That’s My Jam: Kelis – Caught Out There

That’s My Jam is a weekly feature where one person from the Selective Hearing staff goes to wax poetic about music that is pivotal to their musical tastes. Whether that would be an album, a song, or anything in-between. We all had to start somewhere. This week: Kelis’ Caught Out There.

Kelis Caught Out There Cover

Release Date: September 19, 1999

Track Listing

  1. Caught Out There (Single Radio Edit)
  2. Caught Out There (The Neptunes Extended Mix)
  3. Caught Out There (Album Version)
  4. Caught Out There (The Neptunes Extended Instrumental)

Review

Caught Out There was the lead single from Kelis’ debut album, Kaleidoscope. Written and produced by The Neptunes, the song was somewhat successful, peaking at 54 in the United States. It did better overseas, where it charted in the Top 5 in the UK and The Netherlands.

To say this is an anti-love song is an understatement. Although it’s probably good to play on Single’s Awareness Day (a.k.a. Valentine’s Day) to celebrate your freedom from the ball and chain, that is a committed relationship.

There have been many creative samples of this song, including the use of the yelling part as part of a British television sitcom called Hotel Trubble. Of course, I bet some of you have this as part of some compilation to blow off steam or as part of a breakup mix tape or something along those lines.

This was one of my first introductions to the production crew known as The Neptunes. At the time, they were just getting into their signature groove after producing songs such as Norega’s Superthug (What What) and remixing Brand Nubian’s Take It To The Head (Don’t Let It Go To Your Head).

One listen to this song, and you can hear all the signature elements of a Neptunes production. Their stuff is pretty easy to pick out from all the other R&B/Hip-Hop music of that time other than possibly Timbaland, who was also kind of going off the beaten path with his stuff. I don’t know if this song holds up well now. I think it does, but I have a huge bias since I like just about anything The Neptunes have produced.

Anyway, rage quit sums up this track nicely. So if you have that urge, drop this track as your soundtrack and scream your head off.

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