"Touch the Sky" is a song recorded by American rapper Kanye West for his second studio album, Late Registration (2005). The song features Lupe Fiasco in his career debut. It was produced by Just Blaze, standing as the album's only track to not include production from West. The song was released in the United Kingdom as a digital EP through Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam on January 1, 2006. On February 14, the aforementioned labels serviced the song to US mainstream radio stations as the album's fourth single. The next month, it was released in various countries for digital download by Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam and as a CD single through Universal Music, respectively.
After Just Blaze played West multiple beats, "Touch the Sky" was the one that he felt most passionate about. It is a hip hop track that includes a slowed sample from the Curtis Mayfield song "Move On Up" (1971). The song's lyrics center around West encouraging others to have as much confidence in themselves as he does. It was met with universal acclaim from music critics, with Lupe Fiasco's appearance gathering praise from the majority of them, though some critics were complimentary towards the production. The accompanying music video was released in February 2006 and directed by Chris Milk. Within it, West portrays the daredevil Evel Kanyevel in homage to Evel Knievel's unsuccessful jump across the Snake River Canyon. Evel Knievel sued West over the video in December 2006, though the two ultimately settled the lawsuit in November 2007. The visual received multiple nominations at award shows.
"Touch the Sky" peaked at number 42 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 2006, while reaching the top 10 of the charts in Australia, Scotland and the UK. That same year, the song attained top 20 positions in Finland, Ireland, and New Zealand. It has since been certified platinum or more in the United States, the UK, and Australia by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), respectively. West performed the song live at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, 2006 Brit Awards and Saturday Night Live. The Milwaukee Brewers use this song for their home runs.
Background and development
During a July 2014 interview with DJ Skee for SKEE TV, rapper Lupe Fiasco revealed that he and West didn't meet through Chicago connections even though they both came from the city as West "was always in a different world." Initially, Fiasco didn't want to feature on "Touch the Sky", with him not "feeling the vibe" of the song at the time. After being persuaded by his partner telling him "Nah, you gotta trust me. You gotta do this," Fiasco ultimately agreed on the collaboration and stated of working with West that "from there on we kind of clicked up and kept it moving up until this day." The feature stands as Fiasco's career debut. Producer Just Blaze was asked to produce for West during a phone call with Roc-A-Fella Records, with the call leading to him being signed to the label and Just Blaze recalled "a lot of great music" being made. Throughout West's production career, comparisons have been made between him and Just Blaze.
A speed alteration method of sampling was first present within West's music on his debut single "Through the Wire" (2003) and this sampling method was used in West's music throughout his career. Just Blaze had been listening to singer-songwriter Curtis Mayfield at the time of sampling his work. The song was one of the tracks that helped West achieve mainstream success in the United States. When guest-hosting the radio station Beats 1 in December 2015, Just Blaze shared a number of previously unheard records from Roc-A-Fella musicians. An alternative take on "Touch the Sky" with Robert Glasper featured was among the records played by him.
Composition and recording
Musically, "Touch the Sky" is a hip hop song. A slowed sample is included of Mayfield's 1971 recording "Move On Up" within the song, as written by him, alongside Latin horns. Lyrically, the song sees West give encouragement and inspiration to people for them to have a high level of self-confidence like him. A brief history of bright clothes in New York rap is provided by West, dating back to when he first signed to Roc-A-Fella years before the song's release. West insists with certain lyrics that even though he tried to right his wrongs, they helped him with songwriting. Lupe Fiasco performs the third verse, in which he uses a number of double entendres and metaphors.
Just Blaze solely handled the song's production, making it the only track on Late Registration to not be produced by West and also the only track from the album that the former worked on. He tried the Mayfield sample after nothing was really clicking in the studio and it was the beat that West felt passionate about when he played West multiple beats. When asked on Twitter about the story behind "Touch the Sky" in May 2016, Just Blaze revealed that he completed the production 20 minutes before West arrived at Baseline Studios. While "Touch the Sky" was produced by Just Blaze, the track was written by West, Fiasco and Justin Smith. It was recorded by Anthony Kilhoffer and Andrew Dawson at The Record Plant (Hollywood, CA) and Chalice Recording Studios (Hollywood, CA), respectively. The track was mixed by Mike Dean at Chalice Recording Studios, with assistant engineering from Richard Reitz, Matt Green, Nate Connelly and Mike Mo. Vlado Meller mastered the track.
