# I Like to Move It

"I Like to Move It" is a song by American solo project Reel 2 Real (Erick Morillo), featuring ragga vocals by Trinidad and Tobago rapper The Mad Stuntman (Mark Quashie). Released by Strictly Rhythm in October 1993 as the second single from the project's debut album, Move It! (1994), it appeared on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1994, peaking at number 89, and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart the same year. It was a number-one hit in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Zimbabwe. On the Billboard Dance Club Play chart, it peaked at number eight.
At the second International Dance Awards in 1995, it won the award for Best Tune of the Year. Its music video was directed by Craig K. McCall and filmed in New York City.
The song was adapted in a Spanish version by Dominican merengue-house duo Sandy & Papo, as "Mueve, mueve", in 1995. In 2021, it was reworked in a remix version by Tunisian DJ-producer duo, Outrage and Spanish DJ and vocalist Alejandro under the title, "Move It".

## Background and release

Trinidadian-born American singer-songwriter The Mad Stuntman (a.k.a. Mark Quashie) took his moniker from the 1980s action/adventure television program The Fall Guy. He was introduced to Colombian-American producer/DJ Erick Morillo by Panamanian reggae artist El General. Morillo was looking for an act to be featured on his upcoming single "Go on Move" and to ultimately join him on tour as a group. "Go on Move" peaked at number six on the US Billboard Dance Club Play chart, which began Reel 2 Real featuring The Mad Stuntman's ascent into popular mainstream music. Morillo made a new track and Quashie wrote the lyrics for it. He has said that "I Like to Move It" is an anthem song for women, telling them that they are beautiful without using any makeup, and that it took him five minutes to write the lyrics.
In studio Morillo told Quashie to go into the vocal booth and try to come up with hooks. He tried different hooks and kept on repeating the line I Like to Move It, Move It, using the deep voice, while in the verses, his regular voice is used. Morillo would take the best parts of what he was saying and created the hook. To reply on the repeated line, Morillo and two other guys would add the Move It!. The verses of the song are performed in a reggae style. Morillo suggested Quashie to repeat and take certain parts from his lyrics and sing them repeatedly wherever he felt he wanted to do it while recording. Released in the fall of 1993, "I Like to Move It" was picked up by Positiva Records in the UK and started climbing on the charts in Australia, Canada, Europe, Southeast Africa and the US. It became the group's most commercially successful and recognizable song.

## Critical reception

In 2020, an editor from AllMusic stated that Reel 2 Real's "I Like to Move It" "still sounds as hot today as it did when it first came out in 1993. The pulsing synths and sirens of the song made for an instant wall shaker." Larry Flick from Billboard noted that here, "Reggae beat sensibilities are woven around loose house and rave keyboards. The Mad Stuntman toasts with predictable speed, cutting through the fairly thick groove with a raspy edge. His energy transforms what could have been a laid-back record into a rousing peak-hour anthem." Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian complimented its "growly catchiness". In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton wrote, "Straight from nowhere come Reel 2 Real to become the first dance act for several months to charge straight into the Top 10 without a previous hit to their name." David Hemingway from Melody Maker viewed it as "a sonic equivalent of the tango advert — equal parts irritant/wonderful pop song."
The magazine's David Bennun commented, "The result is ridiculously, naggingly, excruciatingly simple, as you will have no doubt come to realise by the time it turns up on the radio for the 19th time that day and you put your boot through the dial." Another Melody Maker editor, Sarra Manning, praised the song as "god-like genius". Maria Jimenez from Music & Media remarked that the "boomin'" and "grinding scorcher is gaining much audience and radio support on this side of the ocean." Andy Beevers from Music Week gave the song four out of five, adding, "Originally released by Strictly Rhythm, this inspired combination of NY house rhythms and The Mad Stuntman's ragga rhymes has been generating plenty of interest on import." Another Music Week editor, Alan Jones, complimented it as a "fierce ragga house anthem". James Hamilton from the Record Mirror Dance Update named it a "madly happy gruff ragga rapped bogle/soca-style leaper". Gareth Grundy from Select wrote, "As idiot pop goes, it doesn't come more dafter — or more effective — than the title track of this album."

## Chart performance

"I Like to Move It" peaked at number one on the singles chart of Belgian Flanders, France, Greece and the Netherlands. The single entered the top 10 in Austria, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100 and European Dance Radio chart, where it peaked at numbers two and three, respectively. In the UK, it topped the UK Dance Singles Chart on February 26, 1994. Outside Europe, "I Like to Move It" peaked at number one on the Canadian RPM Dance/Urban chart and in Zimbabwe. It entered the top 10 in Australia and on the US Billboard Dance Club Play chart. On the Billboard Hot 100, the single reached number 89. In New Zealand, it was a top-20 hit, peaking at number 14.
"I Like to Move It" was awarded with a gold record in Australia (35,000), France (250,000), Germany (250,000), the Netherlands (50,000), and the United Kingdom (400,000).

