I Do
by Cardi B (featuring SZA)

Album: Invasion of Privacy (2018)
Charted: 23
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "I Do" features a hook crooned by SZA. Despite the Top Dawg R&B singer's busy schedule, she made a promise to Cardi that she would find time for a collaboration, which resulted in this song.
  • Cardi and SZA proclaim during the song that they do just what they like. SZA croons on the hook:

    I left a nigga on read 'cause I felt like it
    Dress me down in that Raf, Saint Laurent jacket
    Dapper, dapper, I look fine and my checks divine
    No wonder, wonder why I do whatever I like
    I do what I like, I do, I do


    Cardi B sums up the song's concept in verse two when she raps:

    Good girls do what they told
    Bad bitches do what they want
  • The beat comes courtesy of Canadian producer Murda Beatz, a frequent collaborator of both Migos ("MotorSport") and Drake ("Nice For What"). He was assisted by his frequent collaborator, the German duo CuBeatz.
  • The hook of "I Do" was penned by Los-Angeles based songwriter Nija Charles (Jason DeRulo's "Colors"). Nija told Genius that she didn't know the song was going be on Invasion of Privacy until around a fortnight before its release.
  • Nija drew inspiration from her own life experiences when penning the hook:

    "19 years old, getting flown out everywhere, I was with Kodak Black the night before, so I was just in a great mood," she recalled. "When the beat came in, I went into savage mode and the first thing that came out on the mic was, 'I left that nigga on read, cause I felt like it.' I wanted to channel how I feel when I look in the mirror in the morning after getting washed in dressed. The hook just came across as feeling invincible."
  • Cardi B and SZA gave the song its live debut during SZA's headline show at New York's Madison Square Garden on March 4, 2023.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.