"What's Luv?" is a song by American rapper

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper from New York City. He began his music career as a member of hip hop group Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.), then forged a sol ...

, released through

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

and Fat Joe's Terror Squad Productions as the second single from his fourth studio album, ''

Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) ''Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.)'' is the fourth studio album by American rapper Fat Joe. Originally scheduled for a summer 2000 release, the album was released on December 4, 2001, by Atlantic Records, Warner Music Group, and Fat Joe's T ...

'' (2001). The song features additional vocals from singer Ashanti and from rapper

Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with ''Venni Vetti Vecci'' and its lead single "Holla Holla". Durin ...

on the remix and album version on the song. "What's Luv" was produced by

Irv Gotti Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. (born June 26, 1970), professionally known as Irv Gotti, is an American DJ, music producer, record executive, and the CEO and co-founder of Murder Inc. Records. He is best known for producing multiple number-one rec ...

and

Chink Santana Andre Parker, known by his stage name Chink Santana, is an American R&B musician and producer from Washington, D.C. His achievements include co-producing '' Ashanti'', the debut album from the singer of the same name, as well as working on he ...

. The lyrics of the song's chorus are based in part on the title refrain of the 1984

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

hit "

What's Love Got to Do with It What's Love Got to Do with It may refer to: *Tina Turner: ** "What's Love Got to Do with It" (song), a 1984 song by Tina Turner ** ''What's Love Got to Do with It'' (1993 film), a biographical film about Tina Turner ** ''What's Love Got to Do with ...

". The song additionally includes a lyric ("I'm not a hater, I just crush a lot") that references the 1998 song "

Still Not a Player "Still Not a Player" is the second single from Big Pun's debut album ''Capital Punishment''. The song was produced by Knobody and features R&B singer Joe. Composition The song is a remix of Big Pun's previous single "I'm Not a Player" produced ...

" by

Big Pun Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx borough of New York City in the ea ...

. Fat Joe, Ja Rule, and the song's two producers are credited as the writers of "What's Luv", as are Big Pun and the lyricist of "What's Love Got to Do with It",

Terry Britten Terence Ernest Britten (born July 1947) is an English-Australian singer-songwriter and record producer, who has written songs for Tina Turner, Cliff Richard, Olivia Newton-John, Status Quo and Michael Jackson amongst many others. Britten (along w ...

. "What's Luv?", released in the United States on February 4, 2002, peaked at number two on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

chart that April. The single stayed on the chart for 20 weeks, giving Ashanti her second top-10 single, Fat Joe his first, and Ja Rule his seventh. The song additionally topped the ''

Hot Rap Songs Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stat ...

and

Rhythmic Rhythmic may refer to: * Related to rhythm * Rhythmic contemporary, a radio format * Rhythmic adult contemporary, a radio format * Rhythmic gymnastics, a form of gymnastics * Rhythmic (chart) The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and ...

charts. "What's Luv?" made Ashanti the first female artist to simultaneously occupy the top two positions on the Hot 100. The single was also a success internationally, reaching the top five in Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Production

Fat Joe claimed that Ashanti recorded vocals for the demo, with the plan being to replace her on the record with

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

to appeal to the Latin market. When Joe heard the demo, he insisted on doing the record with Ashanti instead.

Music video

The video for "What's Luv?" was filmed in New York City, at

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

. The music video features cameo appearances from

DJ Kay Slay Keith Grayson (August 14, 1966 – April 17, 2022), professionally known as DJ Kay Slay, was an American disc jockey (DJ) from New York City. He is referred to by ''The New York Times'' as "Hip Hop's One-Man Ministry of Insults". He released fou ...

, Capone,

Young Noble Rufus Cooper III (born March 21, 1978), also known by his stage name Young Noble, is an American rapper who was part of Tupac Shakur's rap group Outlawz. Noble joined the Outlawz in early 1996, and was the last member to be added to the group by ...

, Kastro,

Treach Anthony Criss (born December 2, 1970), better known by his stage name Treach, is an American rapper and actor. He is perhaps best known as the lead rapper of the hip hop group Naughty by Nature. Career With Naughty by Nature, Treach worked ...

, Fat Joe's son,

Maia Campbell Maia Campbell is an American former film, television actress, singer and model. She is best known for her role as Nicole on the 1994 Fox comedy-drama series '' South Central'' and her portrayal of Tiffany Warren in the NBC/UPN sitcom '' In the ...

as Joe's love interest, and Terror Squad members

Tony Sunshine Antonio Cruz (born April 23, 1977), known professionally as Tony Sunshine, is an American R&B singer of Puerto Rican descent, famous for his affiliation with New York City hip hop group Terror Squad. He sang on tracks such as Cuban Link's "St ...

, Prospect, Armageddon, and

Remy Ma Reminisce Mackie ( Smith; born May 30, 1980), known professionally as Remy Ma, is an American rapper. Discovered by Big Pun, she came to prominence for her work as a member of Fat Joe's group, Terror Squad. In 2006, she released her debut stu ...

Tommy Davidson Thomas Davidson (born November 10, 1963) is an American comedian and actor. He was an original cast member on the sketch comedy TV show ''In Living Color'', Mitchell on ''Between Brothers'' (1997-1999), Dexter on ''Malcolm & Eddie'' (1999-2000) ...

and Miguel Núñez, Jr. also appear in the video since the song was included in the 2002 film ''

Juwanna Mann ''Juwanna Mann'' is a 2002 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jesse Vaughan, written by Bradley Allenstein, produced by Bill Gerber, and starring Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Vivica A. Fox, Kevin Pollak, Tommy Davidson, Kim Wayans, Gi ...

'', in which Davidson and Núñez star. In the video, Joe starts dancing with some backup dancers, and also at times with Ashanti. One scene shows him attending a basketball game with two women as they watch from the stands. A scene with Ashanti shows her walking into a men's locker room, and rounding up with some men as she sings her verses from the song.

Track listings

UK CD single # "What's Luv?" (clean version featuring Ashanti) – 3:51 # "What's Luv?" (explicit version featuring Ashanti) – 3:51 # "Hustlin'" (featuring Armageddon) – 3:34 # "What's Luv?" (video—clean version featuring Ashanti) – 3:51 UK 12-inch single and Australian CD single # "What's Luv?" (clean version featuring Ashanti) – 3:51 # "What's Luv?" (explicit version featuring Ashanti) – 3:51 # "Hustlin'" (featuring Armageddon) – 3:34 European CD single # "What's Luv?" (explicit version featuring Ashanti) # "Hustlin'" (featuring Armageddon)

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the European CD single liner notes. Studio * Recorded at The Crackhouse Studios (New York City) Personnel *

– writing (as Joseph Cartagena), vocals, executive production *

– writing (as Jeffrey Atkins), vocals *

Christopher Rios Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx borough of New York City in the ea ...

– writing *

– writing (as Irving Lorenzo), production, mixing *

– writing (as Andre Parker), production *

– lyricist of "

" * Ashanti – vocals * Armageddon – co-executive production * Rob "Reef" Tewlow – co-executive production * Milwaukee Buck – recording * Thomas Bricker – art direction and design * Piotr Sikora – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Ja Rule 2001 singles 2001 songs Ashanti (singer) songs Atlantic Records singles Fat Joe songs Ja Rule songs Music videos directed by Bille Woodruff Songs written by Chink Santana Songs written by Fat Joe Songs written by Graham Lyle Songs written by Irv Gotti Songs written by Ja Rule Songs written by Terry Britten