 In an interview with MTV News , producer Mikkel S. Eriksen of Stargate initially confirmed " Wait Your Turn " as the second single from Rated R ; however , " Hard " was ultimately chosen instead . Hard ( The Remixes ) was made available for digital download on January 19 , 2010 in the United States . In an interview with MTV , Rihanna explained that while she was in Paris , Christopher " Tricky " Stewart and The @-@ Dream played a few songs for her , which included " Hard " . Rihanna decided to record the song because it was different from her normal creative output . Stewart , in an interview with Rap @-@ Up , spoke about the song before its title or any details were released , describing the song as " edgy " and a " club banger " . When asked if the song was bigger than Rihanna 's commercially successful song " Umbrella " , he said , " No , it 's different . It 's a superstar taking a step in a totally different direction . " " Hard " is the first song for which Jeezy was credited thus , instead of under his enduring stage name " Young Jeezy " . 
