"I Wish" is a song written and performed by American rapper
Skee-Lo. It was released on April 10, 1995, via
Scotti Brothers Records as the lead single from the rapper's debut studio album of the
same name (1995). Recording sessions took place at Sunshine Studios in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
.
Production was handled by
Walter "Kandor" Kahn and Skee-Lo himself.
In the United States, the single peaked at number 13 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was
certified Gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
for selling 600,000 copies domestically. Internationally, the song reached number 4 in Sweden and Norway, number 5 in Finland, number 6 in the Netherlands, number 10 in Switzerland, number 14 in Germany and New Zealand, number 15 in the UK, and made it to the Top 25 in Belgium and France.
Most of the song's instruments are sampled from "Spinnin'" by
Bernard Wright
Bernard Wright (November 16, 1963 – May 19, 2022) was an American funk and jazz keyboardist and singer who began his career as a session musician and later released four solo albums.
Biography
Wright was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York. I ...
, and the song features a vocal sample of people shouting from the track "
Buffalo Gals
"Buffalo Gals" is a traditional American song, written and published as "Lubly Fan" in 1844 by the blackface minstrel John Hodges, who performed as "Cool White". The song was widely popular throughout the United States, where minstrels often al ...
" by
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English impresario, visual artist, singer, songwriter, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, notable for combining these activities in an inventive and provo ...
.
The song was nominated for
Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance at the
38th Annual Grammy Awards but lost to
Coolio
Artis Leon Ivey Jr. (August 1, 1963 – September 28, 2022), known professionally as Coolio, was an American rapper. First rising to fame as a member of the gangsta rap group WC and the Maad Circle, Coolio achieved mainstream success as a solo ...
's "
Gangsta's Paradise". ''
Blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...
'' listed "I Wish" as number 359 on its list of "500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".
Overview
The song's lyrics are self-deprecating, with Skee-Lo lamenting a variety of personal shortcomings that he says are to blame for his unsuccessful love life. He wishes he were of taller stature ("like 6'9") and a basketball player ("a baller"). He wishes for a better car, specifically a
'64 Impala, instead of his 1974
Ford Pinto with "an
8-Track and a spare tire in the backseat, but that's flat!" The lyrics also mention the
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
neighborhood of
Crenshaw, and a signpost featuring
the street name appears in the background of the music video. Additionally, the song references
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song " For What It's Worth", r ...
's "
For What It's Worth" in the lyrics "Hey, you, what's that sound?/ Everybody look what's going down".
Critical reception
Gil Robertson IV from ''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...
'' stated that
Scotti Brothers
Scotti Brothers Records (typically spelled Scotti Bros. Records) was a California-based record label founded by Tony and Ben Scotti in 1974. Their first success was releasing singles and albums from teen pop star Leif Garrett. They later help ...
has got a huge hit on its hands with this "good-natured, whimsical track" from the Southern California rapper. He added, "This track moves throughout with an intoxicating bass beat and smooth driving California flavor adds to its mix. Having already received a ton of urban radio adds and with a video that’s just been added to the rotation on MTV, this single shows strong potential to succeed on the
R&B and
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' ( ...
charts as well."
James Masterton
James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...
for
Dotmusic said, "Even at Christmas
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 repertoire ...
and
rap hits can still have an impact. The brilliant
pop hip-hop of Skee-Lo comes via persistent plugging from
Radio One and a certain degreee of dancefloor popularity." Ross Jones from ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' wrote, "Over a snake-hipped R&B groove, the boy's light-hearted delivery and humble subject matter invite favourable comparisons with both
The Pharcyde
The Pharcyde (currently known as The Far Side) is an American alternative hip hop group, formed in 1989, from South Central Los Angeles. The original four members of the group are Imani (Emandu Wilcox), Slimkid3 (Trevant Hardson), Bootie Brown ...
and
Souls Of Mischief
Souls of Mischief is a hip hop group from Oakland, California, that is also part of the hip hop collective Hieroglyphics. The Souls of Mischief formed in 1991 and is composed of rappers A-Plus, Opio, Phesto, and Tajai.
