"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
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 and 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. 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