xo tour life sales

Lil Uzi Vert’s “XO Tour Llif3” Streamed 1.3 Billion Times, Earns Him Just $900K

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Lil Uzi Vert has one of the hottest songs of the year in “XO Tour Llif3” and the catchy tune has been streamed an amazing 1.3 billion times and counting. While the Philadelphia rap star earned millions for his label, Vert only saw $900,000 despite the track’s epic success.

Vulture published an extremely informative piece this week titled “How A Hit Happens,” zeroing in on the behind the scenes working of how hit songs are made, and ultimately delivered to the public.

Center of the story is Spotify’s Rap Caviar curator Tuma Basa, and the wildly popular playlist has proven that Basa’s ear for seeing hits as they emerge is unmatched. Also crucial to Vulture ‘s piece is the rise of Lil Uzi Vert, and how wildly uneven the potential to earn remains for musicians in a constantly evolving climate.

From Vulture :

The dozen sales and streaming executives gathered in Atlantic’s midtown headquarters, or conferenced in from L.A., have in front of them spreadsheets, sorted alphabetically, filled with streaming data on Atlantic’s urban artists. Most of today’s conversation centers around Atlantic’s two big summer breakouts, Cardi B and Lil Uzi Vert. Apple’s Carl Chery jumped on Cardi early, giving her prime exposure on the A-List: Hip-Hop playlist, and the numbers reflect that: For the week ending August 17, over half of “Bodak Yellow”’s 15 million streams came from Apple Music users. Without top 40 radio airplay, the song has gone to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. As for Lil Uzi Vert, Greenwald makes prayer hands and gives thanks to the rap gods: His debut album, Luv Is Rage 2, is finally set for surprise release that Friday. It’s now been six months since Uzi uploaded “XO Tour Llif3.” Since then, it has been streamed over 1.3 billion times across audio and video platforms. (Industry sources estimate that the label will earn roughly $4.5 million from those streams, out of which Uzi banks over $900,000.) When the album drops, Basa will spotlight six different tracks from Luv Is Rage 2 on RapCaviar. “‘XO”’s not going away either,” he tells me the following week. “It’s still a monster.”

While 900 stacks isn’t small money by any measure, and we should note this is still speculative, it pales to what’s being potentially taken off the top. This doesn’t figure into other deals Vert might launch off, such as touring and merchandise, which considering his popularity might be where the bulk of his money will continue to pour in.

Check out the rest of Vulture ‘s profile here .

Photo: WENN.com

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Songs That Defined the Decade: Lil Uzi Vert’s ‘XO TOUR Llif3’

Billboard is celebrating the 2010s with essays on the 100 songs that we feel most define the decade that was -- the songs that both shaped and reflected the music and culture of the period -- with…

By Bianca Gracie

Bianca Gracie

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Billboard  is celebrating the 2010s  with essays on the 100 songs that we feel most define the decade that was — the songs that both shaped and reflected the music and culture of the period — with help telling their stories from some of the artists, behind-the-scenes collaborators and industry insiders involved.

Lil Uzi Vert

See latest videos, charts and news

The story behind Lil Uzi Vert ’s nihilistic 2017 smash, “XO TOUR Llif3,” is a classic tale of triumph through tragedy. It starts in 2016, when after creating potential hits with Future and Gucci Mane in a Miami studio, producer TM88 was ready to head back to his native Atlanta to master his soon-to-be successes. But he would get caught up in what would become January’s Fort Lauderdale airport shooting, where a perpetrator flew in from Alaska and took the lives of five victims.

“I was trying to board my flight and then we see a stampede of people just running towards us and we just ran on the plane,” he recalls. In the midst of the panic, TM88 let go of all his prized possessions — including the beloved laptop that held all of his hard work. “I ended up just dropping all my shit … I got back home and was like, ‘D–n bro, I have nothing.’”

Trending on Billboard

So he had no choice but to remake all the beats on a cracked computer screen. “I was like, ‘Man, I’m finna make the best beats I’ve ever made in my life.’ I guess God blessed me with ‘XO TOUR Llif3.’”

After receiving a call from Uzi, who was in dire need of inspiration, TM88 dug up one of his old beats and began remixing it. A month later, Uzi surprised fans with the Luv Is Rage 1.5 EP release on SoundCloud. It featured “XO TOUR Llif3,” a song that helped change the course of an entire genre.

