"I Can Love You" is a song by American recording artist

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 ...

. It was written by Blige along with her sister LaTonya Blige-DaCosta,

Rodney Jerkins Rodney Roy Jerkins (born July 29, 1977), better known by his stage name Darkchild, is an American record producer, rapper, and songwriter. He has collaborated with a broad range of popular artists. Jerkins has won two Grammy Awards from 19 nomi ...

, and

Lil' Kim Kimberly Denise Jones (born July 11, 1974), Those giving 1974 include: * * * * * better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper. She was born and raised in New York City and lived much of her adolescent life on the streets after ...

for her third album, '' Share My World'' (1997), with Jerkins producing the song and Lil Kim having featured vocals. The contains elements of the song "Queen Bitch," a track from Kim's debut album '' Hard Core'' (1996), co-written by Carlos Broady and Nashiem Myrick. Due to the inclusion of the sample, they are also credited as songwriters. The song was released to generally positive reviews from music critics and issued by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

as the second US single from ''Share My World'' on May 6, 1997. It emerged as the album's highest-charting single, reaching number 28 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, while also peaking at number two on 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. Visuals for "I Can Love You," shot in May 1997 and directed by Kevin Bray, feature Blige and Lil Kim partying with others at a mansion in the woods.

Background

"I Can Love You" was written by Blige along with her sister LaTonya Blige-DaCosta,

, and

for her third album, '' Share My World'' (1997), while production was helmed by Jerkins. Jerkins had heard through

A&R

Hank Shocklee The Bomb Squad was an American hip hop production team known for their work with hip hop group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad are noted for their dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track. ...

that Blige was holding a listening session in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to recruit producers for her next project '' Share My World''. Coincidentally, he received a call from Blige who was a fan of his work on singer Gina Thompson's 1996 single " The Things That You Do" and wanted him to come to New York to play some ideas for her. Jerkins, who would end up placing five tracks on ''Share My World'', came up at least ten tracks which he felt were urgent to Blige. In 2020, he commented on "I Can Love You" in an interview with ''VLAD TV'': "When I got in the room I played ..the beat and Mary went crazy and she was like ‘You're not leaving New York. You're staying here. We're gonna work this week’." Jerkins further elaborated on the nature of the song which samples the piano movements in the beginning of "Queen Bitch," a track from Kim's debut album '' Hard Core'' (1996): "That beat was so different. It was like the way that it was structured, it was just meant to be a Mary classic in my mind ..I had the sample from Lil Kim and I was just like "I'll put some cords over that." I always felt like the essence of Mary was hip-hop so I was like "This was an artist that used hip-hop beats and had chords over top,’ " so that's what I wanted just to establish with her."

Critical reception

"I Can Love You" earned largely positive reviews from music critics.

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

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 ...

'' called the song "a deserved smash." He found that "like its predecessor, " Love Is All We Need", this jam cruises at an uplifting jeep-funk pace, with Miss Blige getting sultry over layers of soothing love chants tightly arranged by producer-of-the-moment

. The result is a wickedly catchy jam that will sooth a brow fevered by the ongoing spree of factory-like

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

that crowds the airwaves. Top 40 will probably focus on the snug rap-free edit, though the more airy and expansive album version has a guest rhyme by

that's quite cute and well worth a listen."

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...

, writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', called the song "terrific. The strings swirl and sigh, Blige brings the unrequited heartbreak, Lil’ Kim takes a more straightforward approach to luring the object of her affections away from his relationship." Da'Shan Smith from ''uDiscoverMusic'' found that the track "features one of Kim’s best verses over a sample of her own track "Queen Bitch," an infamous cut released by the rapper on her 1996 debut album, ''Hard Core''. It was a unique moment of female solidarity and a piece of hip-hop history." BET.com called the song "one of the finest examples of Blige's symboitic relationship with hip hop: Here, she somehow transforms Lil Kim's cocky mission statement "Queen Bitch" into another heartfelt, unmistakably Mary plea for love." ''

Vibe Vibe, alternatively '' vibes,'' is short for ''vibration''. A "vibe" is an emotional reaction to the aura or energy felt to belong to a person, place or thing. Vibe may also refer to: People * DJ Vibe (born 1968), Portuguese DJ * Lasse Vibe (b ...

'' felt that Lil Kim's "hard-hitting delivery perfectly complements Blige's soulful lyrics, and somehow you find yourself bumping to a song about stealing another woman’s man."

Chart performance

Unlike ''Share My World''s first single " Love Is All We Need", "I Can Love You" was issued as a commercial single in United States, where it served as the album's second single. Ultimately, it peaked at number two on the US ''Billboard''

chart, while also reaching and number twenty-eight on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming ''Share My World''s highest-charting single. It was eventually ranked 31st on ''Billboard''s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs year-end chart of 1997. Elsewhere, "I Can Love You" was released as the

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to Blige's 1997 single " Missing You."

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "I Can Love You" was shot in May 1997 and directed by Kevin Bray. Shot at a house in the woods, the video features Mary in scenes outside, as well as her, Kim, and others partying and having fun inside.

Track listings

U.S. Cassette single – MCACS 55362
U.S. CD single – MCADS 55362 # "I Can Love You" (Album version) – 4:47 # " Love Is All We Need" (

Trackmasters The Trackmasters, also known as Poke & Tone, is an American hip hop production outfit composed of Poke (Jean-Claude Olivier born January 21, 1970; Brooklyn, New York ) and Tone (Samuel Barnes born January 20, 1969; Brooklyn, New York). Active fro ...

remix featuring Foxy Brown) – 4:58 U.S. Double 12-inch single – MCA24 55363 # "I Can Love You" (Album version) – 4:47 # "I Can Love You" (Instrumental) – 5:14 # "I Can Love You" (A Cappella) – 5:03 # "Love Is All We Need" (Trackmasters remix featuring Foxy Brown) – 4:58 # "Love Is All We Need" (Trackmasters remix featuring Foxy Brown Instrumental) – 4:11 # "Love Is All We Need" (Trackmasters remix featuring Foxy Brown A Cappella) – 4:13 Sample credits * "I Can Love You" contains elements from "Queen Bitch" (1996) as performed by Lil Kim. * "Love Is All We Need (All We Need Is Love Remix)" contains replayed elements from " The Theme from ''Mahogany''" (1975) as performed by

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the ''Share My World'' liner notes. * Mary J. Blige – lead vocalist, background vocalist, writer * LaTonya Blige-DaCosta – background vocalist, writer * Carlos Broady – writer (sample) *

– writer, producer *

– additional vocalist, writer * Nashiem Myrick – writer (sample)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1997 singles Mary J. Blige songs Lil' Kim songs Song recordings produced by Rodney Jerkins Songs written by Rodney Jerkins Songs written by Mary J. Blige Songs written by Lil' Kim MCA Records singles 1997 songs