Stronger

West wrote and produced it, with an extended outro by Mike Dean. Daft Punk are credited as co-writers for the sample of their 2001 song Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, which West asked for through the duo's manager Pedro Winter. Edwin Birdsong is credited for the master use of Cola Bottle Baby. A-Trak had played West the Daft Punk track in 2006 and later added scratches. West called the song an emancipation, and the lyric paraphrases a dictum of Friedrich Nietzsche.

It was recorded at Ape Sounds in Tokyo, Sony Music Studios in New York and the Record Plant in Hollywood. West worked with 8 audio engineers and 11 mix engineers, recorded over 50 versions and mixed it 75 times. Manny Marroquin made the final mix. After hearing the song next to Timbaland's The Way I Are, West asked Timbaland to help redo the drum programming. Daft Punk later contributed to Yeezus, including Black Skinhead.

Release and video

It went to US rhythmic radio on 31 July 2007 as the second single from Graduation, after a snippet had appeared on the Can't Tell Me Nothing mixtape in May. It reached number 1 on the Hot 100, West's third, and also topped the charts in Canada, New Zealand and the UK. The RIAA certified it diamond in 2021. It won Best Rap Solo Performance at the 50th Grammys, beating 50 Cent's I Get Money, and Rolling Stone placed it at 493 in its 2024 list of the 500 greatest songs. Hype Williams directed the video, which draws on the anime film Akira. It was shot over 12 days in April 2007 in Tokyo and Los Angeles and released on 25 July 2007. It won Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2007 BET Hip Hop Awards.

Live

West played it on the Glow in the Dark Tour in 2007 and 2008, at the Grammys with Daft Punk, and at festivals including Wireless and Glastonbury.