"Crew Deep" is a single by American rapper Skillz. The song features guest vocals by rapper–singer Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and former Xscape member Kandi. It was released as the lead single from Skillz's unreleased album, '' I Ain't Mad No More'' (2002). Two versions of the single saw conflicting releases. One version was released as the music video and single version with the chorus being performed entirely by Kandi while sampled additional vocals were performed by Missy Elliott in the latter. An alternate version was released promotionally with the exclusion of Kandi's vocals and the extension of Missy Elliott performing the chorus entirely by herself; this version was also incorporated into "The V.A. Remix" featuring Elliott, Clipse and Pharrell Williams.

Release

Physical copies of the single were released on August 20, 2002. As the song obtained buzz, it was later featured on various compilations among the likes of

Tony Touch Joseph Anthony Hernandez (born July 2, 1969), professionally known as Tony Touch, is an American hip hop break dancer, rapper, record producer and DJ of Puerto Rican descent. Career Tony Touch began as a B-boy during the rap music renaissance ...

's ''Hip Hop #71: True Gangsta'' and '' Soundbombing, Vol. 3'' to further strengthen the song's charting performance.

Music video

A music video for the single was directed by

The Malloys The Malloys is the working name of music video and film directors and brothers Emmett Malloy and Brendan Malloy. They have been with Superprime Films since 2010. Videography *"Holiday" by Vampire Weekend (2010) *"Love Dealer" by Esmée Denter ...

and 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 ...

in early July 2002. The video takes place at Skillz's neighborhood house party. Inside the house, there are talking taxidermies of various types of rappers (white rappers, male rappers, female rappers, etc.) that all sing along to the chorus of the song. Although Kandi and Missy Elliott were not featured in the video, the various women and talking taxidermies in the video are seen lip-syncing their parts.

Track listings and formats

; CD single # "Crew Deep" (Clean) — 3:25 # "Crew Deep" (Instrumental) — 3:25 # "Crew Deep" (Dirty) — 3:25 ; "The V.A. Remix" (Vinyl) # "Crew Deep" (featuring Clipse, Missy Elliott &

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 h ...

) # "Crew Deep" (featuring Missy Elliott &

) ; 12" Vinyl # "Crew Deep" (Dirty) — 3:25 # "Crew Deep" (Clean) — 3:25 # "Crew Deep" (Instrumental) — 3:25 # "Imagine" (Dirty) — 3:38 # "Imagine" (Clean) — 3:38 # "Imagine" (Instrumental) — 3:36 # "Imagine" (Acappella) — 3:36

Chart performance

References

2002 singles 2002 songs Missy Elliott songs Kandi Burruss songs MCA Records singles Songs written by Missy Elliott Songs written by Kandi Burruss Songs written by George Clinton (funk musician) Songs written by Timbaland Music videos directed by The Malloys {{2000s-hiphop-single-stub