Fat Joe dropped off a cool nugget of information about the historic dance associated with his 2004 Remy Ma-assisted hit “Lean Back” during his 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards red carpet interview. For those who are still rocking away and leaning back, Jamaican music is to thank for the inspiration.
HipHopDX’s Jeremy Hecht asked the Bronx rapper when he first did the dance, to which the 52-year-old said, “At the same time I recorded it.” The Terror Squad leader continued on, saying, “So at the time, Jamaican music was really really killin’ ’em, and I said ‘I need somethin’ to rock away and lean back.’ So when I made [the song], I made the dance for it.”
Upon the dance’s creation, Joe felt confident about what both the song and dance would do. “We knew off rip that thing, it was outta here. Every now and then, you make a song that’s like, ‘Oh no, this is gone. This outta here.’ Yeah, that was it.”
His prediction was correct, as “Lean Back” peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. What a secret gem to receive 18 years later on the same night where Fat Joe did a fantastic job hosting the 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards.
Check out his full conversation with HipHopDX below.
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