Format Digital download Genre Hip hop, hyphy | Recorded 2011 | |
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Released November 29, 2011 (2011-11-29) Length 3:02 (Album version)
3:54 (Remix version featuring Tyga) Label Aspire
Young Money
Cash Money
Republic | ||
"The Motto" is a song by Canadian recording artist Drake. The song features American rapper Lil Wayne and is a digital iTunes Store bonus track from Drake's second studio album, Take Care. "The Motto" premiered on Power 106 on October 31, 2011. Drake released the song on his OVO blog a day later. It was first played on rhythmic top 40 radio stations on November 29, 2011 as the album's fourth single. The song has a connection to the Hispanic/Latino band Aventura.
Contents
The track has sold over 3 million copies in the United States. It peaked atop both the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and US Rap Songs charts, and was ranked 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-end Chart. "The Motto" was nominated for Best Rap Song at the 55th Grammy Awards. The song is one of the few songs to rank within the top 20 in the year-end chart, but to never crack the top ten, due to peaking at number 14. A music video was released on YouTube on February 10, 2012 and features cameos from E-40 and Mistah F.A.B. as well. It directed by Lamar Taylor and Hyghly Alleyne.
Critical reception
The song received universal acclaim from music critics and Drake's verse was also praised by critics. The song received a nomination at the 2013 Grammy Awards
Remixes and freestyles
Chart performance
The song debuted at #18 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with first-week sales of 124,000. In its 22nd week, it ascended to #14. On the week of February 18, 2012, "The Motto" reached No. 1 on the US Rap Chart making it his 12th No. 1 on the chart and extending his lead as the artist with the most No. 1 hits since the chart began.
The song has sold 3,113,000 copies in the US as of April 2013.
Cultural impact
The song uses the phrase YOLO, an acronym for "you only live once". The phrase can be seen in youth culture: for example, a high school prank in Chicago, Illinois, involved high school students chanting "YOLO." Some people have graffitied YOLO on walls. It has become a popular Twitter hashtag. Some youth have said that it is their motto, and actor Zac Efron got a tattoo with the acronym.
Some youth, however, have taken action against the "YOLO" mindset; hip hop artist Joey Bada$$ released a song entitled "Death of YOLO" on his album Summer Knights. The song uses nearly dying in a car accident, a result of the "YOLO" lifestyle, as a metaphor for living making poor decisions.
The hip-hop magazine Da South reported that the rapper Lecrae has deconstructed the motto YOLO in his answer song "No Regrets". The Washington Post describes YOLO as "the newest acronym you'll love to hate". The Huffington Post says: "YOLO is dumb."
The phrase "you only live once" is commonly attributed to Mae West, but variations of the phrase have been in use for over 100 years, including as far back as (the German equivalent of) "one lives but once in the world" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in the play Clavigo in 1774, and as the title of a waltz Man lebt nur einmal! ("You Only Live Once!") by Johann Strauss II in 1855.