"Excuse Me Miss" is a song by American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

. It released through his

Roc-A-Fella Records Roc-A-Fella Records was an American record label and music management company founded in 1994 by record executives and entrepreneurs Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. Carter issued his debut album, '' Reasonable Doubt ...

and

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

on January 27, 2003, as a single for his seventh studio album '' The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse'' (2002). It was also written alongside producers

the Neptunes The Neptunes were an American record production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provided backing vocals and music video appearances on the duo's productions, while H ...

, whose

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

sings the hook in

falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...

voice (uncredited). The lyrics refer to

love at first sight Love at first sight is a personal experience and a common theme in creative works: a person or character feels an instant, extreme, and ultimately long-lasting romantic attraction for a stranger upon first seeing that stranger. It has been desc ...

. It contains a more mature sound in comparison of his previous songs about women such as " Girls, Girls, Girls" and " I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)". The song samples

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

's 1990 song "Walk Don't Walk," the 2001 hit, "

Take You Out "Take You Out" is a song by American recording artist Luther Vandross. It was written by Warryn Campbell, Harold Lilly, and John Smith and produced by the former for Vandross's self-titled twelfth studio album (2001). Released as the album's l ...

" by

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Over his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA certification, RIAA-certified ...

as well as "

Big Poppa "Big Poppa" is a song by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released on December 24, 1994, as the second single from his debut studio album ''Ready to Die''. Produced by Chucky Thompson and Nashiem Myrick, it samples the song " Between the ...

" by the Notorious B.I.G. "Excuse Me Miss" was the third and final single from ''The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse'' and was successful commercially. It peaked at #8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #1 on the ''

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 ...

R&B chart 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 ...

in April, and was nominated for

Best Rap Song The Grammy Award for Best Rap Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rap music genre. Honors in several c ...

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 ...

but lost to

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

's "

Lose Yourself "Lose Yourself" is a song by American rapper Eminem from the soundtrack to the 2002 film '' 8 Mile''. The song was composed and produced by Eminem, longtime collaborator Jeff Bass, one half of the production duo Bass Brothers, and Luis Resto. ...

". The music video for the single was released in early February 2003. The sequel to "Excuse Me Miss" was " La-La-La (Excuse Me Miss Again)" with a noticeably darker beat and lyrics, and was also produced by the Neptunes. The song was later re-released with "Stop" as a single for 2003's ''The Blueprint 2.1''.

Music video

The music video for "Excuse Me Miss" was filmed in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in January 2003. It was directed by Little X and produced by Ericka Danko. It stars Jay-Z and Jeannette Chaves. The video also features cameo appearances from

State Property State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

, who appear in the scenes at the nightclub with Jay-Z, and

DJ Clue Ernesto Shaw (born January 8, 1975), better known as DJ Clue (often stylized as DJ Clue?), is an American disc jockey (DJ), record producer, radio personality and record executive. Early life DJ Clue was born in Queens, New York City to Pana ...

, who is seen on the dancefloor. In the storyline, Jay-Z and Chaves end up in an elevator alone and catch each other's eye. Jay-Z then has a premonition of their relationship and seduces her with his lavish lifestyle. At the end of the video, Jay-Z approaches her. The other video vixens featured are Jacqueline Roda, Maria Bencebi, Nancy Erminia, Miya Granatella, Liris Crosse, Jayde Steele, Abeba Davis, Cynthia Rodriguez, and Angela Smith. Chaves won Sexiest Video Vixen at the inaugural ''Vibe'' Awards.

Formats and track listings

Excuse Me Miss – United States CD, vinyl 12" #A1 "Excuse Me Miss" (Radio) (4:18) #A2 "Excuse Me Miss" (Explicit) (4:41) #A3 "Excuse Me Miss" (Instrumental) (4:40) #B1 "The Bounce" (Clean) (featuring

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 ...

) (4:18) #B2 "F**k All Nite" (Clean Album Version) (4:19) Excuse Me Miss / The Bounce – United States 12 '' vinyl #A1 "Excuse Me Miss" (Radio) #A2 "Excuse Me Miss" (LP Version) #A3 "Excuse Me Miss" (Instrumental) #B1 "The Bounce" (Radio) (featuring Kanye West) #B2 "The Bounce" (LP Version) (featuring Kanye West) #B3 "The Bounce" (Instrumental) (featuring Kanye West) Excuse Me Miss – United Kingdom CD single # "Excuse Me Miss" (Radio Edit) # "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)" (Live) Excuse Me Miss – United Kingdom 12" vinyl #A1 "Excuse Me Miss" (Album Version – Explicit) (4:41) #A2 "Excuse Me Miss" (Instrumental) (4:40) #B "Heart of the (Ain't No Love)" (Live at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) (2:51)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

Remix

A remix of the song was released featuring

, which ended up on West's 2006 mixtape ''Freshmen Adjustment 2''.

References

{{Authority control 2003 singles Jay-Z songs Music videos directed by Director X Pharrell Williams songs Kanye West songs Song recordings produced by the Neptunes Songs written by Pharrell Williams Songs written by Chad Hugo Songs written by Jay-Z Contemporary R&B ballads Torch songs