"We Trying to Stay Alive" is the first single released from

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, a ...

's debut solo album, '' The Carnival''. The song features raps by

John Forté John Forté (born January 30, 1975) is an American recording artist and producer. He is primarily known for being a member of the musical duo Refugee Camp All-Stars, and his production work on the Fugees album '' The Score''. He has released f ...

and

Pras Prakazrel Samuel Michel (; born October 19, 1972) is a Haitian-American rapper, producer, songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the hip hop group Fugees, alongside Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill. After the Fugees, he earned two ...

(of

the Fugees ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

) and samples the 1977 Bee Gees hit "

Stayin' Alive "Stayin' Alive" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees from the ''Saturday Night Fever'' motion picture soundtrack. The song was released in 1977 as the second single from the ''Saturday Night Fever'' soundtrack. The band co-produced ...

" and Audio Two's " Top Billin'" (1987). The video version also contains an interpolation of the main melody of " Trans-Europe Express" by " Kraftwerk". In the US, it reached number 45 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Additionally, it reached number three on the

Hot Rap Songs Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stati ...

chart and number 14 on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. The track reached number 87 on VH1's "100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time".

Reception

While the sampling of the Bee Gees hit "Stayin' Alive" was green lighted by the Bee Gee's management, the final song was not warmly received by the Bee Gees themselves. "I have to say I do not like anyone sampling our voices."

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popula ...

told MTV News in regards to the song. "Don't like it. Don't approve of it. Don't like it."

Music video

The official

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the song was directed by

Roman Coppola Roman François Coppola (born April 22, 1965) is an American director, screenwriter, producer and the son of Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor Coppola. For the 2012 film ''Moonrise Kingdom'', he and co-writer Wes Anderson were nominated for the ...

Track listing

; UK CD1 (664681 2) # "We Trying to Stay Alive" (LP Version) # "We Trying to Stay Alive" (Instrumental) # "Anything Can Happen" (LP Version) # "Anything Can Happen" (Instrumental) ; UK CD2 (664681 5) # "We Trying to Stay Alive" (LP Version) # "We Trying to Stay Alive" (Salaam Remi Remix) # "Imagino" (Creole Version) # "Flavor from the Carnival" (LP Snippets)

Chart performance

''We Trying to Stay Alive'' peaked at number 45 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and spent a total of 12 weeks on the chart. It also peaked at number 4 on the

chart and number three on the

chart. In the UK, the song peaked at number 13 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and spent a total of 5 weeks on the chart.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1997 songs 1997 debut singles Wyclef Jean songs Music videos directed by Roman Coppola Songs written by Wyclef Jean Songs written by Barry Gibb Songs written by Maurice Gibb Songs written by Robin Gibb Song recordings produced by Jerry Duplessis Song recordings produced by Wyclef Jean Columbia Records singles Sampling controversies