It's Like That

Album: The Emancipation Of Mimi (2005)
Charted: 4 16
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Songfacts®:

  • The "It's like that y'all" hook is taken from the 1984 Run-D.M.C. track "Hollis Crew."
  • Rappers Jermaine Dupri and Fatman Scoop are featured on this track but are not credited. They also appear in the song's video along with Brian McKnight and Randy Jackson. In the Brett Ratner-directed clip, Mariah shows up to her swank bachelorette party at Greystone Park Mansion in Beverly Hills, where her wealthy fiancé, played by Eric Roberts, watches her from afar. In the cliffhanger ending, she comes face-to-face with her former flame (Prison Break's Wentworth Miller). The story continues in the "We Belong Together" video.
  • After recording nearly 20 tracks for The Emancipation Of Mimi, her record label boss, L.A. Reid, thought something was missing. He asked her to write more songs with Jermaine Dupri, and they came up with this and the hit "We Belong Together." >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England, for above 3
  • In an interview with Q magazine February 2008 Carey explained her lyric, "Them chickens is ash and I'm lotion": "That line is about girls in a nightclub rivalry situation. Two girls want the guy and in an arrogant moment one is saying she has the better skin, It's not something I've said in real life."
  • Carey told AOL Music this tune is "all about having a good time and really just a fun party record." She continued: "I went to Atlanta and I was working with Jermaine Dupri. We wrote 'Always Be My Baby' together and we've been friends for a really long time. He's just a great person and a great producer and writer. I just wanted a record that was really fun, really for the clubs and just for the people that were getting ready to go out at night. You know one of those let your hair down, just have a good time, this is my night type of thing, like this is my song when I go out to have a good time and that's how we came up with the song 'It's Like That.' We were just having fun."
  • This was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2006 Grammy Awards but lost to Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone."
  • After her Glitter album was widely panned, Mariah tried to make a comeback with Charmbracelet, which fared a little better but didn't propel her back to her former glory as a chart-topping superstar. But The Emancipation Of Mimi did just that. Not only did it debut at #1 on the albums chart, but it also sold 6 million copies in the US.
  • This was used in the 2017 comedy Girls Trip, starring Queen Latifah.

Comments: 1

  • Matthew from Milford, Ma...Please tell me she isn't saying "DJ keeps on spinning the c--t"...



    I just learned what that word means... *shudder*
see more comments

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