I Want to Be Your Man

"I Want to Be Your Man" is a 1987 hit single for late funk singer-songwriter Roger Troutman, from his Unlimited! album. Written by his brother, Larry Troutman, and produced by the Roger, who sung in both his natural tenor (at parts) and his trademark talk box, it became his biggest solo hit to date reaching number-one on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart and number-three on the Billboard Hot 100.^[1] becoming the biggest crossover hit of the career of Roger and the Zapp collective. Troutman topped that success nearly ten years later with his featured collaboration with 2Pac and Dr. Dre on their 1996 single, "California Love". The song made an appearance as background music on the 2001 movie, Pootie Tang, as well as in the 2000 movie, Love & Basketball.

Cover and samples

The chorus was later interpolated by Ja Rule and Ashanti on the Murder Inc. single, "Down 4 U". The track was also interpolated by Tech N9ne in his 2001 song Twisted, but featured Troutman re-singing the lyrics specifically for the song instead of just a sample or redoing.^[2] The track was sampled by T.I. on the track Let Me Tell You Something which was produced by Kanye West. The track was also sampled by Lil' Troy on a track titled "Where's the Love" on his album "Sittin' Fat Down South" The song was covered by Charlie Wilson featuring Fantasia from 2010's Just Charlie. The track was also sampled by English rapper/grime artist Ironik on a track called "I Wanna Be Your Man" from his debut album No Point in Wasting Tears.

References