Songfacts®:

• Ludacris gets the club pumping in "Stand Up," a boisterous party jam where he has a very memorable night out. He shows up with a reckless medallion and a crew ready to turn it out. His brand new dance takes over the dance floor - you just have to follow along ("When I move you move...").
  
  After some drinks, he breaks in more of his crew through the back and spends some quality time with the ladies. They get out before the fire marshal can shut them down, presumably headed for the afterparty.
• Kanye West produced "Stand Up" along with Ludacris - the pair are credited as the writers on the track. West had yet to release his first album, The College Dropout, which came out in 2004. He was on the rise as a producer, mostly known for his work with Jay-Z on The Blueprint and The Black Album. Around this time, he also produced the Alicia Keys hit "You Don't Know My Name."
• Ludacris stood tall in 2003 as one of the biggest hitmakers in music, not just as a solo artist, but also as a collaborator. "Stand Up" was a #1 hit, and he also charted with features for Chingy ("Holidae In), Missy Elliott ("Gossip Folks") and 112 ("Hot & Wet). The next year, he showed up on the banger "Yeah!" with Usher and Lil Jon. That song was the biggest hit of 2004.
• The rapper Shawnna joins Luda on "Stand Up." She also appears on his first single, "What's Your Fantasy." She was singed to his Disturbing Tha Peace label and joined him at Def Jam South when Ludacris signed on in 2000. Def Jam released her debut album Worth Tha Weight in 2004 with the single "Shake Dat S--t" featuring Ludacris.
• The bonkers video was directed by Dave Meyers, who also did Missy Elliott's "Work It." Everything is cartoonish and oversized, including the giant record the DJ plays and the sneaker Ludacris uses to stomp. And yes, there's a visual representation of the line "Feels like a midget is hanging from my necklace."
  
  According to Luda, the hardest part to shoot was section where he's in front of a shifting cartoon background, moving at hyperspeed. He had to mouth the words slowly so the video could be sped-up to create the effect.
• "Stand Up" helped the Chicken-N-Beer album - Luda's third - rise to #1 in the US on October 25, 2003. He beat his fellow ATLiens, Outkast, to the top. Three weeks later, their album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below moved to the top.
  
  Ludacris' next two albums, The Red Light District and Release Therapy, were also chart-toppers.
• In 2004, this song was used in the movie You Got Served and in The Wire episode "All Due Respect."
• A New Jersey rap group called I.O.F. sued Ludacris and Kanye West, claiming the "just like that" section of "Stand Up" was lifted from their 2001 song "Straight Like That." I.O.F. said they had passed Ludacris a demo of their song.
  
  The case went to trial in 2006, with Ludacris and Kanye testifying they'd never heard "Straight Like That." Apparently, the trial had some entertainment value. When Kanye West took the stand, he recited some lyrics from "Stand Up" and explained, "There's a lot of rap songs that say 'like that,' 'yo,' 'what's up' or 'throw your hands up.' Whatever people say in the hood, it ends up on records. That's what hip-hop does." Their lawyer then played some other songs with the phrase "stand up" in the lyrics, and the jury reportedly was vibing out.
  
  The verdict was returned in favor of Ludacris and West. "I hope the plaintiffs enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame," Luda said.
• "Stand Up" shows up in a 2019 Mercedes commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. In the spot, a guy gets Twilight Zone-like powers to make anything happen. He's stuck watching an opera, so he commands, "change the music," and suddenly Ludacris is on stage performing the song.