I'm Real/I'm Real (Murder Remix)

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“I'm Real”
CD 1 cover
Single by Jennifer Lopez from the album J. Lo
Released	October 16, 2001
Format	CD single
Recorded	2001 at Sony Music Studios (New York City, New York)
Genre	Pop, R&B
Length	4:57
Label	Epic
Writer(s)	Jennifer Lopez, Troy Oliver, Cory Rooney, L.E.S
Producer	Cory Rooney, Tory Oliver
Jennifer Lopez singles chronology
"Ain't It Funny" (2001) "I'm Real" (2001) "I'm Real" (Murder Remix) (2002)

“I'm Real (Murder Remix)”
CD 2 cover
Single by Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule from the album J. Lo (special edition), J to tha L-O!: The Remixes and Pain Is Love
Released	October 16, 2001
Genre	Pop, R&B, hip hop
Length	4:22
Writer(s)	Jennifer Lopez, Troy Oliver, Cory Rooney, L.E.S., Jeffrey Atkins, Irv Gotti, Rick James
Producer	Irv Gotti, 7 Aurelius
Jennifer Lopez singles chronology
"I'm Real" (2001)	"I'm Real" (Murder Remix) (2002)	"Ain't It Funny" (Murder Remix) (2002)
Ja Rule singles chronology
"Always on Time" (2002)	"I'm Real" (Murder Remix) (2002)	"Down Ass Chick" (2002)

"I'm Real" is the name of two songs by Jennifer Lopez. One is the song taken from her second album J. Lo (2001), and the other is "I'm Real (Murder Remix)", which features rapper Ja Rule of The Inc. Records (formerly known as Murder Inc. Records), included on the special edition of Lopez's second album, her remix album J to tha L-O!: The Remixes (2002), and Ja Rule's third album Pain Is Love (2001). They reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on September 8, 2001 (the number one single during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks), and remained there for five weeks. Ja Rule had been brought in after disappointing sales of "Play", the second single from J. Lo. Singer Ashanti also provided backing vocals on the Murder Remix. The two songs are essentially different songs with the same title.

[edit] Music video

The video for "I'm Real" followed the release of the single in the U.S. The video was at number one on MTV's Total Request Live and it featured Jennifer wearing a sexy outfit and driving a motorbike through out the highway. The video also featured a dance scene with her future husband Cris Judd appearing as the lead dancer. The music video for "I'm Real" (Murder Remix) featured Ja Rule and Irv Gotti and it won the 2002 MTV Video Music Award for "Best Hip-Hop Video".

[edit] Controversy

Although "I'm Real" was relatively successful, there is a bit of controversy over the use of the single's sample and the structure of the song. The song contains a sample from Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Firecracker" (original by Martin Denny). (The remix on the other hand is partily based on Rick James' "Mary Jane".) There have been reports that the "Firecracker"-sample was originally planned to be used for Mariah Carey's "Loverboy". According to the music publisher of "Firecracker", Carey called to license a sample of the song which had never been sampled before and within a month Lopez called to do the same. Carey felt that former husband and music executive at Sony Music (Columbia Records), Tommy Mottola, was interfering with her career by arranging for the sample to go to Lopez. Upset by the conduct of Lopez and her ex-husband, Carey featured a reference to the song on her single "Loverboy," her first single released by her then record company, Virgin Records. The verse can be heard in Da Brat's rap section, where she sings "hate on me, much as you want to, you can't be who the fuck I do, bitches be, emulating me daily" over the melody of "Firecracker."

Irv Gotti, who produced the remix of "I'm Real" featuring Ja Rule, openly admitted during an interview with XXL magazine that Tommy Mottola contacted him with instructions to create a song that sounded exactly like a song he had made with Carey for the Glitter soundtrack^[1] entitled "If We" also featuring Ja Rule.

[edit] Track listings and formats

CD 1

1. "I'm Real" (Murder Remix featuring Ja Rule)
2. "I'm Real" (Radio Edit)
3. "I'm Real" (Dezrok Club Mix)
4. "I'm Real" (Dreem Teem Master)
5. "I'm Real" (Pablo Flores Club Mix)
6. "I'm Real" (André Betts Remix)

CD 2

1. "I'm Real" (Murder Remix featuring Ja Rule)
2. "I'm Real" (Radio Edit)
3. "I'm Real" (Dezrok Vocal Radio Edit)
4. "I'm Real" (Dreem Teem UK Garage Mix)
5. "I'm Real" (DMD Strong Club)
6. "I'm Real" (Pablo Flores Euro-Dub)

[edit] Chart performance

"I'm Real" (Murder Remix) debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number sixty-six the week of July 7, 2001. By its fourth week, the song had reached the top twenty, fueled by increasing airplay of the single. By September 8, 2001, the single topped the chart, dislodging Alicia Keys' "Fallin'" from a three-week stint at number one. "I'm Real" spent the next three charting weeks at the summit, and was subsequently knocked out of the top spot by "Fallin'", which boasted an additional three consecutive weeks at number one. After three weeks stalled at number two, "I'm Real" returned to number one again for a final two weeks, through October 27, 2001. "I'm Real" (Murder Remix) was a staple on R&B/hip hop and pop radio during the summer and fall of 2001, spending fifteen weeks on the top five of the Billboard Hot 100.

The chart position of the "Murder Remix" was boosted by radio play of the album track, which lead to complaints of unfairness and change of Billboard policy in 2002. Afterwards, airplay of identically named songs but with substantially different melodies was not combined when computing chart positions. Lopez's follow-up was "Ain't It Funny" (Murder Remix), another Ja Rule remix, which also reached number one in the U.S.

[edit] Charts

[edit] See also

• Hot 100 number-one hits of 2001 (USA)
• ARC Weekly Top 40 number-one hits of 2001 (U.S.)

[edit] References