There are some songs that stop you right in your tracks when they come on. Scratch that — there are some intros to songs that instantly take your breath away, transport you back to a time and make you instantly lose touch with reality in the best of ways.
For those of us of a certain age (i.e. millennials), “Back That Azz Up” by Juvenile and Mannie Fresh is in the pantheon of these tracks. The moment you hear those first eight notes is immediately followed by endless goosebumps. There’s a reason why this beat has been sampled. re-sampled and remixed countless times. You didn’t have to be there in the summer of 1999 when Juvenile’s track came out to know you were hearing greatness, but for those of us who remember those days, it was a seminal time.
Almost 24 years to the day the duo unveiled what Mannie Fresh calls the “greatest love song of all time“, the two got behind NPR’s Tiny Desk for a performance that immediately placed it among the series’ all-time greats.
Warning: NSFW Language (Obviously)
And, yes, they closed the show with an epic rendition of “Back That Azz Up” featuring Jon Batiste and Trombone Shorty that was so good the crowd demanded they play it again and the band obliged.
It’s guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.