Songfacts®:

• This all-star hip-hop track features T.I., Kanye West and Lil Wayne, all using the Auto-Tune device. West also produced the song. Befitting the title, the song is a giant bragfest, with all the rappers dropping verses about their particular swagger.
• The track is built on a sample of M.I.A's "Paper Planes," where she sings, "No one on the corner has swagger like us."
  
  M.I.A explained to MTV News that Kanye West emailed her around Christmas 2007 and told her that he listened to "Paper Planes" every day. Months later, he sent her an early version of this song. She added: "I thought it was really hot. He e-mailed the demo version to me. I think T.I. rewrote his verse. It sounded even better once it was done. Kanye just took one sentence and made a whole thing out of it."
• "Swagga Like Us" was the first track that Kanye West produced after the death of his mother on November 10, 2007.
• Jay-Z, T.I., Lil Wayne, Kanye West and a very pregnant M.I.A. performed this at the Grammy Awards in 2009. The guys wore tuxedos, each with various degrees of swagga.
• The writing credits on this one read: Maya Arulpragasm/Dwayne Carter/Shawn Carter/Clifford Harris/
  Nicky Headon/Mick Jones/Wesley Pentz/Paul Simonon/Joe Strummer/Kanye West.
  
  Headon, Jones, Simonon and Strummer were members of The Clash who wrote the song "Straight To Hell," which was sampled on "Paper Planes."
• When T.I. appeared on the November 15, 2024 episode of Fat Joe Talks, he was asked if he, Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Lil Wayne were all in the studio together during this song's recording, T.I. clarified, "We weren't together." He added he was the first to record his part after Gee Roberson presented him with the beat Kanye West produced, featuring an M.I.A. sample and Kanye's hook already in place.
  
  Roberson then floated the idea of adding Jay-Z and Lil Wayne to the track, to which T.I. recalled responding incredulously, "Get the f–k out of here." Despite his skepticism, the ambitious collaboration became a reality and resulted in one of the most memorable hip-hop tracks of the era.