, Paste and The Fader called the song a summer anthem. Acclaim was mainly directed at the verses, and the production. "All Me" was met with rave reviews upon its release, including praise from Spin, Fuse and Vice, among others. Then on September 24, 2013, Drake serviced "All Me" to urban contemporary radio in the United States as Nothing Was the Same's third official single. The song would be released to DJs as a promotional single that same month. The song was originally reported to be Nothing Was the Same 's second single, before " Hold On, We're Going Home" 's release. However, as Nothing Was the Same 's September 24 release was approaching, it was removed from SoundCloud.
On August 1, 2013, Drake released "All Me" for free download via his SoundCloud account. Key Wane then pressured Sean to send Drake his verse so he could use the song on his album, Nothing Was the Same. While spending time at Drake's Los Angeles home, Sean discovered that they both had recorded verses over the track. Drake and 2 Chainz immediately became interested in the song and recorded verses over the instrumental. After a period without progress on the track, Wane tweaked it and sent the song to Drake, who was coincidentally in the studio with 2 Chainz.
However, the song would go unfinished for several months. Sean took interest in the beat and decided to use it for his upcoming album Hall of Fame. Key Wane originally played the instrumental backing track used for "All Me" through his iPad at a photoshoot for Sean's clothing line.
The Ansari intro features a sample of one of Ansari's alter egos, "Randy", from the movie Funny People. However, the intro and ending of the song are not included on the album. Key Wane gave Drake and Noah "40" Shebib credit for adding the Ansari sample and the ending breakdown. The song also featured an intro by comedian Aziz Ansari. On August 1, 2013, Drake released "All Me" featuring Big Sean and 2 Chainz, with production from Key Wane.