"Swagga Like Us" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Single by T.I. with Jay Z featuring Kanye West and Lil Wayne | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
from the album Paper Trail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Released | September 6, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Format | Digital download, vinyl | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recorded | 2008; Record Plant (Hollywood, California) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre | Hip-Hop | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Length | 5:27 (album version) 4:14 (single version) |
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Label | Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Writer(s) | Clifford Harris, Shawn Carter, Kanye West, Dwayne Carter, Jr., Mathangi Arulpragasam, Topper Headon, Mick Jones, Wesley Pentz, Paul Simonon, Joe Strummer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Producer(s) | Kanye West | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
T.I. singles chronology | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"Swagga Like Us" is a song by American hip hop recording artists Jay-Z, T.I., Kanye West, and Lil Wayne. It was released on September 6, 2008 in the United States as the fifth single from T.I.'s album Paper Trail, and was also slated for inclusion on Jay-Z's eleventh album The Blueprint 3 (2009), although it ultimately did not make the final track listing. The song was produced by West and is constructed primarily around a vocal sample of "Paper Planes" by British musician M.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 from the perceived overuse of Auto-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 US Billboard Hot 100, and also charted modestly in a few overseas territories. It was nominated for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 51st Grammy Awards, winning the latter: the four rappers, alongside M.I.A. herself, also performed "Swagger Like Us" and the original "Paper Planes" during the ceremony.
Kanye West had originally wanted to work with British artist M.I.A. on his second studio album Late Registration (2005), but her busy schedule prevented this from happening. However, his interest in her music was further increased after hearing her 2007 song "Paper Planes", which he decided to use in a Hip Hop Music production – the first he had composed since the death of his mother, Donda West, in 2007 following complications during cosmetic surgery. Having completed it with the assistance of fellow producer Mike Caren, West specifically chose to send the production to fellow rapper T.I., who was recording material for his sixth studio album Paper Trail (2008): West offered him no other tracks to choose to record over. T.I. accepted the production and originally planned "Swagga like Us" to be a collaboration with him and West only, writing two verses with West providing a verse of his own. He then, however, decided to make it an "event" record and send it to fellow rappers Jay-Z and Lil Wayne to record verses over, admitting to MTV News that it was a "very ambitious idea but a lovely one". 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".