"I Like It Like That" is a song written by Tony Pabon and Manny Rodriguez. It was initially a hit for boogaloo musician Pete Rodriguez in 1967, and was one of the most influential boogaloo songs of the era. Rodriguez released an album in 1967 with the same title.
Background
Tony Pabon and Manny Rodriguez originally wrote "I Like It Like That" in 1967. Tony Pabon sang the vocals for the song, while the instrumentals were performed by Pete Rodriguez Orchestra. The recording was engineered by Fred Weinberg at National Recording Studios in New York City and produced by Roulette Records producer Morrie Pelsman, also known as Pancho Cristal, for Roulette Records. Part of the recording used many of the musician's kids chanting "Ahh Bibi!" which seemed to add to the excitement of the song. At the request of Pancho Cristal, Weinberg delivered a copy to Roulette Records' owner, Morris Levy. According to Weinberg, "Levy wanted the kids that were singing on the song removed as they sounded out of tune", however, by that time a copy of the song was also delivered to a disk jockey named Symphony Sid at WEVD. Symphony Sid's show had a huge diverse audience. The record had hit the airwaves at WEVD and requests by listeners poured in. At the suggestion of Weinberg, Morris Levy left the kids singing in the recording.
The song was covered by Latin supergroupThe Blackout All-Stars, under the title "I Like It", from volume 1 of the soundtrack to the 1994 filmI Like It Like That. The song was the group's only recording, as well as their only release to chart, peaking at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. It was also used in the French movieLes Dalton when the Dalton brothers travel to Mexico to face a super machine gun to for removing the magic hat.
Background
The Blackout All-Stars was a one-off musical supergroup, consisting of various Latin music artists: Ray Barretto, Sheila E., Tito Puente, Tito Nieves, Paquito D'Rivera, Dave Valentin and Grover Washington Jr. The group was originally formed in 1994 to record the song "I Like It", the title song for the film I Like It Like That. Lead vocals were done by Nieves, while the rest of the group provided instrumentals or background vocals to the song. The song was later placed in volume 1 of the soundtrack to the film, and released as a single to promote the soundtrack. 12" and CD maxi singles were released, but the song failed to gain any popularity.
Resurgence in popularity
In 1996, roughly three decades after the song's original release, Burger King used the song in a commercial promoting their "Have it your way" slogan. Following its inclusion in these commercials, a remixed version of the song started to pick upradio airplay. The song then started to climb the U.S. Billboard charts, peaking at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song's accompanying music video started to gain rotation on music video networks such as MTV and VH1. CD singles were also released. In 1997, Tito Nieves, the lead singer of the song, re-recorded the song on his album, I Like It Like That.
Aftermath of the group
The Blackout All-Stars remained one-off, despite the song's renewed popularity. Grover Washington Jr. died on December 17, 1999, of a heart attack. Tito Puente died of heart failure on May 31, 2000, as did Ray Barretto on February 17, 2006.
Critical reception
Jeremy Helligar of Entertainment Weekly gave the song a B, saying it was a "swinging number" and that "only a hopeless couch potato could possibly not like it."
Formats and track listings
;12" 45 single
"I Like It" — 5:39
"I Like It" — 6:56
;12" single A1 "I Like It" – 7:03
A2 "I Like It" – 6:19
B1 "I Like It" – 4:51
B2 "I Like It" – 3:47 ;12" promo single A1 "I Like It" – 7:03
