"Back That Thing Up" is a song written by

Jeremy Stover Jeremy Stover (born August 20, 1972) is an American country music songwriter and record producer. Stover is an alumnus of Belmont University. Stover has written singles for Tim McGraw, Jon Pardi, Wynonna, Martina McBride, and others. His firs ...

and

Randy Houser Shawn Randolph Houser (born December 18, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Houser has racked up over half a dozen hits and over 1 billion streams. His How Country Feels album topped the country radio charts with the title ...

, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Justin Moore Justin Cole Moore (born March 30, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Big Machine Records imprint Valory Music Group. For that label, he has released seven studio albums: his self titled debut in 2009, '' Outla ...

. It was released in July 2008 as Moore's second single from his self-titled debut album, and the only track from the album that Moore did not co-write. The song peaked at number 38 on the US ''

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 advertis ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart.

Content

This song uses elements of

country rap Country rap (also called country hip-hop, country hick-hop, and sometimes hick-hop) is a fusion genre of popular music, mixing country music with hip-hop–style singing or rapping. History Prototypes Early influences on the emergence of count ...

and

country rock Country rock is a music genre that fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal sty ...

as well as

sexual innuendo An innuendo is a hint, insinuation or intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion ...

to describe a girl handling equipment on a farm (e.g. "Throw it in reverse, let Daddy load it up").

Critical reception

It got a "thumbs up" review from ''The 9513s Jim Malec, who noted that the lyrics "separated (at least semantically) the inherent innuendo from the song's story itself as in the final verse, he negates the song's innuendo by singing the lyric 'Ain't no time to play'." Kevin John Coyne of ''Country Universe'' gave the song a B− grade, stating that he would be "lying if esaid ewasn't disappointed that this isn't a countrified version of the Juvenile hit. Alas, it's just a hillbilly rave-up that finds a country boy trying to get a city girl used to farm life, using backing up a truck as an awkward sexual metaphor" and that Moore "throws himself fully into the lyric like he was

Joe Diffie Joe Logan Diffie (December 28, 1958 – March 29, 2020) was an American country music singer and songwriter. After working as a demo (music), demo singer in the mid 1980s, he signed with Epic Records' Nashville division in 1990. Between then and ...

singing a mid-1990s novelty number". In 2017, ''

'' contributor

Chuck Dauphin Charles Frederick Dauphin III (February 17, 1974 – September 18, 2019) was an American sports and country music journalist. He was a radio broadcaster for WDKN in Dickson, Tennessee for 18 years, a radio show host and sports director at WNKX i ...

put "Back That Thing Up" at number ten on his top 10 list of Moore's best songs.

Music video

The music video was directed by

Wes Edwards Wes Edwards is a music video and commercial director. He has directed over 150 official music videos in various genres from country to EDM. He has created multiple videos for Brothers Osborne, Dierks Bentley, Dash Berlin, and Emma Hewitt. In 2020 ...

and premiered in June 2009.

Chart performance

This song debuted at number 55 on the ''

chart for the week of August 23, 2008.

References

{{authority control 2008 songs 2008 singles Justin Moore songs Big Machine Records singles Music videos directed by Wes Edwards Song recordings produced by Jeremy Stover Songs written by Jeremy Stover Songs written by Randy Houser Songs about farmers