Flashback to 2001 and Jennifer Lopez was the reigning queen of the music charts. One of the hits that made her domination undeniable was the Murder Remix of ‘I’m Real’ from her ‘J. Lo’ album of 2001. The track featured fellow has-been Ja Rule and held the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for 5 non-consecutive weeks.
However, the track was not without controversy. According to the song’s producer, Irv Gotti, Lopez was anything but real about how ‘I’m Real’ came into existence. Not only did she use the exact same sample for the original version of ‘I’m Real’ that Mariah Carey used for her song ‘Loverboy’ but Lopez also copied another Carey song for the remix. The Murder Remix of the record was specifically crafted by Gotti to sound exactly like Carey’s ‘If We (Ft. Ja Rule)’ in accordance with the instruction of Carey’s ex-husband Tommy Mottola who was supposedly trying to sabotage her career at the time. Hence, Lopez stole from Carey twice for the same song and started what would become a decade long feud. {Source}
Unoriginality aside, this was a great record and a monster hit. It’s astounding how the times have changed with both Lopez and Ja Rule’s more recent material being rejecting from the bargain bins across the globe. O well at least they could look back at their better years via Youtube.
