Format CD, digital download Length 3:41 | Genre Hip hop | |
Released March 11, 2008 (2008-03-11) (radio)
April 23, 2008 (2008-04-23) (digital) Label Cash Money, Universal Motown Writer(s) Dwayne Carter, Jr., Shondrae Crawford, Quentin Cook, C. Hester | ||
"A Milli", abbreviated occasionally as "Milli", is a song by American hip hop recording artist Lil Wayne. The song was released February 13, 2008 as the second official single from his highly acclaimed sixth album Tha Carter III.
Contents
Background
The original version leaked early on several mixtapes. Then, a second version, with the first two verses from the original version, a verse from Cory Gunz and the final verse from the album version, was released prior to the album version. "A Milli" was played several times when sampling the record before its release, and was originally slated to appear on Tha Carter III in multiple versions as "skit-like" tracks, featuring artists such as Tyga, Cory Gunz, Hurricane Chris, and Lil Mama though the tracks never made the final cut. They were rumored to appear on the re-release of Tha Carter III, until Wayne revealed that the aforementioned album would be a rap rock album called Rebirth with no connection to Tha Carter III. "A Milli" was ranked the #1 Hip-Hop song of 2008 by MTV. The song samples "Death & Destiny" by Switch Tha Weirdoo and "Don't Burn Down the Bridge" by Gladys Knight & the Pips.
Music video
The music video was shot on June 23, 2008, in Los Angeles, California, (the same day as the video for "Got Money").
The video premiered on 106 & Park July 2, 2008. It consists of Lil Wayne preparing for the shoot of his following single "Got Money". The video, which was directed by Dayo Harewood, Dwayne Carter (Lil Wayne himself) & Jeff Panzer, features appearances by Birdman (giving Wayne his brand new car for his record sales), Lil Twist, T-Streets, Gudda Gudda, Kidd Kidd and Brisco.
Critical reception
The song won the Best Rap Solo Performance at the 2009 Grammy Awards.
Blender ranked this the #1 song of 2008.
Rolling Stone named it the 10th best song of 2008, and the 63rd best song of the 2000s.
Time critic Josh Tyrangiel named this the #4 song of 2008.
The song was also ranked as the number one of 2008 in the MTV News Bigger Than the Sound poll.
Complex magazine ranked this the #31 greatest Hip Hop beat of all time
Remix
The official remix, dubbed "A Milli Freemix", was made by Wayne to thank his fans, celebrating his first week sale of one million copies of Tha Carter III. In the remix, Wayne also hinted at the production of 'Tha Carter IV'.
Chart performance
"A Milli" has peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Lil Wayne's second top ten and second highest peaking song on the chart as a lead artist at the time. It has reached #1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, making it his second number one song on that chart. It was also able to top the Hot Rap Tracks as his previous single "Lollipop". To date A Milli sold 2,053,000 digital copies.
Track listing
- "A Milli" (Clean)
- "A Milli" (Explicit)
- "A Milli" (Instrumental)
- "A Milli" (Acapella)