"I Wanna Love You" is a song written and recorded by Akon featuring Snoop Dogg. It was released in September 2006 as the second single from his second album, Konvicted. It is also featured on Snoop Dogg's eighth album, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment. This song is Akon's first #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 and is also Snoop's second #1 on the same chart. The song also reached a peak of #3 on the UK singles chart. In the edited clean version of the song, the word "fuck" is replaced with "love", and a line in the chorus ("I see you winding and grinding, up on that pole") is rewritten as "up on the floor". "Pussy" and "nigga" are played backwards, and "dick" and "titties" are blanked out. However, despite the self-censorship, a Parental Advisory sticker was still printed on the cover. The song was originally made by Plies, an up-and-coming rapper from Fort Myers, Florida, but his verse was replaced by Snoop's for reasons explained below.[citation needed] Even his name has been left out from the writers' credits.[citation needed] This song was #88 on MTV Asia's list of Top 100 Hits of 2007.[1] The song was nominated for the Grammy Award given to the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in the 50th Grammy Awards of 2008.
Rapper Plies was originally the performer of this song, but Akon replaced his verses with those of Snoop Dogg's for commercial reasons. Plies was arrested on July 2, 2006 for illegal gun possession while two of his people were charged with attempted murder after a shooting broke out at 238 West Nightclub in Gainesville, Florida. Plies was performing a concert when he was informed that his show would be cut 15 minutes short in order to give time to Lil' Boosie to perform right after. In response, Plies' entourage started to fire at the crowd, resulting in the injury of five people with non-life-threatening wounds. Shortly after, Plies was released after paying $50,000 bail.[2] Akon wished to continue to promote his song, but remained worried that the recent incident involving Plies would reflect poorly on his label. Since the version with Snoop Dogg already circulated unofficially in the mixtape scene, Akon replaced the single and album edit since Snoop Dogg was already a well-received name, as opposed to that of an up-and-coming, controversial artist. Akon and Snoop Dogg's management also agreed to participate on each other's forthcoming albums. In an interview with Akon on Hot 97 he said that the song was sent for Trick Daddy but somehow ended up in the hands of Plies. It was said that Plies was not the originator of the song and should have never recorded to that beat in the first place. To make it up, Akon recorded and produced the single, "Hypnotized" for Plies, being featured on it also. This reached #14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Samples of the Roland TR-808 drum machine provide the song's bass drum, clap and hi-hat sounds. The song was covered in 2007 by CocoRosie.[3] Their version of the song is written from the perspective of the pole dancer, who is described as a victim of childhood sexual abuse and her own drug addiction (and implicitly, of all the men who are only interested in her as a sexual object).
"I Wanna Love You" (featuring Snoop Dogg) (Instrumental)
Akon
Akon
4:07
Total length:
12:21
I Wanna Love You — United Kingdom CD single
No.
Title
Writer(s)
Producer(s)
Length
1.
"I Wanna Love You" (featuring Snoop Dogg)
Aliaune "Akon" Thiam
Akon
4:11
2.
"Struggle Everyday"
Akon
Akon
4:16
Total length:
8:27
I Wanna Love You — Australia CD single
No.
Title
Writer(s)
Producer(s)
Length
1.
"I Wanna Love You" (featuring Snoop Dogg and Sean Paul) (Clean)
Aliaune "Akon" Thiam
Akon
4:07
2.
"I Wanna Love You" (featuring Snoop Dogg) (Explicit)
Akon
Akon
4:07
3.
"Struggle Everyday"
Akon
Akon
4:17
4.
"I Wanna Love You" (Video)
Akon
Akon
4:07
Total length:
16:38
Official versions
Several remixes of the song exist. The official remix features Tego Calderón & Snoop Dogg and is included in the album as an iTunes album-only bonus track. The first, titled the 'Six Minute Remix', features additional vocals and production by Plies. The second, titled the 'Seven Minute Remix', features both Plies and American rapper Trina. The third version, titled the 'International Remix', features Portuguese rapper Boss AC. A video also exists for this version.[4] The fourth remix, the 'Australian Remix', features both Snoop Dogg and Sean Paul performing vocals. The fifth remix, the 'Walmart Remix', features Tego Calderón, Don Omar and Cynthia Antigua, and appears as a bonus track on the WalMart edition of Konvicted. A further remix, the 'Female Mix', features new vocals by Nivea and Rasheeda.
Personnel
Written by C. Broadus, A. Thiam
Produced by Aliaune "Akon" Thiam for Upfront/Konvict
Publishers: My Own Chit Publishing/EMI Blackwood Music (BMI); Byefall Music/Famous Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Recorded by Akon and Mark "Exit" Goodchild at Konkast Recording Studios, Atlanta, Georgia, Patchwerks Studio, Atlanta, Ga, Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles, California
Snoop's vocals recorded by Chris Jackson at Tha Cathedral
Assisted by Rick DeVarona
Mixed by Leslie Brathwaite at PatchwerksStudio, Atlanta, Georgia
