Believe What I Say

"Believe What I Say" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his tenth studio album, Donda (2021). The song features additional vocals from Buju Banton, Dem Jointz and Stalone; and samples "Doo Wop (That Thing)" by Lauryn Hill. It was serviced to US rhythmic contemporary radio as the album's third single on November 30, 2021 (second promoted to radio formats).

"Believe What I Say"
Single by Kanye West
from the album Donda
Released	November 30, 2021 (2021-11-30)[1]
Recorded	September 2020 – August 2021
Genre	Hip house[2] alternative R&B[3] soul[4]
Length	4:02
Label	GOOD Def Jam
Songwriter(s)	Kanye West Anthony Markeith Reid Mark Myrie Cristi Gallo Dwayne Abernathy Michael Mulé Isaac De Boni Mark Williams Raul Cubina Jahmal Gwin Anthony Reid
Producer(s)	Kanye West Dem Jointz FnZ Ojivolta BoogzDaBeast Antman Wonder
Kanye West singles chronology
"Life of the Party" (2021) "Believe What I Say" (2021) "Off the Grid" (2021)

The song peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100, and also reached the top 40 in Australia and Canada.

Background

On September 15, 2020, West posted a series of tweets about his relationship with Universal Music Group.^[5] 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.".^[6] The next day, on September 16, West flew out to Jamaica and recorded music with Buju Banton and Saint Jhn, the former of which features on the track; while Saint Jhn did record for the track, his contributions did not make the final cut.^[7] Other artists who recorded for the track but did not make it onto the final version include singer Steve Lacy and West's Sunday Service Choir. On September 26, West shared a snippet of "Believe What I Say" on his Twitter account.^[5][8] The track samples Lauryn Hill's 1998 song "Doo Wop (That Thing)".

The track was officially previewed on August 26, 2021 at the Donda listening event at Soldier Field. On September 9, composer Antman Wonder, who was initially left off the credits, posted the original version of the track; claiming that West had not properly credited his, as well as several other artists' contributions to Donda.^[9][10] The credits were later updated to include his contribution.

Credits

• 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
• 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

Charts

Weekly charts Chart performance for "Believe What I Say" Chart (2021–2022) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[11] 17 Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[12] 29 France (SNEP)[13] 102 Global 200 (Billboard)[14] 26 South Africa (TOSAC)[15] 17 US Billboard Hot 100[16] 28 US Hot Christian Songs (Billboard)[17] 8 US Gospel Songs (Billboard)[18] 7 US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[19] 15 US Rhythmic (Billboard)[20] 20

Year-end charts 2021 year-end chart performance for "Believe What I Say" Chart (2021) Position US Christian Songs (Billboard)[21] 38 US Gospel Songs (Billboard)[22] 10

Certifications

Certifications for Believe What I Say

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[23]	Gold	500,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.