Drop It Like It's Hot

"Drop It Like It's Hot"
Single by Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell
from the album R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece
B-side	"Get 2 Know U"
Released	September 12, 2004
Format	12" single CD single
Recorded	2004
Genre	Hip hop gangsta rap
Length	4:30
Label	Doggystyle Star Trak Geffen
Writer(s)	Chad Hugo Calvin Broadus Pharrell Williams Tim Stahl John Guldberg
Producer(s)	The Neptunes
Certification	Gold (RIAA) 2× Platinum (RIAA Mastertone version) Gold (ARIA) Gold (RIANZ) Silver (BPI)
Snoop Dogg singles chronology
"Beautiful" (2003) "Drop It Like It's Hot" (2004) "Let's Get Blown" (2005)
Pharrell Williams singles chronology "Change Clothes" (2003) "Drop It Like It's Hot" (2004) "Tit 4 Tat" (2004) Music video "Drop It Like It's Hot on YouTube Audio sample file info · help

"Drop It Like It's Hot" is a hit single by American rapper Snoop Dogg featuring American singer and producer Pharrell. Snoop Dogg performs the chorus and the second and third verses (of three), while Pharrell performs the first verse. Pharrell's verse includes a line from "Raspy Shit" (a song from his debut album In My Mind), which was produced by The Neptunes and contains vocal samples from Laid Back's "White Horse". Part of "White Horse"'s production is sampled in "Drop It Like It's Hot" as well.

The song was a sleeper hit, and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks from December 11, 2004, making it Snoop Dogg's first number one on the chart. It was also his second Top 10 as a solo artist since 1994's "Gin and Juice" ("Beautiful" was the other). The song also gave him his first number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It also peaked at number one for four consecutive weeks in New Zealand, and number ten in the UK Singles Chart. It gained some critical attention for its very sparse production, consisting of tongue clicks, keyboards, a drum machine beat and white noise. It was nominated at the Grammy Awards of 2005 for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, though it lost both awards to the songs "Jesus Walks" and "Let's Get It Started", respectively. The single was Pharrell's biggest hit worldwide, until 2013's "Get Lucky" and "Blurred Lines" (his highest peaking single as lead artist is "Happy").

On December 11, 2009, "Drop It Like It's Hot" was named the most popular "Rap Song" of the decade by Billboard.^[1]

Origin of title

The phrase "drop it like it's hot" was already in common use before the song was released, and had been used in various songs since the 1990s. It is a metaphorical description of a dance move commonly performed by women, and is performed by various women throughout the music video. It was used in Positive K's 1992 album The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills, in the song "Ain't No Crime." It was also used by Lil Wayne as a guest rapper on Juvenile's 1999 hit single "Back That Azz Up" from his album 400 Degreez, and in his own song called "Drop It Like It's Hot" from his 1999 debut album Tha Block is Hot. Clark Kent said "drop it like it's hot" in the song "Cashmere Thoughts" from Jay-Z's 1996 debut album, Reasonable Doubt. DJ Quik used the phrase in the song "Sexuality" from his album Balance & Options.

Outside of hip-hop, it was also the title of a song on indie rock band Minus the Bear's 2002 EP Bands Like It When You Yell "Yar!" at Them.

The line was also spoken in the 2000 film Big Momma's House.

Music video

The music video of the single was shot in black-and-white. It was directed by Paul Hunter.^[2] It shows Snoop Dogg doing the dance step known as the Crip Walk in the very beginning and end. The video included both of Snoop Dogg's sons, Corde and Cordell. Other appearances in the video include Terry Kennedy, Lauren London, Pharrell Williams' fellow Neptunes member Chad Hugo, and Pusha T.

The video won the award for the best hip hop video at the 2006 MTV Australia Video Music Awards and a MOBO Award for Best Video in 2005.

Radio edits

There are two radio edits for the song: one is a standard radio edit that removes profanities and drug references while the other is an "Extra Clean" edit that removes phrases with gun and gang references (and the word "roll" from the chorus) as well.

Commercial performance

North America

"Drop It Like Its Hot" was the highest-ranking debut for the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated October 2, 2004, entering the chart at number 51.^[3] The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks from December 11, 2004.^[4][5] The song topped at number one in Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Rap Songs, Rhythmic Songs, Digital Songs and Hot 100 Airplay^[6]

Since its release the song has been certified Gold by the RIAA.^[7] The Mastertone version received certification of double platinum by the RIAA.^[7]

Europe

The song topped the Recorded Music NZ for four weeks, making it Snoop Dogg's first number one on the chart.^[8] The single ten on the UK Singles Chart, and reached on the top ten in several countries.^[9]

Track listing

• CD Single^[10]

