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Watch Lil Uzi Vert’s Unnerving ‘XO Tour Llif3’ Video

• By Daniel Kreps

Daniel Kreps

Lil Uzi Vert celebrated his newly anointed Number One album in the country Monday by dropping his new video for “XO Tour Llif3,” the breakout hit off the Philadelphia rapper’s chart-topping Luv Is Rage 2 .

Directed by fashion designer and Kanye West collaborator Virgil Abloh, “XO Tour Llif3” is a voyeuristic journey through Lil Uzi Vert’s psyche, with the gruesome images – zombies, copious blood – paralleling the rapper’s grim lyrics. “All my friends are dead / Push me to the edge,” he repeats in the chorus.

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Inexplicably, the Weeknd makes a cameo in the “XO Tour Llif3” video, with the Starboy singer slowly walking down an alleyway while mouthing along with the track. The Weeknd appears on the Luv Is Rage 2 track “Unfazed.”

The “official” “XO Tour Llif3” video arrives six months after the animated clip for the song accumulated over 288 million views on YouTube. The track previously peaked at Number Seven on the Hot 100 – Lil Uzi Vert previously topped the Hot 100 as a guest on Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” – while Luv Is Rage 2 debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200.

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“XO TOUR Llif3”

By Matthew Strauss

self-released

February 28, 2017

Lil Uzi Vert may as well be a cartoon character. It’s an image he embraces with his anime-inspired album artwork and twitchy songs. But he resists total caricature with his liberal use of dark, manic details, and on “XO TOUR Llif3” he channels the indulgence of dulled senses perfected by Future at his DS2  peak. Uzi’s nihilistic hook (“Push me to the edge/All my friends are dead”), at first relatively muted, picks up steam by the end of the triumphant first verse, becoming less of a death wish and more of an urgent request. TM88 ’s slightly psychedelic minor key production, gives Uzi’s nonchalance the feeling of a daydream. “XO TOUR Llif3” locates Uzi’s highs and lows—finding the uneasy middle between dire circumstances and party boy antics.

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Songs That Defined the Decade: Lil Uzi Vert’s ‘XO TOUR Llif3’

Billboard is celebrating the 2010s with essays on the 100 songs that we feel most define the decade that was -- the songs that both shaped and reflected the music and culture of the period -- with…

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Billboard  is celebrating the 2010s  with essays on the 100 songs that we feel most define the decade that was — the songs that both shaped and reflected the music and culture of the period — with help telling their stories from some of the artists, behind-the-scenes collaborators and industry insiders involved.

Lil Uzi Vert

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The story behind Lil Uzi Vert ’s nihilistic 2017 smash, “XO TOUR Llif3,” is a classic tale of triumph through tragedy. It starts in 2016, when after creating potential hits with Future and Gucci Mane in a Miami studio, producer TM88 was ready to head back to his native Atlanta to master his soon-to-be successes. But he would get caught up in what would become January’s Fort Lauderdale airport shooting, where a perpetrator flew in from Alaska and took the lives of five victims.

“I was trying to board my flight and then we see a stampede of people just running towards us and we just ran on the plane,” he recalls. In the midst of the panic, TM88 let go of all his prized possessions — including the beloved laptop that held all of his hard work. “I ended up just dropping all my shit … I got back home and was like, ‘D–n bro, I have nothing.’”

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So he had no choice but to remake all the beats on a cracked computer screen. “I was like, ‘Man, I’m finna make the best beats I’ve ever made in my life.’ I guess God blessed me with ‘XO TOUR Llif3.’”

After receiving a call from Uzi, who was in dire need of inspiration, TM88 dug up one of his old beats and began remixing it. A month later, Uzi surprised fans with the Luv Is Rage 1.5 EP release on SoundCloud. It featured “XO TOUR Llif3,” a song that helped change the course of an entire genre.

Its somber strings ushered in the Philadelphia rapper’s elegy, which put the remains of the cheerful feelings he had on Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” to rest, following the break-up with then-girlfriend Brittany Byrd. “I was speaking authentic on ‘XO Tour Llif3,’” Lil Uzi Vert told Billboard in 2017. “Anyone can relate: I was in a dark space, so I went with it.”

2017 No. 1s: Lil Uzi Vert on How Being 'Authentic' Took 'XO Tour Llif3' to Pop Radio

But it was much more than a dark space usually saved for the deepest corners of one’s diary. The rapper revealed heartache, suicidal thoughts and issues with Xanax abuse to the world. And with a singular lyric — “Push me to the edge/ All my friends are dead” — Uzi temporarily halted the exorbitant themes of rap’s What a Time to Be Alive era.

“I think it affected people in general,” Reggie Rouse, program director at Atlanta radio station V-103, explains. “Whether you’re into hip-hop, R&B or pop, you heard this record on the radio or downloaded the song. You didn’t see a ton of that [at that time] but now it’s par for the course.”

How Rappers Like Lil Uzi Vert & Travis Scott Made Moshing & Metal Tees Mainstream in Hip-Hop

That painfully honest revelation garnered Uzi’s highest-charting single to date (it peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100) and has been certified seven times Platinum by the RIAA. But pushing all of its grand accolades aside, “XO” helped open the floodgates of a surging subgenre: emo-rap. Its influence can be heard in a handful of millennial rappers, from Juice WRLD to the late XXXTentacion. With Uzi (who professed his fandom for Marilyn Manson and created massive mosh pits at shows) at the front line, these new-gen stars took rock’s teen angst and unabashedly claimed it for themselves.

