"Father" is the third single from

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 seventh album, ''

Phenomenon A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfrie ...

''. It was released on January 13, 1998 for

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

and was produced by the Trackmasters. "Father", which was an auto-biographical song that detailed LL's abuse from his mother's boyfriend, would prove to be the most successful single from the album, it made it to number 18 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and became his eighth single to reach number one on the

Hot Rap Singles Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stati ...

. It sold 500,000 copies. The song's main sample is "

Father Figure A father figure is usually an older man, normally one with power, authority, or strength, with whom one can identify on a deeply psychology, psychological level and who generates emotions generally felt towards one's father. Despite the literal te ...

" by

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling music ...

. The music video was directed by

Samuel Bayer Samuel David Bayer (born February 17, 1962) is an American visual artist, cinematographer, and commercial, music video and film director. Bayer was born in Syracuse, New York. He graduated from New York City's School of Visual Arts in 1987 with ...

Track listing

A-side

#"Father" (radio edit) – 3:57 #"Father" (instrumental) – 4:42

B-side

#" 4, 3, 2, 1" (remix instrumental) – 5:00 #"4, 3, 2, 1" (instrumental) – 4:15

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1998 singles LL Cool J songs Music videos directed by Samuel Bayer Songs written by LL Cool J 1997 songs Songs written by George Michael Song recordings produced by Trackmasters Def Jam Recordings singles Songs written by Samuel Barnes (songwriter) Songs written by Jean-Claude Olivier