The uptempo song—variously described as trap, hip-hop or bass music—incorporates a mechanical bassline, Dutch house synth riffs, a dance music drop, and samples of growling-lion sounds.

American rapper Azealia Banks released a remix to "Harlem Shake" on her SoundCloud page, which was subsequently removed at Baauer's request and led to a dispute between the two.

[4] With the song, he wanted to record a high-pitched, Dutch house synthesizer over a hip hop track and make it stand out by adding a variety of peculiar sounds.

[5] Baauer posted "Harlem Shake", along with several of his other recordings, on his SoundCloud page,[5] and in April, Scottish DJ Rustie featured the song in his Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1.

[7] "Harlem Shake" features harsh snares, a mechanical bassline,[8] samples of growling lions,[6] and Dutch house synth riffs.

"[11] "Harlem Shake" begins with a sample of a voice shouting "con los terroristas", a Spanish phrase which translates to "with the terrorists" in English.

In 2010, the recorded phrase was used by Philadelphia DJs Skinny Friedman and DJ Apt One, on a remix of Gregor Salto's dance track "Con Alegría".

[18] However, it did not begin to sell significantly until February,[15] when a YouTube video, uploaded by Filthy Frank and featuring the song, developed into an Internet meme of the same name.

[22] The late-week media response to the meme helped the single sell 12,000 units on iTunes in the week ending February 10, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

"[20] In the United Kingdom, "Harlem Shake" reached number twenty-two on the UK Singles Chart during the week of the meme's phenomena.

[15] According to Billboard's editorial director Bill Werde, "Harlem Shake"'s success prompted them to enact the chart policy after two years of discussions with YouTube.

It also received more airplay after being promoted to radio by Warner Bros. Records,[28] who had agreed to a deal with Mad Decent on February 26 to distribute the song worldwide.

Neither vocal sample used on "Harlem Shake" was contractually cleared with Héctor Delgado or Jayson Musson, who were both shocked to hear the song after it became a hit.

According to Gómez, Diplo subsequently called Delgado and told him that he was unaware "Harlem Shake" sampled his voice when it was released as a single.

[13] Musson received an enthusiastic call in late February from a past member of Plastic Little telling him that his voice was sampled on "Harlem Shake".

[33] However, in an August interview with Pitchfork, Baauer said that he has not made any money from the song, despite Diplo's reported agreement: "I'm meeting with my lawyer ... so I'm gonna find that out.

So exposure-wise it was fantastic, but everything else..."[34] Pitchfork journalist Larry Fitzmaurice labelled the song "Best New Track" upon its release in May 2012 and called it a "disorienting banger" with an "irresistible appeal" that "owes almost everything" to its "menacing, world-smashing bassline".

"[6] Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times said that he liked the song and viewed it as a "syrupy instrumental" that foreshadows "the convergence of hip-hop, dance and rock".

"[8] Similarly, Jon Caramanica of The New York Times said that, after hearing a minute of it being played during Power 105.1 FM's mixshow, the song "felt more like a novelty than like part of a strategy."

"[11] On February 14, 2013, American rapper Azealia Banks released a remix to "Harlem Shake" on SoundCloud,[36] which was then removed at Baauer's request.

[11] Baauer responded in an interview for The Daily Beast, saying that they had planned to release a version of the song with Banks, but felt that her verse did not meet their expectations: She laid something on 'Harlem Shake' and it was so/so.