"For the Night" is a song by American rapper Pop Smoke, released on July 3, 2020, as the third track off his debut studio album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon. It features American rappers Lil Baby and DaBaby. The track was originally set to feature YoungBoy Never Broke Again, however Pop Smoke's team felt "the timing wasn't right". It is Pop Smoke's highest-charting song, debuting and peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100.
Background and composition
The song contains an acoustic guitar, folk flutes and heavily autotuned vocals. The beat's melody is a recreation of an original composition by Swiss record producer Wylo. According to Wylo, French record producer CashMoneyAP, who wanted to sign him, stole the beat from Wylo. Wylo stated: "CashMoneyAP let one of his producers remake the sample to try to not credit and pay me". Wylo's lawyers eventually stepped in and he was credited on the song. Wylo went on to post the original composition on his Instagram profile. According to CashMoneyAP, Pop Smoke found the original beat on Danish record producer Palaze's YouTube channel, who later signed to CashMoneyAP's record label and production collective Cash Gang, along with Pop Smoke's record label Victor Victor Worldwide. CashMoneyAP explained how the production came about: "Palaze had done the original beat. . Palaze and I did the drums, and I also added some keys and bass". Palaze was aiming for a "Travis Scott vibe". Pop Smoke's managerSteven Victor recalled: "When Pop recorded his part, we were all really excited about it. That was one of the first times I heard Pop in that tone". CashMoneyAP felt they had to work on the song, because Smoke is "actually singing. It's not him gangster rapping like he usually doee". After Smoke played the song for Victor, Victor immediately wanted Lil Baby on it; "The idea was to put Lil Baby and NBA YoungBoy on it, because he had been communicating with YoungBoy through CashMoneyAP". Victor wanted YoungBoy on it, "because it's his type of music. He was down to do it, but the timing wasn't right". Pop had expressed a desire to work with DaBaby and have him on the album, and after Lil Baby sent his verse, Victor sent DaBaby the track. Producer Jess Jackson said after Lil Baby sent his vocals in, "it was like, 'OK, now I hear a record'. From there Jackson had to figure out how to make Lil Baby's timbre work with DaBaby on the same song. Jackson stated "Both of those artists have such bright, mid-forward, nasally vocal voices, and Pop is the opposite". Mike Dean, who co-produced and wrote on "For the Night", helped Jackson with the mastering of the track. The song marks the seventh collaboration between Lil Baby and DaBaby, following DaBaby's "Today ", , Jamz's "Baby Shower", Quality Control's "Baby", DaBaby's "Toes",, Stunna 4 Vegas's "Do Dat", and Future's "Life Is Good ".
August Brown of the Los Angeles Times regarded the song as an " for Pop Smoke on his own album". Similarly, Briana Younger of NPR said DaBaby eulogizes Pop Smoke "explicitly", and noted the song's "syrupy" hook stands out from Pop's usual fare. Varietys A.D. Amorosi complimented Pop Smoke's ability to step outside his conventional style, writing: " you realize Pop Smoke had the potential for languorous, even sweet, song-craft beyond drill".
