Eye Know

The title comes from the refrain, which is a sample of Steely Dan's 1977 hit "Peg": "I know I love you better." De La Soul also used the whistling from the Otis Redding song "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" on this track, along with much of the instrumentation from the 1969 song "Make This Young Lady Mine" by the Doo Wop group Mad Lads. You can compare this sample with the original at WhoSampled.com.

The song is a lyrical love letter to a girl. De La Soul was known for their mellow delivery and liberal use of samples. Otis Redding's whistling from "Dock Of The Bay" also makes an appearance on this song.

Posdnous of De La Soul recalled to Rolling Stone: "When me and Dave worked in the mall, we would just hear songs playing in the loudspeakers. They would always play [Steely Dan's] 'Peg' and we were, even then, aspiring to be a group, and we were like, 'Yo, that could be a dope song to use.' So, when it came about time to use it, we took that part 'I know I'll love you better,' we took the Lee Dorsey beat, we used the horns from another Mad Lads record ('Make This Young Lady Mine'), and that was it. It was fun. It was kinda my first time programming a beat."