Released March 13, 1990 Genre New jack swing Label Motown | Format CD single
CD maxi Length 5:32 | |
Recorded September 1989
at Flyte Tyme Studios
(Edina, Minnesota) | ||
"Rub You the Right Way" is a song by Johnny Gill. Taken as the first single from the artist's debut album under Motown, the hit song spent one week in May 1990 at number-one on the US R&B chart, and made it to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in August of that year. The single also peaked at number sixteen on the dance charts and was Gill's first single upon the breakup of New Edition and his biggest hit to date. A remixed version of the song exists with a rap verse from CL Smooth.
The remixed version of the song appeared in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on fictional new jack swing radio station CSR 103.9.
Composition
According to Billboard, the song is about sex, more specifically "man who offers to use his hands wisely during a night of lovin'."