When we talk about innovative songs, one of the first songs that should come to mind is “Addictive”. From the song’s infectious beat (DJ Quik) to its catchy lyrics (Static) and powerful vocals (Truth Hurts), there aren’t too many songs that have had the impact this song did. Not only did it explode on the charts, but it helped start a brand new sound in music where we started to hear samples from Middle Eastern/Indian music. Though the song did face a huge lawsuit due to the sampling issues, it is undeniable that this song was a banger, and still is.
In a previous interview we conducted with Truth Hurts, she talked about the creation of “Addictive”. Additionally, when Truth revealed her Top 10 Favorite Songs She Recorded exclusively to us. No surprise, “Addictive” was picked as number 1.
Here is what Truth Hurts had to say about the song.
When Quik did “Addictive”, I actually was not there in the studio with him. I did the vocals with Static. It was a huge process that came along with “Addictive”. When it initially came to me, he called me and said “I got a track for you”. He did the track for MC Lyte, but it didn’t work out for whatever reason and he was like “I think this track goes with what you and Dre are trying to do”. I was like “Alright!”. We went over to the studio and I heard it. I was like “Wow”. I called Dre and played the beat over the phone. He was like “Bring that to me right now. I need to hear that in person!” He heard it and went bananas over it. We called Static and that’s all she wrote.
By the time I got signed to Dre as an artist, I was trying to tell him about Static. He knew nothing about Static. When we first started the record, I was like “Yo, this guy Static from Playa. He’s serious! We have to get him in here to write something”. At the time, Dre was kinda in his cave, he really didn’t know what was going on outside his cave. I tried to talk to him about Static. He didn’t want to hear about what I had to say. Next thing I knew, he was like “Static is going to write Addictive”. I was like “Really? Where did this come from?! How did you get in contact with Static?” and Dre was like “I got my sources. He’s coming in here to write the record”. *Laughs* Static came in and he did it in literally ten minutes and it was a wrap. He sang the melody down first and then he sang the lyrics down to the melody. No paper, no pen and it was all done. It was a hit!
We didn’t expect the song to have the success that it did. Our camp loved it so much, but we were afraid that it would be too different. We didn’t know how people were going to take it. It accidentally had success. We didn’t even push “Addictive”. We kind of just threw it out there. It was weird because a lot of the radio DJs were like “I don’t understand it, but there’s something about it. It’s infectious. It’s growing on me in a crazy way even though I don’t know if I like it yet!”. To have that kind of effect on people, the same effect that it had on us. We loved it, but we weren’t sure if it was going to go. I remember Jimmy Iovine saying that it wasn’t going to do anything and we should probably release the R. Kelly record first. I think that was because he didn’t really understand the record. We didn’t expect it, but we did love it.