"Whats Poppin" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Single by Jack Harlow | ||||
from the EP Sweet Action and the album Thats What They All Say | ||||
Released | January 21, 2020 | |||
Recorded | 2019 | |||
Genre | Hip hop, trap [1] | |||
Length | 2:19 | |||
Label |
| |||
Songwriter(s) |
| |||
Producer(s) |
| |||
Jack Harlow singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Whats Poppin" on YouTube |
"Whats Poppin" (stylized in all caps) is a song by American rapper Jack Harlow, released as the lead single from his EP Sweet Action, by Generation Now and Atlantic Records on January 21, 2020. It was also included on his debut studio album, Thats What They All Say, along with its remix. It was produced by JetsonMade, Pooh Beatz, and LosTheProducer. [2] The song has been credited with projecting Harlow's name in the music industry, leading to later successes such as his first studio album, on which "Whats Poppin" features. The track reached the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100, as well as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. It received a nomination for Best Rap Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. [3]
Pooh Beatz and JetsonMade's collaboration was their second, after working on DaBaby's hit song "Suge", with them both stating how they were already interested in each other's work prior to the creation of "Whats Poppin". [4] The two toyed with different sounds until they were certain they had produced a perfect beat for the song, which ended up becoming one of 2020's biggest hits. [4] PoohBeatz claimed that the songs title came after a conversation with Harlow about how he wants him to rap for the song, as he had been "popping shit", causing Harlow to think about the title "What's Poppin". The beat for the song was one of the first that the producers came up with, after tweaking with the original and chopping parts out, they found the final version which was a simplistic beat, following from the two's success with "Suge". They said that the simpler the beat, the better, as it allows for the artists creativity to flourish. [4] The use of the 808 pattern was critical in ensuring that the song had enough 'bounce' to be a hit. After this, Harlow stated that he really enjoyed working with the 808 pattern and attempted to incorporate it into his later music. However, JetsonMade made a slight alteration to the 808 pattern, which he thought was crucial in making the song sound better aesthetically. Harlow later stated that when he heard the beat that "this one of the only beats I've ever just like heard, and was like I need this right now". [4] PoohBeatz has also said that he has thoroughly enjoyed the aftermath of the drop of "Whats Poppin" where it has been featured in commercials, as well as the community making remixes. Additionally, Cole Bennett, a music video producer, sent Harlow a message suggesting some alterations to the song to make it more catchy, which Harlow ending up agreeing upon. [5]
The music video for the track, directed by Cole Bennett, was released the same day as the song on Cole's Lyrical Lemonade channel. It features a cameo of Ryan "Rhino" Burton of the YouTube comedy channel LoveLiveServe. [6] As with many popular songs, the music video plays an integral part in its commercial success, resulting in exposure to a wider audience. The music video for "Whats Poppin?" was created by popular music video producer 'Lyrical Lemonade', who has been involved in the production of several other popular music videos, such as productions with 'Juice WRLD' and 'Eminem'. As of April, 2021, the music video has amassed over 130 million views on YouTube. [7] For Harlow, having this song featured on this channel contributed to the success of the song globally. Furthermore, a breakdown video on the creation of "Whats Poppin?" with producers Jetsonmade and PoohBeatz allowed for fans to gain a deeper insight into the song itself. Both producers have spoken about looking for a 'fresh' artist to make a new production with, after both collaborating with DaBaby on popular single "Suge". [4] Additionally, Cole Bennett did an interview in which he dissected the music video itself. Bennett said that an earlier video of Harlow's for the song "Sundown" was "refreshing", causing him to message him on Twitter for a potential collaboration on his Lyrical Lemonade channel in the future. [5] Bennett initially rejected one of his songs, "Cody Banks", as it wasn't the style he was looking for. He said he would only work with him if he found "absolutely perfect" song to allow the audience to get a sense of Harlow's charisma and character. [5] The two became good friends, even throwing a New Year's Eve party together in 2019, until finally discovering "Whats Poppin" in a set of songs that Harlow sent Bennett, who instantly knew that it was perfect for his channel. Bennett was adamant on having the video in one general location, keeping the video, as well as the shooting process and budget, as simplistic as possible. Furthermore, Bennett suggested that the diner, featured in the music video, be the main location, where different areas of the diner are used in different creative lights, bringing in a unique "world" and making the video fun, such as turning the diner booth into a nightclub and a bed. [5] Bennett said that the song itself involved a lot of wordplay, and that the best way to capture this was in various visual settings. [5] Bennett made various creative decisions when making the video, for example the picture used in the video on the dartboard was taken on the set inside the diner by Bennett himself to get the same outfit and "feel" of where the video already was. [5] Additionally, Bennett says the zooms throughout the video were unplanned, but he instead called in the middle of filming and rented out a zoom lens just for those particular shots, something he later admitted was a "vital role" in the video. [5] At the end of this interview, Bennett stated that he and Harlow have a "bunch of stuff coming" following this collaboration.
Mitch Findlay of HotNewHipHop called the track "one of Harlow's best in a minute". [8] "Whats Poppin" featured in many top 100 lists by the end of 2020, including finishing 5th in the Rolling Stone top 100 most popular songs of 2020. [9] The song also featured in Australia's Triple J Hottest 100, finishing as the 42nd song on the list. [10] Alongside these, the song was also recognised at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, receiving a nomination for Best Rap Performance, where it was beaten by "Savage", a song by Megan Thee Stallion. [11] The remix also received a nomination at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards for Top Rap Song, losing to DaBaby's "Rockstar", who also featured in "What's Poppin (Remix)". [12] The song also received nominations for Top Streaming Song and Top Collaboration (Fan Voted). [12] Additionally, The Eastern Echo had high praise for the remix of the song, saying that Harlow's personality has allowed him to attract bigger names for personality, saying that "he's wack and people love it". [13] The addition of Tory Lanez, DaBaby and Lil Wayne on the song, whom have all achieved great heights in the industry allowed the song's exposure to grow greatly as a result. [13] The Musical Hype gave the song 3.5 stars out of a possible 5, saying that the song displayed Harlow's confidence but lacked any cutting-edge lyrics, instead offering up cliché lyrics about sex and money. [14] Pitchfork stated that "Whats Poppin" became such a huge success because of Harlow's likeable nature and charm, saying "he seems like the kinda guy you would find around a college campus, maybe at the basketball court". [15] However, the song, as well as the music video, was criticised for using a "candy-coated aesthetic" to attract largely young fans, also being deemed "generic". [15] Likewise, the song has also been criticised for its lyrics not taking much to process and not having many deep or meaningful lyrics. [15] Pitchfork further established that Jack Harlow was more like a 'feel good' character as opposed to a clever artist, saying that the song's success is simply attributed to his ability to be in touch with the present society. [15] The success of the original track resulted in Jack Harlow approaching DaBaby, Tory Lanez and Lil Wayne for a remix, which was released later on June 24, 2020, which also saw large commercial success.
Publication | List | Rank | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
Billboard | 100 Best Songs of 2020 | 26 | [16] |
Stereogum | Top 40 Pop Songs Of 2020 | 8 | [17] |
Uproxx | Best Songs Of 2020 | 24 | [18] |
XXL | Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2020 | — | [19] |
"Whats Poppin" appears on the NBA 2K21 video game soundtrack, [20] as well as appearing in one of the mixtapes in the game Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2019) and Call of Duty: Warzone , and in one of the Xbox Game Pass & EA Play trailers. Considering the song was one of 2020's biggest hits, combined with the resurgence of social media as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it inspired several internet trends and memes. At this stage, the song, including its remix, have been used in over 400,000 different videos on the social media platform TikTok. Additionally, the hashtag "#whatspoppin" has over 7 billion views on the platform. The song inspired the 'Glo-Up' trend, where an individual would show a 'before and after' video of themselves using the song in the background, whilst lip syncing to the lyrics "What's Poppin?", as if to say 'What's up?'. [21] Additionally, the beat of the song inspired others to add their own lyrics to the song for comedic purposes, most prominently was the trend of comical skits involving the lyrics "What's poppin? Don't mind me just watching!", created by Biddl3, which also went viral on TikTok, with over 350,000 videos.[ citation needed ] The song has also been accredited to projecting Jack Harlow's career. He has done several interview videos with YouTube channels such as GQ and Genius. As of April 2021, Harlow has amassed 2.2 million followers on Instagram.[ citation needed ]
Year | Organization | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | MTV Video Music Awards | Song of Summer | Nominated | [22] |
2021 | Grammy Awards | Best Rap Performance | Nominated | [3] |
2021 | Billboard Music Awards | Top Streaming Song | Nominated | [23] |
Top Collaboration (Fan Voted) | Nominated | |||
Top Rap Song | Nominated | |||
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [64] | 3× Platinum | 210,000‡ |
Austria (IFPI Austria) [65] | Platinum | 30,000‡ |
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) [66] | Platinum | 40,000‡ |
Canada (Music Canada) [67] | Diamond | 800,000‡ |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [68] | Platinum | 90,000‡ |
Germany (BVMI) [69] | Gold | 200,000‡ |
Italy (FIMI) [70] | Platinum | 100,000‡ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [71] | Platinum | 30,000‡ |
Poland (ZPAV) [72] | Platinum | 50,000‡ |
Portugal (AFP) [73] | 2× Platinum | 20,000‡ |
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [74] | Gold | 30,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [75] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [76] | 7× Platinum | 7,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
"Whats Poppin (Remix)" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Single by Jack Harlow featuring DaBaby, Tory Lanez, and Lil Wayne | ||||
from the album Thats What They All Say | ||||
Released | June 24, 2020 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:47 | |||
Label |
| |||
Songwriter(s) |
| |||
Producer(s) |
| |||
Jack Harlow singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
DaBaby singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Tory Lanez singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Lil Wayne singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Whats Poppin" (Remix) on YouTube |
A remix of the song featuring Canadian rapper Tory Lanez and fellow American rappers DaBaby and Lil Wayne was released on June 24,2020. [77] The remix reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 for the chart dated July 11,2020,behind DaBaby's own "Rockstar". It stayed there for two non-consecutive weeks. It became Harlow's and Lanez's first top-ten song on the chart,as well as DaBaby's third and Lil Wayne's 25th. [78] The remix was nominated for the Collaboration Song of 2020 award at the 46th People's Choice Awards. as well as the Top Rap Song at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards. [12] [79]
Chart (2020) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canada (Canadian Hot 100) [80] | 4 |
Greece (IFPI) [81] | 12 |
New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ) [82] | 3 |
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [83] | 47 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [84] | 2 |
US Rolling Stone Top 100 [85] | 2 |
Chart (2020) | Position |
---|---|
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [86] | 99 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [87] | 13 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) [88] | Platinum | 40,000‡ |
France (SNEP) [89] | Gold | 100,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
"Poppin' My Collar" is the second single from Most Known Unknown,an album by hip hop group Three 6 Mafia. The song peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100,becoming their second Top 40 hit. The track achieved RIAA platinum certification status on September 6,2005.
Canadian rapper and singer Tory Lanez has released seven studio albums,Twenty mixtapes,four extended plays (EP),eighty-nine singles and more than eighty music videos. In 2009,Lanez began his career by releasing his debut mixtape,T.L 2 T.O. He received major recognition from the mixtape,Conflicts of My Soul:The 416 Story,released in August 2013,which included guest appearances from Roscoe Dash and Kirko Bangz. In 2014,he released Lost Cause,which led to his first tour,the Lost Cause tour. Lanez collaborated with the WeDidIt collective on the Cruel Intentions EP in 2015. Chixtape III and The New Toronto were released later that year. He released his debut album I Told You,in 2016.
"Say It" is the debut single by Canadian rapper Tory Lanez. The song was released on July 15,2015,by Mad Love Records and Interscope Records. It is from his debut studio album,I Told You (2016). A snippet of the song was released on July 24,2015. The song is another release under the Fargo Friday's series,and details Lanez’wish for his lover to prove he loves him for more than his money and fame. It samples the song "If You Love Me" by Brownstone.
"Luv" is a song by Canadian singer and rapper Tory Lanez. It was released on June 9,2016,as the second single from his debut studio album,I Told You (2016). The song was produced by Cashmere Cat and Benny Blanco. It has interpolations from "Everyone Falls in Love" by Tanto Metro and Devonte. It received a nomination for Best R&B Song at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards that was held in February 2017.
Jackman Thomas "Jack" Harlow is an American rapper and singer. He began a musical career in 2015,and released several EPs and mixtapes until signing with Don Cannon and DJ Drama's record label Generation Now,an imprint of Atlantic Records in 2018.
"Suge" (also known as "Suge (Yea Yea)") is the breakthrough hit by American rapper DaBaby,released as the lead single from his debut studio album Baby on Baby on April 23,2019. It reached number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song's title is a reference to former music executive Suge Knight. It was produced by JetsonMade and Pooh Beatz. The song was later nominated for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. "Suge" was ranked as the 2nd best song of 2019 by Complex,and the 12th best by Billboard.
"Pop Out" is a song by American rapper Polo G featuring fellow American rapper Lil Tjay. The single was released on February 1,2019 by Columbia Records as the third single the former's debut album,Die a Legend (2019). The music video for the song was released prior on January 13. The song reached number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
"Highest in the Room" is a song by American rapper Travis Scott. It was released as a single on October 4,2019. It was released in a variety of formats,including on 7-inch vinyl,cassette and as a CD single. In its first week,it debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100,for the chart dated October 19,2019,becoming Scott's second US number-one single,following "Sicko Mode". A remix featuring Spanish singer Rosalía and American rapper Lil Baby was released on December 27,2019,and featured on Scott and other Cactus Jack members' compilation album JackBoys (2019) on the same day,while the original release remains off the compilation. The remix version was released to Italian contemporary hit radio on January 7,2020. The song received a nomination for Best Melodic Rap Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
"Jerry Sprunger" is a song by Canadian rapper Tory Lanez and American singer T-Pain. It was released on November 8,2019 as the lead single from the former's fourth studio album,Chixtape 5. The song samples T-Pain's hit single "I'm Sprung" (2005),and its title is a reference to British-American television personality Jerry Springer.
