“Here Comes The Hotstepper” by Jamaican singer Ini Kamoze has surpassed 200 million streams on Spotify. The song which was originally produced by Phillip Fattis Burrel as “Hot This Year/Hot Stepper) in 1990 was remixed with new lyrics by Kamoze and produced with a funkier dancehall beat by Salam Remi for Columbia Record’s “Stir It Up” dancehall album.
Released as a single August 18, 1994, it was the first dancehall song to reach No. 1 on the US Billboard hot 100 chart where it stayed for 2 weeks in December 1994.
Overall the song spent 23 weeks on the chart after it entered in Sept. 17, 1994. It eventually left the chart the week of April 8, 1995.
Remi recalled in 2019 how he met Kamoze in 1991 and made his first Billboard No. 1 hit in a post on Instagram.
“InIKaMoZe….. HereComesTheHotStepper…. Met InI in 91… worked on music from 92-93’….. got offered deals but none stuck. In 94 i got to put this on a compilation that Columbia records was doing called StirItUp. Then i remixed it using HeartBeat to make it single ready,” he posted.
In terms of the promotion, Salam said it was Hot 97 DJs who gave it some airplay initially, “I played the idea i did at the crib for @angiemartinez and @funkflex after #TheFridayNightStreetParty at Hot97. They both said finish that up. And championed it when it dropped. Hot97 and TheBox in Houston jumped it off. My first Hot100 #1 record. International classic.”
The song which is now certified Platinum in the US (1,000,000) and the UK (600,000) disrupted Boyz To Men’s “On Bended Knees” reign at the top of the hot 100 and served as Ini’s comeback song after he was absent for 3 years from the music scene.
Kamoze, born Cecil Campbell was eventually signed to Elektra Records, after Columbia added the song to two projects, but label A&R Maxine Stowe told WMV that “Here Comes Hotstepper” made the Stir-It-Up dancehall compilation album which she executive produced in 1994, because another song was no longer available for the 12 track set.
Carla Marshal – Proud
Ini Kamoze – Here Comes The Hotstepper
Kinky – Flex-N-Dream
Ninjaman – Me A Go Ride
Tony Rebel – Party Jam
Annette Brissett – I Shot The Sheriff
Diana King – Stir It Up
Buckshot LeFonque – Wonders & Signs (Featuring Blackheart)
Rayvon – Slave To The Music
Michael Wolff – No Happy Endings (Featuring K. Dean)
Pinchers – Blessed Assurance
Rebel / Minott / Hammond – Where Is The Love
“We were already reviewing the track (Hotstepper) and made the decision based on another track being removed and we had a pre-existing relationship with Salaam surrounding ‘Ghetto Red Hot’ by Super Cat,” Stowe said.
“Dozens of people came out of the woodwork claiming uncleared samples of the song, so all royalties were frozen. It didn’t stop the use of the song in the ‘Pret A Porter’ Soundtrack along with the compilation as Ini went on to sign with Electra Records where he got a good competitive advance,” Maxine said.
“Pret A Porter” Soundtrack album cover featuring:
Ini Kamoze – “Here Comes The Hotstepper (Heartical Mix)”
Supercat* – “My Girl Josephine”
Salt-N-Pepa* – “Here We Come”
M People – “Natural Thing”
Janet Jackson – “70’s Love Groove”
The Rolling Stones – “Jump On Top Of Me”
Sam Phillips – “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'”
The Cranberries – “Pretty (Remix)”
Eric Mouquet, Michel Sanchez Forming The Group Deep Forest – “Martha”
The Brand New Heavies – “Close To You”
Cece Peniston* – “Keep Givin’ Me Your Love (West End Mix)”
The New Power Generation – “Get Wild”
Terence Trent D’Arby – “Supermodel Sandwich”
U2 – “Lemon (Perfecto Mix)”
Among the persons who laid claim to the song after its chart success include Kenton Nix, Sugar Biscuit, Chris Kenner, West End Records, et al. who demanded up to $750 thousand for the song. The song has been featured on several movie soundtracks since its release including most recently “Sonic The Hedgehog 2” which was released in May.
Editors note: this article was update to state that Hot Stepper was the name of the original song produced by Phillip “Fattis” Burrell. Salaam Remi’s 1994 version of the song has elements of the original 1990 recording.
