One of the high points of Darius Rucker’s career? That would be getting name dropped in a Notorious B.I.G. song.
The country music star that brought the world “Alright” and “Wagon Wheel” (a cover, to be clear) recently shared a fun fact with the world, and it has to do with his time in the band Hootie & The Blowfish. In case you didn’t know, Rucker and some of his college friends at the University of South Carolina formed the band in 1986, and besides a break from 2008 to 2019, they’ve been together ever since.
The name actually came from a few college buddies, one who was nicknamed “Hootie” because of his big round glasses, and the other was named “Blowfish,” because of his big cheeks. So one day when they came walking up together, Rucker said “It’s Hootie & the Blowfish,” and the rest is history. Of course, when Darius hit the solo country music scene with his debut album in 2008, people referred to him as Hootie.
He’s made it very clear that he is not Hootie. The only exception Rucker would probably make? When Biggie referenced Hootie & The Blowfish in one of his iconic songs that released in 1997. During a recent photoshoot, the song “Mo Money Mo Problems” just so happened to come on, and the camera was rolling when Darius said this to those in the room:
“Y’all know we get a shoutout in this song, right? Listen.”
The room went quiet so they could listen for the Hootie & The Blowfish shoutout. Sure enough, towards the end of the first verse, the Notorious B.I.G. laid out this line:
“Cudda schooled me to the game,
now I know my duty
Stay humble, stay low, blow like Hootie”
Even just hearing it again in that moment got Darius Rucker a little flustered. He went on to tell everyone that was there for the photoshoot that being shouted out by the legendary hip-hop artist was a highlight of his career:
“That’s one of my claims to fame. Biggie wrote the lyric. He’s saying, ‘Stay humble, stay low, blow like Hootie.’ Blow up up like Hootie and the Blowfish. Stay humble and stay low.”
I think it’s important to point out that Rucker was smiling ear to ear when he said that part.
The country star and frontman of Hootie & The Blowfish (who, again, is not Hootie) says that he was driving down the road when he heard the song the first time and had to pull over after he heard Hootie being name dropped:
“The first record is one of my four favorite records of all time. This record came out, I heard it driving down the road. I had to pull over to the side. I freaked out. I had to go to a record store to get a CD single. I went, ‘Oh my God, he said Hootie.’ Ran it to the boys.”
@dariusrucker Stay humble, stay low, blow like Hootie. #biggie @hootieofficial ♬ original sound – dariusrucker
Speaking of “the boys” that make up the rest of Hootie & The Blowfish.
Rucker recently said in an interview that he’s planning on retiring sooner rather than later. And when the time comes, he wants to go out with a bang, and go back out on the road with Hootie and the Blowfish, I’m sure that would make the news of his retirement easier to digest for his fans.
From how Darius Rucker spoke about retiring, there’s no version of the story where he doesn’t get Hootie back together for one last hoorah when he decides to bow and exit the stage for the last time. He knows the perfect place for he and Hootie and the Blowfish’ finale:
“If we call it, I’ve got to do one more Hootie thing. We have to finish at Williams-Brice Stadium. Our last show, when we say we’re done, it’s gotta be at Williams-Brice Stadium (in South Carolina).”
And dare I say that it would be the perfect finale if he and the band walked out to… “Mo Money Mo Problems” by the Notorious B.I.G.?
