanye West, as you may have read, once again upstages the guy he's producing. Rihanna's hook may not be Auto-Tune'd, but it's definitely autopilot."[11]
Accolades
Most notably, "Run This Town" was nominated for
Year | Ceremony | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | 52nd Grammy Awards[15]
|
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
Won |
Best Rap Song
|
Won | ||
2010 | BET Hip-Hop Awards[16] | Best Hip-Hop Video | Nominated |
International Dance Music Awards[17] | Best Hip-Hop Dance Track | Nominated | |
People's Choice Awards[18] | Favourite Music Collaboration | Won | |
2011 | Black Reel Awards[19] | Best Original or Adapted Song | Nominated |
Chart performance
"Run This Town" entered the
In Australia, "Run This Town" entered the
In New Zealand, "Run This Town" debuted at number fourteen on the
In Canada, the song peaked at number six on the Canadian Hot 100.[31]
In the United Kingdom, "Run This Town" entered at number one on the
Throughout the rest of Europe, the song also performed well, reaching the top five in Ireland[36] and Norway[37] and the top ten in the Czech Republic,[38] Sweden[39] and Switzerland.[40] It also reached the top twenty in Denmark[41] and Germany.[42]
Music video
Background
The video for "Run This Town" was directed by
"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," he said. "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 leaked on August 19, 2009, by MTV Germany. It premiered officially on August 20 on MTV, as well other MTV channels across the world. The video was released to iTunes on August 25, 2009.
Synopsis and reception
The music video involves crowds of protesters in masks, holding torches whilst walking. Rihanna takes a bandanna from covering her mouth and performs the intro of the song in a park area with explosions firing around her. Jay-Z then begins the second verse while in a temple-like area. Kanye West sings his verse in a cave-like area holding a torch and having a bandanna cover his face like Jay-Z and Rihanna. Throughout the video, the trio are on a stage platform with the mob of protesters previously shown surrounding them.
Daniel Kreps of
Remixes and cover versions
On July 20, 2010, an orchestrated version of "Run This Town" created by E.S. Posthumus was officially released to US iTunes under the Roc Nation imprint, in its studio format. This was eventually played before Super Bowl XLIV and Nashville Predators playoff games.[44] Metalcore band Miss May I covered this song for the compilation album Punk Goes Pop Volume 03..[citation needed]
Lil Wayne freestyled "Run This Town" on his highly acclaimed mixtape No Ceilings.
Usage in media
"Run this Town" has been used in the video game NBA 2K13.[45] The song was featured in the teaser trailer for 2013 video game Battlefield 4 and the trailer for the 2022 movie The 355. It was to be included in coverage of Thursday Night Football on CBS and the NFL Network in 2014, however, it was pulled from the opening segment in the first broadcast in the wake of a domestic violence controversy involving NFL player Ray Rice.[46][47] After Rihanna took to Twitter to complain, the song was removed from further games.[48] The song was performed at the closing ceremony at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London with British rock band Coldplay and Rihanna. Rihanna performed the song as part of her set during the halftime show of Super Bowl LVII.
Track listing
- Digital download[49]
- "Run This Town" (featuring Rihanna and Kanye West) (single version) – 4:34
- CD single[50]
- "Run This Town" (featuring Rihanna and Kanye West) (single version) – 4:34
- "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" – 4:15
Charts
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA)[28] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
Germany (BVMI)[90] | Gold | 150,000‡ |
Italy (FIMI)[91] | Gold | 50,000‡ |
New Zealand (RMNZ)[30] | Gold | 7,500* |
United Kingdom (BPI)[93] | Platinum | 406,000[92] |
United States (RIAA)[95] | 2× Platinum | 3,490,000[94] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Release history
Country | Date | Format | Label |
---|---|---|---|
United States | July 24, 2009 | Radio premiere | Atlantic Records |
United States[7] | August 9, 2009 | Urban radio | |
Australia[96] | August 10, 2009 | Digital download | |
Austria[97] | |||
Belgium[98] | |||
Brazil[99] | |||
Canada[100] | |||
Denmark[101] | |||
Finland[102] | |||
France[103] | |||
Germany[104] | |||
Ireland[105] | |||
Italy[106] | |||
Mexico[107] | |||
Netherlands[108] | |||
New Zealand[109] | |||
Norway[110] | |||
Sweden[111] | |||
Switzerland[112] | |||
United Kingdom[113] | |||
United States[114] | |||
United Kingdom[8] | August 31, 2009 | CD single | |
Germany[115] | September 9, 2009 |
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