"Send It Up" is a song by American 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 ...

, from his sixth studio album ''

Yeezus ''Yeezus'' is the sixth studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released on June 18, 2013, through Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records. West gathered a number of artists and close collaborators for the production, ...

'' (2013). It was produced by West,

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...

Gesaffelstein Mike Lévy (; born 24 June 1987), known professionally as Gesaffelstein (), is a French music programmer, DJ, songwriter and record producer from Lyon. He has worked alongside artists such as The Weeknd, Daft Punk, Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, Elec ...

Brodinski Louis Rogé, known professionally as Brodinski, is a French composer, producer and DJ from Reims.Stéphanie Binet« Qui a dit que la "french touch" battait de l'aile ? » ''Le Monde'', 22 décembre 2011. Biography 2007–2011 He started to ...

, Arca and Mike Dean. Like other songs on the album, it features an

industrial hip hop Industrial hip hop is a fusion genre of industrial music and hip hop. History 1980s The origins of industrial hip hop are in the work of Mark Stewart, Bill Laswell, and Adrian Sherwood. In 1985, former The Pop Group singer Mark Stewart releas ...

sound, with elements of

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

. The song features vocals from American rapper

King Louie King Louie is a fictional character introduced in Walt Disney's 1967 animated musical film ''The Jungle Book''. He is an Orangutan who leads other jungle primates and wants to become more human-like by gaining knowledge of fire from Mowgli. Lou ...

, who improvised his contributions. It contains a sample of "Memories" (also known as "Stop Live Inna De Pass") by Jamaican

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

singer

Beenie Man Anthony Moses Davis (born 22 August 1973), better known by his stage name Beenie Man, is a Jamaican Dancehall deejay. Biography Davis was born in the Waterhouse district of Kingston in 1973.Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Mus ...

. Eight days before its release on the album, West performed the song live at the

Governors Ball Music Festival The Governors Ball Music Festival (commonly known as Governors Ball or Gov Ball) is a multi-day music festival held in New York City. Launched in 2011 by original founders Jordan Wolowitz, Tom Russell, Yoni Reisman, the festival features an arra ...

, along with four other tracks from ''Yeezus''. "Send It Up" has received mostly positive reviews from music critics, with many complimenting the production and party appeal. Despite not being released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, it charted on the US ''

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 ...

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 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 ...

and

On-Demand Songs On-demand or on demand may refer to: Manufacturing * Build-on-demand * Just-in-time manufacturing, a methodology for production * Print on demand, printing technology and business process in which new copies of a document are not printed until an ...

charts at number 50 and 42 respectively. One line in the song was changed to being rapped

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

when West reworked the

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

version of ''Yeezus'' in 2016. It was covered by punk rock band Idles in 2018.

Background and composition

Before they collaborated for the first time on "Send It Up", American rapper King Louie found out West was a fan of his after West gave him a shoutout in the 2012

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 ...

collaboration " I Don't Like (Remix)", featuring

Chief Keef Keith Farrelle Cozart (born August 15, 1995), better known by his stage name Chief Keef, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. His music first became popular during his teen years in the early 2010s among high school s ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Jadakiss Jason Terrance Phillips (born May 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Jadakiss, is an American rapper from Yonkers, New York. He began his career in the 1990s as a member of the rap trio The Lox, managed by Ruff Ryders and signed with Bad ...

. King Louie called the shoutout "crazy" and appreciated his ability to influence Chicago-based rappers. Along with his vocal appearance on "Send It Up", King Louie also has a writing credit on another ''Yeezus'' track, " New Slaves". "Send It Up" is an

song, with elements of

. According to MTV's Rob Markman, the song contains a "kinetic" beat, with "blaring sirens" and "a pounding drum." It features vocals from

, who freestyled his entire verse. King Louie later explained on

MTV News MTV News is the news production division of MTV. The service is available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network. In February 2016, MTV Networks confirmed it would refresh the MTV News brand in 2016, to compete with the likes ...

that the song's beat was different than he originally recorded: "the beat was just one instrument, two instruments and then now it's like a whole party thing." However, he called the final version "dope." The song was co-produced by French electronic duo

, who also co-produced the other ''Yeezus'' tracks "

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," "

Black Skinhead "Black Skinhead" (also stylized as "BLKKK SKKKN HEAD") is a song by American rapper Kanye West, from his sixth studio album ''Yeezus'' (2013). It was produced by West and Daft Punk. The song's lyrics center on racial tensions and the crumbling ...

," and "

I Am a God "I Am a God" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his sixth studio album ''Yeezus'' (2013). The song credits God as a featured performer. It was produced by West, Hudson Mohawke, Daft Punk. and Mike Dean, and includes vocals from Justi ...

." For the chorus, which repeats twice at the end of the song, West added a sample of "Memories" (also known as "Stop Live Inna De Pass") by Jamaican

and

singer

. When West began to make adjustments to the songs on his seventh studio album ''

The Life of Pablo ''The Life of Pablo'' is the seventh studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released on February 14, 2016, through GOOD Music and distributed by Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions took place from 2013 to 2016, in It ...

