The release of "I'm Real (Murder Remix)" shifted Lopez toward a more pure R&B sound, with "Complex" writing that "J.Lo" led to her "embracing hip-hop adjacent vibes, an aesthetic she’d stick with for the early part of the decade." Speaking of the remix, Ja Rule stated, "It's J. Lo now because of 'I'm Real'. It's gonna put her in another zone. After this one, they gonna be expecting hot crossover R&B joints from J. Lo. They ain't gonna want the pop version of J. Lo no more, they gonna want the 'I'm Real' version." Shemesh stated that the success of Lopez's collaboration with Ja Rule "helped cement the lasting power of the pop/hip-hop composite", and regarded "J.Lo" as "contributing to the trajectory of early 2000s music". Writing for "Entertainment Tonight", Chris Azzopardi also noted that the song "would influence future rap-pop collaborations" and laid "the foundation for Lopez's R&B-influenced music career." The accompanying music videos for "I'm Real (Murder Remix)" and "Love Don't Cost a Thing" are considered iconic, while the latter song inspired the title of the 2003 film of the same name.