"Candy Shop" | ||||
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Single by 50 Cent featuring Olivia | ||||
from the album The Massacre | ||||
Released | February 8, 2005 | |||
Format | Digital download, 12" maxi single, | |||
Recorded | 2004 | |||
Genre | Dirty rap, R&B | |||
Length | 3:29 | |||
Label | Shady/Aftermath/Interscope | |||
Songwriter(s) | Curtis Jackson, Scott Storch | |||
Producer(s) | Scott Storch | |||
50 Cent singles chronology | ||||
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Olivia singles chronology | ||||
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"Candy Shop" is the second single by rapper 50 Cent from his second commercial album, The Massacre (2005). It features Olivia, and was written by 50 Cent.
"Candy Shop" peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming 50 Cent's third number one single and fifth top-ten single. It received mixed reviews from critics, with some calling it a retread of 50 Cent's collaboration with Lil' Kim on "Magic Stick" (2003). At the 2006 Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Rap Song, and at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, the music video was nominated for Best Male Video.
In an interview with XXL magazine, rapper Fat Joe claimed that he helped produce the track while working with producer Scott Storch. He stated: "I'm pretty sure the world don't know we actually produced Candy Shop together. I produced it with him (Storch) ... Scott called me like 50 times, 100 times: 'Yo, you sure you don't want to use it? 50 Cent called me. 50 Cent want it.' I never had a problem with this dude. I was like, 'Go ahead.'" When writing the song, 50 Cent stated: "I attempted to be as sexual as possible, from a male perspective, without being vulgar or obscene".
"Candy Shop" is a mid-tempo dancefloor track. The song was produced by Scott Storch, who took influence from Middle Eastern music. The track samples The Salsoul Orchestra's "Love Break". The production was described by IGN as having a "Middle Eastern tinge" with synthesized strings that "unleash a darkly atonal whirl that sounds too much like something either Timbaland or The Neptunes or Mannie Fresh have concocted".The Guardian wrote that the production contains "wan-sounding imitations of the Neptunes' sparse, breathy funk".PopMatters described the bridge as being "relaxed yet faintly ominous" with 50 Cent and Olivia crooning: "Girl what we do (what we do) / And where we do (and where we do) / The things we do (things we do) / Are just between me and you (oh yeah)."Rolling Stone noted the chorus for 50 Cent's "amateur-sounding tenor croon".