Still Not a Player

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"Still Not a Player"
Still Not a Player.jpg
Single by Big Pun featuring Joe
from the album Capital Punishment
B-side "Twinz (Deep Cover 98)"
ReleasedMarch 28, 1998
Recorded1997
Genre
Length3:56
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Big Pun singles chronology
"I'm Not a Player"
(1997)
"Still Not a Player"
(1998)
"Banned from T.V."
(1998)
Joe singles chronology
"Good Girls"
(1997)
"Still Not a Player"
(1998)
"All That I Am"
(1998)
Chart (1998)Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100 [4] 24
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs ( Billboard ) [5] 6
US Rhythmic ( Billboard ) [6] 5
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [7] 34

Year-end charts

Chart (1998)Position
US Billboard Hot 100 [8] 85

Big Pun and Incubus version

"Still Not a Player"
Song by Big Pun and Incubus
from the album Loud Rocks
ReleasedSeptember 5, 2000
Recorded1999–2000
Genre
Length4:12
Label Loud
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)

American rock band Incubus remixed the song with Big Pun's vocals on the rap rock compilation album, Loud Rocks, released seven months after his death on September 5, 2000. [9] As with his other collaboration on the album, "Caribbean Connection", there are no new vocals from Pun, only samples from the original two songs. [10] "Still Not a Player" was produced by five all members of Incubus, and is one of the last examples of their hip-hop influenced nu metal sound, going in a softer, alternative rock and pop rock direction on their following albums.

Critical reception

"Still Not a Player" received mixed reviews from music critics; Sophie Maughan of Loudwire included the remix on her "20 Nu-Metal Covers of Popular Songs" list, calling it proof "rap and rock can successfully collide to create some magic." [11] Complex also included the song on their "The Best Rap-Rock Songs" list, praising the "scintillating version of this Pun classic" as a highlight of Loud Rocks. [9]

David Browne of Entertainment Weekly was less impressed, feeling the remix's "generic rap-metal" was a downgrade from the "big-poppa flow" of Big Pun's original. [12]

Personnel

Cover versions and samples

In the Up in Smoke Tour in 2000, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre played this song as a tribute to Big Pun.

A demo version of the song featuring former Terror Squad member Cuban Link leaked 14 years after the song's initial release.

The song was sampled in Ariana Grande's 2013 single "The Way", which also samples Brenda Russell's "A Little Bit of Love". [13] [14]

References

  1. 1 2 "The 100 Best East Coast Hip-Hop Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone . June 16, 2023. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  2. allmusic ((( Big Punisher > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))
  3. Lamarre, Carl (January 16, 2018). "Here Are 20 Hip-Hop Songs That Turn 20 In 2018". Billboard . Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  4. "Big Punisher Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  5. "Big Punisher Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
  6. "Big Punisher Chart History (Rhythmic)". Billboard.
  7. "Big Punisher – Still Not A Player". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  8. "The Year In Music 1998 - Hot 100 Singles". Billboard . December 26, 1998. p. YD44. Retrieved February 9, 2023 via Google Books.
  9. 1 2 "The Best Rap-Rock Songs". Complex . November 30, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  10. Browne, David (September 8, 2000). "Music Review: 'Loud Rocks'". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  11. Maughan, Sophie (April 20, 2020). "20 Nu-Metal Covers of Popular Songs". Loudwire . Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  12. Browne, David (September 8, 2000). "Music Review: 'Loud Rocks'". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  13. Ariana Grande's 'Yours Truly': A Sweet, Sweet Fantasy of '90s-Indebted Hip-Hop and R&B, Brandon Soderberg, Spin , September 13, 2013
  14. Mac Miller Gives Ariana Grande 'Butterflies' On 'The Way', Jocelyn Vena, MTV.com, March 27, 2013