I'm Real (Firecracker)

The “father of exotica”, pianist and composer Martin Denny introduced “Firecracker” as the final cut on side A of his 1959 top thirty LP “Quiet Village”. Julius Wechter who wrote “Spanish Flea” and lead The Baja Marimba Band provided vibes, marimba and percussion.

In 1978 Japanese electronic musicians Yellow Magic Orchestra (Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto) released the album “Computer Game” and the single “Firecracker”. That issue peaked at eighteen on the Billboard R&B chart while reaching sixty on the Top One Hundred.

The 2001 Jennifer Lopez album “J.Lo” was re-issued as “J To Tha L-O! The Remixes!” in 2002 with “I’m Real (Murder Mix)” featuring Ja Rule (Jeffrey Atkins) although other that the title it was a completely different track from the “I’m Real” on the 2001 release. The single topped the Billboard chart.