"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 so ...

, 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 ...

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

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'' (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". Dur ...

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 re ...

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 " Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before ...

hit " What's Love Got to Do with It". The song additionally includes a lyric ("I'm not a hater, I just crush a lot") that references the 1998 song "

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" by

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. 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 ...

. "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 advertis ...

'' Hot 100 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 ''

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and

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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 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

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, Capone, Young Noble, Kastro,

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, Fat Joe's son,

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as Joe's love interest, and Terror Squad members

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, Prospect, Armageddon, and

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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 – writing *

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

– writing (as Andre Parker), production *

– lyricist of " What's Love Got to Do with It" * 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