Cory Rooney, producer: It all started with the statement, “I’m Real,” which
meant so much to Jennifer Lopez. [Producer] Troy Oliver came up with an idea and there was another guy, L.E.S. [producer Leshan Lewis], who suggested using this little loop from Yellow Magic Orchestra’s “Firecracker.” Ironically, we found out Mariah Carey used the same loop [for her song “Loverboy”]. Then, Jennifer walked into the studio and she heard the track playing, and we were just about to switch to another song and she goes, “Wow, I love that. Make me a quick CD of the track and let me go sit in the lounge and listen to it while you work on this other thing you’re gonna work on.” About 45 minutes later she called me into the room. She said, “Listen, I think I wrote the song. I never wrote a song by myself, before so don’t laugh.”
Rooney: It was perfect. We cut it that day. Then she called Sean “Puffy” Combs. She made him stop what he was doing because she was so tickled about the song and how good it had come out. She said, “I need Puffy to do one part,” and that’s the part in the song where he goes, “She’s a bad, bad
bitch.” She wrote that and she had him stop what he was doing, leave his
studio, come across town and just go in the vocal booth and say that one part. Then she said, “OK, now you can leave.”
Rooney: It was perfect. We cut it that day. Then she called Sean “Puffy” Combs. She made him stop what he was doing because she was so tickled about the song and how good it had come out. She said, “I need Puffy to do one part,” and that’s the part in the song where he goes, “She’s a bad, bad
bitch.” She wrote that and she had him stop what he was doing, leave his
studio, come across town and just go in the vocal booth and say that one part. Then she said, “OK, now you can leave.” J
Rooney: Ja Rule showed up to the studio and I said, “Man, Ja, what we need — eight bars won’t work, 16 bars won’t work,” because what’s gonna happen is the other stations that don’t even play rap will then at that point not play a J. Lo record. So, I said, “This has to be a feature between you and Jennifer.
This is like Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, back and forth.” He laughed at me. He said, “You want me to sing? I said, “Ja, every record
you’ve released in your career you sang on — what are you talking about? Every record you’re singing the hook.” So he kicked it around and all of a
sudden it just snapped. He got into the vocal booth and he started with
“What’s my motherf**king name?”
Rooney: J. Lo’s album was tanking on the charts. I don’t know what time I left the studio that night, but I called Tommy at maybe 2 in the morning and I said, “We did it. We saved this project.”
Rooney: There were a lot of mixed emotions and a lot going on. When 9/11 happened, Jennifer was just finalizing her rehearsal for her Puerto Rico special. I remember going from feeling so amazing to so down and low in my life. I felt like, “Wow, I got the No. 1 record with Jennifer. Jennifer’s happy.” Then all of a sudden, I looked at the news and boom. It happened. I didn’t get a chance to celebrate the success of “I’m Real” so much because of all that was going on. The focus shifted. I remember it putting a really dark cloud over everything.
Ja Rule: It’s so crazy. That was such a tragic day for our country in history, but another great record came out of that day. The day the towers got hit I went in my basement and I recorded and created “Rainy Dayz” with Mary J. Blige, because I felt like that was what the country was going through at that moment. As the success of “I’m Real” was skyrocketing, you have all of these other mixed emotions going on. But that’s what artists do. We have to live in the moment and we have to create in the moment.
Rooney: The song really pissed off everybody in terms of Billboard‘s
rules, which then forced Billboard, a month or two later, to change the rules. Now you can’t just have a remix with the same title that sounds nothing like the original song and have it be scanned the same. That album went right back up to the top. It did piss people off, but you know what, I’m glad to be a part of that history, good or bad. I’m so happy for that. The record sounded nothing like the original record and it took the single right to No. 1.