"Who's Real" is a song by American hip hop recording artist

Jadakiss Jason Terrance Phillips (born May 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Jadakiss, is an American rapper from Yonkers, New York. He began his career in the 1990s as a member of the rap trio The Lox, managed by Ruff Ryders and signed with B ...

, released June 16, 2009 as the fourth single from his third studio album '' The Last Kiss''. The song features

guest appearance In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

s from fellow American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

OJ Da Juiceman Otis Williams Jr. (born November 23, 1981), better known by his stage name OJ da Juiceman, is an American rapper. OJ da Juiceman was formerly signed to Gucci Mane's 1017 Brick Squad record label. OJ Da Juiceman is also the founder of vanity labe ...

and

Swizz Beatz Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, rapper, disc jockey (DJ) and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ. At the ag ...

, the latter of whom produced the track.

Background

The original version had a longer second verse: after Juiceman's lines follow the lines by Jusmula (beginning with "It's real funny when a nigga play a C.L.,/ O.S.E., I be trippin' like G.L." and so on). It also contained the word "bastards" in Jada's line "Couple of flips and then stash it, bastards", which got blocked out in the final version, so it would be totally without profanities.

Music video

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

was directed by Taj and shot on May 13, 2009. There are cameo appearances from

Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with '' Venni Vetti Vecci'' and its lead single " Holla Holla". Dur ...

, Clipse,

Clyde Carson Clyde Nyle Kalin Carson Parrish (born June 2, 1981), better known by the stage name Clyde Carson, is an American rapper from Oakland, California. He was originally known as a member of the hip hop group The Team. After the group went on hiatus ...

DJ Webstar Troy Ryan (born October 25, 1986), better known by his stage name DJ Webstar (or simply Webstar) is an American DJ and record producer. In 2006, his song " Chicken Noodle Soup", became popular and became an Internet meme, with fans uploading ama ...

Grafh Philip Anthony Bernard (born August 22, 1982) better known by his stage name Grafh, is an American rapper. He has released a collection of mixtapes and an album, ''Autografh'', which was released through EMI Records and Virgin Records. He is c ...

, and

Styles P David R. Styles (born November 28, 1974), better known by his stage name Styles P (also known mononymously as Styles), is an American rapper, best known as a member of hip hop group the Lox, alongside childhood friends Sheek Louch and Jadakiss ...

. There are also various Ruff Ryders Lifestyles members with their motorbikes featured in the video. The music video was released as the “New Joint of the Day” on ''

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rate ...

'' on June 10, 2009.

Remix

On June 9, 2009, American rapper DMX's verse from the remix leaked onto the internet. The whole remix was released on June 10. It features Jadakiss’ fellow

D-Block A block of the periodic table is a set of elements unified by the atomic orbitals their valence electrons or vacancies lie in. The term appears to have been first used by Charles Janet. Each block is named after its characteristic orbital: s-blo ...

cohorts

Sheek Louch Sean Divine Jacobs (born September 30, 1976), better known as Sheek Louch, is an American rapper best known as a member of The LOX and founder of D-Block Records, along with Styles P and Jadakiss. Personal life and career At around the age o ...

and

, along with

Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...

Drag-On Melvin Smalls, known professionally as Drag-On, is an American rapper. He is best known for his time on Ruff Ryders, through whom he released his debut album, '' Opposite of H2O'' (2000). The album was successful, debuting at number five on th ...

, DMX and Swizz Beatz. Dubbed the “

Ruff Ryders Ruff Ryders Entertainment is an American hip hop record label and management company founded by siblings and record executives Joaquin "Waah", Darin "Dee" and Chivon Dean. It operated as a subsidiary of Universal, and distributed by Fontana Dist ...

remix”, it sparked a long-awaited unification of the Ruff Ryder Entertainment.

In media

The single's instrumental was used for a

Powerade Powerade is a sports drink created, manufactured and marketed by The Coca-Cola Company. Its primary competitor is Gatorade, owned by PepsiCo. History In 1988, Powerade became the official sports drink of the Olympics, alongside Aquarius, ano ...

commercial, and for the Wake Up Calls on the Rickey Smiley Morning Show.

Charts

References

{{OJ da Juiceman 2009 singles Jadakiss songs Swizz Beatz songs Song recordings produced by Swizz Beatz Songs written by Swizz Beatz OJ da Juiceman songs Songs written by Jadakiss Roc-A-Fella Records singles Ruff Ryders Entertainment singles Def Jam Recordings singles