| "Low" | |||||||||||
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| Single by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain | |||||||||||
| from the album Mail on Sunday and Step Up 2: The Streets | |||||||||||
| Released | September 16, 2007 | ||||||||||
| Format | Digital download, CD single | ||||||||||
| Recorded | 2007 | ||||||||||
| Genre | Electro hop, southern hip hop, R&B | ||||||||||
| Length | 3:50 | ||||||||||
| Label | Atlantic | ||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Tramar Dillard, Faheem Najm | ||||||||||
| Producer | DJ Montay | ||||||||||
| Certification | 6x Platinum (RIAA) 2x Platinum (RIANZ) 3x Platinum (CRIA) 3x Platinum (ARIA) |
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| Flo Rida chronology | |||||||||||
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"Low" is the debut single by American rapper Flo Rida, featured on his debut album Mail On Sunday and also featured on the soundtrack to the 2008 film Step Up 2: The Streets. The song features T-Pain and was co-written with T-Pain. There is also a remix in which the hook is sung by Flo Rida rather than T-Pain. An official remix was made which features rapper Pitbull and T-Pain.
The now-iconic single was a hit worldwide and the longest running number-one single of 2008. With five million paid digital downloads, it was certified six-times platinum by the RIAA, and was the most downloaded single of 2000s decade, measured by paid digital downloads.[1] The song was named 3rd on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade.[2] "Low" spent ten consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, the longest-running number-one single of 2008.
It was also performed live with the band Simple Plan at the 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards.[3]
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The song debuted at number 91 on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100 on November 6, 2007, and reached number one for the week of December 30, 2007 - January 5, 2008.[4] The song generated the second greatest one-week digital sales in the history of Billboard Magazine's Digital Songs chart (behind Flo Rida's "Right Round"), with 467,000 digital copies in one week. "Low" was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for ten weeks and remained in the top ten of the chart for 23 weeks,[5] making it both T-Pain and Flo Rida's most successful single to date.
The song was dethroned on the Hot 100 by Usher's "Love in This Club" featuring Young Jeezy. As the first number one on the Hot 100 of 2008, "Low" held the top position longer than any song did in 2008 (see List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2008 (U.S.)), and is the longest running Hot 100 number one since Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable."[6] The song is also the longest-running number one in the history of the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart, topping the chart for 13 weeks, and also on the now-defunct Pop 100 chart, where it ruled for 12 weeks.[6] "Low" was the best-selling digitally-downloaded song of all time, with U.S. digital sales of over 5,000,000.[7] (It has since been surpassed by The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling.")[8] The song stayed on the Hot 100 for 39 weeks, before dropping out in June 2008.[9] Digital sales, as of August 2011, now stand at over 6,000,000.[10]
The physical release of the single occurred in the UK week beginning 24 March 2008.[11] On July 20, 2008, the song moved up to No. 19 on the UK Singles Chart, several months after its official release. Although it failed to reach number one in the UK, it amassed 53 weeks inside the UK Top 75 (making it the joint 20th longest runner of all time), and 75 weeks inside the Top 100.[12]
The song was ranked at #23 on Billboard's All Time Hot 100 for the 50th anniversary of the chart.[13] The song was also was ranked the number-one song for 2008 in Billboard's ranking of the Top Hot 100 Hits of 2008. On December 28, 2008, it was listed at No. 11 for the UK Singles Chart year-end countdown and was named highest-selling single in Australia in 2008.
Several of T-Pain's motifs are present in this song, including autotune, call and answer during the chorus, and use of electronic drums. Flo Rida has sexually charged (but not explicit) lyrics, for example he refers to a girl's buttocks as "birthday cakes" which "stole the show". T-Pain also relies heavily on synthesizer. The music revolves around one chord, E♭ minor. A Harmonic minor melody is played over the E♭ minor, and at different times different instrumentation cycles, i.e. sometimes only the synthesizer plays, sometimes only the bass, sometimes only the vocals. Flo Rida uses a style that is common in 1990s hip-hop party music.
The song makes references to woman in a club who is wearing Apple Bottom jeans and boots with fur. The woman also wears baggy sweat pants and Reeboks with the straps. The lyrics repeatedly suggest that the woman is extremely attractive and possesses great skill in dancing provocatively.
The video of "Low" was directed by Bernard Gourley and contains certain clips from Step Up 2 The Streets. It also contains cameos from Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, Cool & Dre, Briana Evigan, & Torch & Gunplay of Triple C's. Also, T-Pain and Flo Rida are in a nightclub in a few scenes. The music video reached the #1 spot on 106 & Park for 5 days and 22 days on TRL. The music video was also nominated at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video and Best Hip-Hop Video, but lost to Chris Brown's "With You" (Best Male Video) and Lil Wayne's Lollipop (Best Hip-Hop Video) videos. The song has around 83 million views on YouTube.
Albuquerque, New Mexico based Crunkcore group Brokencyde released a cover of this song on "THA $C3N3 MiXTaPe" in 2008. Travis Barker, drummer from Blink 182 added a drum version cover of the song.
There is a remix by Los Bk-Clan (Sto Domingo), Daryl & DJ Q-Bah (Netherlands)
In the United States, "Low" has been certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA.[14] The song was certified 2x Platinum in New Zealand on September 28, 2008, selling over 30,000 copies.[15] In Canada, it was certified 3x Platinum in digital downloads and 4x Platinum in Ringtones[16][17]
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Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
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