Songfacts®:

• This party starter is the only hit for the Jamaican reggae singer Ini Kamoze. "The Hotstepper" is his nickname; it's a Jamaican term for a man on the run from the law. Kamoze, though, is a lyrical gangster committing metaphorical murder, unlike the American gangsta rappers whose bars were more literal and menacing. In this context, the song comes off as fun and uplifting - it's hard to be scared of a man who rhymes "extraordinary" with "strawberry."
• The "na-na-na-na-na" chorus is sampled from Cannibal And The Headhunters' version of "Land Of 1,000 Dances."
• The bass line is sampled from Taana Gardner's 1981 song "Heartbeat." >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Robin - Birmingham, AL
• Fats Domino received royalties from this because he's credited as a co-author on "Land Of 1,000 Dances," a credit he was given in exchange for recording the song.
• This was featured in Robert Altman's film Ready To Wear (Pret-a-Porter).
• Ini Kamoze's name means "Mountain of the true God." >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Brad Wind - Miami, FL, for above 2
• After some success as a reggae artist with Sly & Robbie on Island Records, Kamoze's career had hit rock bottom by the early 1990s. He began crafting this song as a comeback late 1992 and he realized it would fare better in a non-reggae format. He turned to producer Salaam Remi for help. Kamoze recalled to Mojo magazine February 2009: "Salaam Remi's parents are from Barbados, but he was just into hip-hop and was working with the Fugees. I wanted to set the lyrics to a beat that would be played on mainstream radio, as I was always wondering, why is Ini Kamoze not being played behind Michael Jackson or Madonna? It was a serious effort to do something different, but the song was written about three years before it came out, because we couldn't get record companies to buy into the idea."