"Knockout"
Single by Lil Wayne featuring Nicki Minaj
from the album Rebirth
ReleasedFebruary 2, 2010
Recorded2009
Genre
Length4:09
Label
Songwriter(s)
  • D. Carter
  • O. Maraj
  • K. Crowe
  • E. Ortiz
Producer(s)J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League
Lil Wayne singles chronology
"Miss Me"
(2010)		 "Knockout"
(2010)		 "No Love"
(2010)
Nicki Minaj singles chronology
"Up Out My Face"
(2010)		 "Knockout"
(2010)		 "My Chick Bad"
(2010)

"Knockout" is a song by Lil Wayne from his album Rebirth. It features Nicki Minaj rapping near the end of the song and singing the chorus. The song debuted at forty-four on the US Billboard Hot 100 due to strong digital sales with the album's release. This song also marks Minaj's first appearance on the chart.

As of October 2010 the song sold 519,000 digital copies according to Nielsen SoundScan.[1]

The song has received reappraisal in 2021 via TikTok and the emergence of the microgenre hyperpop.

Reception

The song received generally negative reviews by critics. Behind the Hype gave the song a negative review, stating " 'Knockout' sounds like it's set to an old Blink-182 drumbeat and guitar riff, but without any of the fun. That’s a good analogy for the record as a whole."[2] Culture Bully called it the worst track of the album, along with "The Price is Wrong", and added "'Knockout' stands as one of the best examples as to why vocoderized pop punk should not exist."[3] AllHipHop stated that the song "possesses a fair balance of rock influenced music, but not offensive to his core base."[4] Consequence of Sound commented that Minaj did a passable job and called the song a "tween rock anthem".[5]

Rolling Stone stated that the only reason the album was given a generous review is because of this track (along with others) although there is an overly heavy use of auto-tune.[6] Entertainment Weekly felt the song wasn't suited for Wayne stating "Wayne turns his efforts to blink-182-style pop-punk bounce ('Get a Life,' 'Knockout') and Prince-ly funk fervor ('I'll Die for You'), neither of which suits him much better."[7] The New York Times called the song a parody stating "The songs might have been better as parodies than as imitations, although 'Knockout' — a Coldplay homage backing a raunchy lyric — comes close to being both."[8]

Music video

The video was shot by director David Rousseau on February 6, 2010, where Lil Wayne spent 48 hours shooting a variety of music videos for multiple songs.[9] A sneak peek of the video was shown on May 26, 2010.[10] The video premiered on May 29 of Memorial Day weekend along with videos of other singles from the Rebirth album including "Da Da Da", "Runnin' " with Shanell, and "Get a Life".[11] The entire video was shot in front of a green-screen.[12]

The video features Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj living out a high school fantasy where Minaj plays Wayne's Barbie love interest. During the chorus Minaj sings into the camera wearing a wig that is split in half of blonde hair and green hair with pink hair underneath in the back. Lil Wayne makes a wardrobe change during his second verse and during Minaj's verse they are both in a boxing arena with a large crowd performing. The video ends with both artists in the boxing ring with Wayne shouting the final lyrics. Birdman makes a cameo in the video around the end.

Charts

Chart (2010) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100 44[13]

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[14] Platinum 1,000,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "Week Ending Oct. 3, 2010: America's Most Popular Inmate - Chart Watch". Archived from the original on 2010-12-10. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  2. ↑ Cheese Sandwich (2010-02-09). "Lil Wayne's 'Rebirth' a Strong Argument for Creative Abortion | Movie Reviews | Music Reviews". Behind the Hype. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  3. ↑ "Lil Wayne "Rebirth" Review". Culturebully.com. 2009-12-17. Archived from the original on 2010-04-17. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  4. ↑ "Reviews / Music : Lil Wayne - Rebirth (Album Review)". Allhiphop.com. Archived from the original on 2010-05-02. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  5. ↑ Alex Young (2010-01-08). "Album Review: Lil Wayne- Rebirth". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  6. ↑ Christian Hoard (2010-02-04). "Rebirth : Lil Wayne". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2010-01-23. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  7. ↑ Leah Greenblatt (2010-01-27). "Rebirth | Music". EW.com. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  8. ↑ "Critics' Choice - New Music from Lil Wayne, Midlake and Orrin Evans - Review". The New York Times. 2010-01-31. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  9. ↑ "Lil Wayne Shoots Over 10 Music Videos | Lil Wayne". Rap Basement. 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  10. ↑ "Sneak Peek: Lil Wayne f/ Nicki Minaj – 'Knockout' + Big Boi – 'Shutterbugg'". Rap-Up.com. 2010-05-26. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  11. ↑ "Sneak Peek: Lil Wayne – 'Da Da Da'". Rap-Up.com. 2010-05-25. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  12. ↑ "Video: Behind The Scenes: Lil Wayne Ft. Nicki Minaj - Knockout". Worldstarhiphop.com. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  13. ↑
  14. ↑ "American single certifications – Lil Wayne – Knockout". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
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