"Shakin' It 4 Daddy" (sometime rendered as "Shakin' It for Daddy") is a song recorded by American singer

Robin Thicke Robin Alan Thicke (born March 10, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2013 hit single " Blurred Lines", which is one of the best-selling singles of all time. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, h ...

for his fourth studio album, '' Sex Therapy: The Session'' (2009). It features rap verses by hip hop artist

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated Flow (rapping), flow in her rapping, alter e ...

. The song was written by Thicke,

Jamal Jones Jamal Aman Jones (born April 24, 1981) is a former American football wide receiver. He was originally signed by the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played college football at North Carolina A&T. Jones is currently pursui ...

Ester Dean Esther Renay Dean (born April 15, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, music producer and actress. Dean has also written songs for many artists, with numerous Top 10 hits, including No. 1 hits for Rihanna and Katy Perry, earning the name " ...

and Minaj, while production was handled by Jones under his stage name

Polow da Don Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977, or 1978), professionally known as Polow da Don, is an American record producer and rapper. Jones has produced a variety of singles for a multitude of artists including "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj (2014 ...

Background and production

"Shakin' It 4 Daddy" was written by

and

, while the production was done by Jones under his stage name

. American rapper Jay-Z recommended Minaj to be a featured artist on Thicke's song on which she eagerly accepted, " cannot put into words how I felt when he told me that.

obin Obin, real name Josephine Komara, is a textile designer from Indonesia. She is sometimes called a "national treasure" due to her passion for and promotion of traditional Indonesian batik techniques. Her work has achieved worldwide recognition, ...

was like, 'By the way, let me tell you this great story.'" In an interview with MTV News, Thicke also explained how the collaboration happened, "We were in the studio and I played him ay-Zthe whole album. He was like, 'You should get Nicki Minaj on that. She's got that voice. She's got that swag.'" They immediately called her when she accepted to provide her vocals on the song. Thicke further commented on Minaj, "I can't wait to do a video with Nicki. There's a power in her. It's not just that she's sexy and that's the only way she can get you to like her. She's got charm – not just sex. Some women may use sex to get what they want; others have charm. She's got charm." Jeremy Stevenson served as a recording engineer of "Shakin' It 4 Daddy" and recorded it at Thom Thom Studios. Minaj appears as courtesy of

Young Money Young Money Entertainment is an American record label founded by rapper Lil Wayne. Young Money's president is Lil Wayne's lifelong friend and fellow rapper Mack Maine. The label was an imprint of Cash Money Records and is distributed by Republi ...

Cash Money Records Cash Money Records is an American record label founded in 1991 by brothers Ronald "Slim" Williams and Bryan "Birdman" Williams. Distributed by Republic, formerly known as Universal Republic, the label has been home to a roster of mostly hip ...

and

Universal Motown Records Universal Motown Records was an American record label that operated as a division of Universal Motown Republic Group. It was the contemporary incarnation of the legendary Motown Records label, and the " urban" half of UMG, although there were some ...

. Although the song was originally planned to be released as a single in the United States, the release was later cancelled for unknown reasons. A promotional

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

was released in the US in 2009 and featured the dirty version, clean version, and the instrumental of the song. A digital remix by Manon Dave was released on February 8, 2011 via

7digital 7digital Group Plc is a British publicly listed company that offers access to music, tracking and reporting for clients. London-based, 7digital provides end-to-end music services for the fitness, social media, DSPs, and gaming industries with b ...

store, in several countries worldwide including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Composition

"Shakin' It 4 Daddy" is a

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

song with a duration of three minutes and fifty-two seconds. A reviewer of MuchMusic described the song as "

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwi ...

-meets- Usher party record that is Thicke's Southern-style hip-hop homage to the strip club and nightclub generation." In "Shakin' It 4 Daddy", Thicke sings about a "booty-shakin' mami".

Critical response

Andy Kellman of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

called the song "humorously awkward". He explained that its "oft-repeated hook" ("She shakin’ it for daddy, she shakin’ it for me") could make some listeners "think of Thicke and his

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

instead of just Thicke". According to Kyle Jarmon of
Parlé Magazine
', Thicke and Minaj work well together in the song. Mark Edward Nero of

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, ...

cited "Shakin' It 4 Daddy" as the only "real failure" of ''Sex Therapy'', declaring the song to be out-of-character for Thicke, as it sounds more like a song that Justin Timberlake may have recorded. Writing for PopMatters, Tyler Lewis declared that "Shakin' It 4 Daddy" contains "pretty standard Polow da Don production", but that it succeeds in "rendering all the lyrics meaningless". He concluded that "it's the rhythm of the language that you respond to", not its lyrics. August Brown of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' declared "Shakin' It 4 Daddy" to be déclassé by Thicke's standards.

Live performances

Thicke and Minaj performed the song numerous times, including 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 ...

'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- rate ...

'' in December 2009 and on the '' Late Show with David Letterman'' in February 2010.

Track listings

*Promotional CD single #"Shakin' It 4 Daddy" (Dirty Version) – 2:52 #"Shakin' It 4 Daddy" (Clean Version) – 2:52 #"Shakin' It 4 Daddy" (Instrumental) – 2:52 *'Digital download (remix) #"Shakin' It 4 Daddy" (Manon Dave Remix) – 4:00

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Sex Therapy''. Locations *Vocals recorded at Thom Thom Studios Personnel *Robin Thicke – vocals, songwriter *Nicki Minaj – vocals, songwriter *Ester Dean – songwriter *Polow da Don – songwriter, producer *Jeremy Stevenson – recording engineer

Release history

References

{{Nicki Minaj songs 2009 songs Robin Thicke songs Songs written by Robin Thicke Songs written by Ester Dean Song recordings produced by Polow da Don Songs written by Nicki Minaj Nicki Minaj songs Star Trak Entertainment singles Songs written by Polow da Don