"Nice & Slow" is a song from American singer-songwriter Usher's second album, My Way (1997). Released on January 6, 1998, the song became Usher's first number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1998. The song was written by Usher, Brian Casey of the R&B group Jagged Edge, Manuel Seal Jr. and Jermaine Dupri. Background and composition "Nice & Slow" was written by Usher, Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal, and Brian Casey, with Dupri producing the tune and Seal serving as co-producer and responsible for the guitar work. Jagged Edge provided background vocals in the record. "Nice & Slow" was recorded by Phil Tan at the Somewhere in College Park studio in College Park, Georgia. Tan and Dupri mixed the record with assistance from John and Brian Frye at Studio LaCoCo, in Atlanta, Georgia. Dupri recalled telling Usher he needed a ballad to "knock out the world". The beat was created first, and the lyrics were fitted to it. The composition and recording of "Nice & Slow" took four hours, according to Dupri. "Nice & Slow" is a slow R&B, pop and soul ballad with hip hop influences. Musicologist Richard J. Ripani wrote that "Nice & Slow" is an example of the typical "R&B ballad style that became widely popular" in the late 1990s. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, "Nice & Slow" is written in common time with a slow tempo of sixty-eight beats per minute. Set in the key of A major, it follows the basic chord progression of Fm11–Cm7–Dmaj13–E9sus. Usher's voice spans from the low note of E4 to the high note of A5. "Nice & Slow" features a spoken introduction, while in the middle of the song Usher performs a melodic rap, which Billboard Shawnee Smith compared to the syle of Do or Die. Usher said to Time that "Nice & Slow" is "somewhat of an intimate story between a man and a woman." Release "Nice & Slow" was released via CD single and cassette single in the United States on January 6, 1998. On February 3, 1998, it was serviced to US contemporary hit radio. A maxi single was released on March 2, 1998, and a remixes CD was made available on March 9, 1998. In the United Kingdom, "Nice & Slow" was issued as CD single, a 12-inch single, and a cassette single on April