Believe What I Say

On September 15, 2020, Kanye West posted a series of tweets about his relationship with Universal Music Group.^[1] In the tweets, the rapper expressed desire to buy back his master recordings. He went on to leak his full recording contract documents between himself and Universal. He also stated that he is "not putting no more music out until I'm done with my contract with Sony and Universal".^[2] The next day, West flew out to Jamaica and recorded music with Buju Banton and Saint Jhn, the former of which features on "Believe What I Say".^[3] West later shared a snippet of the song to his X account on September 26,^[1] featuring a video of him riding in a boat while out at sea.^[4][5]

Musically, "Believe What I Say" is a Hip house^[6] song with elements of R&B^[7] and soul.^[8] It features a prominent of sample of Lauryn Hill's 1998 song "Doo Wop (That Thing)",^[4] best heard in the intro, where she says "Yo, yo ... My men and my women"^[9] alongside cooing-like vocals.^[8] Critics generally considered the track to be uptempo,^[8][10] usually attributing this to the sample.^[8] It follows a four on the floor kick rhythm with minimal percussion and a bassline,^[11][12] which contrasts the "dusty"-sounding boom bap drums used on "Doo Wop (That Thing)".^[11]

The lyrics to "Believe What I Say" are focused on West reminding himself to not be dragged down by his fame.^[8] In the opening verse, West asserts that an individual needs "something unexpected" in the form of a "weapon", noting that they can ask a "him" to feel protected and actually feel it. West later clarifies that he does not support the "message" or "methods" of an unnamed third party.^[4][13] He references his estranged relationship with ex-wife Kim Kardashian,^[14][15] rapping that he is going through "celebrity drama that only Brad [Pitt]'ll know",^[9][15] seemingly in reference to Pitt's highly publicized divorce from actress Angelina Jolie.^[15] West furthers this by telling Kardashian that he "never questioned" her wants and gave her "everything" she asked for.^[15]

"Believe What I Say" was first previewed in full on August 26, 2021 at the Donda listening event at Soldier Field.^[16] The album was released onto streaming services three days later through GOOD Music, distributed by Def Jam,^[17][18] with "Believe What I Say" as its tenth track,^[18] though West claimed that he did not approve the release beforehand.^[17] On November 30, the song was serviced to US rhythmic contemporary radio as the album's third single overall,^[19] and was accompanied by the urban contemporary single "Off the Grid".^[20]

On September 9, composer Antman Wonder, who was initially uncredited on the song, posted an older version of it, claiming that he had composed the outro and that West had not properly credited his and several other artists's contributions to Donda.^[21][22] The credits were later updated to include him.^[18]

• Kanye West – production, vocals, songwriting
• Dem Jointz – production, additional vocals, record engineering, songwriting
• Buju Banton – additional vocals, songwriting
• BoogzDaBeast – co-production, songwriting
• FnZ – co-production, songwriting
• Ojivolta – co-production, songwriting
• Antman Wonder – additional production, songwriting
• Stalone – additional vocals, songwriting
• Irko – mix engineering, master engineering
• Devon Wilson – record engineering
• Mikalai Skrobat – record engineering
• Josh Berg – record engineering
• Preston Reid – record engineering
• Louis Bell – vocal editing
• Patrick Hundley – vocal editing