"Gettin' Jiggy wit It" is a single by Will Smith from his
album
Big Willie Style. Released in early 1998 and co-written
by Nas, it was Smith's first hit produced by Poke & Tone,
who replaced his long-time partner Jazzy Jeff, though the
record-scratching techniques of Jazzy Jeff can be heard in the
song. It sampled the Sister Sledge song "He's the Greatest
Dancer" and The Bar-Kays song "Sang and Dance". The record
spent three weeks at the top of the Hot 100 chart from March
14, 1998. This song also won a Grammy Award in 1999 for the
Best Rap Solo Performance.
It was ranked the 68th greatest song of the 1990s by VH1.
The connotations associated with the word jiggy were heavily
influenced by this single. The term went from being used to
acclaim one's fashion or style towards being synonymous with
dancing, and eventually back to the original association with
sexual connotations. Will Smith has attested in an interview
that his inspiration to alter the meaning for the purpose of
the song came from his association of the term "jiggy" with
"jigaboo", a derogatory term for African-Americans, which made
the literal meaning of the title "getting African-American with
it" and which was meant to reference the popular folk-myth of
an innate sense of rhythm in black folks. The co-opting of a
once offensive word also was racially empowering.
Two remixes produced by Jermaine Dupri surfaced. The first
version uses the same lyrics from the album and features a
female chorus (available on a CD Single). The second version
contains brand new lyrics by Will Smith with guest raps by Big
Pun, R.O.C. & Cam'ron, with additional vocals by Jermaine
Dupri. The second version was deemed a bit hardcore for Will,
and ended up being unreleased. Version 2 is now available only
at the iTunes Music Store.
Gettin' Jiggy wit Itwin a 1998 MTV Video Music Award for
Best Rap Video. It was also nominated for four another
awards, including
Best Choreography,
Viewer's Choice,
Best Dance Video, and
Video of the Year. However, another nominations was lost
for Madonna and her song
Ray of Light.
The song is featured in Backyard Football '08.