Van Hunt (born March 8, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-inst… Read Full Bio ↴Van Hunt (born March 8, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He released his debut album, Van Hunt, in 2004, and a follow-up, On the Jungle Floor, in 2006, both on Capitol Records. He won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for appearing on the tribute version of the Sly & the Family Stone song, "Family Affair", in 2007. He transitioned to Blue Note Records where his 2008 album, Popular, was shelved and never released. He self-released the compilation album Use In Case of Emergency in 2009.

Early life
Hunt was born in Dayton, Ohio and raised by his single mother. His father, Van Hunt, Sr., was a factory worker and part-time painter, who was a friend of Ohio Players drummer Jimmy "Diamond" Williams. Hunt took up the drums at age 7, and saxophone at the age of 8, later adding bass and keyboards. Guitar was the last instrument he learned to play; he played guitar in a rock band called Royalty. Hunt moved to Texas for a short time before relocating to Atlanta, Georgia in 1996 to attend Morehouse College, where he studied English, but soon dropped out. In Atlanta, he started producing a few hip-hop demos for Atlanta rappers in order to pay bills. Hunt met up-and-coming record producers and artists like Dallas Austin, Jermaine Dupri and TLC through his work on demos.

Career

Early career
Hunt wrote and co-produced the song "Hopeless" for singer Dionne Farris, formerly of Arrested Development, and joined her band on guitar and keyboards. "Hopeless" appeared on the soundtrack for the film Love Jones (1997). Hunt co-wrote several songs with Rahsaan Patterson on his album Love in Stereo (1999), and co-wrote with Cree Summer, including the song "Mean Sleep", for her album Street Faërie (1999), produced by Lenny Kravitz. He also collaborated with Joi on the single "Missing You" (2002). Through Dionne Farris, Hunt met A&R person Randy Jackson (who later went on to be a judge on Fox's American Idol). Jackson would become Hunt's manager in 2002.

Capitol Records
Hunt recorded much of the material from his debut album in 2000. Producer Dallas Austin took Hunt's recording to Capitol Records, leading him to sign with the label in 2001. Hunt's first album, Van Hunt, was released in February 2004. The album included the singles "Down Here in Hell (With You)", "Dust", and "Seconds of Pleasure", and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance. Hunt's second album, On the Jungle Floor, was released in 2006. The album featured the single, "Character," a revisited "Mean Sleep", as a duet with Nikka Costa, and a cover of "No Sense of Crime" by The Stooges. The album was co-produced by Bill Bottrell. Hunt has toured and appeared with Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Boney James, The Roots, Seal, Angie Stone, Coldplay, The Brand New Heavies, the Dave Matthews Band, and Kanye West.
In 2006, Hunt appeared with Nikka Costa on the Sam Moore album, Overnight Sensational, on the song "If I Had No Loot". Hunt was also featured on "Half the Fun", a track on the Count Bass D album, Act Your Waist Size, released on Fat Beats Records.
in 2007, Hunt won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, along with John Legend and Joss Stone, for their cover of the Sly & the Family Stone song, "Family Affair", which appeared on the 2006 tribute album Different Strokes By Different Folks. Hunt described winning the award as "one of the bigger pleasures I've had" to The Athens Blur Magazine in 2009.

Blue Note
Hunt released the 4 track digital EP, The Popular Machine, on August 7, 2007. Hunt announced a full length album, Popular, to be released on Blue Note Records on January 15, 2008. Hunt moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles in 2007 while the album was nearing completion. Blue Note had taken over Hunt’s recording contract after corporate restructuring at Blue Note and Capitol's parent company, EMI. In December 2007, Blue Note announced that they would not be releasing the album, and that Hunt and the label mutually agreed to part ways. Hunt wrote on his MySpace blog in January 2008, that he couldn't promise that Popular would ever be officially released. Blue Note owns the master recordings and opted not to sell it back to him at an affordable price. Hunt commented that he "didn't think that they had enough money" to promote the album properly. LA Weekly called the album an "appealingly trippy fusion of funk grooves, punk guitar and soul vocals", and "a left-field stunner". Hunt told the Atlanta alternative weekly newspaper Creative Loafing that he was "devastated" when the label decided not to release the album.

Independent
As of June 2008, Hunt was recording a fourth album, which he plans to release himself and market using the Internet. Hunt has blogged about his new approach on his MySpace page. Hunt toured the U.S. in July and August 2008. He released Use In Case Of Emergency, a compilation of demos, remixes and B-sides recorded between 1997 and 2005, through his Web site in May 2009. Hunt has also been working on autobiographical book of short stories titled Tales of Friction. In July 2009, Hunt told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he plans to release one more album and tour once more, but doesn't know what his plans are after that. Hunt performed at the National Black Arts Festival's tribute to Curtis Mayfield at Atlanta Symphony Hall on July 16, 2010.

