"Christmas in Harlem" is a song by hip-hop recording artist

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

. The track features rapper

Cyhi the Prynce Cydel Charles Young (born September 15, 1984), known professionally as CyHi the Prynce, is an American rapper and singer. In 2009, Young signed his first major-label contract with Konvict Muzik, with the backing of Def Jam Recordings. In 2010, h ...

and R&B singer

Teyana Taylor Teyana Me Shay Jacqueli Shumpert ( Taylor; born December 10, 1990) is an American singer, actress, dancer and choreographer. In 2005, she signed a record deal with Pharrell Williams' Star Trak Entertainment imprint. Afterwards, she choreographe ...

, both of whom are signed to West's label

GOOD Music GOOD Music (also known simply as GOOD, stylized as G.O.O.D. Music; a backronym for Getting Out Our Dreams) is an American record label founded by rapper Kanye West in 2004. The label signed an exclusive long-term worldwide label agreement with t ...

. Produced by

Hit-Boy Chauncey Alexander Hollis Jr. (born May 21, 1987), better known by his stage name Hit-Boy, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. In May 2011, he had signed a two-year deal with Kanye West's GOOD Music production branch. ...

, it is a christmas hip hop song that contains samples of "

Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" is a 1968 single released by American R&B/soul duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, on the Tamla label in 1968. The B-side of the single is "Little Ole Boy, Little Ole Girl" from the duo's ''United'' LP. The ...

" and "

Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" is the second single from Marvin Gaye's 1971 album, '' What's Going On''. Following the breakthrough of the title track's success, the song, written solely by Gaye, became regarded as one of popular music's most poi ...

", both by soul musician

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

, and "

Strawberry Letter 23 "Strawberry Letter 23" is a 1971 song written and composed by Shuggie Otis from his 1971 album '' Freedom Flight''. It is also widely known by the 1977 cover version recorded by the Brothers Johnson and produced by Quincy Jones. History The ...

" by singer-songwriter

Shuggie Otis Johnny Shuggie Otis (born Johnny Alexander Veliotes, Jr.; November 30, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter, recording artist, and multi-instrumentalist. Otis's composition "Strawberry Letter 23" (as recorded by The Brothers Johnson) topped ...

. The track features a holiday theme, and features various references to

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

and customs associated with the holiday. Originally released as a part of West's free music giveaway series

GOOD Fridays GOOD Fridays was a weekly free music release by rapper Kanye West, launched in support of his fifth studio album '' My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' (2010). The original intention was to release a free new song every Friday for a few months to ...

, the song was later released as a single onto

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

on December 17, 2010. The song received positive reviews from critics, who complimented its lyrics and compared it favorably to other Christmas-themed hip-hop songs.

Background

"Christmas in Harlem" was produced by

, a producer signed to West's label

. Going into detail about how his connections with West began and how the track's beat ended up with West, Hit-Boy explained: "My boy Dala Roc hooked me up with Kanye’s cousin, Ricky, ..This was around the time when he started working on ''

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released by Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records on November 22, 2010, following a period of public controversy for West. Re ...

''. I just kept sending him beats to try and get one on there. Then, on the night of Kanye's New York release party, Ricky called saying Kanye wanted to use one of my beats for a Christmas song." The song contains samples of two songs by soul musician

: "

" and "

", the former being a collaboration with soul singer

Tammi Terrell Tammi Terrell (born Thomasina Winifred Montgomery; April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known as a star singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, notably for a series of duets with singer Marvin Gaye. ...

. It also contains samples of "

", originally written and performed by singer-songwriter

. Both Gaye and Otis are given songwriting credits on "Christmas in Harlem" for use of the samples. Before its official release, the track first leaked to the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

on December 15, 2010. "Christmas in Harlem" was later released as a part of West's free music giveaway series

. The version of "Christmas in Harlem" released as a part of GOOD Fridays featured additional contributions from rappers

Cam'ron Cameron Ezike Giles (born February 4, 1976), better known by his stage name Cam'ron, is an American rapper, record executive, and actor from Harlem, New York City. Beginning his career in the mid-1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed to Lance "Un" ...

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher, political activist and mass murderer. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. In what he called "revolutionary suicide", ...

, Vado,

Pusha T Terrence LeVarr Thornton (born May 13, 1977), better known by his stage name Pusha T, is an American rapper, songwriter and record executive. He rose to prominence as one-half of the hip hop duo Clipse, which was mainly active from 1994 to 20 ...

and

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. Anderson began his music career in 2007 and gained popularity in 2010 with his third mixtape '' Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big''. He then s ...

as well as R&B singer

Musiq Soulchild Taalib Hassan Johnson (born September 16, 1977), better known by the stage name Musiq Soulchild or simply Musiq (pronounced "music") is an American singer and songwriter whose style blends R&B, funk, blues, jazz, and Gospel music, gospel influ ...

. The version of the track only featuring contributions from West, CyHi the Prynce and Teyana Taylor was later released as a single to the

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

on December 17, 2010.

Critical reception

"Christmas in Harlem" received positive reviews from critics. Giving the song a three-and-a-half star rating, Chuck Eddy of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' stated: "Kanye's tinsel-tinted stocking stuffer sounds uncharacteristically tossed-off, as if he's preoccupied with the Xmas shopping spree he says he's planning. But actual Harlem R&B hopeful Teyana Taylor offers warmth from the wind chill, eventually slipping into the comfy melody from the Brothers Johnson's 'Strawberry Letter 23.' And gruff-rapping Atlanta Santa CyHi Da Prynce promises presents for non-Christian kiddies, too — hauled in a Porsche-speed sleigh." The magazine later included the song in its list of "The Greatest Rock & Roll Christmas Songs", describing it favorably as a follow-up to "

Christmas in Hollis "Christmas in Hollis" is a single by Run-DMC that was included on two 1987 Christmas compilation albums featuring various artists: '' A Very Special Christmas'' (A&M 3911) and ''Christmas Rap'' (Profile 1247). When Bill Adler first asked Run-DMC t ...

", a similarly themed Christmas song by hip-hop group

Run-D.M.C. Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...

In his description of the track, Andy Greene of ''Rolling Stone'' wrote: "It's only been out for a year, but Kanye West's follow-up to Run-D.M.C.'s 'Christmas in Hollis' is already a classic. With help from Teyana Taylor, Cam'Ron, Jim Jones and Pusha T, West paints a vivid and cheerful portrait of the season." Becky Bain of

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

wrote of the track: "Soulful, sweet and sprightly, it's one of the most joyful tracks we’ve heard from Kanye . Maybe even ever?"

Commercial performance

"Christmas in Harlem" peaked at numbers 13 and 3 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

and

Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

charts respectively on the chart week of January 8, 2011.

Charts

References

{{authority control 2010 singles American Christmas songs Kanye West songs Songs written by Kanye West Song recordings produced by Hit-Boy Roc-A-Fella Records singles Songs written by Marvin Gaye Songs written by Hit-Boy 2010 songs Songs written by Cyhi the Prynce Posse cuts