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"Got 'til It's Gone" is a song by Janet Jackson, featuring rapper Q-Tip and folk singer Joni Mitchell. It was released as the lead single from Jackson's sixth studio album, The Velvet Rope on September 22, 1997. Written by Jackson, Jam and Lewis, with additional writing by René Elizondo, Jr., Mitchell, and Kamaal Ibn Fareed, "Got 'til It's Gone" was considered a departure from Jackson's mainstream pop appeal, striving for a less polished and more authentic alternative hip hop and trip hop-influenced sound. Its lyrics speak of a great lesson Jackson learned — appreciate what you have while you have it.
"Got 'til It's Gone" was met with mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised its fusion of Jackson's pop style with "harder-edged hip-hop." Adversely, the song was also labeled "disappointing" with an "incongruous" appearance from Mitchell. "Got 'til It's Gone" was not released as a commercial single, making it ineligible to appear on the Billboard Hot 100. However, the song peaked at number 36 on pop formats and reached number three on urban radio. Outside the United States, "Got 'til It's Gone" peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom and the top twenty of the charts in many territories, including France, Germany, Italy, Norway and Switzerland. The music video for "Got 'til It's Gone," directed by Mark Romanek, portrays Jackson as a lounge singer during the time of apartheid in South Africa. It was called a "masterpiece" by critics, winning a Grammy Award for "Best Short Form Music Video."
"Got 'til It's Gone" was released as the lead single from Jackson's sixth album The Velvet Rope, which chronicled Jackson's struggle with depression and intimacy. In an interview for MTV, she discussed how the depression had made her frequently sad and caused her to take breaks from her music career. She felt this was heightened by her estrangement from the rest of the Jackson family. Jimmy Jam was aware of Jackson's depression during the writing of the album, noticing how she would spontaneously cancel recording sessions, appearing constantly troubled. Jackson discussed "Got 'til It's Gone" and The Velvet Rope album during an interview with Rolling Stone, saying "Singing these songs has meant digging up pain that I buried a long time ago. It's been hard and sometimes confusing. But I've had to do it. I've been burying pain my whole life. It's like kicking dirt under the carpet. At some point there's so much dirt that you start to choke. Well, I've been choking. My therapy came in writing these songs. Then I had to find the courage to sing them or else suffer the consequences - a permanent case of the blues."
The song's music video and promotional photos were the first glimpse of the new image Jackson developed for The Velvet Rope campaign, which combined elements from Gothic and African cultures and consisted of red hair, nasal and body piercings, and various tattoos. "Got 'til It's Gone" was serviced to multiple airplay formats, including Pop, Urban, Rhythmic, and Adult Contemporary/Jazz, in early September, 1997.
"Got 'til It's Gone" was a departure from Jackson's mainstream pop appeal, striving for a less polished and more authentic alternative hip hop and trip hop-influenced sound. It also incorporates elements of diverse genres such as pop, R&B, folk, jazz, reggae, neo soul, and downtempo, featuring guest vocals from rapper Q-Tip and a sample from Joni Mitchell's 1970 song "Big Yellow Taxi". It was written by Jackson, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, and René Elizondo, Jr., with Q-Tip and Mitchell having written their own verses, and produced by Jackson, Jam & Lewis. Co-producer Jimmy Jam spoke of the song's crossover potential, commenting "Janet has always been one of those artists that bridges R&B and hip-hop and pop and rock", adding "We really thought 'Got 'Til It's Gone' would be accepted across the board." Jackson revealed "'Got 'Til It's Gone' is about a great life lesson she learned — appreciate what you have while you have it. When discussing the song with Jet Magazine Jackson stated, "In my life, I try to take nothing for granted, even if I don't always succeed."
Jackson explained why she felt compelled to combine the folk elements from Mitchell with Q-Tip's rap verse, saying "Him and Joni Mitchell have something in common: what they write is poetry." "I think of folk and rap among similar strands. Especially lyrically because you can put so much content into one song. Hip hop is great and I think it's good that it talks of the harsh realities of life in the ghettos." Speaking about Q-Tip's appearance, Jackson said, "Q-Tip represents all that's creative and strong about rap. He's real and right to the point, and I loved working with him." Jackson has frequently mentioned Mitchell as an influence and artist she's admired throughout her career, which led to Jackson asking Mitchell to contribute vocals to "Got 'til It's Gone". Jackson stated, "As a kid I was drawn to Joni Mitchell records," continuing "Joni's songs spoke to me in an intimate, personal way." Jackson contacted Mitchell personally to ask for permission to use the sample, stating "everyone said it couldn't be done, but if was going to say no to me, I had to hear it from her myself I called her and told her I wanted her to hear it before she made a decision. Everybody was surprised when a couple of days later, she said yes." Describing the situation, Jackson recalled " I told her I'd like to send her a tape before she made a decision. She listened to it, and called back a few days later and said she absolutely loved it and would be honored if we did, so I was very excited."
Jam and Lewis recently revealed the inspiration behind the musical arrangement of "Got 'til It's Gone". According to Jimmy Jam, the song was inspired by J Dilla's remix of the Brand New Heavies' song "Sometimes", released a few months prior in 1997. In 2001 Common, in an interview-mix on BBC Radio 1 for Gilles Peterson, says that "Dilla ghostproduced the track".
