“Dinero” by Jennifer Lopez (ft. DJ Khaled and Cardi B)

In the modern iteration of the mainstream music industry, it has become standard for even R&B artists to drop songs that either directly or indirectly allude to their enviable wealth.

And “Dinero” is definitely of the former variety, with J-Lo being able to revel in the fact that she is indeed paid. No, she may not get really specific in her boastings. But anyone who is familiar with her, as most listeners of this song are bound to be, know that she is one of the most-successful musicians in the world.

Furthermore when she boasts of her and her man stacking paper “up to the ceiling”, such can be taken literally, if one decides to go there, considering that she and Alex Rodriguez, whom she was dating at the time, were collectively worth nearly $1 billion.

And the second verse follows along a similar theme, i.e. being focused on the vocalist’s wealth. The primary difference is that this passage around, Jenny notes that she doesn’t even associate with people who ain’t paid like that.

DJ Khaled

And on the choruses in between that’s when DJ Khaled, a master of adlibbing, buttressing the singer’s desire for even more “cash flow”, which we can perhaps say is the thesis sentiment of the song.

Cardi B

And as far as Cardi B’s contribution, it’s almost like once you’ve heard one of her verses you’ve heard them all. And that’s not meant to be an insult, as this particular passage reads like one of more-impressive outings.

But rather what we’re saying is that she doesn’t stick as much to the titular subject, money, as her collaborators do. Rather she also deviates to some of her other favorite subject matters, such as highlighting that her “box” has “the most flavor”.

And readers familiar with Cardi B likely don’t need us to explain what said “box” is. Also, she starts things off by throwing shade at haters who “talk behind (her) back” but don’t have the guts to say the same thing “in (her) face though”, with beefing also being one of her quintessential specialties.

But in terms of keeping within the main theme of the song, the rapper lets it be known, in her own colorful way, that she’s on top of her money game. However, on a different note, she does drop perhaps the most-memorable line of the entire song in closing out the verse. And that is when she acknowledges that whereas “Jenny”, i.e. J-Lo, may be “from the block”, Cardi herself is “from the pole”, with that latter analogy pointing to the fact that she was formerly a professional stripper.

Conclusion

So in actuality, even though it may sound like we were dissing her earlier, Cardi’s verse is actually more-versatile than the entire rest of the song combined. That is to the say that as for everything outside of it, the lyrics are more or less laser-focused. And what they center on is not only the vocalist(s) wealth but also the fact that she is looking forward to generating a lot more.

Summary (What “Dinero” is all about)

“Dinero” is a widely known Spanish word for money. And money is pretty much what this song, in varying capacities, centers on.

Music Video

Joseph Kahn directed the music video to this song, with the visual being a black-and-white affair. And keeping within the overall theme, its production was highlighted by the fact that throughout the clip, J-Lo rocked nearly $5,000,000 worth of jewelry directly from Tiffany’s.

Is “Dinero” J-Lo’s first collaboration with Cardi B?

This tune was Jennifer Lopez’s first collaboration with Cardi B. The both of them, as you are perhaps aware, are of Hispanic/Caribbean descent. Actually the former traces her ancestry to Puerto Rico and the latter Trinidad and the Dominican Republic. And it was actually at J-Lo’s personal request that Cardi was enlisted to participate.

However, Lopez had officially worked with DJ Khaled, who traces his own parentage back to Palestine, prior. And that was when he remixed her 2014 track “I Luh Ya Papi”. And to note, Khaled jumped on “Dinero” somewhat late in its production stage.

In addition to Khaled, the track’s other producer is TBHits, a hitmaker from Pittsburgh.

“Dinero” Credits

Both DJ Khaled and TBHits are also graced with songwriting credit for this track, as is Cardi B.  And the other writers of “Dinero” are as follows:

• Mohombi
• Yei Gonzalez
• Jermaine Denny
• Alexander Prado
• Luis Kalaff
• Scootie
• DaniLeigh

More Facts about “Dinero”

This track, which is recited partially in Spanish, proved to be a notable hit in the Latin American countries Mexico, the DR and Puerto Rico. In the latter case it topped the Monitor Latino chart. Such love probably has something to do with the fact J-Lo namedrops “Puerto Rico” as well as its capitol, “San Juan”, in the second verse.

And relatedly, it also proved to be a number one hit on Billboard’s US-based Latin Airplay chart, in addition to being certified gold stateside.

The official release of this song transpired on 17 May 2018. The song is a product of Epic Records and Nuyorican (i.e. New York Rican) Production. The latter entity was founded by J-Lo and her day-one manager, Benny Medina. Interesting to note is that Medina’s own parents are actually from the DR.

J-Lo and her team released the track as a non-album single.

The first time Lopez performed this song live was in Las Vegas. The event took place at the 2018 edition of the Billboard Music Awards.

Concerning Lopez, aka “Jenny”, being “from the block”, that is a shoutout to what is perhaps her best-known song on the streets, which is 2002’s “Jenny from the Block”.