"I Won't Tell" is a song by American rapper

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper. He began recording as a member of Hip-hop, hip hop group D.I.T.C., Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.) in 1992, and pursued a sol ...

. It was released as the first single of his eight album '' The Elephant in the Room'' (2008), and features R&B singer J. Holiday. It was released on November 8, 2007 on Fat Joe's

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page. It was released through

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

on December 4, 2007. It is a hip hop and contemporary R&B song. The song received a mixed reception from critics. The single peaked at number 37 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The accompanying music video for the single was directed by Gil Green.

Critical reception

"I Won't Tell" received mixed reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

s. Reviewing the album, David Jeffries of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

praised the song for being one of the album's better radio singles that bring "sweet relief." Jesal Padania of RapReviews found the lyrics middling but praised J. Holiday's appearance and The Hitmen's production for being soothing. ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

'' staff writer Mcooper criticized the song along with "You Ain't Sayin Nothin'" for targeting mainstream radio, saying that, "These songs find Joe short on creativity, but eager for radio spins."

Chart performance

"I Won't Tell" peaked at number 37 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, giving Joe his fifth top 40 hit on the chart. The song also peaked at numbers three and 12 on the US

Hot Rap Songs 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 ...

and US

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 ...

charts respectively.

Music video

The music video for "I Won't Tell" (directed by Gil Green) was released on December 18, 2007 on Fat Joe's MySpace video page. Cameo appearances include Bow Wow,

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip ho ...

, Diddy,

Christina Milian Christina Milian ( , Flores; born September 26, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Following a number of minor television and film roles in the late nineties, Milian made her recording debut on American rapper Ja Rule's 20 ...

, LeToya Luckett, Junior Reid,

Mario Winans Mario Mendell Winans ( Brown; born August 29, 1974) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from South Carolina. An extended member of the Winans musical family, he is best known for his 2004 single " I Don't Wanna Know" (f ...

, Pitbull, Scott Storch,

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), known professionally as Flo Rida ( ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 debut and breakout single "Low (Flo Rida song), Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the ...

, E-Class ( Poe Boy Entertainment Manager),

Akon Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-United States, American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. An influ ...

DJ Khaled Khaled Mohammed Khaled (; born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ and record producer. Originally a Miami-based radio personality, Khaled has since become known for enlisting high-profile music industry ar ...

Slim Thug Stayve Jerome Thomas (born September 8, 1979), better known by his stage name Slim Thug, is an American rapper. He gained mainstream attention for his guest performance alongside Paul Wall on Mike Jones' 2004 single "Still Tippin'". The followi ...

, Sheek Louch, Dre, and Brisco.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2007 singles 2007 songs Fat Joe songs J. Holiday songs Virgin Records singles Music videos directed by Gil Green Songs written by Fat Joe Songs written by Mario Winans Songs written by Deric Angelettie