The song originated from a King Creole loop, which Basement Jaxx's Felix Buxton had in his back pocket for a long time. He'd tried various people to provide vocals before eventually settling for Scottish rapper Patricia Panther.
Basement Jaxx's Simon Ratcliffe explained the song title to Edge of the Net : "It's a good summery vibe and it's always been called 'Summer Dem' because it felt like a summery track. When we came to think of a title for it, we thought let's leave it at that. 'Summer Dem' is its working title really."
