Songoftheday 4/3/23 - Woo! yeah slow down baby, let you know from the gate I don't go down lady...

 

 

"What's Luv?" - Fat Joe featuring Ashanti

from the album Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (seven weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 25

 

Today's song comes from rapper Fat Joe (aka Joseph Cartagena), who cracked the top 40 in the beginning of 2002 with "We Thuggin'" with R. Kelly.  The second song pulled from the record for radio was "What's Luv?" which featured singer Ashanti, who had been featured on rapper Ja Rule's #1 pop hit "Always On Time" also at the start of the year, as well as Ja Rule himself. For the single, Ja Rule's part was removed, leaving the pair in a back and forth, which works much better. The song was written by Fat Joe with Ja Rule, and producer Andre "Chink Parker" Santana, using interpolated lyrics from peer Christopher "Big Pun" Rios' "Still Not A Player" and the Tina Turner classic "What's Love Got To Do With It" giving Rios and lyricist Terry Britten writing credit. So here's the thing - the production from Andre Santana and Irv Gotti is so infectious and melodic that it effectively hids Joe's rhymes. Ashanti comes in first with the chorus hook of "What's luv, it's about trust", lulling you into a groove. But then Joe's first line is "let you know out the gate I don't go down lady". Wow. He then in the same verse goes on how she should stop talking too much and be cool with threesomes. How damn romantic! What a catch! No wonder Joe had no issue recording with R. Kelly. To add the cherry on the top of this sundae, the music video included scenes from the movie the song also appeared in, Juwanna Mann, which brought the "cross-dressing straight guy for gags" trope to basketball comedies...

Nevertheless, the beat and groove (and Ashanti) got "What's Luv" to park in the runner-up spot on Billboard magzine's Hot 100 for seven weeks, at one point behind Ashanti's own solo debut "Foolish", setting a milestone for the first woman to have the top two songs on the chart. It also spent three weeks at #3 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the song got to #3 on the Mainstream Top-40 airplay list and topped the dance-oriented Rhythmic format for four weeks. Internationally, the single reached the top ten in Switzerland (#2), the United Kingdom (#4), Australia (#4), New Zealand (#5), the Netherlands (#7), and Germany (#10). It also made the top-40 in Canada (#12), Norway (#14), Denmark (#16), Belgium (#16 Wallonia/#23 Flanders), Ireland (#17), Romania (#23), France (#27), Austria (#33), and Sweden (#36). At the Grammy Awards in 2003, Fat Joe and Ashanti were nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (which Ashanti was also nommed for her "Always On Time" with Ja Rule), losing to Nelly and Kelly Rowland for "Dilemma".

Both Fat Joe and Ashanti will be back to the series.

(5/10)

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Here's Fat Joe and Ashanti doing MTV Spring Break together...

And lastly, Joe, Ashanti, and Ja Rule on the Verzuz net show...

Up tomorrow: This R&B singer's gotta man.