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"Got 'til It's Gone" is a song by Janet Jackson, featuring rapper Q-Tip and folk singer Joni Mitchell. It was released as the lead single from Jackson's sixth studio album, The Velvet Rope on September 22, 1997. Written by Jackson, Jam and Lewis, with additional writing by René Elizondo, Jr., Mitchell, and Kamaal Ibn Fareed, "Got 'til It's Gone" was considered a departure from Jackson's mainstream pop appeal, striving for a less polished and more authentic alternative hip hop and trip hop-influenced sound. Its lyrics speak of a great lesson Jackson learned — appreciate what you have while you have it.
"Got 'til It's Gone" was met with mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised its fusion of Jackson's pop style with "harder-edged hip-hop." Adversely, the song was also labeled "disappointing" with an "incongruous" appearance from Mitchell. "Got 'til It's Gone" was not released as a commercial single, making it ineligible to appear on the Billboard Hot 100. However, the song peaked at number 36 on pop formats and reached number three on urban radio. Outside the United States, "Got 'til It's Gone" peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom and the top twenty of the charts in many territories, including France, Germany, Italy, Norway and Switzerland. The music video for "Got 'til It's Gone," directed by Mark Romanek, portrays Jackson as a lounge singer during the time of apartheid in South Africa. It was called a "masterpiece" by critics, winning a Grammy Award for "Best Short Form Music Video."
"Got 'til It's Gone" was released as the lead single from Jackson's sixth album The Velvet Rope, which chronicled Jackson's struggle with depression and intimacy. In an interview for MTV, she discussed how the depression had made her frequently sad and caused her to take breaks from her music career. She felt this was heightened by her estrangement from the rest of the Jackson family. Jimmy Jam was aware of Jackson's depression during the writing of the album, noticing how she would spontaneously cancel recording sessions, appearing constantly troubled. Jackson discussed "Got 'til It's Gone" and The Velvet Rope album during an interview with Rolling Stone, saying "Singing these songs has meant digging up pain that I buried a long time ago. It's been hard and sometimes confusing. But I've had to do it. I've been burying pain my whole life. It's like kicking dirt under the carpet. At some point there's so much dirt that you start to choke. Well, I've been choking. My therapy came in writing these songs. Then I had to find the courage to sing them or else suffer the consequences - a permanent case of the blues."
The song's music video and promotional photos were the first glimpse of the new image Jackson developed for The Velvet Rope campaign, which combined elements from Gothic and African cultures and consisted of red hair, nasal and body piercings, and various tattoos. "Got 'til It's Gone" was serviced to multiple airplay formats, including Pop, Urban, Rhythmic, and Adult Contemporary/Jazz, in early September, 1997.
"Got 'til It's Gone" was a departure from Jackson's mainstream pop appeal, striving for a less polished and more authentic alternative hip hop and trip hop-influenced sound. It also incorporates elements of diverse genres such as pop, R&B, folk, jazz, reggae, neo soul, and downtempo, featuring guest vocals from rapper Q-Tip and a sample from Joni Mitchell's 1970 song "Big Yellow Taxi". It was written by Jackson, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, and René Elizondo, Jr., with Q-Tip and Mitchell having written their own verses, and produced by Jackson, Jam & Lewis. Co-producer Jimmy Jam spoke of the song's crossover potential, commenting "Janet has always been one of those artists that bridges R&B and hip-hop and pop and rock", adding "We really thought 'Got 'Til It's Gone' would be accepted across the board." Jackson revealed "'Got 'Til It's Gone' is about a great life lesson she learned — appreciate what you have while you have it. When discussing the song with Jet Magazine Jackson stated, "In my life, I try to take nothing for granted, even if I don't always succeed."
Jackson explained why she felt compelled to combine the folk elements from Mitchell with Q-Tip's rap verse, saying "Him and Joni Mitchell have something in common: what they write is poetry." "I think of folk and rap among similar strands. Especially lyrically because you can put so much content into one song. Hip hop is great and I think it's good that it talks of the harsh realities of life in the ghettos." Speaking about Q-Tip's appearance, Jackson said, "Q-Tip represents all that's creative and strong about rap. He's real and right to the point, and I loved working with him." Jackson has frequently mentioned Mitchell as an influence and artist she's admired throughout her career, which led to Jackson asking Mitchell to contribute vocals to "Got 'til It's Gone". Jackson stated, "As a kid I was drawn to Joni Mitchell records," continuing "Joni's songs spoke to me in an intimate, personal way." Jackson contacted Mitchell personally to ask for permission to use the sample, stating "everyone said it couldn't be done, but if was going to say no to me, I had to hear it from her myself I called her and told her I wanted her to hear it before she made a decision. Everybody was surprised when a couple of days later, she said yes." Describing the situation, Jackson recalled " I told her I'd like to send her a tape before she made a decision. She listened to it, and called back a few days later and said she absolutely loved it and would be honored if we did, so I was very excited."
Jam and Lewis recently revealed the inspiration behind the musical arrangement of "Got 'til It's Gone". According to Jimmy Jam, the song was inspired by J Dilla's remix of the Brand New Heavies' song "Sometimes", released a few months prior in 1997. In 2001 Common, in an interview-mix on BBC Radio 1 for Gilles Peterson, says that "Dilla ghostproduced the track".
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R&B 
In Love 
Urban/R&B 
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31 (1%)
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