*Jennifer Lopez got some street cred when Ja Rule jumped on her remix for “I’m Real,” which topped the Hot 100 on this day in 2001 for the first of five non-consecutive weeks.
But she quickly found out that street cred does not mean you are invited to the cookout.
The lyrics for the song’s “murder remix,” penned by Ja Rule, included the N-word tumbling forth from J-Lo’s tongue in the line: “People be screamin’ what’s the deal with you and so-and-so / I tell them n**gas mind their biz but they don’t hear me, though.”
Listen below at the 2:35 mark.
J-Lo thought it would slide because Ja-Rule wrote the line. Ja-Rule thought she could say it because she’s of Puerto Rican descent, not white. The masses proved them both wrong when they rose up in a collective, “What the hell did she just say?”
The controversy followed her on the album’s press tour, where Lopez made sure to mention that it’s “absurd” for folks to think she is a racist, and that the lyric was written by Ja-Rule. Here’s one stop at BET’s “106 & Park.”
J-Lo performed the song’s original version on NBC’s “Today” show, and was asked about the controversy during an interview between songs.
“For anyone to think or suggest that I’m racist is really absurd and hateful to me. The use of the word in the song — it was actually written by Ja Rule — it was not meant to be hurtful to anybody,” she said. “I don’t want to give it too much energy. I’m here to perform for the fans and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Ja Rule would downplay the incident for years to come. DJ Vlad asked him about it in 2015.
The controversy hasn’t stopped the pair from continuing to perform the classic. Here they are rocking it at the Global Citizen LIVE concert in Sept. 2021, two decades to the month after it topped Billboard’s Hot 100 on Sept. 8, 2001.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB: Ja Rule Addresses Whether It Was Ashanti or Jennifer Lopez Singing on ‘I’m Real’ [WATCH]
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