Hot Minute

For the life of me, I do not understand the phrase hot minute. I even Urban Dictionaried it, and i am still lost.
"Gawd boy, haven't seen you in a hot minute!"... wtf? I know what this is TRYING to say, but that makes no damn sense.
I understand HOT. Temperature we are all familiar with.
and I also understand MINUTE. Amount of time we all understand. But how on earth does a hot minute mean a lengthy amount of time?! Apparently this is commonly used, and apparently this is the sequence:

MINUTE= its been a long time. (longer than 60 seconds, but not 'hot minute' length. assuming this means days) ex- "Haven't been there in a minute"...meaning 3 days. (??)

HOT MINUTE= its been a LONG time. (seems to be weeks or months?) ex-"I have eaten a push up pop in a hot minute"... meaning months.

-when i hear someone say 'minute' I auto-think of a 60 second time frame. When referring to days, why not say "I have not heard from you in days?" Soooo much less confusing, and the un-ghetto can follow what you are trying to say.-

I first came across this statement when someone facebooked me and told me they had not "talked to me in a minute." immediately I looked at my phone to see if I had accidentally text this person. nope. Confused, I let it go.
Let it go until yesterday when I came across another confusing facebook incident. This was the "boy I have not seen you in a hot minute." That's when it clicked. Stupidest saying ever is a popular one. and I cant for the life of me understand where it came from, or how it makes sense.

Perhaps next I will see that a "cold second" means a years length of time.

Just confused. Anyone have any information on this stupid phrase? You will never catch me saying it in any kind of seriousness.