text: cold ( kanye west song ) " cold " ( originally " theraflu " and then " way too cold " ) is a song by american hip hop recording artist kanye west , released as the second single from the album cruel summer ( 2012 ) . the song , which features dj khaled , was made available for purchase on the itunes store on april 17 , 2012 . songwriting is credited to west , chauncey hollis , james todd smith and marlon williams , while production was handled by hit - boy . lyrically , the song features west boasting about his personal issues and touching on subjects such as his relationship with kim kardashian , his breakup with amber rose , and his feelings on wiz khalifa and kris humphries . the song received positive reviews from music critics , who praised west 's lyrical performance and the boldness of his subject matter . the song contains an interpolation of " lookin ' at me " ( 1997 ) as performed by mase and puff daddy , and a sample of " illegal search " ( 1990 ) also performed by ll cool j. the song peaked at number 86 on the us billboard hot 100 and hit 68 on the us billboard hot r & b / hip - hop songs chart . the track received single artwork designed by frequent west collaborator george condo , designer of the cover of my beautiful dark twisted fantasy ( 2010 ) . west performed the song at the 2012 watch the throne tour , and at the 2012 bet awards , along with singles " mercy " and " new god flow " . the song drew controversy from humphries , the brand theraflu , and peta who criticized the content of west 's lyrics , claiming the track glorified fur clothing . production and release " way too cold " was produced by hit - boy , a producer signed to west 's label good music , known for his production on " niggas in paris " . according to hit - boy , he had “ made the beat a couple months ago , just in a session messing around ” and that kanye " just did the record maybe a week and a half ago . we actually don ’ t know if it ’ s going to be on khaled ’ s album or ‘ ye ’ s album . we just put it out because we felt like it was so urgent , people just needed to hear it . " in an interview khaled explained : " i was in the studio with ' ye [ kanye ] and i was like , ' let 's do something for your album , and let 's do something for my album , ' and you can just release it for fun . " the song was first released on the new york city radio station hot 97 by funkmaster flex on april 4 , 2012 . the cover artwork was designed by george condo , who designed the artwork for west 's album my beautiful dark twisted fantasy and singles like " power " and " runaway " . the first cover originally featured a bottle of theraflu atop the woman 's neck , was edited to remove the bottle before being released for digital download . on april 15 , west announced on twitter that the name of the song had been changed to " way too cold " , and then finally " cold " . the track was then released as a single onto itunes on april 17 , 2012 . following its digital release , the song impacted urban contemporary radio on may 8 , 2012 . music video the music video was released on august 13 , 2012 at the end of dj khaled 's " i wish you would " video . the video features an appearance by kim kardashian and was directed by hype williams . composition " cold " is a bass - heavy , bouncy track with west rapping prominently over a " furious beat " . it includes west 's " blunt thoughts on his romance with model amber rose " , who was engaged to rapper wiz khalifa at the time , with lines like , " only nigga i got respect for is wiz / and i admit i fell in love with kim around the same time she fell in love with him " . the second part of the quote alludes to his relationship with kim kardashian and her estranged husband , kris humphries . west boasts that kris is " lucky i ain 't had jay drop him from the team " , a line referencing his frequent collaborator jay - z , who was part - owner of the new jersey nets , the nba team that basketball star kris humphries played for at the time . the song " is stuffed with boasts about the rapper 's fashion cred , from boasting that he 's had dinner with vogue editor anna wintour to showing off a $ 6000 pair of shoes . the track features vocal assists from dj khaled and dj pharris , who close out the outro of the song with their boasting . critical reception tom breihan of stereogum described the song as " a seriously strong performance , all hard snarls over a bleepy late- ' 90s - style beat " and that it " finds kanye getting surprisingly personal , at least for a couple of lines , about his long - rumored relationship with kim kardashian . " rob markman of mtv stated that " lyrically , kanye delivers a fiery performance " on the track , and that " it 's all pretty intriguing , considering kanye has shied away from the media for almost two years now . " alex gale of bet mused that the song features a " brash kanye west going in furiously over a schizophrenic soundscape from hit - boy , the production maestro behind the throne 's ' niggas in paris . ' yeezy 's bars are to say the least " . djbooth mused " arrogance is busting through the seams on the record , yet it is balanced enough to sound charismatic in a form that mr. west has perfected . " rolling stone wrote that the song was " surprisingly magnanimous " and that it features west in his " full - on braggart mode " . in complex 's list of the best 25 lines of the first half of 2012 , west 's line " and i 'll admit , i had fell in love with kim / around the same time she had fell in love with him / well that 's cool , baby girl , do ya thang / lucky i ain 't had jay drop him from the team " was listed as the second best . " cold " debuted on the billboard hot 100 at position 92 , and achieved a peak position of 86 . the song peaked at number 68 on the hot r & b / hip - hop songs charts . controversy when " cold " premiered , it was titled " theraflu " . a representative of theraflu released a statement to tmz which read " we in no way endorse or approve of the references or use of the image and likeness of theraflu in this manner . " theraflu noted that this was not done at their request . in response to the line " tell peta my mink is ' on the floor , " peta stated : " what 's ’ on the floor is kanye 's reputation as a man with no empathy for animals or human beings . he ’ s a great musician but doesn ’ t seem to have the fashion sense to design anything more than caveman costumes . we keep hoping that one day he ’ ll find his heart and join evolved style including russell simmons , pink , and natalie who have dropped animal skins . " live performances the song was first performed by west at the london stop of his 2012 watch the throne tour , with west performing the song a cappella . at the 2012 bet awards , the song was performed with rappers big sean , pusha t , 2 chainz , as filed out one by one to deliver their verses from the song " mercy " , with west emerging to perform his verses from " cold " and " new god flow " afterwards . though los angeles times 's randall roberts noted that it wasn 't " until west moved into his hit " cold " that things got great " . chart performance