Songfacts®:

• This is a track from Wake Up!, a collaborative album between R&B musician John Legend and Hip-Hop band The Roots. Inspired by the 2008 United States presidential election, Legend and the Philadelphia band primarily covered 1960s and 1970s soul music songs for the record. Legend told MTV News that he has been a fan of The Roots since his college days, when he was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. "I'm a big fan of the Roots. I'm excited to be able to put out an album with the Roots. This is a group I've been following since I was a kid at UPenn. I would go to open mics and watch them host the open mics, wishing I could be onstage with them, and now I'm in the studio with them making this album, and it's pretty exciting."
• This song was originally recorded as the title track of a 1972 album by R&B singer Mike James Jirkland. Roots drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson said to Billboard magazine: "There's a song that deals with patriotism, which connects to what's going on in New York with the mosque near ground zero. 'Hang on in There' deals specifically with the definition of an American: 'Do you consider me an African American like you consider yourself an American?' Every day, new subjects and ideas are being raised that make this album relevant."