Cold Blooded (song)

"Cold Blooded"
Single by Rick James
from the album Cold Blooded
B-side	"Cold Blooded (Instrumental)"
Released	July 5, 1983
Format	7" (Vinyl 45RPM)
Genre	Electro-funk, synthpop
Length	4:19 (single version) 5:59 (album version)
Label	Gordy
Writer(s)	Rick James
Producer(s)	Rick James
Rick James singles chronology
"Teardrops" (1983) "Cold Blooded" (1983) "U Bring the Freak Out" (1983)

"Cold Blooded" is a funk song written and recorded by Rick James in 1983. James wrote the song about his relationship with actress Linda Blair. While hanging out in James's home recording studio, Blair was interested in learning how to write music. James fired up his synthesizer and absentmindedly began noodling with the keys and came up with "Cold Blooded"'s cold bass line. Running with the idea, he played all the instruments on the track. Synth-based, it was a departure from James's previous guitar-based, horns-laced sides. He utilized the Roland TR series of drum machines which were dominant on the '80s-era Jimmy Jam-and-Terry Lewis-produced hits of The S.O.S. Band. Released as a single from the album of the same name, it spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and reached number forty on the Hot 100.^[1]

In 1999, the song was covered by American rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard and included on his album Nigga Please. The song was sampled by TLC on their third album FanMail on the interlude "Whispering Playa"; the sample was later removed on future versions of the album and replaced with a sample of the group's own song "U In Me".

On Chappelle's Show during an episode with a Rick James sketch, James, played by Chappelle, sings the song after slapping Charlie Murphy.

The song was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on a fictional funk station, Bounce FM.

References

1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 291.