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Apparently the Original Version of Kanye West’s “Runaway” Was 20 Minutes Long

A former Def Jam intern says he witnessed Ye make everyone listen to 'MBDTF' in a suit.
Screengrab of "Runaway" (Full-length Film)​ via Youtube.

There are few things better than a ridiculous Kanye West story. Just two weeks ago, comedian and actor Aziz Ansari shared a story with Bill Simmons about witnessing Ye preview My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy for a luxury luggage delivery man he'd never met before. There is no shortage of now-legendary stories about Kanye doing Kanye shit. And as DJ Booth first noted, a new Ye story is out in the world now thanks to ItsTheReal's A Waste of Time podcast.

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Brothers Eric and Jeff Rosenthal sat down with Rory Farrell, the co-host of The Joe Budden Podcast, to talk about his time interning at Def Jam in 2010. Farrell shared what may be the craziest Kanye story yet. During the conversation, he recalled a meeting in which Ye played Donda's Boy, the alleged original title of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. According to Farrell, the album originally had ten tracks with every song being at least ten minutes long, including a 20-minute-long version of "Runaway."

"I was in meetings that interns were not supposed to be in. Like, I saw some shit that they would never be like, 'Wait, you have this kid here for one month? Get him the fuck out of here!' I could say, I mean yeah, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy has been out long enough… Kanye comes in [the Def Jam offices] in July—when did it come out, in November of 2010? '09? He came in, 'Runaway' was about 20 minutes long and, of course, Kanye made us listen to all 20 minutes. This was the Rosewood era … the Taylor Swift shit [happened], he disappeared to Paris. No one had seen him. He shows up out of nowhere at the Def Jam offices like Lupe and Nas trying to get their albums out, in a full suit. He has—I want to say it was Don C's son, but don't quote me—there's a child dressed identical to him, carrying his Louis Vuitton bag. Comes in and is just throwing a fit at how shitty everyone is dressed. So he says, 'I'm not doing business today until everyone [here is wearing] a suit.' So the next day, people are scrambling to find—not just regular suits—black suits, white shirts, black ties. And, of course, they're not gonna look like the ones Kanye buys. Everyone comes into the office looking like a terrible funeral. I went to H&M, I had no money. I looked a mess, a lot of execs I won't name looked worse than me. He comes in, the child opens up his Louis Vuitton bag, throws a blanket over the conference table. Takes out two goblets—the medieval wine glasses. Pours him either white wine or water, it was in one of those unmarked bottles. And Kanye says, 'I'm parched. We can begin now.' He then takes out his laptop and starts playing My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. At this time, it was calledDonda's Boy, I don't know if that ever went out but it was called Donda's Boy and the idea was [that] he was going to do 10 tracks, and each track was going to be 10 minutes [long]. 'Runaway' was 20 minutes at the time, Pusha wasn't on it. Kanye was singing for 15 minutes of it, maybe, at the end. What was the shit he put out with Beyoncé on Hot 97? I don't think it made the album. 'See Me Now.' [Sings melody] Charlie Wilson was on it. He played that without Beyoncé—he put it out the next day. Beyoncé had to have done it like an hour after that meeting. It was him just singing the hook. What else was on it? 'All of the Lights' without Rihanna, without The-Dream, it was all Kanye. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy but it was just Kanye West. And it was amazing."

With two incredibly entertaining Kanye stories surfacing in the past two weeks, hopefully we're on schedule for another one soon or, even better, a new album. Jump to the 43-minute mark to hear Farrell's crazy story. Listen below.

Photo: Screengrab of "Runaway" (Full-length Film) via Youtube.

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