Blood on the Leaves

The song features production from musical duo TNGHT.

The song features production by the musical duo TNGHT, consisting of Scottish producer Hudson Mohawke and Canadian producer Lunice.[1] Mohawke had previously worked with West on the 2012 GOOD Music collaboration "Mercy",[2] along with other tracks on the compilation album Cruel Summer (2012).[3] After working on Yeezus, Mohawke was introduced to an entirely new approach to songwriting.[4] According to Mohawke, the duo's song "R U Ready", which is sampled in "Blood on the Leaves", was one of the first songs the two recorded together and was also one of the first pieces of music the duo sent to West to sample.[3]

West had previously sampled the work of Nina Simone on the 808s & Heartbreak track "Bad News" and the Watch the Throne collaborative track "New Day" with Jay-Z.[5] Rapper Travis Scott viewed West as "a genius" and the only person who would think of combining "Strange Fruit" with a Hudson Mohawke beat in the "crazy-ass song".[3] When he first heard the combination, Travis Scott "was jumping on niggas' backs and shit, like, 'Ahhhh!'".[3]

"Blood on the Leaves" is a hip hop song in which West delivers his vocals through an Auto-Tune processor, similar to his 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak.[6][7] The song begins with a sample of singer and civil rights activist Nina Simone's 1965 rendition of "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday over rolling piano chords, after which West's vocals begins.[8] After one minute, the song unleashes horns taken from musical duo TNGHT's song "R U Ready", along with animal growls that play sporadically throughout the rest of the song.[6] He later interpolates the hook of rapper C-Murder's 2000 song "Down for My N's."[6] West's verses center around the perils of fame, conspicuous consumption and drug-addled romance.[6] He raps lyrics which have been speculated as a possible reference to Jay-Z being unfaithful to his wife Beyoncé.[9]

"Blood on the Leaves" was released on June 18, 2013, as the seventh track on West's sixth studio album Yeezus.[10] According to Mohawke, "Blood on the Leaves" was originally intended to be the album's opener instead of "On Sight", but was changed "at the last minute" due to "the message ["On Sight"] puts across that [Yeezus] is a very different record."[3] In November 2013, Mohawke announced via Twitter that the song was to-be released as the next single for the album, after "Bound 2" in August 2013.[11] That same month, West subsequently announced the release during an appearance on 92.3 NOW.[12] David Lynch stated his intentions to direct a music video for "Blood on the Leaves" due to his fondness for the song, but plans were abandoned after Lynch "never got [any] ideas."[13]

The song received universal acclaim from music critics, with many commenting on its lyrical message and praising its samples. When reviewing the album for HipHopDX, Justin Hunte wrote that "Blood on the Leaves" is "[the] one song [from Yeezus] that must be heard immediately."[14] The staff of Popdust rated the song three and a half out of five, describing it as "an epic Yeezy tale about a relationship gone sour over issues of money and celebrity and bad timing and possibly even an unwanted child, depending on how you interpret the final verse."[15] The song was branded by Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone as being "a buzzing, bluesy, static-y track."[16] The song impressed director David Lynch: "I think it's one of the most modern pieces and so minimal, so powerful but at the same time so beautiful. It's a great, great song."[17] Gil Kaufman of MTV called "Blood on the Leaves": "a churning anthem about conspicuous consumption" and: "[an] example of West's signature dichotomy in which he melds the sacred and profane."[6] The original version of Nina Simone's "Strange Fruit" recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939 has been deemed: "shorthand for music that deals with racial injustice."[6]

Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork called the song the "album pinnacle" and "a nightmarish story of divorce and betrayal,"[18] while Jody Rosen of Vulture stated that: "[West is] well aware how audacious to interpolate that sacred song into a monstrously self-pitying ... a melodrama about what a drag it is when your side-piece won't abort your love child."[19] Nicholas Troester of conservative magazine First Things labeled the song as an "anti-abortion anthem" and thought the focus of the song is: "the tremendous selfishness of adults who cannot understand the importance of families or children."[20]

Upon the album's release, the track charted at number 91 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and disappeared from the chart afterwards until making a re-entry at its peak position of number 89 on September 14, 2013.[27][28] The track charted at number 28 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart initially, then went on to peak at number 27 in the same week as reaching its peak position on the Hot 100 and spent a total of five weeks on the chart.[29][30] "Blood on the Leaves" was certified Gold in the United States in 2015, despite West releasing no album that year.[31] It was later certified Platinum in the United States in 2018.[32] In France, the track debuted at number 131 on the SNEP chart upon the release of Yeezus.[33] It entered at number 174 on the UK Singles Chart.[34]

West performed the song live at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.[35] He was originally supposed to perform "Black Skinhead", though changed to performing "Blood on the Leaves" instead shortly before the show.[36] The performance was notable for its minimal lighting and forest-themed backdrop.[35] Moments before taking the stage, West posted a photo of the backcloth on Twitter with the caption; "it's a tree that was used for lynching."[35] Later he posted a message on his website, "This tree was used for lynching. Those who were murdered are buried in the ground around the tree. Blood on the leaves."[35] The song was performed live by West on Later... with Jools Holland in September 2013;[37] this performance was singled out for praise by Bruce Springsteen during an interview with NPR, who called it "fantastic".[38] West omitted Jay-Z's name from the song's lyrics when performing it live at the X Games Austin 2014 Music Festival, where his name was also omitted from the lyrics of "Cold".[39] Other live performances include Glastonbury in June 2015 and on the Saint Pablo Tour in August 2016.[40][41]

American musician Raury covered the song during his appearance on Hot 97 in September 2014.[42] A version titled "Blood on the Leaves (DOGMA remix)" was released in June 2013, which includes Nina Simone's vocals being mashed.[43] American rapper Waka Flocka Flame freestyled over the song's instrumental in May 2014 as part of his weekly series of freestyles every Monday, leading up to the release of his third studio album Flockaveli 2.[44] A remix of the song was shared by Nicolas Jaar in February 2016.[45]

Credits adapted from the Yeezus liner notes.[1]

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics