"Transparency" is a song by American rappers

2 Chainz Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (formerly Tity Boi), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip-hop duo Playaz Ci ...

and

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

, featuring R&B singer Usher. It was released on November 17, 2023, as the third single from their collaborative studio album ''

Welcome 2 Collegrove ''Welcome 2 Collegrove'' is a collaborative studio album by American rappers 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne. It was released on November 17, 2023, through Def Jam Recordings. It is the sequel to 2 Chainz' third studio album ''ColleGrove'' (2016), which ...

'' (2023).

Background

"Transparency" was originally a

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

song featuring 2 Chainz, that was supposed to be included on his tenth studio album '' Breezy'' (2022), and sampled

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

's 1982 song "The Lady In My Life". However, the song wasn't released, with Brown stating in 2022: "We couldn't clear the sample and we felt it took away from the song if that music wasn't there", unofficially releasing a solo version of it on his Instagram account. The track was later taken by 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne for their 2023 collaborative studio album ''

'', enlisting

Fridayy Francis Leblanc, known professionally as Fridayy, is a Haitian-American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2022, he signed with Def Jam Recordings and guest performed on the hit songs "Forever" by Lil Ba ...

Hitmaka Christian J. Ward (born September 9, 1985), known professionally as Hitmaka, is an American record producer and former rapper. Ward began rapping under the stage name Iceberg in 2001, at the age of 14. His career was cut short, due to his time ...

, Mike Dean, Paul Cabbin and Tarik Beats to rearrange its instrumental, and Usher to perform the song's chorus.

Critical reception

Slant Slant can refer to: Bias *Bias or other non- objectivity in journalism, politics, academia or other fields Technical * Slant range, in telecommunications, the line-of-sight distance between two points which are not at the same level * Slant ...

'' commented the song saying that it's "a repurposing of a previously leaked Chris Brown song. It’s supposedly a somewhat serious song about integrity, but the two rappers groaningly take the titular concept literally, making cracks about, among other things, see-through garments". ''

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 ...

'' stated that the song "feel dated and slapdash", adding that it "rips lyrics from the chorus of a 2021 Chris Brown song of the same name, sounds like a lazy reach for radio play".

Music video

The music video for "Transparency" was released alongside the song.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Usher singles 2023 singles 2023 songs 2 Chainz songs Lil Wayne songs Usher (musician) songs Songs written by 2 Chainz Songs written by Lil Wayne Songs written by Hitmaka Songs written by Mike Dean (record producer)