The rapper Jennifer Lopez thought was “so cute”
Bronx singer Jennifer Lopez has flirted with hip-hop for her entire career. From collaborations with Ja Rule to albums with Timbaland, the singer has been adjacent to the culture since she burst into the mainstream in the 1990s.
As a New York native, the vocalist grew up around rap music and has a lifelong love of the genre to this today. However, while Lopez was listening to some of her favourite rappers, she said she collaborated with one person she found “so cute.”
During a conversation with Rap Radar’s Elliot Wilson, the ‘Love Don’t Cost A Thing’ star opened up about her favourite MCs while she was growing up. Listing some of her childhood loves, Lopez began, “Nas is one of my favourite rappers of all time!” In fact, she labelled the Queensbridge icon as her number one.
Explaining why the Illmatic creator clinched the top spot for her, the vocalist continued, “He’s my number one. I haven’t heard anyone rap who hits me in that same way. That New York sensibility that he has—he sounds like the guys I grew up with—that raspy voice and that delivery, but he’s so intelligent, and I’ve always felt that he was so smart, and I just love his style.”
Aside from Nas, there were other lyricists that the singer revealed that she admired, including the likes of Big Pun, Fat Joe, The Notorious B.I.G, and the Louisiana legend Lil Wayne. One thing that Lopez liked in particular about Wayne was that he referred to her as Miss Lopez in their 2011 song ‘I’m Into You.’
Opening up about her reaction when she heard Wayne’s lyrics, the Bronx native continued, “He did call me Miss Lopez on a song like I was a teacher! [It was] so cute.” Their collaboration peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached 19 on the pop charts. Its reggaeton style signalled a new direction for Lopez, and, at the time, Wayne was ready to move into his rock-rap era.
Although Lopez loved Nas, Fat Joe, Biggie Smalls, and the like as a teen, she revealed to Wilson that she first experienced hip-hop in its birthplace in the Bronx during the 1980s. Furthermore, she unveiled that her first exposure to the culture was ‘Rapper’s Delight’.
Recalling the event, Lopez reflected, “I was in the schoolyard, and I remember getting really excited! It was a defining moment. I’d never heard anything like it; I’d never heard rap like that to that type of music. I just fell in love with it and became sort of a fanatic.”
Although Lopez didn’t become a female emcee herself, it’s fair to say she ended up being accepted into the hip-hop community and brushed shoulders with some of the best lyricists in the industry.