"Where I Wanna Be" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Shade Sheist featuring Nate Dogg and Kurupt. It was released on October 28, 2000 via MCA Records as the first single from Shade Sheist's debut studio album Informal Introduction. Recording sessions took place at Larrabee West Recording Studios in West Hollywood. Production was handled by Eddie Berkeley and KayGee with Damizza serving as co-producer and presenter.
The single found chart success domestically and internationally, peaking at number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and number 14 on the UK Singles Chart.
Conception and release
Written by Tramayne Thompson (Shade Sheist), Nathaniel Hale (Nate Dogg), Ricardo Brown (Kurupt), Edward Berkeley, Keir Lamont Gist (Kay Gee of Naughty by Nature), Derek Bush and Robert L. Huggar, "Where I Wanna Be" was first featured on the Damizza Presents Where I Wanna Be compilation album, which Shade Sheist and Damizza executive produced. After writing and recording tracks for other artists, television, film and video game soundtracks, Shade Sheist released his debut studio album Informal Introduction in 2002 through MCA Records. "Where I Wanna Be" was released on December 12, 2000 in the United States and in 2001 in the UK as the lead single from the album.
In a mixed review, AllMusic's Dean Carlson gave the song two-and-a-half starts out of five, stating: "Shade Sheist's 'Where I Wanna Be' hoped to resurrect the forgotten art of summer hip-hop. It failed, of course, but in a gallant sort of way... It was from there, with Nate Dogg and Kurupt chasing each other's slow rhymes at the wayside, that 'Where I Wanna Be' eventually became a sort of heat-induced muscle relaxant this side of De La Soul's "A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturdays"" or Black Eyed Peas' "Magic", if only substituting their pleasantries for suspiciously placed arrogance. It was an unworkable contradiction when it came down to it, but 'Where I Wanna Be' became the number one rap single for four months in America and went on to crack the British Top 20 the following summer".[1]
