"HYFR (Hell Ya Fucking Right)", also known as just "HYFR", is a song by Canadian rapper
Drake
Drake may refer to:
Animals
* A male duck
People and fictional characters
* Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name
* Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...
from his second studio album ''
Take Care'' (2011). The song features
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining ...
and was released as the album's sixth official single. It was released to radio stations on April 24, 2012. The song was nominated for the
55th Grammy Awards
The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. E ...
for
Best Rap Performance, but lost to "
Niggas in Paris
"Niggas in Paris" ( edited for radio as "In Paris" or simply "Paris"; censored on the album as "Ni**as in Paris") is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West from their collaborative album ''Watch the Throne'' (2011). The song is built ar ...
" by
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one o ...
and
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 ...
.
Music video
The music video, directed by
Director X
Julien Christian Lutz (born October 31, 1975), known professionally as Director X, is a Canadian filmmaker, commercial director, music video director, and television director. Having directed more than 100 music videos, he is widely known as a pr ...
, produced by Michelle Larkin, was filmed on March 21, 2012 in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
's Temple Israel, and at a local school and daycare center. It was released on April 6, 2012 along with the music video for "
Take Care". The video portrays Drake having a
Bar Mitzvah. Lil Wayne makes an appearance to deliver his verse, and
Birdman,
DJ Khaled
Khaled Mohammed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper.
Khaled first gained recognition as a radio host in the 1990s on the radio station 99 Jamz, a ...
,
Trey Songz
Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American R&B singer and rapper. His debut album, ''I Gotta Make It'', was released in 2005 through Atlantic Records. His follow-up album, ''Trey Day'', ...
,
Mack Maine
Jermaine Anthony Preyan (born July 28, 1982), better known by his stage name Mack Maine, is an American record executive, songwriter, and rapper from New Orleans, Louisiana. Mack Maine has been the president of Young Money Entertainment since 2 ...
,
T-Minus
A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
,
E-40
Earl Tywone Stevens Sr. (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. He is a founding member of the rap group The Click, and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 26 studio albums to date, ...
, and
Noah "40" Shebib, VitalyzdTV make cameo appearances as guests during the re-Bar Mitzvah and the reception. It won Best Hip-Hop Video at the
2012 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, hosted by Kevin Hart, took place on Thursday, September 6, 2012, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. The awards were broadcast from the Staples Center arena at L.A. Live in Downtown Los Angeles. ...
and
Video of the Year at the
Juno Awards of 2013
The Juno Awards of 2013 honoured Canadian music industry achievements in the latter part of 2011 and in most of 2012. The awards were presented in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, during the weekend of 20–21 April 2013. The main ceremony was hoste ...
. As of January 2015, ''
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 adverti ...
'' named the video as the third best music video of the 2010s (so far).
Critical reception
''
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 adverti ...
'' commented on the track by saying "With a bit of "Swanging and Banging," T-Minus delivers a rock-influenced platform for teacher and student to squash questions with an acronym." ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' described the song by saying "Drake opens the track with a whiplash verse or two before passing the mic for a Weezy showcase: he rhymes "hold her" and "closure" and raps "a met a female dragon had a fire conversation." Apparently, the phrase "hell yeah fuckin' right" is something they yell at journalists who ask questions like "how high they are?" and "do you they think the people around you are really your friend." In their defense, those are terrible questions. I would ask Weezy about the NBA lockout and ask Drake where the best place is to buy an obscenely overpriced candelabra." Popdust gave the album a positive review and commented on the track by saying ""Hell yeah / Hell yeah, hell yeah / Fuckin’ right / Fuckin’ right, all right" is gonna make for one hell of a chorus sing along on future I Am Still Music tour installments, and the T-Minus (of "She Will" and "I’m On One" fame) beat is appropriately hands-in-the-air for such a statement."
The song was nominated for the
55th Grammy Awards
The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. E ...
for Best Rap Performance.
Chart performance
The song debuted at number 92 on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 following the release of ''Take Care''. The song later re-entered the Hot 100 chart at number 100 and gradually ascended the chart to eventually peak at number 62. The song remained on the chart for a total of 20 weeks.
The song was eventually certified
double platinum
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
(RIAA) for sales of over two million digital copies in the United States.
Credits and personnel
Credits for the song are adapted from the liner notes of ''
Take Care''.
Recording
* Recorded at: Metalworks Studios in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
.
Personnel
*
Drake
Drake may refer to:
Animals
* A male duck
People and fictional characters
* Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name
* Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...
–
songwriting
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
,
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
*
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining ...
– songwriting, vocals
* N.Cobey – songwriting, production
*
T-Minus (producer)
Tyler Mathew Carl Williams (born February 25, 1988), professionally known as T-Minus, is a Canadian record producer. He has produced hit records and worked with many popular artists including Lil Wayne, Eminem, Drake, Nicki Minaj, The Weeknd, ...
–
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
, songwriting, instruments
*
Noah "40" Shebib – songwriting,
mixing
*
Cedric Hill – songwriting
* Ruben Rivera –
recording
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, ...
* Michael "Banger" Cadahia – recording
* Noel Cadastre – assistant mix engineering
Sample credit
* Contains elements of "Swanging and Banging", as performed by E.S.G. and written by Cedric Hill.
* Contains elements of "Knocked Out", as Performed by Paula Abdul.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
{{authority control
2012 singles
Drake (musician) songs
Lil Wayne songs
Cash Money Records singles
Songs written by Drake (musician)
Songs written by Lil Wayne
Song recordings produced by T-Minus (record producer)
Music videos directed by Director X
2011 songs
Songs written by 40 (record producer)
Juno Award for Video of the Year videos
Songs written by Anthony Palman