Songoftheday 1/16/22 - When it hurt I ease the pain girl caress your frame, get them worries off your brain girl I'm in your corner...

 

 

"Satisfy You" - Puff Daddy featuring R. Kelly

from the album Forever (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (three weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 10

 

Today's song is from record label mogul turned rap star Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, who had followed up his massive debut album No Way Out with a top ten hit from the movie Godzilla on "Come With Me" in the summer of 1998.  The following year, Combs was more known for his criminal antics than his music, first assaulting a record executive over a dispute over a video, then a gunfight at a nightclub got him in trouble for weapons charges and bribery. Also, his high-profile relationship with Jennifer Lopez (which ended not long after the latter incident) put him in the tabloids more than on the radio. As Puff Daddy, Combs released his second album Forever in the summer of 1999. The lead single from the record, "P.E. 2000", featuring female rapper Hurricane G, relative stiffed, reaching #34 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart, and missing the pop crossover Hot 100 altogether, only "bubbling under" at #111. A second track from the set, "Do You Like It...Do You Want It", with A-lister Jay-Z, stalled down at #67 on the R&B Singles list. Trying to stave off the sophomore jinx, Combs enlisted the biggest name in R&B at the time, R. Kelly, for the third effort, "Satisfy You". Written by Combs and Kelly with R&B singer Kelly Price, co-producer Jeffrey Walker, and Roger Greene, the track interpolated the dark soul nugget "Why You Treat Me So Bad?" by Club Nouveau from 1987. This blatant sample clouds this record's memorability. While the lyrics are all about what he promises to do and be for his woman, the music video has him discovering she's cheating, but then he's doing the same thing at his studio, then they get back together, so who the hell knows. Kelly mostly whines his way through this, but after four big hits off his own album, "If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time", "Did You Ever Think", "When A Woman's Fed Up", and the #1 duet "I'm Your Angel" with Celine Dion, with radio and fans he could do no wrong...

"Satisfy You" became Puff Daddy's sixth top ten pop hit, nearly reaching the top in October of 1999. The song topped Billboard's R&B Singles chart, his third and so far last #1 as a lead artist. It also topped the Rap Singles list, and went to #2 on the Rhythmic radio format chart. Internationally, the single reached the top ten in Germany (#2), Belgium (#3F/#5W), the Netherlands (#4), Switzerland (#6), and the UK (#8). The Forever album, released in August of that year, peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and topped their R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2000, "Satisfy You" was nominated for Best Duo/Group Rap Performance, losing to the Roots and Erykah Badu for "You Got Me". 

A final single from Forever, "Best Friend" featuring Mario Winans, Hezekiah Walker, and the Love Fellowship Crusade choir, was a minor hit on both the R&B (#54) and pop Hot 100 (#59) singles chart. Both Combs and Kelly will return to this series.

(3/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's Puff Daddy (with Kelly on track) performing "Satisfy You" on Australian TV...

Up tomorrow: R&B singer declares you up to date.