"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" is a hip hop song recorded by American rapper Busta Rhymes. The single serves as the lead single from his second studio album ''

When Disaster Strikes ''When Disaster Strikes...'' is the second studio album by American rapper Busta Rhymes, released by Elektra on September 16, 1997. The album follows the same theme as ''The Coming'', the apocalypse. The album, upon its release, received mostly p ...

'' (1997) and its music video is notable for its homage to the 1988 Eddie Murphy film ''

Coming to America ''Coming to America'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy film directed by John Landis and based on a story originally created by Eddie Murphy, who also stars in the lead role. The film also co-stars Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, Shari Hea ...

''. The song contains a sample of the 1976 recording "Sweet Green Fields" by American soft rock duo Seals and Crofts. Rhymes scored a second consecutive nomination for

Best Rap Solo Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance was awarded from 1991 to 2011, alongside the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Previously, a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. In 2003, this award was split into separate a ...

at the 40th Grammy Awards.

Chart performance

Despite huge airplay, the song only peaked within the top forty on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Airplay chart, where it peaked at number thirty-seven. It was most successful on its component

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart, where it reached number two. It also charted outside the US, reaching the top 20 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 ...

at number 16.

Reception and legacy

In 1999, MTV ranked the video itself at #20 for ''The 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made'' and VH1 ranked the song at #7 on their list of the 40 Greatest Hip Hop Songs of the 90s. In retrespect, 2Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See2 is viewed as a classic and one of the best hip hop songs of all time.

Music video

The official

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 device ...

for the song, directed by Hype Williams and designed by

Ron Norsworthy Ron Norsworthy is an American visual artist and designer. His work employs notions of spaces and decoration of space as narratives about his lived experience as a queer person of color as well as that of his community/communities. His interdiscip ...

, is based on Eddie Murphy's 1988 film ''

''. According to Busta Rhymes, the inspiration for this idea was the fact that ''Coming to America'' was playing on the television in the studio at the time he and the production crew were working on mixing the record. The film is about an African living in New York City and Busta Rhymes felt that the record had an African sound to it. At the chorus is a well choreographed dance routine which is followed by Busta running from an

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

and him, along with The Flipmode Squad, in glowing tribal African makeup and outfit. The video received heavy rotation on both the MTV and BET networks. The video was filmed at Chambers and Centre Street in

Downtown Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

— including the main lobby of the

Surrogate's Courthouse The Surrogate's Courthouse (also the Hall of Records and 31 Chambers Street) is a historic building at the northwest corner of Chambers and Centre Streets in the Civic Center of Manhattan in New York City. Completed in 1907, it was desi ...

Awards and nominations

"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" earned Rhymes his second nomination for

at the 40th Grammy Awards. The award went to " Men in Black" by

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom '' The Fresh ...

. The music video earned four nominations including

Best Male Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video was one of four original general awards that have been handed out every year since the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2007, though, the award was briefly renamed Male Artist of the Year, and ...

and Best Rap Video at the 1998 MTV VMAs. It lost both to Will Smith, respectively, for "

Just the Two of Us Just or JUST may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Just (surname) * Just (given name) Arts and entertainment * ''Just'', a 1998 album by Dave Lindholm * "Just" (song), a song by Radiohead * "Just", a song from the album ''Lost and Found'' by Mudvayne ...

" and " Gettin' Jiggy wit It".

In other media

This song was also featured on video games '' True Crime: New York City'', ''

Def Jam Rapstar ''Def Jam Rapstar'' is a music video game based on rapping, developed by 4mm Games and Terminal Reality. It was released on October 5, 2010 in North America and on November 26, 2010 in Europe.(2010-11-26"MAKE THE WORLD YOUR STAGE WITH DEF JAM RAP ...

'', '' DJ Hero 2'' and '' NBA 2K18''.

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1997 singles 1997 songs Busta Rhymes songs Songs written by James Seals Elektra Records singles Music videos directed by Hype Williams