"Go!" is the third single from the

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

album '' Be''. It is produced by

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

, who also performs backing vocals for the track alongside

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

. The track's

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

is handled by Num Amuntehu, while its scratches are provided by A-Trak. Its beat contains a sample from "Old Smokey" by Linda Lewis. Its lyrics deal with sexual fantasies. Two

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

es of "Go!" featuring Joy Denalane were released as singles: one was remixed by Kanye West and the other by Jazzanova. J. Cole also raps over the "Go!" beat on "Knock On Wood Freestyle" on his The Blow Up mixtape.

Background

Common, Kanye West and John Mayer were inspired to create a song after seeing the 2004 movie '' Ray''. They all headed to a studio where Kanye worked on a beat and Mayer told Common to write about fantasies. Despite Common's initial hesitance of being influenced by a non hip hop artist, he wrote the song and it was later recorded in two studios: Sony Music Studios in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and Encore Studios in Burbank,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Commercial performance

It was the most commercially successful song on ''Be'' as it reached #79 on The Billboard Hot 100 and also reached the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 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 ...

and

Hot Rap Tracks 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 stat ...

charts. Critics attribute this success to its mellow beat, smooth vocals and subject matter. Spence D. of IGN.com writes:

Music video

A music video directed by Kanye West, MK12 and Convert was produced. It features Common relaxing in a modern house that contains rugs, couches and a large window allowing much light into the house. Common's surroundings are constantly morphing, but maintain a brown and beige color scheme. As a preface to various scenes in which Common fulfills fantasies with women, phrases such as "body of a dancer" and "free love" appear. The end of the video features a snippet of "Faithful", the succeeding track in ''Be'' after "Go!". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' named it the fourth best music video of 2005.

Track listing

"Go"/"Chi-City"

A-side

# "Go (LP Version)" (3:44) # "Go (Instrumental)" (3:44) # "Go (Radio Edit)" (3:44) # "Go (Accapella)" (3:44)

B-side

# "Chi-City (LP Version)" (3:27) # "Chi-City (Instrumental)" (3:27) # "Chi-City (Radio Edit)" (3:27) # "Chi-City (Accapella)" (3:27)

"Go! (Jazzanova Remix)"

A-side

# "Go! (Jazzanova Remix Main)" (4:08) # "Go! (Jazzanova Remix Clean)" (4:07)

B-side

# "Go! (Original Remix)" (3:43) # "Go! (Jazzanova Remix Instrumental)" (4:07)

"Go! (Remix)"/"The Corner (Remix)"

A-side

# "Go! (Remix)" (3:47) # "Go! (Original Version)" (3:45)

B-side

# "Go! (Instrumental)" (3:44) # "The Corner (Remix)" (4:10)

Personnel

*Produced by

*Recorded by Andrew Dawson at Sony Studios and Encore Studios, Burbank *Assistant Recording Engineers: Taylor Dow, Ric McRae and Francis Forde *Mixed by Manny Marroquin at Larrabee North Studio, North Hollywood *Assistant Mix Engineer: Jared Robbins *Background Vocals by

and Kanye West *Percussions by Num Amuntehu *Scratches by A-Trak

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Go! (Common Song) 2005 singles Common (rapper) songs John Mayer songs Kanye West songs Song recordings produced by Kanye West Music videos directed by Kanye West Songs written by John Mayer Songs written by Kanye West GOOD Music singles Geffen Records singles 2005 songs Songs written by Common (rapper) Songs written by Linda Lewis

Background

Commercial performance

Music video

Track listing

"Go"/"Chi-City"

A-side

B-side

"Go! (Jazzanova Remix)"

A-side

B-side

"Go! (Remix)"/"The Corner (Remix)"

A-side

B-side

Personnel

Charts

See also

References