Half-naked women may be a more powerful force in the music industry than previously thought—an expose by NPR explores how some of the biggest hits on the hip hop charts were born in strip clubs.

“There's nothing like seeing a woman dance to a record. There's records that I hate and when I see a woman dancing I think, ‘It's not that bad.’” DJ Scream said that to reporter Elizabeth Blair as she was on assignment in Atlanta’s biggest clubs. She found that major hits like Lil Jon’s “Get Low” found their first launch amid the city’s steamy adult scene. In fact, strip clubs are so important to many burgeoning hip hop artists that Lil Jon’s gone on record as saying “the butts don’t lie.” In other words, if a woman wants to dance to it, the song is good.

Of course, the dancers themselves—some of them so revered they’re treated like local celebrities—are professional when it comes to the music. As one dancer named Sweet Pea, who moves and shakes it at Atlanta’s Magic City, said, “If it's got a good beat, you can dance to it.”