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| "Swagga Like Us" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single byJay-Z andT.I. featuringKanye West andLil Wayne | ||||
| from the albumPaper Trail | ||||
| Released | September 6, 2008 | |||
| Recorded | 2008 | |||
| Studio | Record Plant (Hollywood, California) | |||
| Genre | Hip hop | |||
| Length | 5:27 (album version) 4:14 (single version) | |||
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| T.I. singles chronology | ||||
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| Kanye West singles chronology | ||||
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| Lil Wayne singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio | ||||
| "Swagga Like Us" onYouTube | ||||
"Swagga Like Us" is a song by American rappersJay-Z,T.I.,Kanye West, andLil Wayne, released on September 6, 2008, in theUnited States as the fifthsingle from T.I.'s sixth albumPaper Trail (2008). The track was also initially slated for inclusion on Jay-Z's eleventh albumThe Blueprint 3 (2009), however it ultimately failed to make the final track listing. The song was produced by West, constructed primarily around a vocalsample of "Paper Planes" by British musicianM.I.A.
"Swagga like Us" received mostly mixed reviews from music critics: whilst many complimented T.I.'s performance and the production, most denounced the other three rappers' performances as lyrically uninspired and overly brash, with Wayne and West also singled out for criticism for the perceived overuse ofAuto-Tune in their vocals. Commercially, however, the song was a success despite a premature leak to the internet: it debuted and peaked at number five on the USBillboard Hot 100, and also charted modestly in a few overseas territories. It was nominated forBest Rap Song andBest Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the51st Grammy Awards, winning the latter: the four rappers, alongside M.I.A. herself, also performed "Swagga Like Us" and the original "Paper Planes" during the ceremony.
Kanye West had originally wanted to work with British artistM.I.A. on his second studio albumLate Registration (2005), but her busy schedule prevented this from happening.[1] However, his interest in her music grew further after he heard her 2007 song "Paper Planes",[2] which he decided to use in ahip hop music production—the first he had composed sincethe death of his mother,Donda West, in 2007 following complications during cosmetic surgery.[3][4]
"Swagga Like Us" was heavilyremixed by various artists. Hip hop duo Clipse included their remix on theirmixtapeRoad to Till the Casket Drops.Diddy recorded a remix titled "Swagger Like Puff" featuringCassie singing the chorus, which managed to peak at number seventeen on theDeutsche Black Charts.[5]Trey Songz has also recorded a remix under the title "Swagga Like Songz". On November 10, 2008,Chamillionaire released his own remix of the song for his mixtapeMixtape Messiah 5, titled "Swagga Like Koop".
Apathy released a freestyle over this song called "Swagga Like Ap" on the third volume of theIt's the Bootleg, Muthafuckas! series. Also,Drake,Fabolous,Freeway,Twista,Kid Cudi,Tinie Tempah,Flo Rida,Hot Rod andTony Yayo have all performed or recordedfreestyles over theinstrumental.Rick Ross has also done his own freestyle remix, stated to be in retaliation for being left off the original song.Dolla created his own version featured on his last mixtape,The Miseducation of Dolla.
Jim Jones recorded "Jackin' Swagger from Us" withTwista,NOE andLil Wayne which takes shots at T.I. and Jay-Z for allegedly stealing their styles. The song is a bonus track on his albumPray IV Reign.[6][7]
Having completed it with the assistance of fellow producerMike Caren,[8] West specifically chose to send the production to fellow rapper T.I., who was recording material for his sixth studio albumPaper Trail (2008). West offered him no other tracks to choose to record over.[4] T.I. accepted the production and originally planned "Swagga like Us" to be a collaboration only with West, writing two verses with West providing a verse of his own.[9] He decided, however, to make it an "event" record and send it to fellow rappersJay-Z andLil Wayne to record verses over, admitting toMTV News that it was a "very ambitious idea but a lovely one".[10] Once they both accepted and duly sent their (demo) vocals back to T.I., he wrote two additional verses, but only chose the last of the four he had written to actually perform on "Swagga like Us", as he felt it "stood out (better) than the others".[9]
All of the vocals on the final mix, with the exception of M.I.A.'s, were recorded at theRecord Plant recording studio inHollywood, California.[8] The song wasmixed by Andrew Dawson atPacifique Recording Studios inLos Angeles, California, whilst themastering was carried out by Chris Gehringer.[8] West emailed one of the song's earlydemos to M.I.A. herself, which she proclaimed "really hot", but that the final version "sounded even better".[2] "Swagga like Us" was finally completed in July 2008: Jay-Z's satisfaction with the finished version of the song was such that T.I. claimed he wished to include it on his eleventh studio albumThe Blueprint 3 (2009),[10] although this did not transpire.
A hip hop song, "Swagga Like Us" is built around a sample of "Paper Planes" by British artistM.I.A., featuring the line, "no one on the corner had swagger like us".[11][12] Since "Paper Planes" itself samples the 1982 song "Straight to Hell" by British rock groupThe Clash, each of the writers of both songs are credited as writing "Swagga like Us".[8] West added a "sumo–heavybass" anddrum line similar to that of a marching band to the vocal sample:[12] the sounds combine to form a "noisy, warbling and exaggeratedelectronic melody".[13] Shannon Barbour ofAbout.com considered it to incorporate the "leftover retro 80'selectro-funk" found on West's previous studio albumGraduation (2007).[14]
Brian Hiatt, writing forRolling Stone, noted that "with a beat this hooky, everybody wins" although he criticized the individual performances of Lil Wayne as "lazy" and Jay-Z for "sticking in an over-obvious nod to his single 'Jockin' Jay-Z'", and also felt the use of the "Paper Planes" sample risked undermining M.I.A.'s artistry: "It's hard not to be slightly bummed by the prospect of one of the decade's most innovative artists being reduced to a hook girl."[11] Ian Cohen ofPitchfork felt that, "For better or worse, "Swagga Like Us" definesPaper Trail", arguing that T.I.'s then upcoming prison sentence "trigger[ed] an impulse to challenge himself" to improve the quality of his performances across the album. However, he too denounced the rappers as generally overconfident, concluding that "one-upmanship [gave] way to self-assured competence andKhaled-inspired complacence", although he complimented T.I. for "effortlessly best[ing] them all".[15]The Guardian's Angus Batey considered the idea of the four artists recording together to be better than the song itself, calling it "good-on-paper, less-so-in-the-booth".[16]
The song was nominated for aGrammy forBest Rap Song and won theBest Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the51st Grammy Awards.[17][18] T.I., Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and M.I.A. (who was nine months pregnant at the time and supposedly due on the day of the performance) performed the song at Grammy Awards that year. This song was number 22 onRolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008.[19]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
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| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[29] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Country | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | September 4, 2008[30] | Digital download | Mercury Records |
| United States | September 6, 2008[31] | Mercury,Roc-A-Fella,Def Jam Recordings | |
| November 18, 2008[32] | Vinyl single | Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam |
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