“High” by Young Thug (featuring Elton John)

“High” is a song by American rapper Young Thug and the renowned English singer-songwriter Elton John. Actually the song is considered the official remix of the iconic Elton John song titled “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time)”.

In the original version of the song, Elton told the story of an astronaut with mixed feelings about leaving his family for space. However, in the remixed version (“High”), Young Thug’s lyrics deal with a plethora of things, including the wealth he is accumulating. In the song’s chorus, both he and Elton sing about being high because they’re rocket men.

“And I’m gonna be high
I’m a rocket man”

How the Song was born

The song’s producer and co-writer Stelios Phili was the one who gave birth to the idea of a collaboration between Thug and Elton. According to Phili, in 2015, he came across an interview in Noisey in which Elton said he loved Young Thug’s works. It was at that point that he told himself he had to do everything within his power to bring the two artists together to work on something.

So he instantly began searching through Elton’s entire catalogue of songs to find a song that would best suit Thug. At the end of his search, he settled on an a capella version of Elton’s 1970s classic hit “Rocket Man”.

Facts about “High”

• Young Thug wrote this song along with his producer Stelios Phili. And since it samples or rather remixes Elton’s 1972 hit single “Rocket Man”, both Elton and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin are credited as songwriters on the track.
• Stelios Phili produced the track.
• “High” was officially released on September 24, 2018. It is the last track on Thug’s 2018 EP titled On The Rvn.
• Before the song’s September 2018 release, it was leaked online in its unmastered version about a month prior (in August). The unmastered version of the leaked song was so popular on the internet that it led to the swift release of the mastered version a month later.
• The original title of “High” was “Elton Likes Me”. This was the title under which the song was leaked online in August 2018. However, the title was later changed to “High” and officially released about a month later.
• “High” marks the first ever collaboration between Elton John and Young Thug. However, it is worth taking note of the fact that this isn’t the first time Elton has collaborated with a rapper. Over the years, Elton has worked with a number of rappers, including Eminem and Tupac Shakur.
• The lines “I’m a rocket man” and “I’m gonna be high” are the only lyrics from the original “Rocket Man” included in “High”.

Has Elton John commented about the remix of his “Rocket Man”?

Yes. During his radio show Rocket Hour on Beats 1, Elton John called the remix as not only “so cool” but also “so good”. According to him, it was a surprise and something he never thought would happen in a million years.