On September 15, 2020, West posted a series of tweets about his relationship with
Universal Music Group. In the tweets, the rapper expressed desire to buy back his
master recordings. He went on to leak his full
recording contract documents between himself and Universal. He also stated that he is "not putting no more music out until I'm done with my contract with Sony and Universal.". The next day, on September 16, West flew out to
Jamaica and recorded music with
Buju Banton and
Saint Jhn, the former of which features on the track; while Saint Jhn did record for the track, his contributions did not make the final cut. Other artists who recorded for the track but did not make it onto the final version include singer
Steve Lacy and West's
Sunday Service Choir. On September 26, West shared a snippet of "Believe What I Say" on his Twitter account. The track samples
Lauryn Hill's 1998 song "
Doo Wop (That Thing)". The track was officially previewed on August 26, 2021 at the
Donda listening event at
Soldier Field. On September 9, composer Antman Wonder, who was initially left off the credits, posted the original version of the track; claiming that West had not properly credited his, as well as several other artists' contributions to
Donda. The credits were later updated to include his contribution. ==Credits==