'' (2016), he did the same to "

" and "Send It Up" for the

version of ''Yeezus'' (the

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and

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versions of the songs remained unchanged). On "Send It Up", West cut the instrumental backing track to his line at the 1:30 mark, making it

Release and promotion

"Send It Up" was released on June 18, 2013, as the ninth and penultimate track on West's sixth studio album ''

''. Eight days before its release, on June 10, 2013, West performed live at the

; his set included five songs from the then-upcoming album, including " New Slaves", "Black Skinhead", and "

". While "Send It Up" and "

" were played, their titles were not introduced; West instead introduced them as "new shit." The song was performed at the opening show of

The Yeezus Tour The Yeezus Tour was a concert tour by American rapper Kanye West in support of West's sixth solo studio album, '' Yeezus'' (2013). The venture served as West's first solo concert tour in five years. Kendrick Lamar, A Tribe Called Quest, Travis S ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

KeyArena Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of Downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it was or ...

. A cover version was performed by punk rock band IDLES on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

in August 2018.

Commercial performance

"Send It Up" was one of the album's least-performing songs. Upon the release of ''Yeezus'', the song debuted at number 50 on the US ''

chart the week of July 6, 2013. The same week, it peaked at number 42 on the US ''Billboard''

chart.

Critical reception

Since release, the song has received mostly positive reviews from music critics, with many complimenting its production and party appeal. Rob Markman of

gave the track a positive review, calling it "a clear-cut party starter."

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' wrote, "the mid-tempo four-to-the-floor thud of "Send It Up" is strafed with electronic squeals and bursts of menacing, growling bass," as well as pointing out the track's "dance influences." Michael Madden of ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...

'' described its sound as being reminiscent of the work done by

DJ Mustard Dijon Isaiah McFarlane (born June 5, 1990), known professionally as Mustard (also known as DJ Mustard), is an American record producer and beatmaker. He is a frequent collaborator of fellow California-bred artists YG and Ty Dolla Sign; among var ...

and the

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

album ''

Pretty Hate Machine ''Pretty Hate Machine'' is the debut studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released by TVT Records on October 20, 1989. Production of the record was handled by NIN frontman Trent Reznor and English producer Flood, among ...

''. Julianne Escobedo Spephard of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' called the song "bananas" and complimented producer Arca's work on the song, writing: " trecalls both the sub-bass on erEP ''Stretch 2'', and the demonic elasticity of erbeat for

Mykki Blanco Mykki Blanco (born April 2, 1986) is an American rapper, performance artist, poet and activist. She has collaborated musically with artists including Kanye West, Teyana Taylor, and Dev Hynes, Blood Orange. Early life Blanco was born in Orange ...

's "Join My Militia". Gavin Haynes of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' wrote that the song "finds a natural pathway between new Robo-Kanye and the stark experiments," such as his 2012

collaboration "

Clique A clique ( AusE, CanE, or ), in the social sciences, is a group of individuals who interact with one another and share similar interests. Interacting with cliques is part of normative social development regardless of gender, ethnicity, or popular ...

". In a more mixed review, Ryan Dombal of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' described the track as being "riotous" and wrote in response to King Louie's appearance: "His presence, along with that of fellow Chi-town driller

, makes the message clear: America may want to ignore these young black men from the gang-strewn South Side, but here, they have a voice."

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the ''Yeezus'' liner notes. * Songwriters – Kanye West, Louis Johnson,

Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo Guillaume Emmanuel "Guy-Manuel" de Homem-Christo (; born 8 February 1974) is a French musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, DJ and composer. He is known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft Punk, along with Thomas Bang ...

Thomas Bangalter Thomas Bangalter (; born 3 January 1975) is a French musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, DJ and composer. Son of French music composer and artist Daniel Vangarde. He is best known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft ...

, Alejandro Ghersi,

Mike Levy Mike Levy is an internet entrepreneur and the current chairman and CEO of Maxxpoint Corporation. Prior to Maxxpoint Mr. Levy was Founder and CEO of OPEN Sports. a new edge Sports Internet Company. Prior to OPEN Sports, Levy was the founder and f ...

, Sakiya Sandifer, Ab Liva, Elon Rutberg, Mike Dean, Moses Davis, Colin York,

Lowell Dunbar Lowell Fillmore "Sly" Dunbar (born 10 May 1952, Kingston, Jamaica) is a drummer, best known as one half of the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and reggae production duo Sly and Robbie. Biography Dunbar began playing at 15 in a band calle ...

* Producer – Kanye West and Daft Punk * Co-producer – Gesaffelstein and

* Additional producer – Arca and Mike Dean #MWA * Engineer – Noah Goldstein and Andrew Dawson * Assistant engineer – Marc Portheau, Khoï Huynh, Raoul Le Pennec, Nabil Essemlani, and Keith Parry * Mix – Anthony Kilhoffer at Shangri-La Studios, Malibu, California * Mix assisted – Sean Oakley, Eric Lynn, Dave 'Squirrel' Covell, and Josh Smith * Vocals – King Louie

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2013 songs Kanye West songs Electronic songs Industrial songs Song recordings produced by Daft Punk Song recordings produced by Gesaffelstein Song recordings produced by Kanye West Song recordings produced by Mike Dean (record producer) Songs written by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo Songs written by Kanye West Songs written by Mike Dean (record producer) Songs written by Thomas Bangalter