Its somber strings ushered in the Philadelphia rapper’s elegy, which put the remains of the cheerful feelings he had on Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” to rest, following the break-up with then-girlfriend Brittany Byrd. “I was speaking authentic on ‘XO Tour Llif3,’” Lil Uzi Vert told Billboard in 2017. “Anyone can relate: I was in a dark space, so I went with it.”

2017 No. 1s: Lil Uzi Vert on How Being 'Authentic' Took 'XO Tour Llif3' to Pop Radio

But it was much more than a dark space usually saved for the deepest corners of one’s diary. The rapper revealed heartache, suicidal thoughts and issues with Xanax abuse to the world. And with a singular lyric — “Push me to the edge/ All my friends are dead” — Uzi temporarily halted the exorbitant themes of rap’s What a Time to Be Alive era.

“I think it affected people in general,” Reggie Rouse, program director at Atlanta radio station V-103, explains. “Whether you’re into hip-hop, R&B or pop, you heard this record on the radio or downloaded the song. You didn’t see a ton of that [at that time] but now it’s par for the course.”

How Rappers Like Lil Uzi Vert & Travis Scott Made Moshing & Metal Tees Mainstream in Hip-Hop

That painfully honest revelation garnered Uzi’s highest-charting single to date (it peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100) and has been certified seven times Platinum by the RIAA. But pushing all of its grand accolades aside, “XO” helped open the floodgates of a surging subgenre: emo-rap. Its influence can be heard in a handful of millennial rappers, from Juice WRLD to the late XXXTentacion. With Uzi (who professed his fandom for Marilyn Manson and created massive mosh pits at shows) at the front line, these new-gen stars took rock’s teen angst and unabashedly claimed it for themselves.

“Lil Uzi changed the whole landscape of where music was starting to go. Ever since [its release], you started seeing more people, even producers use my [melodic] cadences,” TM88 explains. “I feel like the bigger the song got, it just made everybody want to be on that type of sound.”

That experimental sound is what Rouse attributes to the timelessness of “XO Tour Llif3”: “It’s one of those songs that still sounds great on radio. Not every hit can be played 5-10 years down the road and people still nod their heads to it.”

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Lil Uzi Vert Celebrates ‘XO Tour Llif3’ Going Diamond With Iced-Out Roc-A-Fella Chains

Lil Uzi Vert ‘s “XO Tour Llif3” is now diamond, and the Philadelphia rapper celebrated by flexing their collection of flossy Roc-A-Fella chains.

Baby Pluto — who is signed to Roc Nation’s management agency — took to Instagram on Wednesday (December 7) to show off three chains around their neck, featuring the logo of JAY-Z , Dame Dash and Kareem “Biggs” Burke’s now-defunct record label.

“Big boy Roc,” Uzi wrote next to the photos.

“XO Tour Llif3” was officially certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on Wednesday, recognizing at least 10 million units sold in the U.S. The song has actually sold over 11 million copies having also picked up an 11x-platinum plaque the same day.

It marks Lil Uzi Vert’s first diamond single, with the Philly native joining only 11 other rappers who have a diamond solo single to their name, including Drake , Kanye West , Travis Scott , XXXTENTACION , Cardi B , Eminem and Nicki Minaj , among others.

Released in February 2017, “XO Tour Llif3” peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, which was Uzi’s highest-charting single as a solo artist until “Futsal Shuffle 2020” climbed to No. 5 two years later. The song appeared on both their Luv Is Rage 1.5 EP and debut album Luv Is Rage 2 .

DJ Drama — who owns the Generation Now label Uzi is signed to — spoke to TMZ about how the song went from a leak to becoming a commercial success.

“Uzi was on tour overseas with The Weeknd and he lost his phone and it had some music in it,” he began. “We were fearful it was gonna leak out, so he put out a three-pack of three records on SoundCloud – one of them being ‘XO Tour Llif3.’ The reason for the song being called ‘XO Tour Llif3’ was because, you know, he was on tour with The Weeknd at the time.

“And the record just started taking off and moving and moving and moving in real time, and we just watched it go from a leaked record to the biggest record on the planet.”

related news

October 24, 2022

During a 2017 interview, the song’s producer, TM88 , revealed he made the beat using a Beats Pill.

