In 1970 a soul group from Chicago called the Chi-Lites (formerly the Hi-Lites with an added C from Chicago) released the single Are You My woman (Tell Me So). Though it did chart in the US, the Chi-Lites wouldn’t score any big hits till a year later.

In the early days 90’s, DJ Polo dug up the the track in 1992 for #1 With a Bullet by Kool G. Rap & DJ Polo featuring Big Daddy Kane. The sample serves no greater purpose in the track and again went mostly unnoticed.

It didn’t crash into the main-stream until the Beyonce & Jay-Z collaboration Crazy in Love was released in 2003. It became a huge hit and as always that’s followed by a string of very differing covers like those from The Puppini Sisters, Anthony & The Johnsons, Tracy Bonham and there’s even a version of the Beyonce song with Mandarin vocals instead of Jay-Z.

Oddly though, all of them usually mimic the melody from the original Are you My Woman (Tell Me So) by the The Chi-Lites: