Ayo Technology

"Ayo Technology" is the fourth single from 50 Cent's third album, Curtis.^[3][4][5] The song, featuring Justin Timberlake and uncredited vocals from Timbaland, who also produced the song, was a hit in the United States and United Kingdom, where it charted at #5 and #2 respectively, amongst other national charts across the world. The song has since been covered by Milow, a Belgian singer-songwriter whose version was successful in a number of countries, including Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, Skyla, a British singer-songwriter whose version is popular in the dance genre and Katerine Avgoustakis, a Belgian singer, whose version was successful in Poland.

Background

HipHopDX reported that the song was renamed three times. It was first titled "Ayo Pornography" when it first leaked in May 2007, then "Ayo Technology" in June, and then "She Wants It" by July. Finally, the song title was reverted to "Ayo Technology." The song features Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, but most sources don't credit Timbaland for being on the song. In 2008, it was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Song.^[6] As revealed within its lyrics, Ayo Technology puts a strong emphasis on hot-blooded sexual fantasies, explicit body movements (such as when Timberlake utters the line "Why don't you sit down on top of me,") and wild festivities at night clubs.

The intro and lead synth were created with the Elektron SidStation, an 8-bit sound synthesizer. Because of this, it is remarkably similar sounding to the electronic music duo Crystal Castles' "Courtship Dating" from their self-titled album, released the following year although performed live since December 2006. Despite the album itself not being out until nearly a year after the public debut of "Ayo Technology," there was still minor controversy over the alleged "sampling" of this song on "Ayo Technology" perhaps because of the negative reputation Timbaland has garnered over sampling 8-bit musicians uncredited.

Remixes and covers

The official remix features R&B rapper and remixer Francisco. Rapper Krayzie Bone created a remix called "Perfect Execution" off his 2008 mixtape "The Fixtape: Smoke on This". An acoustic cover of "Ayo Technology" performed by Belgian singer Milow was released in a number of European countries, making #1 in the Netherlands,^[7] Belgium, Spain, Sweden^[8] and Switzerland, and also charting well in countries such as Germany, where the song was certified with Platinum for being shipping 300,000 copies,^[9] and Romania. In September 2009, Skyla released a cover version of the song. In March 2009, Katerine also made a cover of the song which became her first international single and underwent a great success. It was #1 for one week in Poland on the official airplay chart by Nielsen. Rockabilly band The Baseballs include "Ayo Technology" as part of a medley including Poker Face and Jungle Drum whilst on tour.^[10] English 2 piece Jaqobi also recorded their own version of the song for their 2010 'Two brothers, a Guitar & a Bar' EP. It peaked at No. 426 on the UK pop charts. English recording artist Craig David had also used the song to remix one of his own called "Hot Stuff (Let's Dance)".

Music video

The music video was premiered by BET on August 2, 2007, and was filmed in North London. 50 Cent described the music video to MTV. He said:

You can see this is not my normal uniform, or get-up, when I'm in a music video. But it's time for me to do something a little different, and this is the perfect time for me to actually change my look. You might see this on the red carpet, but not in an actual music video. The biggest challenges for the video are giving off a natural vibe and not seeming contrived at any moment. For you to actually be comfortable when you're actually doing it is a task. At some points you've got a room full of people looking at you at one time, just watching you to see what you're going to do. You've got to relax and just do it.^[11]

Timbaland's appearance in the music video uses features from the movie Minority Report such as moving computer interfaces with hands. Justin Timberlake's appearance is similar to that of his role in his music video "SexyBack".

Chart performance

"Ayo Technology" became 50's second highest debut yet on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 22. It peaked at number 5, becoming his tenth top 5 single. In the United Kingdom, the song debuted at number 10 on downloads alone, becoming his eighth British top 10 single. It peaked at number 2, becoming 50 Cent's highest charting single in Great Britain, beating out "In Da Club" and "Candy Shop" which both peaked at number 3. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 8, jumping to number one the following week where it stayed for 3 consecutive weeks.^[12] It stayed on the chart for 22 weeks and was certified Gold, selling over 7,500 copies.^[13]

Tracklisting

UK CD Single

1. "Ayo Technology" - 4:07
2. "I Get Money [Straight To The Bank Pt. 2]" - 4:00

Charts

See also

• List of number-one singles from the 2000s (New Zealand)
• Ultratop 50 number-one hits of 2008
• List of number-one hits in Denmark
• List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 2009
• List of Swedish number-one hits
• List of number-one hits of 2009 (Switzerland)

References