Songoftheday 1/18/24 - We been together for a few years shared a few tears, called each other nicknames like Sugar Plum and Poo Bear...

 

 

"I Know What You Want" - Busta Rhymes and Mariah Carey featuring the Flipmode Squad

from the albums It Ain't Safe No More... (Busta, 2002) and The Remixes (Mariah, 2003)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (three weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 22

 

Today's song comes from rapper Busta Rhymes and singer Mariah Carey. Busta, who had scored a pair of top-40 crossover hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 from his first album on Clive Davis' J Records, Genesis, with "Break Ya Neck" and "Pass The Courvoisier Part II".  The lead single from his next record It Ain't Safe No More... "Make It Clap", however, missed the pop top-40 by a handful of notches in the beginning of 2003. For the second try from the record, Busta released a much more radio-friendly track with "I Know What You Want", which featured one of the biggest stars of the previous decade, Mariah Carey. But in the early 2000s, that wasn't a guaranteed bet, since Mariah had been going through quite the rough patch after leaving Columbia Records. After being signed to a massive contract with Virgin Records, her combination movie and "soundtrack" album, Glitter, was released to not only tepid reviews, but literally on 9/11, and besides the already in play lead single "Loverboy" reaching #2 in August of 2001, the project was swallowed up whole. The repercussions on her personally and the label in general caused Virgin to buy her out of her own contract. Carey soon moved on to Island Records, where she was given her own vanity label MonarC. But the first album she released on the imprint, Charmbracelet, came in at #3 on the Billboard 200 sales tally and sold just over a million copies to the faithful (for her standards, a flop). Even more telling, the only song from the album to even reach the Hot 100, "Through The Rain", stalled out at #81 at the start of 2003 (it did peak at #1 on the dance chart and #17 at adult contemporary radio). 

Nevertheless, the pairing of two instantly recognizable names sparked interest. "I Know What You Want" also featured Busta's backing rap crew the Flipmode Squad, giving members Leroy "Baby Sham" Jones, Rashia "Rah Digga" Fisher, Roger "Rampage" McNair, and William "Spliff Star" Lewis writing credit for their input as well as producer Ricardo "Rick Rock" Thomas. (Rampage had a top-40 solo hit in the summer of 1997 with "Take It To The Streets".) They actually pull their weight and more on the record, with the first and second verses done by Spliff Star and Baby Sham, with Busta doing the chorus and the third verse before Rah Digga and Rampage handle the fourth and fifth verses. Mariah is just cooing responses on the verses and singing the chorus with Busta. As for the lyrics, Spliff's verse is about feeling guilty that he's always on the road, Baby Sham boasts about their inexplicably spotty sex history, Busta appreciates his woman for sticking by him through the stress, Rah Digga does the female take on the "started from the bottom now we're here" schtick, and Rampage just brags about the riches they've got. Finally, Busta rattles off record labels while Mariah coos some more in the back then brings it home with her whistle note. The music video has the tried and true "helping out as security for a hot babe" plotline, with the addition of graphic novel animation flourishes. All in all it's a groove that stays on the same level throughout, but the multiple rapper toss-off at least gives it a little interest...

"I Know What You Want" returned Busta and Mariah to the top ten on Billboard's Hot 100 (and giving the Flipmode Squad their first) in May of 2003, while spending a week at #2 on their R&B Singles chart and #3 on the Rap Singles chart. On the radio, the song peaked at #4 on Billboard's Mainstream Top-40 chart (his biggest hit as a lead), #2 on the R&B Airplay list, and #3 at the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single topped the charts in Poland, Romania, and Hungary, and reached the top ten in the United Kingdom (#3), Australia (#3), Italy (#4), the Netherlands (#4), Ireland (#4), Canada (#5), Switzerland (#5), Croatia (#5), Norway (#6), Denmark (#7), New Zealand (#7), Belgium (#8 Flanders/#11 Wallonia), and Germany (#9). It also hit the top-40 in Sweden (#11), France (#25), and Austria (#40). The It Ain't Safe No More... album, released in November of 2002, missed the top-40 on the Billboard 200 at #43 (most like due to the reception of "Make It Clap", but spent 34 weeks on the list (his second best), going on to sell over a half million copies. "I Know What You Want" also appeared on Mariah's compilation The Remixes in June of 2003, which was her final commitment to Columbia. The Remixes peaked at #26 on the Billboard 200. 

Both Busta and Mariah will return to the series.

 

(5/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

 

Here's Busta and the Flipmode Squad (without Mariah but with a live band) performing on The Tonight Show...

 

 Lastly, at radio station Hot 97's Christmas concert in 2015, Busta and the Squad brought a surprise with Mariah on stage...

Up tomorrow: this neo-traditional country artist approves.