Yelawolf told Billboard magazine the story of this song. "Last minute, [producer] Malay came out to Nashville and man, we hadn't had the time to work and get in the studio for a long time," he said. "So after going back and re-touching up some earlier ideas and making them right for the album he played that riff for 'American You.' And I loved it."

"It's one of those songs that came really quick," Yelawolf added. "I wrote it probably in 20-30 minutes maybe and then recorded it. It was like, 'This is what this album needs.'"