Tap
by Nav (featuring Meek Mill)

Album: Bad Habits (2019)
Charted: 87
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Nas hooking up with Meek Mill. It starts with a verse from the Philly rapper in which he talks about his rise from his humble origins; Meek goes on to boast about the privileged life he leads.
  • This was the first collaboration between the two artists. It came about when Meek Mill was on the phone to Nav's manager Cash. When the "Going Bad" rapper was told Nav was about to hand in his Bad Habits album, Meek sent him every song he'd been working on lately. Cash picked one of them, played it to Nav, and the Canadian stepped right in the booth.

    "It was just a verse," Nav told Genius. "It's like I've never seen someone just send a verse. So he sent me a verse and then I put the hook and everything on it. It took me probably like 30 minutes to do that song. 30, maybe an hour."
  • Nav's inspiration for the hook was the subject matter of Meek's lyrics.

    Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap
    Giving head taps, lead tat, tat, tats
    They said that they were with it but it's cap, cap, cap
    Aim it at your fitted, push it back, back, back


    Nav commented to Genius: "It's violent but it's like we're just having fun. It's more like, 'If you know, you know.'"
  • The "tap" part came from Nav working on the melodies first when he records; he starts off by mumbling sounds that come to his head. In this instance, the first thing that came out of Nav's head was, "Tap, tap, tap." He recalled to Billboard:

    "As soon as we got that 'tap, tap, tap' s---t my engineer kind of gave me the look and he's like, 'That's it.'"

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

The Punk Photography of Chris Stein

The Punk Photography of Chris SteinSong Writing

Chris Stein of Blondie shares photos and stories from his book about the New York City punk scene.

Lou Gramm - "Waiting For A Girl Like You"

Lou Gramm - "Waiting For A Girl Like You"They're Playing My Song

Gramm co-wrote this gorgeous ballad and delivered an inspired vocal, but the song was the beginning of the end of his time with Foreigner.

Eagles Lyrics Quiz

Eagles Lyrics QuizMusic Quiz

Lots of life lessons in these Eagles lyrics - can you match them to the correct song?

Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger

Kelly Keagy of Night RangerSongwriter Interviews

Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger tells the "Sister Christian" story and explains why he started sweating when he saw it in Boogie Nights.

Angelo Moore of Fishbone

Angelo Moore of FishboneSongwriter Interviews

Fishbone has always enjoyed much more acclaim than popularity - Angelo might know why.

Tanita Tikaram

Tanita TikaramSongwriter Interviews

When she released her first album in 1988, Tanita became a UK singing sensation at age 19. She talks about her darkly sensual voice and quirky songwriting style.