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Touch the Sky (Kanye West song)

"Touch the Sky" is a song recorded by American hip hop artist Kanye West for his second studio album, Late Registration (2005). The song features Lupe Fiasco on 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.

"Touch the Sky"

August 30, 2005

2005

3:56

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 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.

Music video[edit]

Background and synopsis[edit]

West financed the music video for "Touch the Sky" himself after he did not like the first version Def Jam paid for.[31] 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".[32] American rock band 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.[33] The production cost for the video was approximately $1 million, which is the 25th most expensive music video of all time.[34] The visual was debuted on MTV in February 2006, and 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.[35][36] 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.[35][36] West also pokes fun at his anti-Bush outburst from 2005 and the possibility of his career arc ending with a crash-and-burn.[36] The video features a cameo from Canadian-American actress Pamela Anderson, who opposes the daredevil character that West portrays.[37] American actresses Nia Long and Tracee Ellis Ross also make appearances in it.[38]

Lawsuit[edit]

In December 2006, Evel Knievel filed a lawsuit against West in the U.S. District Court of Tampa, Florida for trademark infringement.[35] 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.[35] 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.[39]

Reception[edit]

Sydney Scott of Essence pointed out the cameos within the music video as what "definitely made for an interesting video."[38] West reacted negatively to the video not receiving any nominations at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, saying during an interview, "It didn't get any nominations, but it's one of the most memorable videos of the year for me."[40] However, at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards, the music video was nominated for Best Video.[41] After not winning the latter award, West thought he should have won because the visual "cost a million dollars, Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons."[40] The video earned a nomination for Best International Video - Artist at the 2006 MuchMusic Video Awards.[42] It was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Styling at the 2007 Music Video Production Awards.[43] At the same ceremony, the music video was awarded Best Hip-Hop Video.[44] Complex named it the fourth best music video of the 2000s decade.[45]

Commercial performance[edit]

North America[edit]

Though not released as a single initially, "Touch the Sky" reached number 72 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for the issue dated November 5, 2005.[46] After its single release, the song entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 90 for the issue date of February 25, 2006.[47] On March 4, it climbed 20 places to number 70 on the chart.[48] The song experienced a similar jump the next week, rising 18 places to number 52.[49] After two weeks, the song then entered the top 50 of the Hot 100 on March 18 at number 47.[50] The next week, it peaked at number 42 on the chart, attaining similar performance to West's single "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" that reached number 43 on the Hot 100 in 2005.[51][52] "Touch the Sky" remained on the chart for a total of nine weeks.[51] On the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, the song reached its peak of number 23 on March 11.[53] That same week, the song attained its highest position on a Billboard chart by reaching number ten on the US Hot Rap Songs chart.[54] The song peaked at number 35 on the US Billboard Mainstream Top 40 for the issue of March 25, 2006.[55] On September 23, 2020, "Touch the Sky" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shelving 1,000,000 certified units in the US.[56]

Europe and Oceania[edit]

The song had its best performance in the UK, peaking at number six on the UK Singles Chart, giving West his fifth top ten single in the country.[57] It remained on the chart for a total of 15 weeks.[57] On the year-end list of the best selling tracks in the UK for 2006, the song ranked at number 93.[58] It was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling 600,000 sales-equivalent units on February 26, 2021.[59] In Scotland, the song performed similarly, reaching number seven on the Scottish Singles Chart.[60] It peaked at number 14 on the Irish Singles Chart, giving West his fourth top 20 single on the chart.[61] Similarly, the song peaked at number 15 on the Finnish Singles Chart.[62] "Touch the Sky" experienced less commercial success in the Russia and Germany charts, peaking at number 62 and 97, respectively.[63][64]


"Touch the Sky" was successful in Australia, peaking at number ten on the ARIA Singles Chart; it stood as West's second top ten single in the country, following on from "Gold Digger" reaching number one in 2005.[65] In 2015, the song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for exceeding 70,000 shipped copies.[66] On the NZ Singles Chart, the song reached number 16 and stayed on the chart for seven weeks.[67] West had previously reached the same position in 2003 with "Through the Wire", which also remained on the NZ Singles Chart for seven weeks.[67]

Other versions[edit]

A cover version of "Touch the Sky" was played by eight-piece American brass ensemble The Soul Rebels that included horns and was released on their mixtape Power = Power in 2013.[83][84] American hip hop group The LOX, which consists of Sheek Louch, Styles P and Jadakiss, freestyled over the song in 2005 with a feature from Ace Hood.[85] Urban Noize released a remix in April 2012 that includes vocals from English musician Florence Welch alongside their interpretation of West and Lupe Fiasco's vocals.[86]

Recorded at (Hollywood, CA) and Chalice Recording Studios (Hollywood, CA)

The Record Plant

Mixed at Chalice Recording Studios (Hollywood, CA).

Information taken from Late Registration liner notes.[10]


Recording


Personnel

List of top 10 singles in 2006 (Australia)

List of UK top-ten singles in 2006

at MTV (archived from 2009)

"Touch the Sky" Lyrics