All Day

"All Day"Single by Kanye West
General information
Featured artist(s)	Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom, Paul McCartney
Released	March 2, 2015
Recorded	2014-2015
Genre	Industrial hip hop Drill
Length	5:10
Label(s)	GOOD Music, Def Jam Recordings
Writer(s)	French Montana, Travis Scott, VIC MENSA, Allen Ritter, Diddy, Noah Goldstein, Ab-Liva, MIKE DEAN, 88-Keys, Velous, CyHi the Prynce, Malik Yusef, Kendrick Lamar, Allan Kingdom, Plain Pat, Noel Ellis, Kanye West, Mario Winans, Paul McCartney, Charlie Heat, Che Pope
Producer(s)	Mario Winans, Plain Pat, Allen Ritter, Travis Scott, Noah Goldstein, MIKE DEAN, French Montana, Kanye West, Charlie Heat, Diddy, Velous
Singles chronology
Previous	"FourFiveSeconds"
Next	"Say You Will"
Music video

"All Day" is a song by Kanye West that was released as a single on March 2, 2015. The song features vocals from Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom, and Paul McCartney.

The lyrics center around West boasting about being successful and winning in life, with West comparing certain lyrics to the work of Jay-Z.

Production

The song contains a re-recorded sample of the then-unreleased song "When the Wind is Blowing" by Paul McCartney and Wings and an interpolation from "Dance with Me" by Jamaican singer Noel Ellis. It contains elements of industrial and drill music, alongside the use of synthesizers.

Background

Producer Velous revealed that the beat for the song was originally meant for French Montana in 2014 before it was given to Kanye. "All Day" was one of the songs that was known to have been previewed at the Yeezus II listening party in Café Royale, with the original demo having a different beat. In an interview with GQ in July 2014, Kanye revealed that his new single would be titled "All Day". Two weeks later, a snippet of the song was leaked.

Allan Kingdom also revealed that the hook was part of a "larger story" that he wrote. A version with reference vocals from Kendrick Lamar was also leaked, and it has since become one of Kanye's most infamous leaks. Another version with a guest verse from 2 Chainz was also leaked. A remix of the song was even made during Yeezus II sessions with vocals from Malik Yusef and Hass, but it was also scrapped. On February 25, 2015, Ye performed the song at the Brit Awards with a horde of other rappers, including Allan Kingdom, who ignited massive flames with a flamethrower while performing the song. However, Ye's repeated use of the N-word in the performance led to over 100 complaints sent to Ofcom. Hours before its release, the song was previewed on radio stations Power 106 and Hot 97.

All Day (Live At The 2015 BRIT Awards) (Explicit)

While the song has not been seen on any track lists for So Help Me God, it was presumably set to be released on the album due to both the album and the song sharing the same cover. However, So Help Me God was scrapped by mid 2015 and the album eventually evolved into The Life Of Pablo.

The song was originally planned to release on February 24, 2015 with "Wolves" as its B-Side song, as evidenced by MIKE DEAN hyping up the single's release. However, for unknown reasons, the single's release was pushed back to March 2 and "Wolves" wasn't released until The Life Of Pablo was released in February 2016.

Music video

On March 2, 2015, Kanye announced the music video for the song while at Oxford University, revealing that he recorded the video "two days ago". On March 7, Kanye previewed the video at the Louis Vuitton Foundation during Paris Fashion Week. Only snippets of the video, directed by Steve McQueen, were posted on the Internet until February 22, 2016, when Unit Media posted the full video online.

In the video, Kanye raps the song in an empty warehouse. After "All Day" finishes, Kanye takes deep breaths before performing the unreleased song, "I Feel Like That".

Lyrics

[Intro]
All day, n***a
Dance, ayy, ayy ayy ayy

[Chorus]
All day, n***a
How long you n***as ball? All day, n***a
How much time you spent at the mall? All day, n***a
How many runners do you got on call? All day, n***a
Swish, swish, how long they keep you in court? All day, n***a
Take you to get this fly? All day, n***a
Tell your P.O. how-how long you been high? All day, n***a
You already know I’m straight from the Chi, all day, n***a
South, south, south side! All day, n***a

[Verse 1]
This Ye, n***a
Shoppin' for the winter and it’s just May, n***a
Ball so hard, man, this shit cray, n***a
And you ain't gettin' money 'less you got eight figures
For that Jesus piece, man, I've been saved, n***a
Just talked to Farrakhan, that's sensei, n***a
Told him I've been on ten since the 10th grade, n***a
Got a middle finger longer than Dikembe, my n***a, uh
I don't let 'em play with me
I don't let 'em talk to me no kind of way
Uh, they better watch what they say to me
N***as still gettin' popped on the day to day
Yeah, I still got the hundred with the small face, n***a
Might spend 50 racks on my off day, n***a
You a fake Denzel like the Allstate n***a
If you run into me, better have Allstate with yah
You a Rico Suave n***a
Ride 'round listen to Sade, n***a
If you ain't with us, you in our way, n***a
You an actor, you should be on Broadway, n***a
'Cause you do shit the broad way, n***a
Your bitch got a ass, but my broad way thicker
Late for the class, in the hallway, n***a
Yeah, the dropout at it as always n***a, as always
All day, n***a

[Refrain]
I took a young sweet breath, and I reached into my Earth
Gave him what I had left
At that moment, I dispersed
At that moment, I dispersed

[Chorus]
All day, n***a
How-h-how long you ball? All day, n***a
How much time you spent at the mall? All day, n***a
How long it take you to get this fly, fly? All day, n***a
Tell your P.O. how-how long you been high, high? All day, n***a
Pour some Hen out for my n***as that died, all day, n***a
And I keep a bad bitch on the passenger side, all day, n***a
You already know I’m straight from the Chi, all day, n***a
South, south, south side! All day, n***a

[Verse 2]
I could do this all day, boy, I'm finna turn this bitch out
Any day Ye in the streets, boy, there's been a mothafuckin' drought
Don't really matter what I make, boy, you know I still go wild
Like a light-skinned slave, boy, we in the mothafuckin' house
Right now, you lookin' real sus right now
I swear I've been on this flight like a month right now
Stupid n***as gettin' money, Forrest Gump right now
Shout-out to Jackie Chan, I need to stunt right now
They've been lookin' at the Gram, I've been lookin' at the Grammys
Like, huh, that's us right now (Right now)
24/7, 365 days, everybody gettin' paid (Go crazy)
N***as lookin' at me like I'm worth both MJs
People saying, "Ye, Ye, take it easy"
20 Gs for the Yeezys off of eBay
N***as do the most and they ain't done shit
Only way I can sum it up, sumbitch

[Bridge]
(Hands up, hands up, hands up)
Hands up, hands up, hands up
So won't you dance? Ayy, ayy ayy ayy
(All day, n***a)

[Refrain]
I took a young sweet breath, and I reached into my Earth
Gave him what I had left
At that moment I dispersed
At that moment I dispersed

[Break]
Get low, alright
Get low, alright
What up? Alright, alright
Stay low, alright
Stay low, alright
Stay low, alright
South, south, south side! All day, n***a

[Outro]
Well, well, well, let me run (Let me run)
Let me run to see who came undone
You've been right in my face
Let me run 'til you're off my case
Woah-woah, woah-woah
Woah-woah, woah-woah
Woah-woah, woah-woah
Woah-woah, woah-woah

Trivia

• Kanye saying "South, south, southside" would later be sampled in the unreleased So Help Me God song, "Southside Serenade".