"Can't You See" is a 1995 song by American R&B girl group
Total
Total may refer to:
Mathematics
* Total, the summation of a set of numbers
* Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs
* Total relation, which may also mean
** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are comp ...
, released as their debut single. The track was released from the ''
New Jersey Drive
''New Jersey Drive'' is a 1995 crime drama film written and directed by Nick Gomez and executive produced by Spike Lee. The film is about joyriding teenagers in 1990s Newark, New Jersey, then known as the "car theft capital of the world". The ...
'' soundtrack and also later appeared on their
eponymous debut album. After making their recording debut on his tracks "
Juicy", "
One More Chance" and "One More Chance" (Hip Hop Remix)",
The Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap tradi ...
returned the favor with an intro rap verse to the song. The track was written and arranged by
Terri & Monica
Terri & Monica was an R&B duo from the early 1990s that featured Terri Robinson (August 12, 1970) and Monica Payne (February 22, 1969), who were members of the short-lived late 1980s New Jack Swing R&B group The Gyrlz along with third member Ta ...
's Terri Robinson, produced entirely by Sean "Puffy" Combs with instrumentation provided by associates
Rashad Smith, Herb Middleton and
Chucky Thompson
Carl Edward Thompson Jr. (July 12, 1968 – August 9, 2021) was an American record producer, best known for his work with Sean Combs' Bad Boy Records.
Biography
Thompson was born in Washington, D.C., in 1968. He was a member of Bad Boy Entertai ...
and contains a sample from
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...
's "The Payback". The track was a success both on the mainstream US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, reaching number thirteen and the
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 ...
chart, where it made number three. The song also peaked at number forty-three on the
UK Singles Chart, where it charted for two weeks.
The main edit to the track was the "Bad Boy Remix", which had the girls sing the original lyrics with a different vocal arrangement. The intro rap by The Notorious B.I.G. was replaced with one from
Keith Murray
Keith Omar Murray (born May 29, 1972) is an American rapper from New York. He is best known for being a member of the hip hop group Def Squad, which includes fellow rappers Redman and fellow Long Island native Erick Sermon. The group releas ...
and its own music video. The track also had inserts of the girls acting as callers to a request line asking for the song to be played, saying such things as "Hey, can you play that Total Remix?". The vocals from this edit were also used on the "So So Def Remix" by
Jermaine Dupri
Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper and record producer. Raised in Atlanta, Georgia as the son of Columbia Records executive Michael Mauldin, he began his career in music at the age of nine. He discovered th ...
. The only remixes using the original track were those from
funky house
Funky house is a subgenre of house music that uses disco and funk samples, a funk-inspired bass line or a strong soul influence, combined with drum breaks that draw inspiration from 1970s and 1980s funk records. It often includes disco strings ...
producer
E-Smoove
Eric Miller (born in Chicago, Illinois) is an American house music DJ, record producer and remixer. As E-Smoove, he worked for a number of years with Steve "Silk" Hurley and Maurice Joshua, before he hit the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in ...
.
''Billboard'' named the song #28 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.
Music video
Videos were filmed for both "Can't You See" and its "Bad Boy Remix".
The video for the original song was filmed on location at
Bethesda Terrace
Bethesda Terrace and Fountain are two architectural features overlooking the southern shore of the Lake in New York City's Central Park. The fountain, with its ''Angel of the Waters'' statue, is located in the center of the terrace.
Bethesda T ...
in New York City's
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...
. The video begins with a Bad Boy Entertainment motto of ''"Besides every Bad Boy, there is a Bad Girl!"''. The Notorious B.I.G. and Puff Daddy appear in white attire in a large hall where lights flash on and off in the background. Total then appear in the same area wearing leather outfits (a shot of which was used for the back insert of their album) They are also shown on a flight of stone steps. Later the group appear on a podium dressed in white, this time with The Notorious B.I.G. behind them. On a higher podium sits Puff Daddy in a kingly manner. Shots of this scene were used for the single's cover. The video ends with the girls leaving up the steps and a reappearance of the Bad Boy motto from the beginning.
The remix video sees Keith Murray rapping in front of a car upon whose bonnet Redman sits. The girls are briefly shown sitting on a basketball hoop bobbing their heads as the scene switches back to Murray rapping. Throughout the rest of the video the girls stand on the basketball court in casual attire and perform their vocals and at one point the word "Remix" flashes across the screen. This was one of the group's three single remix videos, along with "No One Else" and "Kissin' You".
Chris Webber
Mayce Edward Christopher Webber III (born March 1, 1973), nicknamed "C-Webb", is an American former professional basketball player. Webber played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), with the largest portion of his career sp ...
makes a cameo appearance in the video.
Track listings
CD single
# Original Version
# Bad Boy Remix – Radio Edit
# So So Def Remix
# Bad Boy Remix Extended – Clean
# So So Def Remix Instrumental
# E-Smoove's Funky Piano Edit
# E-Smoove's Funky Piano Dub
12" vinyl single (UK)
Side 1
# Vocal
# Instrumental
Side 2
# No Rap Vocal
#
TV track
A TV track is usually a song or a sequence used as accompaniment during a scene or visual sequence on television (i.e., commercials or television show). If a song has vocals, part of the vocals may be removed for voice-over or dialogue, while the ...
12" vinyl single (US)
Side 1
# Bad Boy Remix
# So So Def Remix
# Bad Boy Remix Instrumental
# So So Def Remix Instrumental
Side 2
# Original Version
# Hard House Vocal Mix
# Funky Piano Dub Mix
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
{{authority control
1995 debut singles
Bad Boy Records singles
The Notorious B.I.G. songs
Total (group) songs
Songs written by Sean Combs
Songs written by Rashad Smith (producer)
Songs written by the Notorious B.I.G.
1995 songs