The song was written by Shawn Carter, Jean-Claude Olivier, Samuel Barnes, Angela Winbush, René Moore, Bobby Watson and Bruce Swedien with production by Trackmasters, and samples René & Angela's 1985 song "I'll Be Good".

It was recorded at Chung King Studios in New York City, while the mixing of the track was finished at The Hit Factory.

In the United States, it peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming both Brown and Jay-Z's highest charting single at the time.

On the Hot Rap Singles chart, it reached number two and also peaked within the top 40 in other countries, such as Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

"I'll Be" was nominated for Top Hot Rap Single at the 1997 Billboard Music Awards and was ranked number 52 on VH1's "100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs" list.