Tamia's "Leave It Smokin', the breezy lead single from her seventh studio album Passion Like Fire, has earned a Wale guest verse for the official remix. Rap features have long been commonplace on R&B singles, but it's rare for them to really justify their existence beyond adding some star power to a record. However, Wale has proven himself as the rare emcee who not only brings his A-game to R&B features, but also someone who excels on instrumentals that lean towards the genre. As a result, he sounds perfect over Salaam Remi's glowing keys, bringing subtle melody to his verse without tracing over Tamia's own melodies and coming through with innuendo that toes the line between clever and goofy in an endearing way.
Hip-hop has been rather obsessed with Tamia's 1998 single "So Into You" with Fabolous, Kid Ink, Remy Ma, Lil B, Nipsey Hussle sampling or interpolating the track over the years. In 2015, Childish Gambino recorded his own cover of the song, and even this year, G Perico flipped it on his own remix.
Quotable Lyrics:
It's a horizontal rain dance
Whenever we be laid up
Call that brainstorming
Foreplay is amazing
We can chill by the lake or
We can binge on your favorites