
Photo: Terrence J. Lockett Sr. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · credits
Candyman
Person · male · United States · Los Angeles · born 1968
American rapper
Also known as 캔디맨
Timeline
1960s
Biography
Biography
John B. Shaffer III (born June 25, 1968), known by his stage name Candyman and also as Candell Manson, is an American rapper and record producer. He is best known for his hit single "Knockin' Boots". Candyman appears in the front row on N.W.A. and the Posse's 1987 album cover.
Biography
Candyman was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, where he attended Washington Preparatory High School. Manson's friend, rapper/producer Sir Jinx, introduced Manson to Dr. Dre, for whom Manson produced a three-song demo.
Candyman was featured backing Tone Lōc before he earned his own solo stint. His first recording as solo artist was the 1989 12" EP Hip Hop Addict, produced by Candyman his late friend Johnny "J". Prior to signing with Epic, Bill Walker from Thump Records, purchased the master of "Knockin' Boots" for Lowrider Soundtrack Volume 1 and took the single to KDAY and Power 106. Candyman eventually signed to Epic Records in 1989 and released his debut album, Ain't No Shame in My Game, in the following year. It scored a Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit with "Knockin' Boots". The following year, he released another independent LP for Epic Records, Playtime's Over. He released I Thought U Knew for I.R.S. in 1993.
In 2000, Candyman released Candyman's Knockin' Boots 2001: A Sex Odyssey, an album featuring his 1990 hit single remixed with new tracks as well."
In 2007, Candyman was featured in Nas's Where Are They Now (West Coast Remix), which also featured Breeze, Kam, King Tee, Threat, Ice-T, Sir Mix-A-Lot, and the Conscious Daughters which later appeared on Candyman’s compilation album released in 2012 entitled “Candyman’s Greatest Hits” which consists of songs from his previous albums as well as new songs recorded for the album.
Albums
Hip Hop Addict (EP) (1989) (King Quality)
Ain't No Shame in My Game (1990) (Epic)
Playtime's Over (1991) (Sony)
I Thought U Knew (1993) (IRS)
Phukk Watcha Goin' Thru (1995) (Ruckus)
Knockin' Boots 2001: A Sex Odyssey (2001) (X-Ray Records)
Candyman’s Greatest Hits (2012) (Thump Records)
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 6 | 38.9th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 0 | 0th |
| Studio albums | 0 | 0th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 1 | 40.6th |
| Recording span (years) | — | no data |
| Genres | 1 | 56th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (0 release groups)
No discography rows stored yet
MusicBrainz enrichment for this artist is still pending. Release groups appear here once it runs.
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Candyman head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 6 | 38.9th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 0 | 0th |
| Studio albums | 0 | 0th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 1 | 40.6th |
| Recording span (years) | — | no data |
| Genres | 1 | 56th |
Awards & honours
Where this record comes from
portrait—Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Candyman_rapper_2.jpgcore—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5371762genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5371762seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candyman_%28rapper%29biography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candyman_%28rapper%29
Why this artist is in the database
- List of hip-hop musicians
Tier rule: curated genre/region list
Image: Terrence J. Lockett Sr. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata: Q5371762 · MusicBrainz: fe88f5a3-7d0c-4007-9985-0eb656c3a7e4
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