“I had my old computers in Atlanta, and I couldn’t use the speakers because I didn’t have the hook ups,” he told XXL . “And I wanted to make beats so bad, I had a lot in me, I had a lot going on in my head, so I grabbed the Pill, sat down and cooked like a 20 pack. Sent Uzi like 10 or 12 of ‘em, and… ‘XO TOUR Llif3.'”

He continued: “Me and Southside used to make beats in the garage or anywhere we could make beats at. And it was real underground, trapped out crazy. You know, the Gucci, the Waka, all the music from that time frame was real gritty and trapped out and dark. [Producing on the Pill] brings you back down to like, What if I didn’t have speakers and I had to use the Pill? Could I do it?”

Revisit “XO Tour Llif3” below:

In this article

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XO Tour Llif3

• Edit source

The song peaked at number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Lil Uzi Vert's highest-charting single as a solo artist until the release of " Futsal Shuffle 2020 ", which peaked at number five. On December 7, 2022, the song was certified RIAA Diamond selling over 11 million copies, giving them their first Diamond certification and making it the best-selling emo rap song of all-time.

• 1 Background
• 2 Personnel
• 3.2 Year-end
• 4 Certifications
• 7 References

Background [ ]

In January 2016, producer TM88 was flying back to Atlanta to master the tracks. His flight occurred during January's Fort Lauderdale airport shooting, where a gunman killed five people. He recalled, "I was trying to board my flight and then we see a stampede of people just running towards us and we just ran on the plane." In the midst of the panic, he dropped all of his things, including the laptop with his works. When he arrived to his place, he had to recreate the beats. Uzi called him for a beat, so TM88 gave an old beat he remixed, which turned out to be for "XO Tour Llif3". TM88 stated, "Lil Uzi changed the whole landscape of where music was starting to go. Ever since [its release], you started seeing more people, even producers use my [melodic] cadences. I feel like the bigger the song got, it just made everybody want to be on that type of sound." [1] Unfortunately, the producer was never paid by the record label, declaring on January 5, 2018, "Atlantic still ain't paid n—-s shit!" and called them "the worst label in the history of fuck shit!" [2]

Uzi called the song a "throwaway," where they uploaded four songs to their SoundCloud page. Julie Greenwald of Atlantic Records noticed the success based on its streams, saying, "so we raced to get the record out on the proper digital streaming platforms. It exploded." [3]

Personnel [ ]

• Bryan "TM88" Simmons – writer, producer
• Colin Leonard – mastering
• John "JW" Lucas – writer, producer
• Kesha Lee – audio engineer, recording
• Leslie Brathwaite – mixing
• Symere "Lil Uzi Vert" Woods – lead artist, vocals, writer

Year-end [ ]

Certifications [ ], gallery [ ].

[Intro] Are you alright? I'm alright, I'm quite alright And my money's right 8 … (Yeah) Countin' them bands All way to the top 'til they be fallin' over (Yeah, yeah, yeah) Countin' them bands On my way to the top 'til we fallin' over [Chorus] I don't really care if you cry On the real, you should've never lied Should've saw the way she looked me in my eyes She said, "Baby, I am not afraid to die" Push me to the edge All my friends are dead Push me to the edge All my friends are dead Push me to the edge All my friends are dead Push me to the edge [Verse 1] Phantom that's all red, inside all white Like somethin' you ride a sled down, I just want that head My Brittany got mad, I'm barely her man now Everybody got the same swag now Watch the way that I tear it down Stackin' my bands all the way to the top All the way 'til my bands fallin' over Every time that you leave your spot Your girlfriend call me like, "Come on over!" I like the way that she treat me Gon' leave you, won't leave me, I call it that Casanova She say I'm insane, yeah Wanna blow my brain out (Hey) Xanny, help the pain, yeah Please, Xanny, make it go away I'm committed, not addicted, but it keep control of me All the pain, now I can't feel it I swear that it's slowin' me, yeah [Chorus] I don't really care if you cry On the real, you should've never lied Saw the way she looked me in my eyes She said, "I am not afraid to die" (Yeah) All my friends are dead Push me to the edge (Yeah) All my friends are dead, yeah, ooh Push me to the edge All my friends are dead, yeah All my friends are dead, yeah [Verse 2] That is not your swag, I swear you fake hard Now these n*ggas wanna take my cadence (Yeah) Rain on 'em, thunderstorm, rain on 'em (Ooh, yeah) Make some, lil' n*gga, take some (Yeah, yeah) Fast car, NASCAR, race on 'em In the club, ain't got no ones, then we would become (Yeah) Clothes from overseas, got the racks and they all C-Notes You is not a G though Lookin' at you stackin' all your money, it all green though I was countin' that and these all twenties, that's a G-roll [Bridge] She say, "You're the worst, you're the worst" I cannot die because this my universe [Chorus] I don't really care if you cry On the real, you should've never lied Should've saw the way she looked me in my eyes She said, "Baby, I am not afraid to die" Push me to the edge All my friends are dead Push me to the edge All my friends are dead Push me to the edge All my friends are dead Push me to the edge

