Jennifer Lopez's Hustle to the Top

We off the block this year, went from a little to a lot this year! Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’ll be looking at Jenny from the Block’s Hustle to the Top. Jennifer Lopez likes to stress her humble beginnings, which take us to the Bronx in 1969 where and when she was born. Her parents, Guadalupe Rodríguez and David López, were both Puerto Rican and the family struggled financially when Jennifer was young, living in the Castle Hill neighborhood in an apartment that wasn’t exactly sizable considering they had three children. When she was slightly older, they were able to afford a larger two storey home, which they considered a major accomplishment at the time. Jennifer and her two sisters sang and danced at home, putting on performances for their parents, which Guadalupe encouraged in order to keep them out of trouble. In her youth, Jennifer had training in both singing and dancing, but as she got older she focused more on sports and athletics. But near the end of high school, she became more interested in acting, and got a part in a small movie called “My Little Girl,” which was released in 1986. This was when she began to have dreams of becoming a movie star. She did some more acting in local musical productions, but her first break came when she was hired to dance with the New Kids on the Block in 1991. Soon after, she was cast as one of the “Fly Girls” on the show “In Living Color”, which is where her career really began. During this time, she also toured with Janet Jackson as a backup dancer. But she had higher hopes than being in the background... She continued to act throughout the mid ‘90s, earning small roles in movies. But things really took a turn when she was cast in the role of a lifetime, playing singer Selena Quintanilla in a biopic about the performer that began production shortly after her tragic death. The part brought Lopez into the mainstream and even garnered her a Golden Globe nomination for her acting. Not only that, but the part reportedly made her the first Latina woman to earn a $1 million for an acting role. The performance brought her more film roles, where she acted alongside the likes of George Clooney, for example. Not only was she making waves in the world of film, but she was also about to become a star in the world of music. In May of 1999, she released her first single, "If You Had My Love", which skyrocketed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Considering this was her debut single, it was huge that it made it to number one. Her first studio album, “On the 6”, was released in June of the same year, and featured other major hits like “Waiting for Tonight" and "Let's Get Loud". Writing for The Los Angeles Times, Elysa Gardner described the music as, "as seductively emotive as her work on screen". By 2000, Jennifer Lopez was a bonafide star. In February of that year, she attended the 42nd Grammy Awards in a plunging green Versace dress that turned heads and made headlines. In fact, it caused such a stir that it spurred on the creation of what is now one of the internet’s mainstays: Google Images. That’s right, former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, said, “People wanted more than just text. This first became apparent after the 2000 Grammy Awards, where Jennifer Lopez wore a green dress that, well, caught the world’s attention. At the time, it was the most popular search query we had ever seen. But we had no surefire way of getting users exactly what they wanted: J­Lo wearing that dress. Google Image Search was born.” In fact, in 2019 Versace held the fashion show for their Spring 2020 womenswear collection, which happened to be based on Lopez’s 2000 look. Not only that, at the end of the show Lopez herself strutted down the runway in an updated (and even more revealing!) version of the dress. People were shocked that two decades later, she looked just as incredible in it- if not even better! It was in this era that Lopez began being known by her nickname, J. Lo, and released her album of the same name. Though music was still a major focus for her, her success in acting took a new turn. While she had continued to appear in movies throughout her career, it seemed as though she couldn’t quite find her niche. But in the early aughts, she started making romantic comedies, and her fans loved it. In fact, in early 2001, her movie “The Wedding Planner”, where she co starred alongside Matthew McConaughey, was at the top of the box office, while her album “J. Lo” was dominating the charts. This made her the first woman to have a number one movie and album in America at the same time. The following year, she starred in “Maid in Manhattan”, which was a major box office success and the most lucrative film of her career. It was also in 2002 that Lopez released her fragrance, Glow by JLo, which ultimately became the bestselling fragrance in the country despite the fact that hopes for its success were low at the time of its release. During this time, Lopez had entered into a relationship with Ben Affleck, which the press loved, giving them the moniker “Bennifer”. Affleck even appeared, hilariously, in the music video for “Jenny from the Block”. But along with this came the absolute bomb that was “Gigli”, the film that the couple starred in together. It was panned at the time, swept at the Golden Raspberry Awards, and has gone on to be proclaimed as one of the worst movies of all time. While Lopez continued to make movies and music after this, her career undeniably slowed down. In the mid-2000s, she married Marc Anthony and they had twins together, and things seemed quiet for her for years. But it didn’t last long, because by 2011 she was primed for a comeback. It was announced that she would be judging the 10th season of “American Idol”, and around the same time she was named Global Ambassador for L’Oreal. Her time on the show was a success and by the time she was hired to do the 11th season of “American Idol”, sources were saying that she was banking $20 million for the gig. She also released her mega hit single “On the Floor” in 2011, and while the album it was from, “Love?”, didn’t fare as well, it was still considered a major success. By 2016, it was clear she was at the top of her game again when she was given a Vegas residency. With ticket sales across 120 shows grossing more than $100 million, her residency became the 6th most successful of all time. All of this pointed towards Lopez being a major star even into her 40s, but by 2019, she was making a resurgence like no one could have imagined. She starred in the film “Hustlers”, which she also produced, playing an exotic dancer who had to take extreme measures after the 2007-2008 financial crisis. She shone in the film even though she wasn’t the lead, and received many acting accolades, including nominations for Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globe Awards, SAG Awards, and Independent Spirit Awards. While she didn’t get an Oscar nod, her omission from the list of nominees was considered one of the major snubs of the year. That same year, she was named Icon of the Year by GQ, was hired as the face of Coach and got engaged to baseball player Alex Rodriguez. It was also announced that she would be performing during the next year’s Super Bowl halftime show alongside Shakira. In February 2020, many deemed their act to be far more entertaining than the game itself. She received extra praise for looking so incredible while doing the show at the age of 50. We can’t be sure what’s next for this multi-talented performer, but we only see her star continuing to rise.