"Tilt Ya Head Back" is a song by American recording artists Nelly and Christina Aguilera, taken from Nelly's album Sweat (2004). The song was released to US radio stations on September 15, 2004, as the second single from the album. Written by Nelly, Dorian Moore and Tegemold Newton and produced by Doe Mo' Beats, "Tilt Ya Head Back" is a hip hop and pop number that features a sample of Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly". Most contemporary critics responded positively towards the song, praising the duo's vocals and recognising it one of the album's highlights. Commercially, "Tilt Ya Head Back" garnered moderate success, peaking at number 58 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and charting within the top ten on the charts of Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. An accompanying music video for "Tilt Ya Head Back" was directed by Little X. The duo performed the song at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, which gained positive feedback from media outlets. Background and composition "Tilt Ya Head Back" was written by Nelly, Dorian Moore, Tegemold Newton, Curtis Mayfield and produced by Doe Mo' Beats. The producer of the song confirmed that it was originally meant for Nelly and Britney Spears, however Spears' record label Jive Records rejected the idea because they thought the song was "too urban", even though Spears wanted to do it. Following Spears, Janet Jackson and Christina Aguilera were approached to appear on "Tilt Ya Head Back", and the final choice was Aguilera. "Tilt Ya Head Back" is a pop and hip hop number, which features elements from jazz and soul. The song is written in the key of F major with a moderate fast tempo of 116 beats per minute. It features "blasts" of brass and a bassline sample of Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly", and thus Mayfield was credited as a co-writer of the track. Joe Muggs from The Daily Telegraph noted that the duo's vocals are similar to "old-school soul voices of Ron Isley and Anthony Hamilton." Promotion On August 29, 2004, Nelly and Aguilera performed "Tilt Ya Head Back" at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards. The performance was praised by media outlets, Brian Hiatt from Entertainment Weekly praised Aguilera's new look with blonde curly hair, which was different from her previous image during the promotion of Stripped, and called it the "Best Makeover" of the awards. Reporting the ceremony, James Montgomery wrote, "As