Cleva

---

title: "Cleva" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2001-singles", "erykah-badu-songs", "songs-written-by-james-poyser", "songs-written-by-erykah-badu", "2000-songs", "motown-singles", "songs-written-by-j-dilla", "soul-jazz-songs"] description: "2001 single by Erykah Badu" topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleva" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 2001 single by Erykah Badu ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]

Field	Value
name	Cleva
cover	cleva.jpg
border	yes
type	single
artist	Erykah Badu
album	Mama's Gun
released	April 17, 2001
recorded	2000
genre	{{flat list
length	3:55
label	Motown
writer
producer
prev_title	Didn't Cha Know?
prev_year	2001
next_title	Sweet Baby
next_year	2001
::

| name = Cleva | cover = cleva.jpg | border = yes | alt = | type = single | artist = Erykah Badu | album = Mama's Gun | B-side = | released = April 17, 2001 | format = | recorded = 2000 | studio = | venue = | genre = {{flat list |

• Neo soul
• jazz}} | length = 3:55 | label = Motown | writer = | producer = | prev_title = Didn't Cha Know? | prev_year = 2001 | next_title = Sweet Baby | next_year = 2001 "Cleva" is a song recorded by American singer Erykah Badu for her second studio album Mama's Gun (2000). It was written and produced by Badu, J Dilla, and James Poyser, a member of the Soulquarians and Badu's own production team Frequency. The song features Roy Ayers on vibraphone. It was released as the third and final single from Mama's Gun on April 17, 2001, by Motown Records.

Due to its limited, airplay-only release, "Cleva" failed to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 77 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Track listing

US promotional 12-inch vinyl

1. "Cleva" (radio edit) – 3:55
2. "Cleva" (album version) – 4:33
3. "Cleva" (instrumental) – 4:32
4. "Cleva" (acappella) – 3:41

Charts

::data[format=table title="Weekly chart performance for "Cleva""] | Chart (2001) | Peak position | |---|---| ::

Release history

::data[format=table title="Release dates and formats for "Cleva""]

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.	United States
April 17, 2001		Motown
::

References

References

1. Badu, Erykah. (2001). "Cleva". [[Motown Records]].
2. (April 13, 2001). "ADDvance Notice".
3. (April 13, 2001). "Urban AC: Going For Adds 4/17/01".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::