"Space Jam" is a song by American music group

Quad City DJ's Quad City DJ's is an American music group originally consisting of Jay Ski (Johnny McGowan), C.C. Lemonhead (Nathaniel Orange), and JeLana LaFleur who recorded the 1996 hit " C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)", a rap-remix of Barry White's 1974 "Theme ...

from the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

of the 1996 film of the same name, serving as the theme song. It was successful in the United States, peaking at number 37 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Background and recording

A&R and then-Senior Vice President of

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

Craig Kallman Craig Kallman is an American entrepreneur and former DJ. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Atlantic Records. His career in music began in the 1980s as a DJ in Manhattan. He is the founder of the independent label Big Beat, which was establ ...

wanted Quad City DJ's to create a song for the film, believing they would be the most suitable group for it. The group began developing the song upon his request. In regard to the process, C.C. Lemonhead stated:

Most of it was me by myself working on the track, which I probably spent two weeks on give or take. Vocals we spent like three hours tops. ay Ski'syelling so much we pretty much had to get it on the first or second take before he's too hoarse. Then we'd come back and clean it up later. But I'd say three hours tops, because he knows what he wants when he gets in there. We were trying to figure out what speed we wanted to go with, and experimented with a couple of backtracks. We tried beats with a slower tempo, and one with a lot more rock n’ roll feel—there's a
song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...
that they played at the basketball games. We did experiment because we were on a bigger playing field now—I mean, a
Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...
movie—but we just wanted to explore every option. The song actually turned out way better than I expected at the beginning.

Critical reception

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' gave a positive review of the song: "Didn't get enough of '

C'mon N' Ride It (The Train) "C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)" is a song by American Florida-based musical group Quad City DJ's, released in February 1996 as a single from their debut album, '' Get On Up and Dance'' (1996). It is based on a sample of Barry White's 1974 main th ...

'? Here ya go ... a fitting sequel to that hit. The act hits a lot of the same marks, rattling a booty-bass beat and contagious chants. The added glow of its connection to the successful film 'Space Jam' only adds to the single's programming allure. No sophomore slump here." David Browne of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' called the song "shameless

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...

" of "C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)". Shawn M. Haney of ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' commented "Quad City DJ's create more electricity with an anthem perfect for game play with the song entitled 'Space Jam.'"

Other versions

In 2021, the song was remixed for early trailers of the sequel film '' Space Jam: A New Legacy''. Since its release, the song has also been heavily used in

internet memes An Internet meme, or meme (, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through social media platforms. Internet memes manifest in a variety of formats, including images, v ...

and mashups.

Controversy

In 2023, Watson Music Group, which bought the rights to 'Space Jam' in 2019 from its original songwriters, began suing companies for copyright infringement by using the song without permission.

Charts

References

{{Space Jam 1996 singles 1996 songs Looney Tunes songs Quad City DJ's songs Warner Music Group singles Atlantic Records singles Songs written for animated films Film theme songs Internet memes introduced in 2004