Super Freak was recorded in winter 1980 and early 1981 for Rick James' fifth album, Street Songs, at the Record Plant in Sausalito and Motown's Hitsville studio in Hollywood. The episode says James set out to make a pragmatic crossover hit that white audiences would dance to. Oscar Alston played the bass line, Daniel LeMelle of the Stone City Band took the tenor sax solo, and Taborah Johnson and the Temptations, including James' idol Melvin Franklin, sang backing vocals. Los Angeles DJ Alonzo Miller toned down the raw, improvised lyrics so radio would play the song and earned a co-writing credit.
The single topped the Billboard dance chart, reached No. 3 on the soul chart and No. 16 on the Hot 100, and went gold in the U.S. and Canada and platinum in the UK and New Zealand. Its 1982 Grammy nomination came for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. In 2006 the Dutch group Beat Freaks released Just Super Freak, built from a sample replay by Mark Summers in Barcelona, and it reached No. 7 in the UK. Alston's syncopated bass riff has since anchored hits across four decades.
The song reached No. 2 in Belgium and the Netherlands.
MC Hammer built U Can't Touch This on the riff in 1990.
Jay-Z sampled it on Kingdom Come in 2006, and the Black Eyed Peas used it on Vida Loca in 2020.
Nicki Minaj, who appeared on a Big Sean remix built on Hammer's sample, scored Super Freaky Girl in 2022.
Rolling Stone moved the song from No. 477 in 2004 to No. 153 in 2021 on its 500 greatest songs list.
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