The Glory (song)

"The Glory" is a song by American hip hop Kanye West, from his third studio album Graduation (2007).

Background
The track's beat was initially offered to Common from West, but he rejected the offer and West used it for making a piece of his own music instead. Back in May 2006, West actually wanted "The Glory" to be released as the first single from Common's seventh studio album Finding Forever (2007) before he passed it on to West. This wasn't the only beat that Common passed on to West for Graduation though, since "Everything I Am" features a beat originally intended for him as well, which is more well known due to West announcing in the track: "Common passed on this beat, I made it to a jam".

Composition and lyrics
Multiples elements of "Save the Country" by Laura Nyro, from her 1969 album, New York Tendaberry are sampled within the track. West sings along with it at one point in the song. The sample was mentioned in 2013 when Complex listed the 20 best white girl vocal samples in rap history. "The Glory" also includes a sample of 1969 recording "Long Red" by Mountain, which is also sampled in the Lil Wayne featuring track "Barry Bonds" from the album.

The line: "Can I talk my shit again?" is reused from West's Nas and Really Doe featuring track "We Major" from his second studio album Late Registration (2005). West references NBA player Dwyane Wade in "The Glory" with the line: "In two years, Dwyane Wade became Dwyane Wade" and Wade revealed in August 2016 that he appreciated the name-drop, despite not quite understanding it. Wade was given a heads up about the shout out from West before the track was officially released. Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy are both shouted out with the lyrics: "The hood love to listen to Jeezy and Weezy/And, oh yeah, Yeezy/I did it for the glory" which is rather appropriate, since Jeezy has vocals on Graduation track "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and Wayne has a feature on "Barry Bonds". A reference is dropped by West to his stylish appearance at the 2006 Grammys with the lyrics: "So yeah, at the Grammys I went ultra Travolta/Yeah that tuxedo might have been a little guido".

Critical reception
The Guardian praised the Nyro sample, described it as one of the album's: 'several instances of brilliant, questing pop'. "The Glory" was branded by Pitchfork as being one of Graduation's 'immediate highlights'.

Legacy
Highsnobiety described the track when looking back on it ten years after the album's release as something that: 'could have appeared on either Dropout or Registration'. The lyrics: "Man the game all messed up/How I'm suppose to stand out when everybody get dressed up?" were included in a list by NYLON of ten lyrics from Graduation that still rang true in 2017.

Personnel
Information taken from Graduation liner notes.
 * Songwriters: Kanye West, Dante Smith, Laura Nyro, Norman Landsberg, Felix Pappalardi, John Ventura, Leslie Weinstein
 * Producers: Kanye West
 * Co-production: Gee Roberson, Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds
 * Recorders: Andrew Dawson, Anthony Kilhoffer
 * Mix engineer: Anthony Kilhoffer
 * Assistant engineers: Bram Tobey, Jason Agel, Nate Hertweck, Matty Green
 * String arrangement: Rosie Danvers
 * Keyboards: Omar Edwards, Andy Chatterley
 * Background vocals: John Legend, Mos Def, Jehireh Williams, Jalil Williams