References [ ]

• ↑ Gracie, Blanca (November 21, 2019). "Songs That Defined the Decade: Lil Uzi Vert's 'XO TOUR Llif3'" . Billboard .
• ↑ Stutz, Colin (January 5, 2018). "Lil Uzi Vert's 'XO TOUR Llif3' Producer TM88 Says Atlantic Records Never Paid Him for the Song" . Billboard .
• ↑ Martins, Chris (December 21, 2017). "2017 No. 1s: Lil Uzi Vert on How Being 'Authentic' Took 'XO Tour Llif3' to Pop Radio" . Billboard .

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TM88 Explains How He Produced Lil Uzi Vert’s “XO Tour Llif3″ on a Beats Pill

On Mon., April 4, the day Atlanta producer  TM88  turned 30, he woke up to the news that Lil Uzi Vert 's "XO TOUR Llif3," which TM produced along with J.W. Lucas , had debuted at No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "I was like man... that's God!" TM tells XXL . "He's helping me out. It’s some shit you really dream about, and then you actually wake up to that shit. It’s crazy."

Two weeks later, the song would shoot up to the No. 8 slot, making it TM's first-ever Billboard top 10 song.

For one of rap's most prolific producers, it's surprising to find out "XO TOUR Llif3" is the first song of TM88's to chart that high. Over the last few years, he's landed production credits on classics for artists like Future ( "Codeine Crazy," "Chosen One" ) and Young Thug ( "Danny Glover," "Ill" ), working hard to constantly stamp his name on new tracks from rap's biggest stars. But while he's produced for over 10 artists in 2017 alone, ranging from pop star Tove Lo  to Miami rapper Smokepurpp , It's Uzi's breakout single that's finding him the most commercial success.

TM88 used Fruity Loops to make the "XO TOUR Llif3" beat on a portable Beats Pill speaker after a wild experience in Florida, where he's originally from. He had flown into his hometown of Miami to work with Future and Gucci on some new music, and while waiting for his return flight to Atlanta from Fort Lauderdale, a shooter opened fire in the terminal next to his. While footage of the shooting quickly went viral online, TM remained stranded in the airport for 10 hours, eventually driving to Miami in order to fly back to ATL. But in the process, he lost his laptop charger, so when he got back to his main studio, he couldn't use the laptop he'd normally hook up to his studio monitors.

"I had my old computers in Atlanta, and I couldn’t use the speakers because I didn’t have the hook ups," he says. "And I wanted to make beats so bad, I had a lot in me, I had a lot going on in my head, so I grabbed the Pill, sat down and cooked like a 20 pack. Sent Uzi like 10 or 12 of ‘em, and… 'XO TOUR Llif3.'"

Before he made the beat, he'd been FaceTiming with Uzi, whom TM considers a good friend. "I was actually at home in my room, smoking and vibing out," the producer, born Bryan Simmons, remembers. "Uzi happened to call me. We were on FaceTime for about an hour, just chopping it up about the industry and what’s going on and how we’re the real rock stars in this. We start a lot of the stuff that goes around. And us having that convo really gave him enough motivation to go in the studio and just go crazy and make a whole bunch of music. I know for a fact 'XO TOUR Llif3' came out of that session."

TM had two beats on Uzi's breakout 2015 project  LUV Is Rage   ( "Queso" and "Lamborghini Dream" with Young Thug), so the two had developed a rapport throughout the years. "We're actually friends. We talk often, all the time," he shares. "We pull up on each other, all that. So we had the convo, and you know how sometimes, you kind of need to talk to one of your friends to get some motivation, like you’re working on projects, and we constantly seeing people stealing energy and shit, so you gotta get around the real energy and get your energy back."

