"808" is the debut single by American R&B/ pop girl group

Blaque Blaque is an American girl group that charted from 1999 to 2004. Outside of the United States, they are known as Blaque Ivory. Their self-titled debut album ''Blaque'' sold more than 1 million copies and was certified Platinum. The group's d ...

from their self-titled debut album. Released to radio and music video stations in early 1999, "808" became the group's first top-10 hit in the United States, peaking at number eight on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

and reaching top five on the ''Billboard'' Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart.

Composition

"808" is described as a sexy, tough, and bass-throbbing R&B slow jam and it was co-written by the late group-member Natina Reed and

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwid ...

, with the former co-producing . The song has lyrical content referencing 808 drum machines such as "boom-baby-boom" mimicking the song's drum patterns. It runs at a tempo of 122 beats per minutes in the key of C# major. The remix for "808" was solely produced by

Trackmasters The Trackmasters are an American hip hop production duo composed of music producers Poke (Jean-Claude Olivier) and Tone (Samuel Barnes), best known for their commercial hit records in the mid-late 1990s and early 2000s. Frank "Nitty" Pimentel joi ...

and switched the original into an uptempo song with a sample of

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...

's " Going Back to Cali". With the exception of the rap during the bridge, the remix is a completely new song written by

Kandi Burruss Kandi Lenice Burruss Tucker (born May 17, 1976), known professionally by her mononym Kandi, is an American producer, television personality, singer, songwriter and actress. She first gained notice in 1992 as a member of the female vocal group Xs ...

, who also provided background vocals. This version of the song received mainstream pop airplay in early 2000.

Music video

The music video for "808" was directed by

Martin Weisz Martin Weisz (born March 27, 1966), is a German music video and film director. He has directed over 350 videos and worked with artists such as Nickelback, Brandy, Puff Daddy, and LL Cool J. He has also directed numerous commercials. Martin Wei ...

. It starts with a zoom in into a

reel-to-reel tape recorder Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the ''supply reel'' (or ''feed reel'') containing the tape is plac ...

before fading into a rocky, monochromatic classroom setting with Natina standing at a podium rapping her spoken intro. Brandi and Shamari magically appear into the classroom sitting down. When the members are singing at the podium, there are multiple tv screens behind them broadcasting other shots of them. After the first chorus, Blaque are individually shown in a recording booth type setting with

anechoic chamber An anechoic chamber (''an-echoic'' meaning "non-reflective") is a room designed to stop reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves. They are also often isolated from energy entering from their surroundings. This combination means ...

-like wall paddings. In this setting there appears to be zero gravity as the ladies are seen floating and flying in the air. They are also seen floating and teleporting in and out of the podium setting.

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes Lisa Nicole Lopes (May 27, 1971 – April 25, 2002), better known by her stage name Left Eye, was an American rapper and singer. She was a member of the R&B girl group TLC, alongside Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. Besid ...

makes a cameo appearance in the video, appearing in the classroom setting and on the many tv screens. There also appears to be multiple duplicates of her. It premiered on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

the week ending on February 21, 1999 and on The Box the week after. It later debuted on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

the week ending May 16, 1999. The wardrobe and concept for the video was said to be inspired by the futuristic aesthetic of the 1997 film ''

The Fifth Element ''The Fifth Element'' is a 1997 English-language French science fiction action film conceived and directed by Luc Besson, as well as co-written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It stars Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Chris Tucker, and Milla Jov ...

''.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:808 (Song) 1999 debut singles Blaque songs Song recordings produced by R. Kelly Songs written by R. Kelly