"What's It Gonna Be" is a song by American recording artist

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

. It was written by Beyoncé, Kandice Love, and

Soul Diggaz Soul Diggaz is an American R&B and hip-hop production team composed of Karriem "K-Mack" Mack, Shaun "Bless" Owens and songwriter Corté "The Author" Ellis. Corté Ellis is the younger cousin of hip hop musician Missy Elliott. They have adde ...

production team members LaShaun Owens, Karrim Mack, and Corte Ellis for her debut studio album, ''

Dangerously in Love ''Dangerously in Love'' is the debut solo studio album by American singer Beyoncé. It was released on June 20, 2003, by Columbia Records and Music World Entertainment. During the recording of Destiny's Child's third studio album '' Survivor'' ( ...

'' (2003), while production on the track was overseen by Beyoncé and Soul Diggaz. A

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 m ...

and

neo soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contempo ...

song, "What's It Gonna Be" takes a direct

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

from

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

's posthumous 1997 single, "

I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto "I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto" is a song by American rapper 2Pac. It was released as the first single from the posthumous album ''R U Still Down? (Remember Me)''. The original version, titled "I Wonda if Heaven's Got a Ghetto", was released as ...

", which in turn, samples " Two of Us" (1978) by the band, Cameo. The song was not included on the final track listing of the album but appears as a

bonus track An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

on the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese edition of ''Dangerously in Love''. It also appeared on the additional audio disc of her live album '' Live at Wembley'', which was released in 2004. "What's It Gonna Be" was released to US

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

as a digital single on July 29, 2003, through

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. Website

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 databas ...

praised the composition, writing that it "rips honeyed harmonies over a funky beat."

Formats and track listings

*;Digital download #"What's It Gonna Be" – 3:35

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:What's It Gonna Be (Beyoncé song) 2003 songs Beyoncé songs Funk songs Songs written by Beyoncé Song recordings produced by Beyoncé