He credits using the Beats Pill for the song's harder, more underground feel—something you don't always get with top of the line speakers. "Me and Southside used to make beats in the garage or anywhere we could make beats at. And it was real underground, trapped out crazy. You know, the Gucci, the Waka, all the music from that time frame was real gritty and trapped out and dark. [Producing on the Pill] brings you back down to like, What if I didn’t have speakers and I had to use the Pill? Could I do it?"

The producer heard the finished track three weeks before Uzi released it, and soon after it dropped, TM knew the song was special. So, he hit DJ Drama and Don Cannon, two of Uzi's managers, to let them know they had to give the song an extra push. According to TM, the song got passed around to five or six different engineers, resulting in the first iTunes mix that fans disapproved of. After seeing the backlash online, they got it to another engineer who restored the original version.

"XO TOUR Llif3" is set to be on Uzi's upcoming  LUV Is Rage 2 project (featuring a secret surprise guest), and TM says he has "over 50-something songs" with the Philly rapper, so expect to see his production on the new project as well. The Atlanta-based producer is also working on EPs with MoneyBagg Yo and Smokepurpp and has been working on new music with The Weeknd, Travis Scott and Migos, to name a few. Plus, he's planning to drop his own solo EP as well as an 808 Mafia project later this year.

"I try not to force it," the beatmaker states when asked who else he wants to work with. "Like when labels try to put me in studios with artists, it’s kind of like a boot camp. I’m like bro, I’m not going, because I want it to be more organic."

Like Metro Boomin, he hopes to expand his own brand as a producer this year. "The TM brand, it’s getting bigger," he affirms. "I’m DJing a lot of shows, I just did Coachella. I’m making TM88 a bigger platform this year, and hopefully I can start with this 'XO TOUR Llif3.' Hopefully it goes to No. 1, and then we’ll have a different come up."

See Lil Uzi Vert Name Some of the New Rappers He Respects

More From XXL

Watch Lil Uzi Vert’s Unnerving ‘XO Tour Llif3’ Video

By Daniel Kreps

Daniel Kreps

Lil Uzi Vert celebrated his newly anointed Number One album in the country Monday by dropping his new video for “XO Tour Llif3,” the breakout hit off the Philadelphia rapper’s chart-topping Luv Is Rage 2 .

Directed by fashion designer and Kanye West collaborator Virgil Abloh, “XO Tour Llif3” is a voyeuristic journey through Lil Uzi Vert’s psyche, with the gruesome images – zombies, copious blood – paralleling the rapper’s grim lyrics. “All my friends are dead / Push me to the edge,” he repeats in the chorus.

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Inexplicably, the Weeknd makes a cameo in the “XO Tour Llif3” video, with the Starboy singer slowly walking down an alleyway while mouthing along with the track. The Weeknd appears on the Luv Is Rage 2 track “Unfazed.”

The “official” “XO Tour Llif3” video arrives six months after the animated clip for the song accumulated over 288 million views on YouTube. The track previously peaked at Number Seven on the Hot 100 – Lil Uzi Vert previously topped the Hot 100 as a guest on Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” – while Luv Is Rage 2 debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200.

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“XO TOUR Llif3”

By Matthew Strauss

self-released

February 28, 2017

Lil Uzi Vert may as well be a cartoon character. It’s an image he embraces with his anime-inspired album artwork and twitchy songs. But he resists total caricature with his liberal use of dark, manic details, and on “XO TOUR Llif3” he channels the indulgence of dulled senses perfected by Future at his DS2  peak. Uzi’s nihilistic hook (“Push me to the edge/All my friends are dead”), at first relatively muted, picks up steam by the end of the triumphant first verse, becoming less of a death wish and more of an urgent request. TM88 ’s slightly psychedelic minor key production, gives Uzi’s nonchalance the feeling of a daydream. “XO TOUR Llif3” locates Uzi’s highs and lows—finding the uneasy middle between dire circumstances and party boy antics.

Song Meanings and Facts

• Lil Uzi Vert

“XO Tour Llif3” by Lil Uzi Vert

by SMF · Published March 10, 2020 · Updated March 10, 2020

We can say that “XO Tour Llif3” features three major themes. First and foremost, as detailed by the chorus, is a troubled romance Lil Uzi Vert had with his significant other at the time, a lady by the name of Brittany Byrd.  This is someone whom he dated for a couple of years  beginning in 2014 . And whereas it is clear he truly loves her and vice versa, it is also quite evident that they had some very-serious issues. And the way the terse storyline detailed in the chorus reads, she deceived him in a way that really hurt his feelings.

