耶! (2004)

"Yeah!" is a song by American singer Usher featuring American rappers Lil Jon and Ludacris. The song is written by the featured artists alongside Sean Garrett, J. Que, Robert McDowell, and LRoc, and is produced by Lil Jon. The song incorporates crunk and R&B—which Lil Jon coined as crunk&B—in the song's production. The song was released as the lead single from Usher's fourth studio album Confessions (2004) on January 10, 2004, after Usher was told by Arista Records, his label at the time, to record more tracks for the album.

"Yeah!" topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 12 consecutive weeks, before being dethroned by Usher's follow-up single "Burn". "Yeah!" was the longest-running number one single in 2004, subsequently topping the year-end chart on the Hot 100. It was thirteen-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song received a similar response in other countries, topping in other twelve charts worldwide. It was certified platinum in several countries, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, and Norway, and received a two-times platinum certification in New Zealand. The song peaked in the top 10 in several year-end charts.

An accompanying music video, directed by Mr. X, shows the artists performing choreography in a club in front of blue laser beams. "Yeah!" won a Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards, while being nominated for Record of the Year. The song ranked second on the Billboard Hot 100 2000–2009 Decade-end chart. As of February 2024, the song has sold over 13 million copies in the U.S.

Background and release

In late 2003, Usher submitted his fourth studio album, Confessions (2004), to his record label Arista Records. However, when the singer and the company's then-president L.A. Reid listened to the songs, Reid felt the album lacked a song that had the potential to be released as the album's lead single. In light of this, Usher was told to record a few more tracks, and so he enlisted Lil Jon to aid in musical production. Lil Jon recalled, "He [Usher] needed a single. They had 'Burn', 'Burn' was hot, but they needed that first powerful monster. That's when I came in."

Several months prior to Lil Jon's involvement in the production of Confessions, he was commissioned by Jive Records to produce fifteen tracks for Mystikal. The rapper would only select two tracks, which provided Lil Jon the opportunity to give leftover songs to other record labels. Without Lil Jon's knowledge, Jive Records gave one of the leftover tracks to Petey Pablo which would eventually become "Freek-a-Leek". However, Lil Jon, assuming that the song had not been used, gave the production to Usher, resulting in a rough version of "Yeah!". Eventually realizing the mistake after Pablo played "Freek-a-Leek" to Lil Jon, the latter insisted on producing more tracks for Pablo; however, Pablo did not give up the song, due to the fact that it was already recorded and had been getting responses from Southern radio. Lil Jon commented, "With so much invested, Jive wouldn't give up the cut." Lil Jon jumped back in the studio and created an equally catchy replacement track. Though "Yeah!" was now completed, the label still had "Burn" on queue for the lead single. Usher's friend and former A&R rep Kawan "KP" Prather commented: "'Burn' being a great song is one thing, but it's one of them things where people said, 'It's strong, but can we make history with that?' At the end of the day, you want an event." Usher was still unsure if "Yeah!" was the right choice.

Lil Jon, who is also a DJ, then decided to leak the record to DJs across the country after the record companies shut down for Christmas break. By the time they got back to business in January, the record already had thousands of radio plays with no label involvement. Usher still opted to go with "Burn" as the lead single as a music video was already planned, however, the responses to "Yeah!" were overwhelmingly favorable, and "Yeah!" was released as the first single with "Burn" becoming the second single from the album. The single was released in the United States on January 27, 2004, as a CD single and 12" single. LaFace Records sent "Yeah!" to US contemporary hit radio on February 7, 2004. In the United Kingdom, it was released as a CD single, containing the album and instrumental version of the song, and two additional tracks from the album, "Red Light" (also produced by Lil Jon) and "Sweet Lies".