Can't Nobody Hold Me Down

"Can't Nobody Hold Me Down"
Single by Puff Daddy featuring Mase
from the album No Way Out
Released January 7, 1997
Format CD single, CD maxi-single, cassette single, 7" single, 12" single
Recorded 1996
Genre East coast rap
Length 5:10 (CD single version)
Label Bad Boy
Writer(s) Sean "Puffy" Combs, Steve Jordan, Carlos Broady, Nasheim Myrick, Mason Betha, Greg Prestopino, Matthew Wilder, Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover, Clifton Chase, Edward Fletcher
Producer(s) Carlos Broady, Nashiem Myrick, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Stevie J.
Certification 4x Platinum (RIAA)
Puff Daddy singles chronology
"Big Poppa"
(1995)		 "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down"
(1997)		 "I'll Be Missing You"
(1997)
Mase singles chronology
"Only You"
(1996)		 "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down"
(1997)		 "Mo Money Mo Problems"
(1997)

"Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" is the debut hit single by rapper Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. It appears on Combs' debut album No Way Out and it was released as the first single in 1997.

The song entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number thirty-two in early 1997 and eventually spent six weeks at number one. It was the beginning of Combs' and Bad Boy Records' chart domination during the year — the Combs-produced "Hypnotize" by The Notorious B.I.G. would follow this song at number one, and the B.I.G. tribute song "I'll Be Missing You" spent eleven weeks at number one during the summer, only to be followed by another B.I.G. song, "Mo Money Mo Problems" and then the Combs-produced "Honey" by Mariah Carey. Pop singer Christina Aguilera used the sample of the song on the single Can't Hold Us Down featuring Lil' Kim.

Combs was already a successful songwriter, producer and record label owner (Bad Boy Records) before he released his debut album as a performer. His first U.S. chart single, "No Time", was a top-twenty hit for Lil' Kim on which Puff Daddy was credited as a featured vocalist. "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" was the debut chart appearance for Harlem-based rapper Mase.

Content

The song combines elements of several previous singles, the most obvious being a slowed-down rhythm track sampled from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message". The track's chorus is an interpolation of "Break My Stride", a top-five single by Matthew Wilder from 1983.

Charts

Chart (1997) Peak
Position
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart 1
UK Singles Chart 19
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 1
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Singles 1
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks 1
End of year chart (1997) Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[1] 5

End of decade charts

Chart (1990-1999) Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[2] 27

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Billboard Top 100 - 1997". Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  2. ↑ Geoff Mayfield (December 25, 1999). 1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade - The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s. Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2010.