"Ooh!" is a song recorded by American singer

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Qu ...

for her sixth studio album '' Love & Life'' (2003). It was written by Blige,

Sean Combs Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, Mount Ve ...

, Dimitri Christo, and Mechalie Jamison, while production was helmed by Combs and Christo. The song contains excerpts from

Hamilton Bohannon Hamilton Frederick Bohannon (March 7, 1942 – April 24, 2020), often credited and known professionally simply as Bohannon, was an American drummer, percussionist, band leader, songwriter, arrangement, arranger, and record producer, who was one ...

's 1973 track "Singing a Song for My Mother", hence Bohannon is also credited as a songwriter. "Ooh!" was released as the second single from ''Love & Life'' on August 25, 2003, by

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

. A moderate commercial success, "Ooh!" peaked at number 29 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Critically acclaimed, it was nominated for

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (previously called Best Rhythm and Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female) was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Award ...

at the

46th Annual Grammy Awards The 46th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 8, 2004, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California honoring the best in music for the recording of the year beginning from October 1, 2002, through September 30, 2003. It recognized acc ...

. An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Sanji, and depicts Blige fighting and dancing as different versions of herself, who all represented her inner emotions and feelings. Furthermore, a remix featuring

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...

Lloyd Banks Christopher Charles Lloyd (born April 30, 1982), better known by his stage name Lloyd Banks, is an American rapper. He began his career as a member of East Coast hip-hop, East Coast hip hop group G-Unit, which he formed with childhood friends ...

, and

Young Buck David Darnell Brown (born March 15, 1981), better known by his stage name Young Buck, is an American rapper. He signed with Birdman's Cash Money Records in 1997, formed the hip hop collective UTP with Juvenile and Soulja Slim in 2000, and j ...

also accompanied the song.

Background

"Ooh!" was as written by Blige along with

, Dimitri "The Natural aka D-Nat" Christo, and Mechalie Jamison, while production was helmed by Combs and Christo. The song contains excerpts from the 1973 song "Singing a Song for My Mother" by American musician

, itself widely known for being sampled on the 1991 hip-hop classic, "I Gotta Have It" by Ed O.G and Da Bulldogs. It was Combs who asked Blige to write over the Ed O.G. sample. In a 2003 interview with ''

MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...

'' she commented: "Puff heard it and he sat there with his mouth open. He was odding his head but he never said anything. He later said that "

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

was fire!" so we let

Jimmy Iovine James Iovine ( ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, former Music executive, record executive, and media proprietor. He is the co-founder of Interscope Records and became chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscop ...

hear it and Jimmy was like, "I like it."

Dr. Dre Andre Romell Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, and actor. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and co-founder of ...

heard it and was like, "That's the joint right there." Then we played it for

K-Gee Karl Clive Gordon, known by the stage name K-Gee, is a British Disc jockey, DJ, Record producer, producer, rapper and songwriter and former member of the Outlaw Posse. Gordon was brought up listening to reggae by his father and was inspired t ...

and he just lost his mind. We played it for people all over the world when we went on the promotional tour and everything kept coming back 'Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh'."

Critical reception

BBC Music BBC Music is the arm of the BBC responsible for the music played across its services. The current director of music is Lorna Clarke. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio operational division; however, its remit also includes music used i ...

critic Keysha Davis called "Ooh!" a "hip-hop inspired club anthem. Backed by a trudging horn riff, and an instantly recognisable break-beat; tforms the perfect compliment for Mary's gravely vocals." Elizabeth Berry Mendez from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' wrote: "With its slinky saxophone and Mary's ripe alto, "Ooh!" is the kind of dance-floor soul jam that recalls

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

's heyday." Similarly, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''s Michael Paoletta remarked that the song "recalls " Rock Steady"-era

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

." In his review of parent album '' Love & Life'', David Browne from ''

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, ...

'' noted: he albumtried to present a more contented Blige but mainly reduced her to moaning orgasmic lines like "Ooh, what you do to me" to thudding Diddy-produced beats." BET.com called the song one of the "highlights of Blige's and Combs's reunion on 2003's ''Love & Life''."

Music video

Blige was initially eyeying Chris Robinson, who had helmed the music video for ''Love & Life''s previous single "

Love @ 1st Sight "Love @ 1st Sight" is a song recorded by American singer Mary J. Blige for her sixth studio album '' Love & Life'' (2003). It features a guest appearance from rapper Method Man. It was written by Vanilla Ice, Blige, Sean Combs, Mario Winans, Stevi ...

," to once again direct her. Due to scheduling conflicts, Sanjeeva "Sanji" Senaka, director of her 2001 music video for "

No More Drama ''No More Drama'' is the fifth studio album by American singer Mary J. Blige, released on August 28, 2001, by MCA Records. Following the critical and commercial success of her fourth studio album, ''Mary'' (1999), ''No More Drama'' was similarl ...

," was eventually selected to direct the visuals for "Ooh!." Dedicated to the soldiers in the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, it portrays Blige fighting and dancing different versions of herself, who all represented her inner emotions and feelings. "Ooh!" world premiered at the end of its

making of https://www Googlefinans.co= In filmmaking, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a documentary film that features the production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the EPK ( ...

episode on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

's ''

Access Granted ''Access Granted'' is an American television series that features an in-depth look at the planning, filming and production of R&B and hip hop music videos. Each week a different artist and their new music video are featured, with the video pre ...

''.

Track listings

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Love & Life''. *Mary J. Blige – vocals, writer *

– writer (sample) *Dimitri "The Natural aka D-Nat" Christo – producer, writer *

– producer, writer *Patrick Dillett – recording engineer *Mechalie Jamison – writer *Shannon Jones – background vocalist *Kandace Love – background vocalist *

Tony Maserati Tony Maserati is an American record producer and audio engineer specializing in mixing. He was involved in the development of the New York R&B and hip-hop scene in the 1990s, working with Mary J. Blige, Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, and Queen ...

– mixing engineer *Alex Seton – engineering assistant *

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 ...

– additional music

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{Mary J. Blige singles 2003 singles Mary J. Blige songs Songs written by Mary J. Blige Songs written by Sean Combs 2003 songs Geffen Records singles