Songoftheday 12/7/22 -Yo if they want it cowards get it, they still wonder how I did it...

 

 

"Can't Deny It" - Fabolous featuring Nate Dogg

from the album Ghetto Fabolous (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #25 (three weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 10

 

Today's song comes from rapper Fabolous, who grew up as Johnathan Jackson in Brooklyn, where after school he connected with local DJ Clue, who included him on his mixtapes.  Clue, who also had a radio gig on New York station Hot 97, signed Fabolous to his label Desert Storm, which got a distribution deal with Elektra Records. In the summer of 2001, the rapper was featured on Lil' Mo's single "Superwoman, Pt. II", which hit #9 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart and came one notch from making the top ten on the crossover Hot 100 list. That exposure set Fabolous up for the release of his debut album Ghetto Fabolous. The lead single from the set with "Can't Deny It", which featured singing from G-funk mainstay Nate Dogg, who had just been featured on Ludacris' hit "Area Codes" that month. Written by the rapper with producer Ricardo "Rick Rock" Thomas, the song is your basic brag track, with Fabolous boasting his street toughness as well as his supposed wealth, as Nate Dogg chants the don't fuck with me mantra in between (appropriating 2Pac in the process). The production stands out more than anything with Rick Rock providing a skittish guitar strum over a ominous beat structure that sounds unlike most of what was out there, and Fabolous rides the grooves effectively, even if the rhymes aren't anything new...

"Can't Deny It" became Fabolous' first top-40 crossover hit as a lead artist in October of 2001, while reaching #13 on their R&B Singles chart and #11 on the Rap Songs list. On the radio, the song peaked at #12 on the R&B Hip-Hop Airplay chart and #5 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format. The Ghetto Fabolous album, which has the unfortunate release date of September 11th, came in at #4 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #2 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a million copies. Both Fabolous and the album will return to the series, as well as Nate Dogg in another featured gig.

(4/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's Fabolous and Nate Dogg on a TV appearance on the BET Network in 2001...

And lastly, Fabolous (over a track) live at the Apollo the following year...

 

 Up tomorrow: This country star is perpetually mad.