Kick Your Game

The "funky" R&B-dance track was written by frequent group collaborator Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal and member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes.

In the song's lyrics, TLC teaches boys who flirt in a club "the proper way to approach a lady"; Lopes' rap verses reportedly referred to then-boyfriend Andre Rison, whose house she burned down during the making of CrazySexyCool.

Dupri had created Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins' signature "husky" vocals and helped TLC obtain a contract with LaFace Records, contributing to their initial success.

[2][3] For CrazySexyCool, Dupri and musical partner Manuel Seal wrote and produced two interludes with "Switch" and "Kick Your Game";[clarification needed] the latter song had additional lyrics by TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes.

"[6] "Kick Your Game" is a "funky", "bouncy", "smooth", "finger-snapping" R&B-dance song with a "squishy" bass riff, a sound said by Billboard's Kenneth Partridge to "prime the room for grinding.

[4] The rapper was usually absent from the album's recording because she had checked herself into rehab for alcohol abuse, which played a part in her arson charge for burning down her boyfriend Andre Rison's mansion in June 1994.

[17]Sally-Anne Hurley of TheMusic.com.au suggested that the rapper's lyrics may have been autobiographical;[8] she and "Preezy" cited "Miss Left-Eye / All I wanna do is kiss your hand / Let you know I'm not just another fan / I am the man" and "Baby come with me, you'll be mine so we can make love on the 50-yard line" as possible references to Rison.

[22] Dupri collaborated with rapper Craig Mack on "Kick Your Game"'s "So So Def" remix for LaFace's promotional compilation album, Rhythm of Black Lifestyle (1995).

[30] Craig Jenkins of Complex wrote in his review of CrazySexyCool, "[The album's] sex jams were delicate where they'd once been heavy-handed, but deep cuts like 'Kick Your Game' and 'Case of the Fake People' pulsed with a coolly over-it world weariness.

"[31] On The Boombox, "Preezy" chose "Kick Your Game" as the album's fourth-best track, praising TLC for giving listeners "a dose of their ATL swag" and "hitting another one out of the park with [the] jam.

"[17] Michael A. Gonzales wrote for Ebony that both of Dupri's "jeep bounce" tracks on the album (including "Kick Your Game") sounded like "senior prom jams.

[41] TLC performed the track at the VH1 Super Bowl Blitz concert at New York's Beacon Theatre on January 30, 2014 in orange jumpsuits, with their backup dancers wearing "paint-splattered" costumes.