"A Milli", abbreviated occasionally as "Milli", is a song by American rapper

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining ...

. The song was released February 13, 2008, as the second official single from his sixth album ''

Tha Carter III ''Tha Carter III'' is the sixth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne, released on June 10, 2008, by Cash Money, Universal Motown & Young Money Entertainment. It follows a long string of mixtape releases and guest appearances on other hip ...

''.

Background

The original version leaked early on several mixtapes. Then, a second version, with the first verse from the album version, a verse from

Cory Gunz Peter Cory Pankey, Jr. (born June 22, 1987), better known by his stage name Cory Gunz, is an American rapper from The Bronx, New York City.Jessica Koslow, "Interview: Cory Gunz: Youngest In Charge," February 1, 2005, found aHipHopDx website Acc ...

and the final two verses from the original version, was leaked prior to the album version. "A Milli" was played several times when sampling the record before its release, and was originally slated to appear on ''

'' in multiple versions as "skit-like" tracks, featuring artists such as

Tyga Michael Ray Nguyen-StevensonMicheal Ray Stevenson ...

, Cory Gunz, Hurricane Chris, and

Lil Mama Niatia Jessica Kirkland (born October 4, 1989), better known by her stage name Lil Mama, is an American rapper, singer, actress and television presenter from Brooklyn, New York and Harlem, New York. She experienced top 10 ''Billboard'' placemen ...

though the tracks never made the final cut. They were rumored to appear on the re-release of ''Tha Carter III'', until Wayne revealed that the aforementioned album would be a

rap rock Rap rock is a fusion genre that fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock's most popular subgenres include rap metal and rapcore, which include heavy metal and hardcore punk-oriented influences, res ...

album called ''

Rebirth Rebirth may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Film * ''Rebirth'' (2011 film), a 2011 Japanese drama film * ''Rebirth'' (2016 film), a 2016 American thriller film * ''Rebirth'', a documentary film produced by Project Rebirth * ''The Re ...

'' with no connection to ''Tha Carter III''. "A Milli" was ranked the number one hip hop song of 2008 by

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. The song samples "Don't Burn Down the Bridge" by

Gladys Knight & the Pips Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B, soul and funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades starting from the early 1950s. Starting out as simply ...

. The sample is different in both early and final versions. While the early version plays the sample as it is, the final version adds a filter effect to the sample. In addition, the main vocal sample is from the Vampire Mix of "

I Left My Wallet in El Segundo "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo" is a song by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released as the debut single from their first album, ''People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm'' (1990). The song contains a sample of "Funk ...

" by

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

. The line "I'm okay, but my watch sick" was originally from " Go Crazy" by

Young Jeezy Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. Signing to Def Jam Recordings in 2004, his major label debut, '' Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101'', was released the followin ...

Critical reception

The song won the Best Rap Solo Performance at the

2009 Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

. ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...

'' ranked it the number one song of 2008. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' named it the 10th best song of 2008, the 63rd best song of the 2000s, and the 486th best song of all time. ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' critic

Josh Tyrangiel Josh Tyrangiel is an American journalist. He was previously the deputy managing editor of ''TIME'' magazine and an editor at ''Bloomberg Businessweek''.Stephanie Clifford (November 17, 2009"Josh Tyrangiel Named Editor of BusinessWeek"/ref> In Ju ...

named "A Milli" the number four song of 2008, and it was ranked as the number one song of 2008 in the

MTV News MTV News is the news production division of MTV. The service is available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network. In February 2016, MTV Networks confirmed it would refresh the MTV News brand in 2016, to compete with the likes ...

Bigger Than the Sound poll. ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' ranked its beat the 31st greatest hip hop beat of all time.

Chart performance

"A Milli" peaked at number six on ''the Billboard'' Hot 100, making it Lil Wayne's second top ten and second-highest peaking song on the chart as a lead artist at the time. It has reached number one on

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 ...

, making it his second number-one song on that chart. It was also able to top the

Hot Rap Tracks 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 ...

like his previous single "

Lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker, sticky-pop, etc. Lollipops are ava ...

". As of 2011, "A Milli" has sold 2,053,000 digital copies.

Remix

The official remix, dubbed "A Milli Freemix", was made by Wayne to thank his fans, celebrating his first week sale of one million copies of ''Tha Carter III''. In the remix, Wayne also hinted at the production of ''

Tha Carter IV ''Tha Carter IV'' is the ninth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne, released on August 29, 2011, through Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Universal Republic Records. Recording sessions for the album began in late 2008, sh ...

''.

Music video

The music video was shot on June 23, 2008, in Los Angeles, California, (the same day as the video for "

Got Money "Got Money" is a song by American rapper Lil Wayne featuring fellow American rapper and singer T-Pain, released as the third single from the former's sixth studio album ''Tha Carter III'' (2008). Both artists use the Auto-Tune effect in the song ...

"). The video premiered on ''

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rate ...

'' July 2, 2008. It consists of Lil Wayne preparing for the shoot of his following single "

". The video, which was directed by Dayo Harewood, Lil Wayne and Jeff Panzer,Steven Gottlieb (July 24, 2008)
WATCH IT: Lil Wayne "A Milli"
Video Static features appearances by Birdman (giving Wayne his brand new car for his record sales),

Lil Twist Christopher Lynn Moore (born January 11, 1993), better known by his stage name Lil Twist, is an American rapper from Dallas, Texas. He is signed to Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment.Gudda Gudda Carl Eugene Lilly Jr. (born March 11, 1983), better known by his stage name Gudda Gudda, is an American rapper from New Orleans. He was originally a member of Sqad Up with Kidd Kidd and Lil Wayne. After forging a long-time friendship with Wayne ...

, Kidd Kidd and Brisco.

Track listing

#"A Milli" (Clean) #"A Milli" (Explicit) #"A Milli" (Instrumental) #"A Milli" (Acapella)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milli, A 2008 singles Cash Money Records singles Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance Lil Wayne songs Song recordings produced by Bangladesh (record producer) Songs written by Lil Wayne Songs written by Bangladesh (record producer) 2008 songs