The rhythm that Knobody produced and eventually became Big Pun’s biggest hit was almost featured in JAY-Z’s discography along with other now-iconic Hip-Hop songs.
Knobody had handed Roc-A-Fella’s Head of A&R, Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua, the song “Still Not A Player” before it became one of many potential hits that JAY-Z was not interested in recording, according to Joshua.
“There’s a lot that didn’t make it, that I tried to force, and then other people used them,” Hip Hop told the R.O.A.D. Podcast. “‘Still Not A Player, I had that. I had ‘Woah,’ I think [Memphis] Bleek passed on that. We had ‘Lights, Camera, Action,’ [JAY] said it was too slow. I was like, ‘What you mean it’s too slow?’”
The 1998 single “Still Not A Player” with Joe was a remix of Big Pun’s 1997 single “I’m Not A Player,” but it ultimately outperformed the original in many respects and rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 list to become Pun’s highest-charting song.
Joe admitted in 2014 that he had no idea the partnership would be as successful as it was.