## Music video

The accompanying music video for "I Like to Move It" was directed by Craig K. McCall. It was shot in New York City, with notable filming locations including Times Square and Flatbush. It was really cold on the day the video was filmed, like 20 below and The Mad Stuntman was freezing, using no coat. Dele Fadele from NME noted that it featured "the mock-crazy ragga chatter dancing in the streets of New York with one trouser-leg rolled up." The video received heavy rotation on MTV Europe and was A-listed on Germany's VIVA.

## Usage in the Madagascar franchise

Many versions of the song have frequently been used throughout the Madagascar franchise, with many of them with lyrics changed or altered to match with each film's plot and the film's subject matter (usually replacing "sexy" with "sassy"). The first film used a version recorded by Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien, the second film used a version by will.i.am, who played Moto Moto, and the third film used a mix-up with the original tune "Afro Circus" in the number "Afro Circus/I Like to Move It". The "I like to move it" part was sung by Baron Cohen in the film while Danny Jacobs, who voices King Julien in the spinoff TV series and games, sang it on the soundtrack; both versions alongside Chris Rock as Marty on the "afro circus" part. The original version appeared in the first and last episode of the Madagascar Netflix series All Hail King Julien and the "Afro Circus/I Like to Move It" tune was played near the start of the Madagascar spin-off film Penguins of Madagascar. Jacobs, as Julien, also sang a Christmas song called "Santa Claus Is Coming to Madagascar", a modified cover of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" which uses a similar beat as "I Like to Move It" in Merry Madagascar. The song was also included in the stage adaptation of the film, sung again by King Julien.

## Accolades

| Year | Publisher | Country | Accolade | Rank |
| 1995 | International Dance Awards | United Kingdom | "Tune of the Year" | 1 |
| 2011 | MTV Dance | United Kingdom | "The 100 Biggest 90's Dance Anthems of All Time" | 53 |
| 2013 | Vibe | United States | "Before EDM: 30 Dance Tracks from the '90s That Changed the Game" | 23 |
| 2018 | ThoughtCo | United States | "The Top 100 Best Party Songs of All Time" | 73 |
| 2024 | Billboard | United States | "The 100 Greatest Jock Jams of All Time" | 92 |

## Certifications

| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| Australia (ARIA) | Gold | 35,000$^^$ |
| France (SNEP) | Gold | 250,000$^*$ |
| Germany (BVMI) | Gold | 250,000$^^$ |
| Netherlands (NVPI) | Gold | 50,000$^^$ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ) will.i.am version | Platinum | 30,000$^‡$ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Gold | 400,000$^‡$ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) will.i.am version | Silver | 200,000$^‡$ |
| $^*$ Sales figures based on certification alone. $^^$ Shipments figures based on certification alone. $^‡$ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |||

## Release history

| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) |
| United States | October 1993 | 12-inch vinyl | Strictly Rhythm |
| United Kingdom | January 31, 1994 | 12-inch vinylCD | Strictly RhythmPositiva |
| United Kingdom | February 7, 1994 | 7-inch vinylcassette | Strictly RhythmPositiva |

## Other media appearances

The song appeared in the films The Master of Disguise and Saving Silverman. The song appeared in the American Dad! episode "The Dentist's Wife".
A reworked parody version, titled "I Like to Shake It, Shake It", was used in an April 2018 commercial for the dishwasher brand Fairy. It was posted on their official British YouTube channel, but it was since deleted.
The song has also been used in numerous other advertisements and was used in the video games SingStar Dance, the first Just Dance, Just Dance: Best Of, Just Dance: Greatest Hits, and Just Dance Kids 2014. It was featured on Just Dance 3 as a downloadable track but became unavailable for purchase following the shutdown of the Wii Shop Channel on January 30, 2019, and the removal of most DLCs from the Xbox 360 Marketplace on August 20, 2023. Basshunter sampled "I Like to Move It" on his 2010 song "Saturday".
In the second season of Norwegian reality singing competition Maskorama, based on the South Korean television series King of Mask Singer, the song was performed in episode three in November 2021. It was performed by the contestant masked as a Nisse, which later was revealed to be Abid Raja.
A new Fortnite dance emote based on the song was introduced on January 28, 2022.
In February 2023, the song was featured in a television commercial for the United States Postal Service.
It was used in the New York Undercover episode "If this world were mine" on Season 2, Episode 26 in the entry montage.