Songoftheday 1/22/21 - Hit you with no delaying so what you sayin' yo, silly with my nine milli what the dilly yo...

 

 

"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" - Busta Rhymes

from the album When Disaster Strikes (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart

Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #37 (one week)

Weeks in the Airplay Top-40: 4

 

Today's song of the day comes from rapper Busta Rhymes, who landed a top ten pop hit in the spring of 1996 with his debut solo single "Woo-Hah!! Got You All In Check". A year later, he returned with the lead track promoted to radio from his sophomore effort, When Disaster Strikes. "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See", written by the rapper over a sample of the 70s "yacht-rock" deep cut "Sweet Green Fields" from Seals and Crofts (of "Summer Breeze" fame), was more about attitude than lyrical content, as Busta assesses compatibility in real time to see if (you) are good enough for a "good time". But besides the entrancing beat and genius use of the sample, the record was way more notable for the music video, which rivals Missy Elliot's in visual tricks, putting him a cavalcade of outfits and actually running with an elephant (I still can't tell how director Hype Williams did that)...

Since "Put Your Hands..." wasn't released as a physical commercial single (probably to goose up sales of the album), it wasn't able to place on Billboard magazine's official Hot 100 pop or R&B charts. However the song got enough mainstream radio love to make it to the top-40 of the airplay component of the tally in November of 1997. The song did much better on urban stations, spending three weeks at #2 on the R&B Airplay list. Internationally, the single became his fifth consecutive top-40 hit in the UK at #16. The When Disaster Strikes album, released in September of that year, landed his second #1 R&B Album, as well as going to #3 on the main Billboard 200 sales chart. At the 1998 Grammy Awards, "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See" was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance, which Will Smith took home for "Men In Black". 

 

(7/10)

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Here's Busta performing the track on Sinbad's late night show...

 

 And lastly, live in concert in 2014...

 

 

Up tomorrow: British lasses are back for some seasoning.