Raphael Saadiq is responsible for so many hits, and he’s revealed that one he wrote for Beyoncé — “Cuff It” — wasn’t meant for her at all.
The singer and prolific songwriter gave an all-encompassing interview to Vulture on Friday (September 22), where he revealed that the smash track was originally meant for his recently reunited group, Tony! Toni! Toné!.
“I haven’t been to the Renaissance Tour, but I have seen the challenges online,” he said in the interview, referring to the song’s viral challenges. “That record was going to be a Tonyies record, the part that just sounds like [mimics the ‘Cuff It’ guitar riff]. But I gave it to a friend of mine and said, ‘I got this record. I was going to do it, but what about Beyoncé?’”
He continued: “She’s one of those people where if she’s feeling it, she’s going 100 percent in. I said, ‘It’s going to move people. It’s going to work, I’m telling you.’ I think she just put it away. From what I heard, The-Dream eventually found it. And he was like, ‘What is that?!’
“I already knew it was one of them joints. I always said, if you drop the right music on an artist, it could go, but I’m glad she has so many eyeballs on her, you know what I mean? You can’t really trick people; it’s got to be good.”
Check out the song below:
Back in July 2022, Beyoncé released the full list of songwriting credits for Renaissance, and the list of collaborators included her husband JAY-Z, The-Dream, Hit-Boy, Raphael Saadiq, Boi-1da, No I.D., Mike Dean, The Neptunes, Lucky Daye and more.
As for Saadiq, he announced that Tony! Toni! Toné! were back together in June after a long hiatus, and the group are currently on the road in celebration of their reunion.
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Saadiq, who teased the reunion back in March, took to Instagram to announce the group’s Just Me & You Tour, which serves as the trio’s first tour in over 25 years.
The California R&B group kicked things off on September 21 in Birmingham, Alabama, and will head through New York City, Chicago, Nashville, and Los Angeles before wrapping up at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California on November 14 and The Masonic in San Francisco on November 17.
“I’ve always wanted to put my family back together,” Saadiq said in a statement. “Playing with the Tonys again is a thank you to the fans, the Super Tonians, for supporting all my musical efforts. Without those who were with us from Day One, where would I be? But the main reason is that my father, Charlie Wiggins, would’ve wanted it this way – to see me, D’Wayne and Tim playing together again.”
