Control Myself

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"Control Myself"

Single by LL Cool J featuring Jennifer Lopez
from the album Todd Smith
Released	February 1, 2006 (U.S.) May 8, 2006 (UK)
Format	Digital download Digital maxi single 12" maxi single
Recorded	2005
Genre	Hip-hop
Length	3:53
Label	Def Jam (U.S.) Mercury (UK)
Writer(s)	A. Baker, Afrika Bambaataa, Jermaine Dupri, J. Miller, J. Robie, LL Cool J, J.C. Phillips, R. Toby
Producer(s)	Jermaine Dupri
Chart positions
#2 (UK) #4 (U.S.) #5 (Ireland) #7 (New Zealand) #11 (Finland) #13 (Netherlands) #14 (Belgium) #17 (Australia, World Singles Top 40) #25 (Germany) #70 (Austria)
LL Cool J singles chronology
"Hush" (2005)	"Control Myself" (2006)	"Freeze" (2006)
Jennifer Lopez singles chronology
"Hold You Down" (2005)	"Control Myself" (2006)	"Qué Hiciste" (2006)

"Control Myself" is a song written by American rapper LL Cool J for his twelfth album Todd Smith.

It was produced by Jermaine Dupri and features fellow American singer Jennifer Lopez (the song also has spoken parts by Dupri, but he is not credited), and it contains a sample of "Looking for the Perfect Beat" performed by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force. The vocals also sample the songs "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" performed by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five and "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force. The "zuh zuh zuh" is also sampled from Afrika Bambaataa, first heard in their song "Planet Rock".

It was released as the album's first single in February 2006 (see 2006 in music) and remained on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks, peaking at number eighty-nine. After being released as a digital download in April 2006, the song debuted at number two on Billboard's Hot Digital Tracks chart and made a strong Hot 100 re-entry at number four. This broke a record previously held by Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" (1998), which had re-entered the chart in March 1999 at number twenty.^[1]

The song debuted at number-fifteen on the UK Singles Chart on downloads only but rose and peaked at #2 there, one of his highest charting and biggest hits to date.

Control Myself (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Brief clip of the song.
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[edit] Music video

A scene from the "Control Myself" music video.

The single's video was directed by Hype Williams and was filmed at Sony Studios in New York on January 2, 2006. It debuted in the U.S. on February 13, 2006 and in Europe on February 19. Like some of Williams' other videos, video footage is displayed where black bars would appear on a 4:3 TV for a widescreen production. The video peaked at number two on MTV's Total Request Live, number three on 106 & Park and number eighteen on VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown.