The Top 250 Hits of the Last 50 Years - #229 Here Comes The Hotstepper - Ini Kamoze

"Here Comes the Hotstepper" is a song co-written and recorded by Jamaican reggae artist Ini Kamoze. It interpolates the well-known "na na na na na..." chorus from the cover of "Land of a Thousand Dances" by Cannibal & the Headhunters which was originally written and recorded by Chris Kenner. To date it is Kamoze's only US number-one hit, and was among the top hits of 1995. It also made the UK Top 5, peaking at number 4.
The song was particularly popular in fashion shows of the 1990s.

Use of sampling

"Here Comes the Hotstepper" contains several samples, including vocals from "The Champ" by The Mohawks, "Hot Pants" by Bobby Byrd, and "La Di Da Di" by Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick. Drums and bass from "Heartbeat" by Taana Gardner serve as the basis for the song's instrumental, while guitar notes from "Hung Up on My Baby" by Isaac Hayes are sampled to a lesser extent.

In the media and cover versions

• Played in the 1994 movie Prêt-à-Porter (called Ready to Wear in some countries).
• Played in an episode of I Love the '90s.
• 97.9 WNCI, a Columbus, Ohio radio station, produced a parody in the 1990s about NBC 4 weatherman Ben Gelber.
• Played in the 2005 movie Racing Stripes.
• Theme music for wrestling tag-team Public Enemy in ECW.
• Covered by AtomXFlow in 2004. This version peaked at number 49 in France.
• Used in the remix for the Ghostface Killah song Cherchez LaGhost
• Used in the remix for Hoi! "Here Comes The Hoi! Steppa"
• Used as the theme song for the Buick "Take a Look at Me Now" television advertising campaign/rebranding effort in 2009.
• Prince Naseem Hamed, former WBO, WBC and IBF world featherweight boxing champion famously used this song for some of his ring entrances.
• Covered by Awaken Demons in 2010.
• Used in Olips Menthol advertisement in 2010.
• Ranked at #91 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever by Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio, who taunts, "Let's sing along! 'They call me Aaa-noyyyyying! (Word 'em up!)/I'm a one-hit wonder (thank...fully!).'"
• The cover version by The Hit Crew was used as DLC in the video game Just Dance 2 for Wii and later included in Just Dance: Summer Party.
• The song "Qui t'a dit" (2010) by the French rap Group Sexion d'Assaut covers "Here Comes the Hotstepper" music in its chorus.
• Covered by hip hop group StooShe in July 2011, under the title "Hot Stepper". The track also appears in the American Reunion soundtrack.
• A German version (with different lyrics) was recorded in 2012 by MC Fitti in 2012. New title was Whatsapper (the one who uses WhatsApp)
• Ex-keyboard player for The Animals, Alan Price has recorded a new version of the song in 2013. He replaced the famous 'Murderer' lyric with 'Alan Price'. The rest of the song remains the same.
• A remix by Yuksek is used in an Evian "babies" commercial (April 2013)
• Sung by Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake in their History of Rap Part 5 on The Tonight Show.