It should be noted that Lil Uzi himself had confirmed that said deception  was not based on her cheating . But either way, as a result of being hurt so, he likewise caused her significant emotional pain. And honestly, the way the lyrics read is as if she is actually threatening to take her own life as a result. So the popular hypothesis is that Uzi was on the verge of dumping her. And in response she let him know that if he actually did so, she would commit suicide.

Lil Uzi Vert cheated on Brittany

The above is not to imply that Lil Uzi was the good guy in the relationship. In fact at the beginning of the first verse a brief story is told where “Brittany got mad” and almost dumped him. And apparently this was due to Uzi Vert being sensually intimate with some random chick.

Song’s Chorus

Now also in the chorus, the rapper states that ‘all his friends are dead’. This statement actually lends to the other two themes of this track, which are Uzi’s wealth and his depression. You see this term is meant to be more metaphorical than literal. For instance, it has been put forth that said “dead friends” is actually a reference to  dead presidents . Such is a popular colloquial term for dollars, which tend to feature the images of deceased American presidents on the monetary notes. Or looked at through a different lens, money has taken on the role of friends in Uzi Vert’s life. And indeed throughout the song he makes numerous references to his wealth, perhaps even more so than the aforementioned relationship with Brittany.

Uzi Vert is Depressed

And as for the final theme, that would be his depression. So going back to the statement that all his friends are dead, it is literal in the sense that many of homeys have in fact been fatal victims of street violence. But it is also his way of saying that he is not looking for any new homeys neither. Rather, as stated earlier, he is cool with his wealth serving the role of a faithful companion.

But said wealth does not mean he doesn’t suffer from his fair share of mental issues. Indeed at the end of the first verse he admits to being a user of a very dangerous drug which many abusers utilize as a form of stress relief. And that is the same manner in which the rapper is using it, to “help the pain” and “make it go away”. However, he also contends that he is not an addict.  Instead it just serves the purpose of helping to alleviate his depression.

In Conclusion

So comprehensively, we can say that this is a song which is reflective of prominent factors in Lil Uzi Vert’s life at the time he wrote. He was in a serious yet troubled romance with a certain lady, whom he respects and loves enough to actually namedrop. He was also dealing with an affliction akin to general depression and related issues. Additionally, we all know Uzi Vert is quite paid.

Now as for the title of this track,  XO  is in fact a popular term  associated with romance . However, that is not the purpose it serves in this case. Rather it is a roundabout shoutout to The Weeknd, who founded a label in 2012 called XO Records. And the reason Uzi Vert was compelled to give a shoutout to the Canadian crooner in such a fashion is that he actually served as one of Abel’s opening acts during his  Starboy: Legend of the Fall Tour  in 2017. In other words, he and The Weeknd are serious homeys. Moreover, we see that the word “tour” also made it into the title. But as for the “Llif3”, that obviously reads like some type of alternate spelling of the word “life”.

Music Videos

There are three different music videos to this song, so to speak. The first was issued by Uzi Vert via his YouTube channel. It is an animated affair by an artist named Andrew William Ralph. The second, a lyric video, had Jered Harrison as its director. And the official music video was actually directed by Virgil Abloh, a prominent fashion designer who is especially popular in hip-hop circles. And it features The Weeknd as well as a Canadian rapper named Nav. The latter also participated in the aforementioned tour.

Facts about “XO Tour Llif3”

This track was officially released on 26 February 2017 as part of Uzi Vert’s second EP, “Luv Is Rage 1.5”. Also it was later issued as part of Uzi Vert’s first full-length studio album, which is “Luv Is Rage 2”. And “XO Tour Llif3” served as the lead single from both of those projects.

This track is the most-popular song of the early part of Uzi’s career. For instance, it was the first time that he, as a solo artist, broke the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 – where it peaked at number 7. It also made an appearance on the UK Singles Chart and charted in almost 20 countries overall. And it has been certified multi-Platinum in four countries, inducing Poland and Italy.  Moreover for the record, as of early 2020 “XO Tour Llif3” has actually been certified septuple-Platinum in the rapper’s home country of the United States.

“XO Tour Llif3” also blew up on social media. And its popularity spawned the  Lil Uzi Vert Challenge , where participants were tasked with  mimicking a dance move  that the artist created.

Moreover the tune proved to be so popular that Uzi Vert even  released a sequel , entitled “ P2 ”, in 2020.

