"Playas Gon' Play" is the second and final single from American

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

3LW 3LW (initialism of "3 Lil Women") was an American girl group formed in 1999 by Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams, and Naturi Naughton. Jessica Benson later replaced Naughton after she left the group in 2002. 3LW was signed to the label Epic Recor ...

's self-titled debut album (2000). The single was released in April 2001. Although the song was a favorite among fans, it peaked at only number 81 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It performed moderately on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, where it peaked at number 21. In 2017, ''Billboard'' named the song number 89 on their list of "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time". The song featured lead vocals by Naturi Naughton.

Music video

The video was directed by

Darren Grant Darren Grant is an American television, film and music video director. He has directed over eighty music videos for mostly R&B and hip hop artists. In 2005, Grant directed his debut film Tyler Perry's ''Diary of a Mad Black Woman''. In 2008, he ...

on February 17, 2001. It received decent video play on TV channels such as

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 ...

and

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 ...

and enjoyed some success on BET's ''

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

'' and MTV's ''

TRL TRL or trl may refer to: Arts * Temporary Residence Limited, a record label * ''Total Request Live'', a former MTV show * TRL Awards (''Total Request Live''), an Italian music award Libraries * Tampines Regional Library, a regional library in Ta ...

''. The video debuted on TRL on March 7, 2001, at number seven and stayed on the countdown for 11 days and peaked at number five. The video fell off the countdown on May 18, 2001. The video starts with the girls being dropped of at a tropical beach resort. Once they have been dropped off, they change into their bikinis and walk through the resort. As they walk through the resort, boys are looking at them. Throughout the video are scenes of the girls hanging out on a balcony watching over the resort. Another portion of the video shows the girls performing a dance routine in front on the pond at the resort at night.

Track listings

US CD single # "Playas Gon' Play" (album version) – 4:40 # "Playas Gon' Play" (instrumental) – 4:43 # "Playas Gon' Play" (a cappella) – 4:37 # "Never Let Em' Go" (album version) – 3:46 # "Never Let Em' Go" (remix) – 4:04 UK CD single # "Playas Gon' Play" (radio edit) – 3:40 # "Playas Gon' Play" (8 Jam Street mix) – 5:08 # "Playas Gon' Play" (System 3 Step mix) – 6:11 # "Playas Gon' Play" (video) – 3:48 UK cassette single # "Playas Gon' Play" (radio edit) – 3:40 # "Playas Gon' Play" (8 Jam Street mix) – 5:08 # "Dear Diary" – 4:15 Australian CD single # "Playas Gon' Play" (radio edit) – 3:40 # "Playas Gon' Play" (Street mix) – 5:15 # "Playas Gon' Play" (System 3 Step mix) – 6:11 # "

No More (Baby I'ma Do Right) "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)" is the debut single of American girl group 3LW from their self-titled debut album (2000). The single was released on August 22, 2000, in the United States reached number 23 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song w ...

" (8 Jam Street mix) – 5:08

Charts

Release history

Lawsuit

In 2017, "Playas Gon' Play" writers Sean Hall and Nathan Butler filed a lawsuit accusing

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

Shake It Off "Shake It Off" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her fifth studio album, ''1989''. Swift wrote the lyrics and composed the melody with producers Max Martin and Shellback. An uptempo dance-pop song featuring a saxop ...

" features the lyrics "the players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate." Swift claimed in a 2022 declaration that she had never heard "Playas Gon' Play" or anything else by 3LW prior to writing "Shake It Off," rather, the first time she heard the song was after the claim was made against her. Swift also pointed out other songs that use similar phrasing and said the concept is common phrasing, whereas Hall and Butler claimed the phrasing, while common in recent years, was unique at the time they wrote the song. On December 12, 2022, the lawsuit was dropped with no final verdict.

References

{{Authority control 2000 songs 2001 singles 3LW songs Epic Records singles Music videos directed by Darren Grant Songs written by Nate Butler