Release and reception "Touch the Sky" was released on August 30, 2005, as the third track on West's second studio album Late Registration. On January 1, 2006, a digital EP was released in the United Kingdom for the song through West's labels Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam, which contains three tracks. The song was later sent to mainstream radio stations in the US by West's labels on February 2 as the album's fourth single. On March 7, it was released for digital download in numerous countries through Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam, with a radio edit and the instrumental included. A CD single was later released by Universal Music for the song on April 24, 2006, with the single consisting of three tracks.
The track received universal acclaim from music critics, who generally praised Lupe Fiasco's feature. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian pointed out the track as where West "wittily acknowledges the familiarity of the "Move on Up" (1971) sample by humming distractedly along." Sean Fennessey of Pitchfork called Fiasco an "impressive newcomer" and described Just Blaze's production on the track as "life-affirming." The lyrics "I'm trying to right my wrongs/ But it's funny, the same wrongs help me write the songs" were branded by Chris DeVille of Stereogum as "one of a handful of lines that could work as a thesis statement for Kanye West's career." DeVille elaborated: "He's as inflammatory and conflicted as ever here, and it lends Late Registration the same feeling of rawness and spontaneity that inspired Kanye's comment about George Bush." Keertana Sastry of Bustle ranked the track as the fourth best from the album and wrote of it: "Now this is the kind of monster hit track that I can get behind, and the track also gave us the genius that is Lupe Fiasco." David Browne of Entertainment Weekly called the track where West "throws his diploma-free success in our faces, marveling at his good fortune" and claimed for it to be "powered by" the sample of "Move on Up", while also writing of West's performance that he "can still be funny, as when he sings a snippet of 'Leaving on a Jet Plane'." In reference to the track's position on Late Registration, Spence D. of IGN claimed: "The groove gets a slight bump, thanks to horns and a more energetic stance from West on 'Touch The Sky.'" He described Fiasco as "who offers up call-and-response chanting in an echo chamber manner before he drops a buttery verse toward the end of the track." Luke McManus of RTÉ cited the musical style of the song as being "sample-based and classic," claiming for the Mayfield sample to be in reference to "the golden age of 1970s soul."
Accolades Live About ranked the song at number 18 on their top 50 list of the best hip hop songs in 2005. On Pitchfork list of the 200 best songs from the 2000s, "Touch the Sky" was listed at number 157 and the staff described the song as "Kanye at his humblest: Detailing his struggles and failures before exploding into that glorious chorus, outsourcing the beat [from producer] Just Blaze because nobody could've flipped that Curtis Mayfield sample harder." NME placed it at number 18 on their list of West's 25 best songs, with Larry Bartleet of the publication calling the sample "the beaming basis for this tune." Lupe Fiasco's verse was ranked at number 50 on a list published by Complex of the 50 best guest verses of all time.
Music video Background and synopsis West financed the music video for "Touch the Sky" himself after he did not like the first version Def Jam paid for. Just Blaze commented on this in an interview: Prior to directing the music video, Chris Milk had directed for West in 2004 on the video for his single "All Falls Down". Fall Out Boy were originally supposed to star in it as reporters, though the band didn't appear due to being in Europe at the time of filming. The production cost for the video was approximately $1 million, making it the 25th most expensive music video of all time. The visual debuted in February 2006, and was filmed as a '70s style short movie about daredevil Evel Kanyevel, played by West, and his failed attempt to fly a rocket across the Grand Canyon. It was done in homage to Evel Knievel's unsuccessful jump across the Snake River Canyon in 1974 and West uses the music video to make fun of his huge ego. West also pokes fun at his anti-Bush outburst from 2005 and the possibility of his career arc ending with a crash-and-burn. The video features a cameo from actress and model Pamela Anderson, who opposes the daredevil character that West portrays. Actresses Nia Long and Tracee Ellis Ross also make appearances in it.
Lawsuit In December 2006, Evel Knievel filed a lawsuit against West in the U.S. District Court of Tampa, Florida for trademark infringement. Specifically, Knievel's lawsuit cites the red, white and blue costume worn by West in the music video as being a copy of the jumpsuit that the stuntman wore on a September 1974 Sports Illustrated cover when preparing for his Snake River Canyon jump, with him including a copy of the cover as an exhibit to the complaint. Evel Knievel also took issue with the persona put on by West. West's attorneys argued that the music video amounted to satire and therefore was covered under the First Amendment. Just days before his death in November 2007, Evel Knievel amicably settled the suit after being paid a visit from West, saying, "I thought he was a wonderful guy and quite a gentleman," and stated that he and West "settled the lawsuit amicably." However, the two of them made an agreement to not publicly discuss the terms of their dispute.
Reception