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.

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.

[13] The song was met with positive reviews from music critics, who mostly had praise for West's lyrical performance and the boldness of his subject matter.

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.

"[2] 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.'

We keep hoping that one day he'll find his heart and join evolved style icons—including Russell Simmons, Pink, and Natalie Portman—who have dropped animal skins.

[22] Though Los Angeles Times's Randall Roberts noted that it wasn't "until West moved into his hit "Cold" that things got great".

[24] The same version was performed live again by West when he took the tour to Perth Arena on September 6, 2014 and as part of his headline set for Glastonbury Festival 2015.