Credit: Alamy

Some of the biggest songs in hip-hop history were meant for other rappers. ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ was one of the lead singles from Jay-Z‘s 2001 album The Blueprint, which featured soul sampling from producers such as Kanye West, Bink, and Just Blaze.

The track, produced by Blaze, samples Tom Brock’s 1974 song ‘There’s Nothing in This World That Can Stop Me from Loving You’ and includes a lyrical interpolation of Cash Crew’s ‘High Power Rap’. It also includes additional vocals from Q-Tip, Slick Rick, and Biz Markie. However, it nearly went to another New York rapper.

When Blaze created the beat, he actually had a Wu-Tang Clan member in mind, not Hov. But a turn of events ended up putting it in Jay’s hands. The producer was inspired by Ghostface Killah’s 2000 album Supreme Clientele at the time and decided to come up with something suitable for Tony Starks. Despite his intentions, he had no contact with Ghostface.

“The Blueprint is kind the culmination of what we were tryna figure out on [The Dynasty: Roc La Familia] and [Beanie Sigel‘s] The Reason,” Blaze said during his appearance on People’s Party with Talib Kweli. “Hip-Hop [Kyambo Joshua] will tell you himself, Ghostface was his favourite rapper.

“So we were all definitely influenced by Supreme Clientele, specifically. When we were in that chamber, I had actually made ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ for Ghost; about a year and a half before The Blueprint was ever a thought, that beat was already done.”

‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, serving as the second biggest single on The Blueprint after ‘Izzo (H.O.V.A.)’. Marc Klasfeld directed the video, which featured cameos from Kanye, Dame Dash, Markie, Carmen Electra, Tamala Jones, and Paula Jai Parker.

Ultimately, Blaze felt he had no choice but to give the ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ instrumental to Jay-Z after he found out that The Blueprint had a focus on soul. “I remember Jay walking into the studio like, ‘Yo, I just got the CD from Ye, let’s go.’ And I’m like, ‘What we doin?’ And he says, ‘We’re back to the soul music,’” he recalled.

“So the first thing I think of is that Ghost beat. Ghost is my brother now. At the time, I didn’t have the link to Ghost. So, I could hold out and pray that I meet Ghost one day; or this is the chamber that Jay’s in right now, boom.”

Ghostface released his Bulletproof Wallets album in 2001, followed by The Pretty Toney Album in 2004, but he failed to impact the Hot 100. Who knows, Ghostface’s solo career could have panned out a lot differently with the help of a hit instrumental from Blaze. It’s not hard to imagine him flowing effortlessly over that classic sample.

All wasn’t lost, though, as Ghostface went on to collaborate with Blaze years later on ‘The Champ’ from 2006’s Fishscale album. In addition to the beat, Blaze also contributed vocals to the song, which carried a boxing theme.