What’s Luv? Lyrics

[Intro: Fat Joe & Ashanti]
Put the fuckin mic on!
Mic is on?
Joe Crack the Don, uh!
Uh.. Irv Gotti!
What's love?
Ashanti, Terror.. Terror Squad
It should be about us, be about trust

[Chorus: Ashanti & (Ja Rule)]
What's love? (Got to do, got to do with it, babe)
What's love? It's about us, it's about trust, babe
What's love? (Got to do, got to do with it, babe)
What's love? It should be about us, it should be about trust, babe
What's love?

[Verse 1: Fat Joe]
Yeah, uh, uh, uh
Woo! Yeah, slow down, baby
Let you know from the gate I don't go down lady
I wanna chick with thick hips that licks her lips
She can be the office type or like to strip
Girl, you get me aroused how you look in my eye
But you talk too much, man, you're ruinin' my high
Don't wanna lose the feelin' cause, the roof is chillin
It's on fire and you lookin good for the gettin'
I'ma, rider, whether in a hoodie or a linen
A provider; you should see the jewelry on my women
And I'm, livin' it up, the Squad stay fillin the truck
With chicks that's willin' to triz with us, uh
You say you gotta man and you're in love
But what's love gotta do with a little menage?
After the par-tay, me and you
Could just slide for a few and she could come too
That's love!
[Chorus: Ashanti & (Ja Rule)]
What's love? (Got to do, got to do with it, babe)
What's love? It's about us, it's about trust, babe
What's love? (Got to do, got to do with it, babe)
What's love? It should be about us, it should be about trust, babe
What's love?

[Verse 2: Fat Joe]
Yeah, uh - yeah.. yo, uh, yo
Mami I know you got issues; you gotta man
But you need to understand that you got somethin' with you
Ass is fat, frame is little
Tattoo on your chest with his name in the middle, uh
I'm not a hater, I just crush a lot
And the way you shake your booty, I don't want you to stop
You need to come a little closer... (Come a little closer)
And let me put you, under my arms like a Don is supposed ta
Please believe, you leave with me
We be freakin' all night like we was on E
You need to trust the God and jump in the car
For a little hard eight at the Taj Mahal
What's love?

[Chorus: Ashanti & (Ja Rule)]
What's love? (Got to do, got to do with it, babe)
What's love? It's about us, it's about trust, babe
What's love? (Got to do, got to do with it, babe)
What's love? It should be about us, it should be about trust, babe
What's love?
[Verse 3: Fat Joe]
Yeah, uh, yo
Yo I stroll in the club with my hat down
Michael Jack style
, hot steppin', who the mack now?
Not my fault cause they love the kid
Might be the chain or the whip, I don't know what it is
We just party and bullshit; c'mon mami
Put your body in motion, you got a nigga open
You came here with the heart to cheat
So you need to sing the song with me
All my ladies come on

[Bridge: Ashanti & (Fat Joe)]
When I look in your eyes, there's no stoppin' me
I want the Don Joey Crack on top of me (Uh-huh)
Don't want your stacks just break my back (Yeah)
Gonna cut you no slack, cause I'm on it like that (Uh, woo, uh)
Come on (Yeah yeah, y'all)
And put it all (Yeah yeah, y'all) on me (Put it on ya, girl)
On me (I'ma put it on ya, girl)

[Chorus: Ashanti & (Ja Rule)]
What's love? (Got to do, got to do with it, babe)
What's love? It's about us, it's about trust, babe
What's love? (Got to do, got to do with it, babe)
What's love? It should be about us, it should be about trust, babe
What's love? (Got to do, got to do with it, babe)
What's love? It's about us, it's about trust, babe
What's love? (Got to do, got to do with it, babe)
What's love? It should be about us, it should be about trust, babe
What's love?

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About

Genius Annotation

“What’s Luv” was the second single from Fat Joe’s fourth album Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) and featured Murder Inc. hitmakers Ja Rule and Ashanti on vocals and Irv Gotti on production. The single peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot Rap Songs chart in the US, and achieved gold status in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Fat Joe provided some background information on the creation of the track in an interview with Complex:

Chris Lighty introduced me to Irv Gotti. And Irv Gotti and I started talking from 11 at night to 7 in the morning. We were so much alike. So we start joking, and going back and forth.

Right after I met him, like a week later, Pun died. And I’ll never forget this. I was crying in the chair at the funeral, and I looked up, and it was Chris [Lighty], Gotti, and Ja Rule. And this is when Ja Rule was the biggest nigga on earth. And they were like, ‘Yo, sorry about your man.’ It was an ill moment in my life. And I was like, ‘Thanks for coming.’ There was a lot of respect.

A week later, I’m in my house, and my phone rings at like four in the morning, and it’s Irv Gotti. And he was like, ‘Yo, yo, come now!’ And I’m like, ‘Who the fuck is this?!’ And he’s like, ‘It’s Irv. I’m at The Hit Factory, come now.’

So when I get there, he plays me, [sings] ‘Always there when you call, always on time.’ He played me that, and I was like, ‘Oh shit, that’s a hit!’ And he was like, that’s Ja Rule’s record. But guess what? Me and Ja made a record for you. And he plays ‘What’s Luv.’ And I was like, ‘Oh shit!!!!!!’ That was it.

The hook was there. Ja Rule wrote hook and sung the hook. And they were like, ‘Yo, get J. Lo on the hook.’ And I was like, ‘Aiight. Have a girl reference it.’ And Ashanti did it, and I was like, ‘You know what Irv? She sounds amazing on it. We don’t even need J. Lo.’ He was like, ‘You sure? You’re cool with J. Lo. She just sold six million records.’ I was like, ‘We don’t need her for this. Let’s [keep] Ashanti.’ It was her and Ja, and it was a movie.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

Translations:
Genius Answer
What did Fat Joe say about "What's Luv?"?
Genius Answer

Fat Joe originally wanted Ja Rule to do a verse of his own, but Ja was reluctant:

‘What’s Luv?’ was a great record. I wrote and rapped part of the hook for Crack [Fat Joe] on that record. Originally, Crack wanted me on that record [doing a verse]. When I did it I called him back up. I said, ‘Crack, this is for you. This is your record and don’t have me on the record. I don’t want to get on the record. I want to say this so you aren’t offended.’

Ja, who was at the peak of his popularity at this point, explained that he didn’t want anyone to think “What’s Luv?” was his song rather than Joe’s.

When a guy wants you on his record and you don’t want to do the record, they feel like, ‘They don’t want to do a record with me.’ What I was trying to explain to Crack was, ‘This is going to be big for you and if I get on the record, people may deem it a Ja Rule record.’ He understood what I was trying to say and did the record.

To this day I’m happy I didn’t get on that record because that was big for Crack. I wanted that to be a big record for him and not for people to look at it as a Murder Inc./Ja Rule record. If I was on that record I think people would have seen it as my record.

Was there another artist intended for the song feature before Ashanti?
Genius Answer

Rapper Fat Joe revealed on a live chat with Ashanti in May of 2020 that Jennifer Lopez was originally going to be featured on the song as suggested by producer of the song Irv Gotti, but Fat Joe insisted that Ashanti should be featured on the song instead.

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