1. Drop It Like It's Hot (featuring Pharrell) — 4:32
2. Get 2 Know U (featuring Jelly Roll) — 3:36

Remixes

• The official remix features new verses from Snoop Dogg, Pharrell Williams, and a verse from Jay-Z dissing R. Kelly for suing him, which appeared on the bonus CD of the Boss'n Up DVD. MTV
• DJ and Drum and Bass producer Roni Size performed a remix with Dynamite MC on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge on the 10th of January, 2005.
• Glitch-hop producer Edit also created an unofficial, unreleased remix, which can be found on various mixtapes.
• Lil Wayne released a remix of the song, titled "Nah This Ain't the Remix", on his mixtape The Dedication. He takes shots at Snoop Dogg for using his line, with lines like "don't touch my shit nigga" and "I rock a red flag..". However, he claimed that he wasn't mad, saying in the song, "When I first heard this I got a little upset but then I thought to myself, what haven't I done yet?" and later, "Nah, I ain't hatin', don't get me wrong, I made it a hot line, you made it a hot song. Peace." It can be taken as a reference to Jay-Z's song dissing Nas "Takeover" in which Jay-Z says: "I sampled your voice, you was usin' it wrong, you made it a hot line, I made it a hot song."

Mashups

• Mashup artist Party Ben mashed "Drop It Like It's Hot" with the Led Zeppelin song "Whole Lotta Love".
• dj BC mashed up the song with Nu Shooz's I Can't Wait.

Samples

• Jamie Foxx's hit "Blame It" (featuring T-Pain) sampled the song with cameo appearance by Snoop Dogg at the 2009 BET Awards.

Parodies

• MADtv did a parody music video of "Drop It Like It's Hot" called "Smokin' Too Much Pot." (The real song also contains references to marijuana.)
• A remix of the song uses a new sample of the Gap Band song "Outstanding". The remix features E-40, Killer Mike, Warren G and Jadakiss.
• British comedian Lenny Henry performed an elaborate parody of the song, complete with a music video closely mimicking that of the original, on the second episode of his 2005 comedy series, The Lenny Henry Show.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic included a few lines from the song in "Polkarama!", a medley of popular songs set to polka music on his 2006 release Straight Outta Lynwood.
• Carlos Mencia parodied rappers who went to jail in his new rap video on Mind of Mencia. He parodied Snoop's "Drop It Like It's Hot", DMX's "Ruff Ryders Anthem" and Mystikal's "Shake It Fast".
• Bulgarian comedy rappers DJ Damian & Dinamit parodied the video of Drop It Like It's Hot and Fat Joe's song Lean Back (Remix) (produced by Lil Jon) in their song "Kachak" (Къчак) satirizing the lifestyle of the gypsies of Bulgaria.
• The music video was parodied by country group Hot Apple Pie for their 2005 video "Hillbillies".
• Snoop Dogg recently adapted the song to "Pocket like it's Hot" in an advertising campaign for Hot Pockets
• Iman Crosson, better known as Alphacat, made a parody of this song which focuses on Barack Obama's presidency and his health care, ObamaCare.

Covers

• The song was covered by the German band The BossHoss on their 2007 release 'Stallion Battalion'.
• Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake covered the song in a "History of Rap" skit.
• The song was covered by German singer Lena Meyer-Landrut.

Soundtrack appearances

• The song appears in the game Dance Central for Kinect on the Xbox 360, in a commercial for the soft drink Sun Drop, and the 2013 animated film Turbo and its soundtrack (using the clean radio version)
• The song was featured on the NBA 2K15 soundtrack.
• The song was featured in The Wire, Season 3, Episode 12, "Mission Accomplished"
• A remixed version of the song is available as downloadable content for the music video game series Rock Band. The song features the original vocal track (censored to maintain an ESRB "Teen" rating) with an added electric guitar and bass line, as well as an expanded drum pattern.
• The song was featured in the 2013 film Turbo.

Trivia

• Snoop Dogg's cousin Sasha Banks took her stage name and persona The Boss from the lyrics "Da Big Bo$$ Dogg, yeah I had to do that" after the late Dusty Rhodes mentioned to her about Snoop being her cousin after struggling to a create a persona for the WWE.
  • Coincidentally, at WrestleMania 32 Snoop escorted Sasha (and performed a freestyle rap) for her entrance and also changed the lyrics "I'm a gangsta, but y'all knew that/Da Big Bo$$ Dogg, yeah I had to do that" to "She's a legit boss, but y'all knew that/Da Big Bo$$ Dogg, yeah I had to do that" in her entrance music.

Charts

Certifications

See also

• List of number-one singles from the 2000s (New Zealand)#2005
• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2004 (U.S.)
• List of number-one R&B singles of 2004 (U.S.)
• List of Billboard number-one rap singles of the 2000s
• List of Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 number-one songs of the 2000s

References