Ain't IT Funny - Murder Remix

Murder Remix

An alternate version of "Ain't It Funny", called the Murder Remix was recorded by Lopez and American rapper Ja Rule. The remix was written by Lopez, Cory Rooney, Irv Gotti, Ja Rule, Caddillac Tah, and 7 Aurelius, and was produced by Gotti and 7 Aurelius. It was released as the lead single from her remix album, J to tha L-O! The Remixes (2002). The song was also included on the 2002 compilation album Irv Gotti Presents: The Inc. as well as on Ja Rule's greatest hits album Exodus.

The single topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 becoming Lopez's third number-one single and Ja Rule's third number-one single; it also peaked at number four in the United Kingdom. Caddillac Tah also performs on the song and appears on the song's music video, and even has a longer part than Ja Rule. The remix samples Craig Mack's 1994 hit "Flava in Ya Ear". The song spent six weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 from March 9, and followed another Ja Rule duet, "Always on Time" with Ashanti. Ashanti's "Foolish" replaced it at the number-one spot. Ashanti also appears in the video alongside Lopez, Ja Rule, Irv Gotti, Caddillac Tah, and other Inc. members.

The original version of the song appears on Lopez's second studio album, 2001's J.Lo, and was also a single of its own. It was written by Cory Rooney for the soundtrack to Lopez's film The Wedding Planner, but it was felt that the timbales gave it too much of a Latin sound, and the song was not used for the soundtrack. After the success of "I'm Real (Murder Remix)", a previous Lopez–Ja Rule collaboration, they decided to remix "Ain't It Funny" as a duet and release it as a follow-up. Unlike "I'm Real", the two versions of "Ain't It Funny" were released on different dates, and so charted separately. The songs also charted separately because Billboard instituted a new chart policy.

In the Murder Inc. studio then-upcoming artist Ashanti dropped by the studio. "Everyone was there and Ja (Rule) was on the floor playing video games, and they had the beat playing in the background. Chris Gotti, Irv Gotti's brother, said 'Ja's supposed to be writing this record for J-Lo, but it doesn't look like he's going to be doing anything tonight. Why don't you go in there and see what's happening?' So that's exactly what I did", says Ashanti, who wrote three verses and demoed the new "Ain't It Funny" for Lopez. Ashanti recalled, "I got a call from Gotti in Los Angeles. He asked me to write another verse I had to write it over the phone and two-way Irv the lyrics." Virtually the entire hook on the final version of the song consisted of Ashanti's vocals.

The song was placed 62 on Billboard Decade End Songs (2000–09).