The song is often cited as an example of an effective remix; one that includes a change of song lyrics or beat. In this case, both the original song's lyrics and the musical bed received a make over. With its sample of the bassline from Taana Gardner's 1981 song "Heartbeat", the 7 minute 12" version was clearly tailor-made for dancefloor and provided a striking contrast to the laid back album version.
The music video for "Buddy" is introduced by Prince Paul who explains, "'Buddy' doesn't mean 'girl' or 'sex' for that matter, 'buddy' simply means 'body', bodies of all kind." While the majority of the video consists of the members of the Native Tongues posse performing straight to camera, this is interspersed with brief segments of black-and-white footage, one of which featuring a speech balloon that remarks "this video makes no sense!"
Along with those who appeared in the song, the video also featured a cameo from rapper Chi-Ali.
