It was released on September 27, 2004, as the lead single from Snoop Dogg's seventh studio album, R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece (2004).

It gained some critical attention for its minimal, extremely sparse production, consisting of tongue clicks, keyboards, a drum machine beat and white noise.

Two songs "Jesus Walks" by Kanye West and "Let's Get It Started" by Black Eyed Peas respectively won the former and latter awards.

It was used in Positive K's 1992 album The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills, in the song "Ain't No Crime."

Clark Kent said "drop it like it's hot" in the song "Cashmere Thoughts" from Jay-Z's 1996 debut album, Reasonable Doubt.

Another song with the same name is "Drop It Like It's Hot", sung by the Big Tymers, and featuring Chilli, Juvenile, and Lac.

[3] Rolling Stone's Tom Moon said "The serpentine down-tempo single 'Drop It Like It's Hot', produced by the Neptunes, links Snoop's slyly exuberant delivery to a relentless dance-floor bounce".

Ironically it may be in some ways more gangsterish than his "Deep Cover" debut in some aspects, but he's so chill about his delivery it doesn't sound the least bit menacing: That's quintessential Snoop for you - hard when you're not looking, but still velvet enough to appeal to the ladies and drive off in a fly Mercedes".

[5] Similarly, AllMusic's David Jeffries stated: "the ultrahot production team the Neptunes' contribution to the killer single 'Drop It Like It's Hot' had been duly noted, but lost in all the chatter was how inspired and on-fire Snoop sounds".