Songoftheday 1/31/23 - I got this Spanish chica she don't like me to roam, so she call me cabron plus marricon...

 

 

"Girls, Girls, Girls" - Jay-Z

from the album The Blueprint (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #17 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 8

 

Today's song comes from rap icon Jay-Z, whose sixth album The Blueprint had become a critical and popular success, and had spun off his first top ten crossover pop hit as a lead artist in the autumn of 2001 with "I.Z.Z.O. (H.O.V.A.)".  The second single from the album was the party track "Girls, Girls, Girls", which he wrote with producer Justin "Just Blaze" Smith using a sample of soul singer Tom Brock's "There's Nothing In This World That Can Stop Me From Loving You", which gave Brock writing credit.  As for the rhymes, they're, well, pretty damn misogynistic, starting with the first verse which describes the girls he's involved with by ethnicity, with Hispanic, French, Indian, and Black, with a particularly bad slur for the Indian one, which he doubles down when describing the food he's getting with curry chicken! The second verse has him listing the women who help him do crimes, but then complains that they want things or party too much. And the third verse goes back to even worse stereotypes of Asians, South Americans, and Africans. Of course by the next album Beyonce had toned his ass down (on record, at least), but this was his prime, but I just don't get the appeal of this. The music video basically plays out the lyrics, while rapper Biz Markie makes a cameo...

"Girls, Girls, Girls" became the second top-40 pop hit from The Blueprint in December of 2001, while climbing to #4 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart and #9 on the Rap Songs list. Internationally, the single just missed the top ten in the United Kingdom at #11, while stopping at #86 in Germany. 

Jay-Z's follow-up was "Jigga That Ni**a", shortened to "Jigga" for the radio single. I think it got confused with his earlier top-10 R&B hit "Jigga My Ni**a", and ended up stopping short at #27 on the R&B Singles chart and #66 on the Hot 100.  The final single pulled from the Blueprint was the more reflective "Song Cry", which had the rapper lamenting his faults in relationships. The song went to #45 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, and #23 on their Rap Songs list, and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2003 for Best Male Solo Rap Performance, losing to Nelly for his party track "Hot In Herre". Jay-Z will be back to the series.

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A "remix" of "Girls, Girls, Girls", with different lyrics, a different sample, and produced by Kanye West, was tacked on at the end of the album....

Jay-Z included the song in his MTV Unplugged appearance and subsequent album, which went to #20 on the Billboard 200 sales tally in 2002...

And at a music awards show that same year...

Up tomorrow: This boyband is going under.