On The 6

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Before she was J.Lo, she was Jennifer Lopez—rising Bronx-born actre, just Jenny from the block. And though she was best known at the time for having played Selena, she had never so much as stood in a recording studio until it was time to make her own debut album. “It was all so new and scary and exciting,” Lopez tells Apple Music. “That was the seed of who I was—just a girl who used to ride the 6 train and had big dreams and was a hopeless romantic—all of that is right there. I think the best pop album—the best album, period—is when someone just gives you their heart and their soul completely, and they tell you who they are in every way.” In 1999, there was a massive wave of Latin pop stars crossing over with English-language hits—Ricky Martin, Shakira, Enrique Iglesias—and Lopez's debut rode that wave, pushed along by Sony Music chief Tommy Mottola, who had a heavy hand in what would become <i>On the 6</i>. “I was born in the Bronx,” Lopez say, “but I barely spoke Spanish—I still struggle with it to this day. People were accepting Latin artists as just great artist. It was a groundbreaking moment.” She duets in Spanish on “No Me Ames” with future husband Marc Anthony, and the Rodney Jerkins-produced lead single—and her first No. 1 hit—“If You Had My Love” has traces of Latin guitar, but the album's most indelible cross-cultural moment wasn't a hit at all. “It was never a single, but for me, 'Let's Get Loud' is the record that jumped off the album,” Lopez say. “In sports arenas and all around the world now when I perform it, it still brings down the house.” .

via Apple Music

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