"Wash Us in the Blood" debuted at number 49 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while it attained top 40 positions in Australia, Greece, and Ireland.

During an Instagram Live chat with French artist Michèle Lamy on May 22, 2020, American cinematographer Arthur Jafa revealed that West had been working on a new track.

[1] Jafa continued, telling Lamy that the track was set to be included on West's then-upcoming album God's Country and "will be, like, the first single, I guess, off of it.

[1] West later announced "Wash Us in the Blood" for release via Twitter on June 29, 2020, alongside sharing a 10-second snippet of it as well as the single's cover art.

[5][6] The song was produced by West, Ronny J and BoogzDaBeast, and co-produced by Michael Mule and Isaac DeBoni of FnZ alongside A.G., while additional production was handled by Dem Jointz and Israel Boyd.

[9] Welch commented that the song contrasted with "mellow and sweet" tracks from the playlist, with him comparing its industrial sound to West's sixth studio album Yeezus (2013).

[16][21] The track includes bongos before introducing "a thumping cacophony of quaking beats" as well as industrial synth lines that are screams, complemented with white noise and deep vocal samples.

[13] For the opening of the track, West raps "in short, repetitive bursts, drawling the end of his lines," accompanied by a sample of preacher Robert G. Moore Jr, which was contributed by producer Dem Jointz after being sent the record from Dr.

[13][19][21] Lyrically, "Wash Us in the Blood" has a religious message; the song implores God "to deliver black America from evil" through Jesus' sacrifice while discussing mass incarceration, slavery, genocide, and drug-dealing.

[13][19] Following on from this, West switches focus by taking aim at the media alongside evoking Trump's criticism of fake news.

[8] For the performance, West served as the narrator and was accompanied by operatic singers, large groups of robed people that occupied the venue's aisle, and a choir.

Ben Beaumont-Thomas lauded the song in his review for The Guardian, hailing it as "one of [West's] most focused and arresting tracks for years" as well as "an intensely potent study of race and faith," while he explained that the motif "gets your blood up.

"[12] Sam Moore of NME highlighted the song as "a glorious return to 'Yeezus'-era chaos" and added that it "thankfully proves that even 2020's passionately non-secular Kanye isn't done yet with challenging and provoking his listener.

"[13] Jason Lipshutz from Billboard described the song as "a return to the boiling anger that made 2013's Yeezus so kinetic," praising West and Travis Scott's "fiery examination of injustice.

"[31] Jefferson elaborated on his viewpoint, stating that "it feels like a veiled attempt at the sort of radical musical advocacy" which West delivered with Yeezus, while dubbing the song a "watered down" version of the album's lead single "Black Skinhead" (2013).

[15] Gavin Haynes of The Guardian opined that the song is a "dark, frenetic" track and "has all the commercial potential of a Metal Machine Music B-sides compilation," likening it to "someone pouring a baby into the bear enclosure.

[24] The video uses split-screen presentation throughout and features footage of West's Saint Pablo Tour (2016),[34] police brutality,[35] a gospel choir, people with masks on that struggle to breathe, goats, Afrofuturism, Taylor dancing,[36] Arbery soon before his shooting, protests, church services,[37] cars doing donuts, scenes from Grand Theft Auto V (2013), computer-generated images of West,[24] imprisoned people, and an unmanned drone.

[11] To end the video, the camera zooms in on the face of Kanye's daughter North West as she dances at a rehearsal for the Sunday Service Choir.

[24][36] At the same time as her dancing, Kanye West says the chorus of "Wash Us in the Blood", with him doing this after the song's audio has run its full length.

[42] In Australia, the song performed best by debuting at number 31 on the ARIA Singles Chart, becoming one of three new releases to reach the top 50 for the week of July 13, 2020.