#ThrowbackThursday: “I Love You” by Faith Evans
Faithfully was the third solo album from Faith Evans, and “I Love You” was the third single from that album.by Sean Smith
On Tuesday night hip hop fans gathered around the television to watch the airing of the 2015 BET Hip Hop Awards. The show was taped live in Atlanta this past Sunday and was hosted by Snoop Dogg.
One of the highlights of the night was a performance by Puff Daddy featuring Lil’ Kim, King Los, and Styles P, who premiered their new track “Workin.” This is the second time in the last few months that Puff Daddy premiered new music on the BET network. During the 2015 BET Awards this past June, Puffy premiered his single “Finna Get Loose” featuring Pharrell Williams. Both “Workin” and “Finna Get Loose” are tracks rumored to be included on the much anticipated Puff Daddy & The Family reunion album No Way Out 2. A project that is supposedly still in the works and has yet to be given any type of official time table for an eventual release.
When Puff Daddy performed this past June at the BET Awards, his premiere of “Finna Get Loose” came at the end of a long medley of classic songs from the Bad Boy heyday of the mid-to-late 90’s. The performance was pretty much a Bad Boy Reunion as Puffy was joined on the stage of former Bad Boy Records labelmates Ma$e, Lil’ Kim, 112, Faith Evans, and even Sheek Louch of The Lox. For the most part everyone involved put on a good show, and it was neat to see the old crew back together; but my favorite part of the performance was when Faith Evans performed a portion of her 1998 hit “Love Like This.” Faith Evans always played an important role during the prime Bad Boy Records years. From helping to write on Mary J. Blige’s 1994 album My Life, her solo success in 1995 with “You Used To Love Me,” her marriage to the Notorious B.I.G., to her emotional performance on “I’ll Be Missing You” in 1997. For these things and many more, Faith Evans was known as the First Lady of Bad Boy Records. This week we want to take a few minutes to remember another great track her illustrious Bad Boy years, her 2002 single “I Love You.”
In 2001 Faith Evans released her third solo album for Bad Boy with Faithfully. The lead single for the album was “Can’t Believe” featuring Carl Thomas. That song was also released on the 2001 P. Diddy & The Family album The Saga Continues… The second single from Faithfully was “You Gets No Love,” and the third single was the subject of this week’s article “I Love You.”
“I Love You” was co-written by a number of artists including Jennifer Lopez. The song was originally written to be included on Lopez’s 2001 album J.Lo but ultimately ended up on Faith Evan’s album instead. The story goes that the song’s romantically longing lyrics were born out of the real life relationship between Jennifer Lopez and head of Bad Boy Records Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs. The song’s production features a sample of Isaac Hayes’ 1976 record “Make A Little Love To Me,” which can be heard throughout. “I Love You” performed well on the charts for Faith Evans, peaking at the #14 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
So with a Puff Daddy & The Family supposedly getting closer to putting out a reunion album soon with No Way Out 2, this week we take time to remember the 2002 single “I Love You” by the First Lady of Bad Boy Records, Faith Evans. Enjoy.
Faith Evans
“I Love You”
From Faithfully
Bad Boy/Arista Records
Faith Evans
“Love Like This”
From Keep The Faith
Bad Boy/Arista Records
Faith Evans
“You Used To Love Me”
From Faith
Bad Boy/Arista Records
P. Diddy And The Family Featuring Carl Thomas And Faith Evans
“Can’t Believe”
From P. Diddy And The Bad Boy Family….The Saga Continues
Bad Boy/Arista Records
Puff Daddy And Faith Evans Featuring 112
“I’ll Be Missing You”
From No Way Out
Bad Boy/Arista Records
