Critical Reception
Chris Williams of Billboard said "with a vocal assist from Ne-Yo and a clever guest rap by Kanye West, it appears Hilson is intent on a knockout punch of her own." Dan Nishimoto of Prefix Magazine said the song was one of the better radio-friendly tracks on the album. Melinda Newman of HitFix said that "the mid-tempo track is undeniably catchy and will embed itself within your brain after only a few listens." Sophie Bruce of BBC Music positively received the song, calling it the album's "biggest potential hit." Although Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the song three out of five stars, complimenting production by Danja, and saying that the song sounded like a more obvious hit than "Return the Favor", he complained that "getting two R&B A-listers to appear on your track should be a real coup, but not when one's got a more distinctive voice than you and the other steals the show with some typically ballsy rapping." Quentin B. Huff of PopMatters criticized the repetitive hook, stating "Hook-wise, it’s a little like listening to an album of kids chanting while playing double-dutch." He also said that Hilson's vocals "show promise but fail to distinguish the Hilson brand from the crowd."
"Knock You Down" was nominated for three awards. At the 2009 Soul Train Awards, the song was nominated for Record of the Year (Songwriters Award) as well as Best Collaboration. At the 52nd Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, but lost to Jay-Z's "Run This Town".
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