"Come Close" is a single by

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

featuring guest vocals by

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

. The song is produced by

Chad Hugo Charles Edward Hugo (born February 24, 1974) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. With close friend Pharrell Williams, he formed the production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he has prod ...

and

Pharrell Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

's production team,

the Neptunes The Neptunes are an American songwriting and production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provides additional vocals on records and appears in the duo's music videos, ...

. Peaking at #65 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, "Come Close" is the only song from Common's 2002 album ''

Electric Circus ''Electric Circus '' (also known as ''EC'') was a Canadian live dance music television program that aired on MuchMusic and Citytv from September 16, 1988 to December 12, 2003. The name originated from a nightclub that once existed at Citytv's fir ...

'' to make an appearance on the national music chart. It was released in conjunction with a promo video directed by

Sanaa Hamri Sanaa Hamri ( ar, سناء حمري; born November 19, 1977) is a Moroccan-American film, television, and music video director. She has directed music videos for musicians including Prince, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, and Sting. She is kn ...

and

Questlove Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ), is an American musician, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thou ...

the Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

. The song's lyrics are a loving marriage proposition to Common's then girlfriend

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...

. Jack LV Isles of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

describes it as a "slow-paced dialogue ..that borders on typical," but will inevitably be a commercial success. Mark Anthony Neal of

Pop Matters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fil ...

comments on its mainstream sound saying that it's not a "sell-out" track, just a "fly love song" in which the Neptunes "brought their A-game."

Music video

In the video for the song, Common visits his girlfriend, a

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...

woman (although this is not mentioned in the song itself). As she looks outside of her window, Common raps the verses to the song, while using cardboard signs to communicate the meanings of the words to her. After the second verse, he eventually proposes with the lines "I'm tired of the fast lane, I want you to have my last name." His girlfriend gladly accepts and they then drive off. In the woman's room, behind her bed, there is a poster written in sign language. If one looks closely, it spells out "COMMON". This video was nominated at the

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

2003 for the

MTV2 Award 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 ...

, but it lost to

AFI AFI may refer to: * ''Address-family identifier'', a 16 bit field of the Routing Information Protocol * Ashton Fletcher Irwin, an Australian drummer * AFI (band), an American rock band ** ''AFI'' (2004 album), a retrospective album by AFI rele ...

's "

Girl's Not Grey "Girl's Not Grey" is a song by American rock band AFI. It was released as the debut single from their sixth studio album ''Sing the Sorrow'' in 2003. "Girl's Not Grey" was released to radio on February 4, 2003. It is the band's third most succes ...

Remixes

The main

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

of this song is titled "Come Close (Remix) (Closer)." It features guest vocals by

and Q-Tip. Produced by

J Dilla J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon varia ...

, it utilizes a sample of "Daylight" by

RAMP An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

. It was also remixed by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

group

Boozoo Bajou Boozoo Bajou is a musical duo, Florian Seyberth and Peter Heider, from Germany. They are noted for their distinct blend of Cajun sounds with island rhythms. Their first album, ''Satta'', was released in 2001. In 2005 they released ''Dust My Bro ...

. This remix is about six minutes long and can be found on their 2003 album ''Remixes''. In 2003,

hip hop producer Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music in a recording studio. While the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music creation, including recording the rapping of an MC, a turntablist or DJ providing a beat, playing samples and "s ...

Blackbeard also remixed "Come Close" and released it as a single. In 2005,

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

hip-hop producer Nicolay remixed it for his album ''The Dutch Masters, Vol. 1''. Skillz used the beat for the 2002 Rap Up.

Track listing

CD single

# "Come Close Remix (Closer)" (4:37) # "Come Close (Album Version)" (4:23)

12-inch single

A-side

# "Come Close to Me (LP)" # "Come Close to Me (Instrumental)" # "Come Close to Me (A Cappella)"

B-side

# "I Got a Right Ta (LP)" # "I Got a Right Ta (Instrumental)" # "I Got a Right Ta (A Cappella)"

"Come Close Remix (Closer)" CD single

# "Come Close Remix (Closer) (Main)" (4:37) # "Come Close Remix (Closer) (Instrumental)" (4:37) # "Come Close (Main)" (4:23) # "The Hustle (Clean)" (4:20) # "Aquarius (Clean)" (4:53) # "Come Close (Multimedia Track)" (3:48)

"Come Close Remix" (Closer)" 12-inch single

A-side

# "Come Close Remix (Closer) (Main)" (4:37) # "Come Close Remix (Closer) (Instrumental)" (4:37) # "Come Close Remix (Closer) (A Cappella)" (5:11)

B-side

# "The Hustle (Clean)" (4:20) # "The Hustle (Instrumental)" (4:19) # "Aquarius (Clean)" (4:53) # "Aquarius (Instrumental)" (4:53)

Chart positions

References

{{Mary J. Blige 2002 singles Common (rapper) songs Mary J. Blige songs Music videos directed by Sanaa Hamri Song recordings produced by the Neptunes Songs written by Chad Hugo Songs written by Pharrell Williams

Music video

Remixes

Track listing

CD single

12-inch single

A-side

B-side

"Come Close Remix (Closer)" CD single

"Come Close Remix" (Closer)" 12-inch single

A-side

B-side

Chart positions

See also

References