Boongie Drop

Album: Black and White America (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • This slice of dancehall is a track from Black and White America, the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz. The song features Jay-Z and DJ Military and was inspired by a dance night at a restaurant Kravitz frequents in the Bahamas.
  • Jay-Z's verse smoothly rides the song's island rhythm. "When I wrote 'Boongie Drop' I heard a rap in the middle, and I immediately heard Jay's voice," Kravitz told Billboard magazine. "We had collaborated twice before, so I called him and when I went to New York I put him on the track."
  • Kravitz explained the song's meaning to MTV News: "Well, 'boongie' is a Bahamian word for ass. But it's not just an ass-shaking song. There's a place down the street from where I live, and on Sunday nights, people come down there and dance," he said. "It's like a red light-bulb, pool-table shack and this DJ, Military. And the thing I found beautiful was that you have these really full-figured Bahamian women showing up there, they know they're beautiful, and they're not buying into the lie, the stereotype of what media says is beautiful. They exude this pride, and the song's about that."
  • The two previous instances that Kravitz worked with Jay-Z were on the track "Storm," from his 2004 Baptism album and playing guitar on the song "Guns & Roses" from Jay-Z's The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse set.

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