History
East Oakland n ...
."
Philippine newspaper ''
Manila Standard
The ''Manila Standard'' is a broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines. , it is owned by the Romualdez family. The Romualdezes, through incumbent speaker of the House Martin Romualdez, also own Journal Publications, Inc., the owner of tabloid p ...
'' called it "a true rarity — a rap song that dares to express vulnerable sentiments while retaining a funky edge". A reviewer from ''
Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
'' rated it four out of five, noting, "A low-down, funky, rolling vibe from the LA-based rapper. Old-school
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...
fused with
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
y tinges do justice to a tune which deserves to cause waves, and not just in the hip hop fraternity."
Will Ashon from ''
Muzik
''Muzik'' was a British dance music magazine published by IPC Media from June 1995 to August 2003.
''Muzik'' was created by two former '' Melody Maker'' journalists, Push and Ben Turner. Push was the editor of ''Muzik'' from its launch until h ...
'' described it as "a ludicrous, dayglo, superfly wish-list from the self-depreciating and immediately likeable Skee-Lo". James Hunter from ''
Vibe'' commented, "Dreaming of girls, cars, and height, his 'I Wish' is a most excellent
pop-rap hit. Prom-night celebrity, that's his aspiration, and nobody's articulated it better in years. Skee-Lo wins because he doesn't try to sound like anything he's not".
Music video
A
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...
was produced to promote the single, directed by Marty Thomas. The music video was released for the week ending on May 14, 1995. It was nominated for three ''
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 adverti ...
'' Music Video Awards: "Best Rap Clip", "Best Rap New Artist Music Video" and "Maximum Vision Clip of the Year".
The video begins with Skee-Lo sitting on a bench like
Forrest Gump
''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson ...
. It includes scenes reenacting the story of the lyrics, such as driving around in his beat-up old car, and being picked on during a game of basketball. The video was later published on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
in April 2013. The video has amassed more than 30.6 million views as of September 2022.
Track listing
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
In other media
*
The Secret Handshake
Luis Alberto Dubuc Jr. (born January 28, 1985) is an American DJ, musician, singer-songwriter, record producer and former drummer from Dallas, Texas. He was a member of The Secret Handshake and Of Legends. He is currently the man behind Myster ...
did a cover of this song on ''
Punk Goes Crunk''.
* In ''
As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2'',
2manydjs
Soulwax are an electronic band from Ghent, Belgium. Centred around brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, other current members include Igor Cavalera and Stefaan Van Leuven. They were first noticed after the release of their album ''Much Against Eve ...
superimposed the vocals of "I Wish" over
Survivor's "
Eye of the Tiger
"Eye of the Tiger" is a song by American rock band Survivor. It was released as a single from their third album of the same name and was also the theme song for the 1982 film ''Rocky III'', which was released a day before the single. The son ...
", then
The Breeders
The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherso ...
' "
Cannonball
A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...
".
*
Far East Movement
Far East Movement (abbreviated FM) is an American hip hop and electronic music group based in Los Angeles. The group formed in 2003 and as of August 2018 consists of Kev Nish (Kevin Nishimura), Prohgress (James Roh), DJ Virman (Virman Coquia), ...
did a cover of this song for the
2008 film ''
Ping Pong Playa
''Ping Pong Playa'' is a 2007 American Sports film, sports comedy film directed by Jessica Yu and written by Yu and Jimmy Tsai. The story centers on a Chinese Table tennis, ping pong family living in California with a buffoonish and irreverent son. ...
''.
* "I Wish" is also featured as one of the lyrical tracks from
Girl Talk's album ''
All Day'', on the track "Jump on Stage".
* Rapper
MC Lars
Andrew Robert Nielsen (born October 6, 1982), known professionally as MC Lars, is an American record producer, rapper, cartoonist, podcaster and educator. Lars is one of the self-proclaimed originators of "lit-hop", and is the founder and CEO of ...
parodied the chorus of this song on his 2007 track "White Kids Aren't Hyphy".
