Chamillionaire’s “Ridin” was never supposed to be a hit, yet alone a single!
The Texas native revealed the alarming fact about his iconic 2005 single after completely remixing the track alongside fellow emcee Krayzie Bone for a new CarMax ad.
“Honestly, I never tried to make a hit,” said Chamillionaire during an interview with HipHopDX. “I always was a person who just tried to make something that I thought would resonate with people. And you got to think about this concept. Everybody, it doesn’t matter whether you’re committing a crime or not, when you see police, you feel like you shiver up and put your seatbelt on.”
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Inspiration for "Ridin'"
Although the 42-year-old entertainer turned businessman wasn’t aiming for a smash hit, “Ridin” was more than well-received by the culture, ultimately earning Chamillionaire a multi-platinum track. It’s been 22 years since the song dropped and he’s picking up right where he left off by having fun with his flow.
“You make sure that you’re not breaking any rule, and there was never a theme song for that. I used to feel that feeling all the time, coming from where I come from, because when you’re young and coming up in the urban area, sometimes you’re going to have interactions with police,” Chamillionaire added, further explaining the inspiration for the track, according to HipHopDX.
Talent Always Wins In The End
While the music meant a lot to Chamillionaire due to the sheer fact that he was able to recruit one of his favorite emcees, Krayzie Bone, to lay down a verse on the track, the label did not want to put the money behind it to push the song as a single.
“My first single cost me like $150,000 for the beat, and they wanted me to go spend $250,000 on a Timbaland beat, and I wouldn’t do it,” he recalled during an interview with the outlet. “Then they were forced to have to put out the song that I wanted, which was Ridin’. That didn’t cost that much to make. And then it just went to the world. I remember being in Jamaica and all the kids, they were screaming the song. It was just everywhere I was going because everybody had that relationship with police, and I was just like, ‘OK, we got something here.’”
Check out the rebirth of the track in the new CarMax ad below.