"Heartless" is a song by the Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd. It was released on November 27,2019 through XO and Republic Records as the lead single from his fourth studio album,After Hours (2020). The Weeknd wrote and produced the song alongside Metro Boomin,Illangelo,and Dre Moon. The song combines R&B and trap with elements of electroclash.
"Life Is Good" is a song by American rapper Future featuring Canadian rapper Drake. It was released on January 10,2020 and later confirmed to be the third single from the former's eighth studio album High Off Life.
The discography of American rapper Jack Harlow consists of three studio albums,six mixtapes,two extended plays,and 34 singles.
"Rockstar" is a song by American rapper DaBaby,featuring fellow American rapper Roddy Ricch. The song was released on April 17,2020,as the second single from DaBaby's third studio album Blame It on Baby (2020). It was written by the two rappers. "Rockstar" spent seven non-consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Outside of the United States,"Rockstar" topped the charts in Australia,Canada,Denmark,Greece,New Zealand,Portugal,the Republic of Ireland,Switzerland,and the United Kingdom,and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Germany,the Netherlands,France,Norway,Sweden,and Finland. Its music video is set in a zombie apocalypse.
"Tap In" is a song by American rapper Saweetie,released on June 17,2020,as the lead single from her upcoming debut studio album Pretty Bitch Music. The song samples rapper Too Short's signature 2006 single "Blow the Whistle",produced by Lil Jon. Too Short provides the intro on "Tap In". Produced and co-written by Dr. Luke,it marked Saweetie's second song to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song was also featured in a scene of Black Mirror Season 6,Episode 1 "Joan Is Awful".
"Tyler Herro" is a song by American rapper Jack Harlow. It was released on October 22,2020,by Generation Now/Atlantic Records,as a lead single from his debut studio album Thats What They All Say (2020). The song pays tribute to the basketball player of the same name and was produced by Boi-1da and Scott Storch,with additional production from Neenyo and Jahaan Sweet.
Thats What They All Say is the debut studio album by American rapper Jack Harlow. It was released on December 11,2020,by Generation Now and Atlantic Records. The album features guest appearances from Lil Baby,Big Sean,Chris Brown,Adam Levine,EST Gee,Bryson Tiller,DaBaby,Tory Lanez and Lil Wayne,the latter three appear on the remix of Harlow's breakout single,"Whats Poppin". It also features a posthumous guest appearance from Static Major.
"Way Out" is a song by American rapper Jack Harlow,featuring vocals from fellow American rapper Big Sean. It was released through Generation Now and Atlantic Records,as the second single from the former's debut studio album,Thats What They All Say,two days before the album,on December 9,2020. The song's production was handled by JetsonMade,Jasper Harris and Heavy Mellow.
"Industry Baby" is a song by American rapper Lil Nas X featuring fellow American rapper Jack Harlow,released on July 23,2021,through Columbia Records. The song features co-production by American rapper and record producer Kanye West and production duo Take a Daytrip. It is the third single from Lil Nas X's debut studio album,Montero (2021),following up the international success of lead single "Montero ". The song debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of August 7,2021,and became Lil Nas X's third and Harlow's first number-one single on the chart on the week of October 23,2021 after a massive gain in digital sales. On October 9,2021,an extended version was released that features a short verse from Lil Nas X during the outro. The song received a nomination for Best Melodic Rap Performance at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
"First Class" is a song by American rapper Jack Harlow,released through Atlantic Records and Generation Now as the second single from Harlow's second album Come Home the Kids Miss You on April 8,2022. The song was produced by Rogét Chahayed,BabeTruth,Charlie Handsome,Jasper Harris and Nickie Jon Pabón,and heavily samples the 2006 Fergie song "Glamorous",which features Ludacris and was produced by Polow da Don. The song went viral on TikTok before its release.
"The Color Violet" is a song by Canadian rapper Tory Lanez. It is the fourth track on his sixth studio album Alone at Prom,which was released on December 10,2021 by One Umbrella. On August 8,2024 the song hit One Billion streams to become the first song with zero playlisting.