FAT JOE featuring DRE “So Excited”

Fat Joe is the rarest kind of rapper-a veteran who was making records with Diamond D and the Beatnuts back when today’s stars were in diapers, but who still competes on the pop charts with hit songs like “All the Way Up” and his new smash, “So Excited.” He has a newly released video for the latter, directed by Gil Green, features helicopters, motorcycle chases, and DJ Khaled giving a speech at a yacht club.

“So Excited” was largely inspired by a recent visit to an LL Cool J concert, where Fat Joe heard the DJ seamlessly transition from LL Cool J’s “Doin It” to a sample of Dennis Edwards’ “Don’t Look Any Further,” a sampling staple within the hip-hop community and a nostalgic track that made Joe reminisce about the days of old school rap.

“It’s such a classic, classic song,” he tells Billboard. “Nobody touched that sample in a long time. So I wrote it down in my notes and ran straight to the studio. I called Streetrunner and was like ‘Yo you gotta flip this, 2017, style because summer is almost coming – this is a summer banger’.”

The loopy, hard-knocking production on “So Excited” comes courtesy of Streetrunner, and features a mellow hook by Dre from production duo Cool & Dre. Both Streetrunner and Cool & Dre are longtime collaborators of Fat Joe, and have helped the Bronx rapper weave together a string of hip-hop tracks, including “Take Me Home” (prod. By Streetrunner) from Joe’s collective Terror Squad, and the monstrous, Remy Ma-assisted “All The Way Up” (prod. By Cool & Dre).

When asked about his formula for crafting hit songs, Fat Joe says a song needs to be “infectious and relatable, for ladies and men,” and needs to create a vibe. “We have French’s “Unforgettable”, then we had [DJ] Khaled with ‘Wild Thoughts,’ and I think this one fits right in there. It gives you the end of summer vibe,” he says. “You just know it when you got it.”

For the video, Fat Joe pays homage to the late The Notorious B.I.G., and recreates Biggie’s lavish “Hypnotize” video, from the yacht and helicopters to the luxurious designer clothing. The video opens with a yacht cruising the Hudson River, with New York City’s skyscrapers serving as the backdrop for the visual. Fat Joe dons a silk buttoned-down Hermes shirt with bikini-clad women and liquor surrounding him, as his yacht is followed by a cluster of helicopters. Remy Ma and DJ Khaled also appear in the video.

“Biggie has been the logo for success, the logo for doing it big – from popping champagne, the ladies, the fashion,” Joe explains. “So we had to do it B.I.G. We’re talking silk Hermes, Ace of Spades [champagne] spilling all over the place and diamonds. We brought the epitome of the 90s back.”