Additionally the reputable crowdsourcing music site  Genius  actually deemed this track  “The Best Song of 2017” .

Production and Writing Credits

“XO Tour Llif3” was the first track TM88, who would go on to become a regular collaborator of Lil Uzi Vert, produced for the rapper. And as the story goes he completed the project using an outdated computer and a Bluetooth speaker called a Beats Pill. This was due to challenges he was facing with his normal laptop.

The other co-producer of the track is an artist by the name of JW Lucas. And “XO Tour Llif3” was written by Uzi in conjunction with TM88 and JW Lucas.

TM88 has acknowledged that he was actually sitting on the beat which ultimately served as the instrumental basis for “XO Tour Llif3” for a while.  He and JW Lucas had been shopping it, “but it didn’t reach”, as in it wasn’t actually purchased by any potential clients. So he reworked it for Uzi Vert.  More specifically, he sped up the tempo so that the track would appeal to club goers.

Related posts:

• “P2” by Lil Uzi Vert
• “Neon Guts” by Lil Uzi Vert (ft. Pharrell Williams)

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Tags: JW Lucas Lil Uzi Vert Luv Is Rage 1.5 Luv Is Rage 2 TM88 XO Tour Llif3

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XO Tour Llif3 by Lil Uzi Vert

Songfacts®:

• Here, Vert grapples with suicidal thoughts, relationship issues and betrayal. He recalls during the hook a conversation he had with his longtime girlfriend Brittany Byrd, at a time when it was rumored she was cheating on him. Byrd threatened to kill herself if the rapper ended their relationship. I don't really care if you cry On the real you should've never lied Should've saw the way she looked me in my eyes She said 'Baby, I am not afraid to die.'
• The song title comes from The Weeknd's Starboy: Legend of the Fall 2017 world tour, where Lil Uzi Vert was the opening act.
• The bassy and upbeat beat was supplied by TM88, who is one of the leading members of the Atlanta-based record production and songwriting team 808 Mafia. TM88's other production credits include Rich Gang's " Tapout " and 2 Chainz's " Gotta Lotta ."
• The song gained a significant amount of heat thanks to the viral #LilUziVertChallenge. The genesis of these videos was a NYFW event, during which the Philly rapper demonstrated some of his funky moves, including his signature shoulder shimmy. After fans caught wind of the footage they began showing off their best Uzi half-shimmy dance impressions soundtracked by this tune.
• Instead of using a traditional studio setup, TM88 mixed and mastered the track by listening to it through an Apple Beats Pill speaker.
• The song's vibe came from a slower beat TM88 had made with his producer JW Lucas, which he'd been sitting on for three years. It served as the foundation for number six of a pack of 20 beats that TM88 then sent to Uzi Vert. "The beat ended up not traveling nowhere," he told Genius . "It was one of them ones where I didn't send it out, and I'm pretty sure he was sending it out, but it didn't reach. But, I was sitting there and I was like 'Man, let me sample myself.' I heard the beat and I was like, 'Damn. It's slow as s--t. It's like R&B. Man, f--k!' The slower beats don't go to the clubs. I know Uzi wanna go to the clubs. So I was like, 'Let me make a pack of uptempo 148 to 155.'"
• This won for Song of the Summer at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. AT the ceremony, Lil Uzi Vert joined Ed Sheeran to perform this song and Sheeran's " Shape Of You ."
• Directed by fashion designer Virgil Abloh, the song's music video features grim images like Lil Uzi Vert spitting blood, zombie girls, and a dead woman in a bathtub filled with her own blood. There are also appearances by the Weeknd and NAV. (Uzi was on tour with The Weeknd at the time of the song's first appearance on SoundCloud.) The final part of the clip matches the song's fatal lyrics.
• The Genius community voted this their Best Song of 2017. They said: "Don't let the airy TM88-produced instrumental distract you from the song's themes of drug addiction, mental health, and failed relationships. Uzi's morbid hook was one of 2017's biggest earworms, setting up the ironic juxtaposition of crowds gleefully belting out the lyrics 'Push me to the edge. All my friends are dead.'"
• Lil Uzi Vert recorded a sequel for this song in 2020 titled " P2 " Both tunes are the outro tracks of their respective albums.
• More songs from Lil Uzi Vert
• More songs that have their own dance
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• More songs about betrayal
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• More songs from 2017
• Lyrics to XO Tour Llif3

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