* Skee-Lo appeared with
Cher Lloyd
Cher Lloyd (born 28 July 1993) is an English singer. She finished fourth place in the seventh series of ''The X Factor'' in 2010. Following the seventh series finale, Lloyd was signed to Syco Music. Her debut single, "Swagger Jagger", was re ...
on ''
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' in November 2013, performing portions of "I Wish" along with her single "
I Wish
I WiSH was a Japanese pop group consisting of two members, Ai Kawashima and nao. Ai is responsible for the vocals and occasionally plays the piano also with nao on the keyboard or piano. Their most notable track is and was in the Oricon ranking ...
".
*
Kevin Hart
Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. Originally known as a stand-up comedian, he has since starred in Hollywood films and on TV. He has also released several well-received comedy albums.
After winning se ...
and
Ice Cube released a remix of this song with NBA players
Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Kyam Anthony (born May 29, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been named an NBA All-Star ten times and an All-NBA Team ...
,
Chris Paul
Christopher Emmanuel Paul (born May 6, 1985), nicknamed "CP3" and “The Point God”, is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Paul is widely regarded as one o ...
,
Andre Iguodala and
Kobe Bryant appearing in the video to advertise Hart and Cube's movie ''
Ride Along
A ride-along is an arrangement for a civilian to spend a shift in the passenger seat of an emergency vehicle, observing the work day of a police officer, firefighter, or paramedic.
Ride-alongs are offered by many police departments around the wor ...
''. It appeared on the NBA on ESPN and ABC during their Christmas Day coverage.
*
Jimmy Fallon and
Justin Timberlake did a cover of this song in the History of Rap 5 on ''
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon''.
* The song was featured on an episode "All I Want for Christmas is You" of ''
Hindsight
Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along phenomenon or creeping determinism, is the common tendency for people to perceive past events as having been more predictable than they actually were. People often believe that after an event ha ...
''.
* The song was featured in ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' episode "
22 for 30
"22 for 30" is the seventeenth episode of the twenty-eighth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'', and the 613th episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on March 12, 2017. In a parody of '' ...
".
* The song was featured in ''
Lizzie McGuire
''Lizzie McGuire'' is an American comedy television series created by Terri Minsky that premiered on Disney Channel on January 12, 2001. The series stars Hilary Duff as the titular character, who navigates the personal and social issues of her t ...
'', Season 2, Episode 25, "A Gordo Story".
* The song was featured in the trailer for the 2019 film ''
Honey Boy'' starring
Shia LaBeouf
Shia Saide LaBeouf (; born June 11, 1986) is an American actor, performance artist, and filmmaker. He played Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series ''Even Stevens'', a role for which he received Young Artist Award nominations in 2001 and ...
.
* The song was featured in ''
Fresh Off the Boat
The phrase fresh off the boat ''(FOB)'', off the boat ''(OTB)'', are sometimes-derogatory terms used to describe immigrants who have arrived from a foreign nation and have yet to assimilate into the host nation's culture, language, and behavior, ...
'', Season 5, Episode 20, "
Nerd Watching".
* The song was featured during the credits of Season 1 Episode 4 of ''
Santa Clarita Diet
''Santa Clarita Diet'' is an American horror-comedy streaming television series created by Victor Fresco for the streaming service Netflix, starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant. Fresco serves as the showrunner, and is an executive pr ...
''.
* The song was featured in ''
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Char ...
'' in the season 2 episode "
Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare
The second season of the American comedy television series ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' premiered on FX (TV channel), FX on June 29, 2006. The season contains 10 episodes and concluded airing on August 17, 2006.
Season synopsis
The serie ...
".
References
External links
*
"Skee-Lo - I Wish Lyrics" (Fixed version)
{{Authority control
1995 songs
Skee-Lo songs
1995 debut singles
Songs about Los Angeles
Songs written by Anne Dudley
Songs written by Trevor Horn
Scotti Brothers Records singles