The meaning of “Tight Up Skirt” is simple. On his 1997 dancehall hit, Red Rat talks to a woman whose figure-hugging clothes overwhelm him, and he plays his reaction for laughs.
Each line of the chorus addresses a woman in a different outfit and describes what she does to him. The streaming lyric transcription shows the list: a tight skirt, tight shorts, a tight blouse and jeans.
The jokes depend on exaggeration. He says his head swells until a blood vessel bursts, and his heart speeds up by ten beats.
What the lyrics say
The song opens with Red Rat saying that this woman needs no introduction. The rest of the record keeps coming back to the hook.
Publisher Greensleeves later stated in court that the chorus begins with “Hey you girl inna di tight up skirt!”, and its complaint counted the phrase and its variations as a “core musical feature” of the song with 18 occurrences throughout the record.
In the verses he admits he can’t control his lust and that he has to hide in a car with tinted windows. He says her dancing drives the whole Main Street Crew crazy.
Main Street Records was the label of his mentor, Danny Browne. According to Red Rat’s official biography, Browne, the producer and CEO of Main Street Records, noticed him when he was performing on the local school circuit.
In one key line, Red Rat says that even though it is hard for him, he will end up giving his girlfriend “bun.” Patois guides explain the slang: to give bun is to cheat, and to get bun is to be cheated on.
So the verse is a confession. The woman in the tight skirt is tempting enough that the narrator expects to cheat on his own partner.
The song works as comedy as much as flirtation. AllMusic describes Red Rat’s appeal as coming from his semi-comical lyrics, spoiled brat delivery, and frequent intonations of “Oh no!” “Tight Up Skirt” uses that catchphrase all the way through.
The story behind the song
Red Rat was born Wallace Wilson in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica on January 17, 1978. His stage name came from a comment by labelmate Degree, who said Wilson’s complexion was red and he looked like a rat.
His official biography says that in 1996, after graduating from Meadowbrook High, he moved full steam ahead under Browne’s guidance and released a string of hit singles.
Tight Up Skirt” was produced by Andrew ‘Buccaneer’ Bradford on his Mad Lion Riddim, which included other songs like Goofy’s Buff Bay, Ghost’s Mixup Situation, and Buccaneer’s Plenty More Gal.
Some credit databases give a different producer name. Discogs credits Andrew Bradford and Classical People as producers, and WhoSampled lists Classical People.
Sources also disagree on when the song first came out. Most give 1997, but Discogs lists a Jamaican 7″ on Opera House (OPE 0014) dated 1996, along with a 1997 Greensleeves 12″ in the UK.
The song then appeared on Red Rat’s album Oh No… It’s Red Rat, which was released by Greensleeves in 1997. One outlet puts the album’s release on August 27 1997.
According to the artist’s website, the album quickly became one of Greensleeves Records‘ greatest selling albums, making him the first artist on the label to hit “Gold” status. That claim comes from the artist’s own camp and has not been independently confirmed.
Samples and the Chris Brown lawsuit
Red Rat’s website calls the track one of the most sampled Dancehall songs to date. WhoSampled lists uses including Chris Brown’s Privacy (2017) and Samantha J’s Tight Skirt (2013).
Another outlet dates Samantha J’s song to 2012, so sources differ on that year. Other uses include Nadia Rose, who incorporated the entire chorus for her song “Tight Up”, and Metro Boomin’s “Link Up” with Toian, Don Toliver and Wizkid from the Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse soundtrack.
In 2023, BIA used Red Rat’s “Oh No” and “Ayy, you, girl, inna di tight up skirt” as the hook of her song “Oh No.
“Privacy” led to a lawsuit. In July 2021, Greensleeves Publishing sued Brown and Sony Music in New York federal court.
It said the chorus line “Hey you girl without a tight up skirt!” copied the original and asked for “an amount in excess of” US $1,500,000 in actual damages plus interest.
Brown’s lawyers argued that any similarities involved ‘commonplace, unprotectable elements; exist in prior art; are a de minimis [immaterial]; and/or constitute a fair use’.
Reports give different dates for the settlement. In a September 8, 2022 letter, the parties told the judge they “have reached a settlement in principle, which fully resolves the matter.”
A 2024 DancehallMag report said the company agreed to settle the case before trial in June 2023. Greensleeves said that all the writers of ‘Tight Up Skirt’ represented by Greensleeves share in the copyright of the song ‘Privacy.’
Red Rat’s attorney, Merrick Dammar, said the artist was left out of the process. He told DancehallMag in 2024: “In fact, when we reached out to Greensleeves/VP, we were totally ignored and left out of the equation.”
