"Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" is a song by American R&B singer

Blu Cantrell Tiffany Cobb (born March 16, 1976), known professionally as Blu Cantrell, is an American contemporary R&B, R&B singer. Cantrell rose to fame in 2001, with the release of her debut single, "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)", which peaked at number two ...

, written and produced by

Dallas Austin Dallas L. Austin (born December 29, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, and film producer from Columbus, Georgia. Biography Early life During a 2019 interview with DJ Vlad, Dallas Austin detailed previously unknown or unconfir ...

and included on Cantrell's debut album, '' So Blu'' (2001). The song was released in the United States on April 23, 2001, as Cantrell's debut single. It is her most successful single in the US and her only single to enter the top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, peaking at number two for two weeks in July 2001. It experienced similar success worldwide, becoming a top-10 hit in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

Composition

The lyrics propose that women should take revenge on cheating men by draining them of their available assets, both monetary assets and property. Cantrell has said that she did not particularly care for the song artistically, but the bitter feelings she was experiencing at the time led her to include it on the album anyway. "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" takes a small snippet sample from Frank Sinatra’s " Boys' Night Out". The song is written in the key of

F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp ...

and is written in

half time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 90 beats per minute. The song features the chords Fm and Bm6, and Cantrell's vocals span from B₃ to A₅.

Track listings

The snippets from '' So Blu'' consist of "Till I'm Gone" (1:01), "I'll Find a Way" (1:03), "The One" (1:09), "U Must B Crazy" (0:59), and "Waste My Time" featuring L.O. (1:08) US CD single # "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (radio mix) – 4:02 # "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (instrumental) – 4:12 # Snippets from ''So Blu'' US 12-inch single :A1. "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (radio mix) – 4:12 :A2. "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (instrumental) – 4:11 :B1. "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (radio mix) – 4:12 :B2. "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (a cappella) – 4:01 UK CD single # "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (radio mix) – 4:02 # "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (remix featuring Foxy Brown) – 3:34 # "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (remix featuring

Jazze Pha Phalon Anton Alexander, known professionally as Jazze Pha ( ), is an American record producer, rapper, singer and songwriter. He founded the record label Sho'nuff Records in 1995, through which he signed R&B singer Ciara in 2003. He produced h ...

and L.O.) – 4:36 UK 12-inch single :A1. "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (radio mix) :B1. "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (remix) :B2. "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (instrumental) UK cassette single and European CD single # "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (radio mix) – 4:02 # "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (remix featuring Foxy Brown) – 3:34 (4:12 in Europe) Australian maxi-CD single # "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (album version radio edit) – 4:02 # "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (remix featuring Foxy Brown) – 4:12 # "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (remix featuring Jazze Pha and L.O.) – 4:38 # "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (album version instrumental) – 4:12

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the US CD single liner notes. Studios * Recorded at D.A.R.P. Studios (Atlanta,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

) * Mixed at Larrabee North Studios (Hollywood, California) Personnel * Blu Cantrell – vocals, background vocals *

– writing, bass, keyboards, production * Kimberly Smith – production coordination * Carlton Lynn – recording * Doug Harms – recording assistance * Kevin "KD" Davis – mixing * Rick Sheppard –

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

and sound design * Antonio "LA" Reid – executive production * C. "Tricky" Stewart – executive production * Tab Nkhereanye – co-executive production * gravillis inc. – design * Kwaku Alston – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2000 songs 2001 debut singles Arista Records singles Blu Cantrell songs Hip-hop soul songs Music videos directed by Wayne Isham Song recordings produced by Dallas Austin Songs about infidelity Songs with feminist themes Songs written by Dallas Austin