Influences

David Bowie
Serge Gainsbourg
The Isley Brothers
Curtis Mayfield
Thelonious Monk
The Ohio Players
Iggy Pop
Prince
Richard Pryor
Sly Stone
Neil Young

Discography

Albums
Van Hunt (2004), Capitol
On the Jungle Floor (2006), Capitol
Popular (2008) - unreleased studio album

Compilations
Use In Case of Emergency (2009), self-released - collection of outtakes

EPs
Acoustic E.P. (2004), Capitol - digital EP
Napster Sessions (2004), Capitol - digital EP
Connect Set (2006), Capitol - digital EP
The Popular Machine (2007), Blue Note - digital EP

Singles
"Down Here in Hell (With You)" (2004), Capitol
"Dust" (2004), Capitol
"Seconds of Pleasure" (2004), Capitol
"Character" (2006), Capitol
"Being A Girl" (2006), Capitol

Awards and nominations

2005 Grammy Award nomination for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for "Dust."
2006 Grammy Award win for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals for "Family Affair"

Suspicion
Van Hunt Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Well, well, gettin' to know you so well...
Well, well, gettin' to know you so well...
Well, well, gettin' to know you so well...
Well, well, gettin' to know you so well...

She must've read my mind - How could she know?
...what I'm thinkin' at all times? I never told.
How could she know?

Always just a step behind - How could she know?
She must have a spy workin' on the inside...

Is it just suspicion? Or woman's intuition?
I can't tell, but, it takes one to know one,
And she know me too well...

Is it just suspicion? Or woman's intuition?
I can't tell, but, it takes one to know one,
And she know me too well... She know me too well...

Followin' me at night. How could she know?
She's a better pimp than I, keepin' up with her lies -
How could she know?

Is it just suspicion? Or woman's intuition?
I can't tell, but, it takes one to know one,
And she know me too well... She know me too well...

Is it just suspicion? Or woman's intuition?
I can't tell, but, it takes one to know one,
And she know me too well...

Well, well, gettin' to know you so well...
Well, well, gettin' to know you so well...
Well, well, gettin' to know you so well...
Well, well, gettin' to know you so well...

The numbers and the names - How could she know?
Unless she's been doin' the same, beatin' me at my own game?
How could she know?

Is it just suspicion? Or woman's intuition?
I can't tell, but, it takes one to know one,
And she know me too well... She know me too well...

Is it just suspicion? Ooh, or woman's intuition?

I can't tell, but, it takes one to know one,
And she know me too well... She know me too well...

Overall Meaning

The song "Suspicion" by Van Hunt is about a man who is becoming increasingly suspicious of his partner's ability to know his thoughts and actions, leading him to question whether it is just suspicion or her intuition. He starts off by acknowledging how well he is getting to know her, yet wonders how she could possibly know what he is thinking at all times without him ever telling her. He suspects that she must have a spy on the inside, always being one step behind him.

The chorus repeats the question of whether it is just suspicion or woman's intuition, admitting that she knows him too well. He goes on to describe her following him at night, and suggests that she is better at keeping up with her own lies than he is. He questions how she could possibly know the numbers and names he is dealing with unless she is doing the same and beating him at his own game.

Throughout the song, the singer's increasing paranoia is palpable as he struggles to understand whether his partner is simply very perceptive or whether there is something more sinister afoot. The repetition of the lines "well, well, getting to know you so well" creates a sense of unease and hints at the possibility that this relationship may not be as healthy as it first seemed.

Line by Line Meaning

Well, well, gettin' to know you so well...
I'm realizing I know you better than I thought.

She must've read my mind - How could she know?
How could she know what I'm thinking without me telling her? It seems like she can almost read my thoughts.

Always just a step behind - How could she know?
She always seems to be one step ahead of me. It's almost like she has someone on the inside feeding her information.

Is it just suspicion? Or woman's intuition?
I'm not sure if my doubts about her are just suspicions or if she truly knows what's going on, using her woman's intuition to figure things out.

And she know me too well... She know me too well...
She seems to understand me better than anyone else. Maybe even better than I know myself.

Followin' me at night. How could she know?
I feel like she's tracking my movements, almost like she's watching me. It's creepy and unnerving.

She's a better pimp than I, keepin' up with her lies - How could she know?
She's so good at keeping secrets and maintaining her image that it almost seems like she's been doing this longer than me. She knows how to hide the lies.

The numbers and the names - How could she know?
It's like she already knows everything about the people I'm involved with and their personal information. Maybe she's doing her own research to stay ahead of me.

Ooh, or woman's intuition?
I'm still wondering if her actions are just suspicions or if she's truly tuned in to her instincts and can tell when something is off.

Writer(s): Delaney Bramlett, van Hunt Copyright: Embassy Music Corporation

Contributed by Elizabeth V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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