"Where U Been?" is a song by American rapper

2 Chainz Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (formerly Tity Boi), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip-hop duo Playaz Ci ...

from his second studio album '' B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time''. (2013) The song was released as the album's first

promotional single A promotional recording, promo, or plug copy is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as mu ...

on August 1, 2013. It was produced by frequent collaborator

Mike Will Made It Michael Len Williams II (born March 23, 1989), known professionally as Mike Will Made It (often stylized as Mike WiLL Made-It) or simply Mike Will, is an American record producer. He is best known for producing trap beats for several Southern hi ...

, and featured a

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

by Cap.1. The song peaked on the US ''Billboard''

Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...

at number one. It samples from "The Dance of the Witches", part of the score of

The Witches of Eastwick ''The Witches of Eastwick'' is a 1984 novel by American writer John Updike. A sequel, '' The Widows of Eastwick'', was published in 2008. Plot The story, set in the fictional Rhode Island town of Eastwick in the early 1970s, follows the witc ...

, written by

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

Background

On August 1, 2013, 2 Chainz premiered the

-produced "Where U Been?" featuring Cap.1, from his second studio album '' B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time''. On the same day, it was serviced to DJs as the album's first

. In September 2013, 2 Chainz performed "Where U Been?" on

DJ Skee Scott Keeney (born 15 November 1983), better known by his stage name DJ Skee, is an American artist, television host, radio personality, and entrepreneur. Skee rose to fame as the first DJ to discover and play superstar artists on the radio incl ...

's SKEE Live along with "

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Music video

The Sharod Marcus Simpson-directed music video for "Where U Been?" was released on September 11, 2013, the day after the album's US release. The video features a compilation of tour footage from the America's Most Wanted

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific ...

, which also featured

T.I. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born September 25, 1980), known professionally as T.I. or Tip, is an American rapper and singer raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Harris is credited as a pioneer of the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Georgi ...

and

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

. The black and white video also shows 2 Chainz "performing to packed crowds and celebrating his lavish lifestyle."

Critical reception

"Where U Been?" was met with generally positive reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

s, with most of the praise going towards the production. Jordan Sargent of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' praised Mike Will Made It's production saying, it "weds pinging bells and the hint of a guitar riff to the producer's typically intricate hi-hat programming." Kyle Krammer of

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...

credited the song for its "Massive, booming beat and brillent non sequitur punchlines." David Jeffries of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

called the song a "heartbreak 2 Chainz and Mike Will Made-It style with betrayal lyrics going ghetto over hypnotic, pounding production." Julian Benbow of ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' also praised the production, calling it warped and taunting. Jay Soul of RapReviews called the song pleasant to the ear.

Chart performance

References

{{2 Chainz songs 2013 songs 2 Chainz songs Song recordings produced by Mike Will Made It Def Jam Recordings singles Songs written by Marquel Middlebrooks Songs written by Mike Will Made It Songs written by 2 Chainz