“Lil Uzi changed the whole landscape of where music was starting to go. Ever since [its release], you started seeing more people, even producers use my [melodic] cadences,” TM88 explains. “I feel like the bigger the song got, it just made everybody want to be on that type of sound.”

That experimental sound is what Rouse attributes to the timelessness of “XO Tour Llif3”: “It’s one of those songs that still sounds great on radio. Not every hit can be played 5-10 years down the road and people still nod their heads to it.”

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XO Tour Llif3 by Lil Uzi Vert

Songfacts®:

• Here, Vert grapples with suicidal thoughts, relationship issues and betrayal. He recalls during the hook a conversation he had with his longtime girlfriend Brittany Byrd, at a time when it was rumored she was cheating on him. Byrd threatened to kill herself if the rapper ended their relationship. I don't really care if you cry On the real you should've never lied Should've saw the way she looked me in my eyes She said 'Baby, I am not afraid to die.'
• The song title comes from The Weeknd's Starboy: Legend of the Fall 2017 world tour, where Lil Uzi Vert was the opening act.
• The bassy and upbeat beat was supplied by TM88, who is one of the leading members of the Atlanta-based record production and songwriting team 808 Mafia. TM88's other production credits include Rich Gang's " Tapout " and 2 Chainz's " Gotta Lotta ."
• The song gained a significant amount of heat thanks to the viral #LilUziVertChallenge. The genesis of these videos was a NYFW event, during which the Philly rapper demonstrated some of his funky moves, including his signature shoulder shimmy. After fans caught wind of the footage they began showing off their best Uzi half-shimmy dance impressions soundtracked by this tune.
• Instead of using a traditional studio setup, TM88 mixed and mastered the track by listening to it through an Apple Beats Pill speaker.
• The song's vibe came from a slower beat TM88 had made with his producer JW Lucas, which he'd been sitting on for three years. It served as the foundation for number six of a pack of 20 beats that TM88 then sent to Uzi Vert. "The beat ended up not traveling nowhere," he told Genius . "It was one of them ones where I didn't send it out, and I'm pretty sure he was sending it out, but it didn't reach. But, I was sitting there and I was like 'Man, let me sample myself.' I heard the beat and I was like, 'Damn. It's slow as s--t. It's like R&B. Man, f--k!' The slower beats don't go to the clubs. I know Uzi wanna go to the clubs. So I was like, 'Let me make a pack of uptempo 148 to 155.'"
• This won for Song of the Summer at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. AT the ceremony, Lil Uzi Vert joined Ed Sheeran to perform this song and Sheeran's " Shape Of You ."
• Directed by fashion designer Virgil Abloh, the song's music video features grim images like Lil Uzi Vert spitting blood, zombie girls, and a dead woman in a bathtub filled with her own blood. There are also appearances by the Weeknd and NAV. (Uzi was on tour with The Weeknd at the time of the song's first appearance on SoundCloud.) The final part of the clip matches the song's fatal lyrics.
• The Genius community voted this their Best Song of 2017. They said: "Don't let the airy TM88-produced instrumental distract you from the song's themes of drug addiction, mental health, and failed relationships. Uzi's morbid hook was one of 2017's biggest earworms, setting up the ironic juxtaposition of crowds gleefully belting out the lyrics 'Push me to the edge. All my friends are dead.'"
• Lil Uzi Vert recorded a sequel for this song in 2020 titled " P2 " Both tunes are the outro tracks of their respective albums.
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• Lyrics to XO Tour Llif3

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Song Meanings and Facts

• Lil Uzi Vert

“XO Tour Llif3” by Lil Uzi Vert

by SMF · Published March 10, 2020 · Updated March 10, 2020

We can say that “XO Tour Llif3” features three major themes. First and foremost, as detailed by the chorus, is a troubled romance Lil Uzi Vert had with his significant other at the time, a lady by the name of Brittany Byrd.  This is someone whom he dated for a couple of years  beginning in 2014 . And whereas it is clear he truly loves her and vice versa, it is also quite evident that they had some very-serious issues. And the way the terse storyline detailed in the chorus reads, she deceived him in a way that really hurt his feelings.

It should be noted that Lil Uzi himself had confirmed that said deception  was not based on her cheating . But either way, as a result of being hurt so, he likewise caused her significant emotional pain. And honestly, the way the lyrics read is as if she is actually threatening to take her own life as a result. So the popular hypothesis is that Uzi was on the verge of dumping her. And in response she let him know that if he actually did so, she would commit suicide.

Lil Uzi Vert cheated on Brittany

The above is not to imply that Lil Uzi was the good guy in the relationship. In fact at the beginning of the first verse a brief story is told where “Brittany got mad” and almost dumped him. And apparently this was due to Uzi Vert being sensually intimate with some random chick.

Song’s Chorus

Now also in the chorus, the rapper states that ‘all his friends are dead’. This statement actually lends to the other two themes of this track, which are Uzi’s wealth and his depression. You see this term is meant to be more metaphorical than literal. For instance, it has been put forth that said “dead friends” is actually a reference to  dead presidents . Such is a popular colloquial term for dollars, which tend to feature the images of deceased American presidents on the monetary notes. Or looked at through a different lens, money has taken on the role of friends in Uzi Vert’s life. And indeed throughout the song he makes numerous references to his wealth, perhaps even more so than the aforementioned relationship with Brittany.

Uzi Vert is Depressed

And as for the final theme, that would be his depression. So going back to the statement that all his friends are dead, it is literal in the sense that many of homeys have in fact been fatal victims of street violence. But it is also his way of saying that he is not looking for any new homeys neither. Rather, as stated earlier, he is cool with his wealth serving the role of a faithful companion.

But said wealth does not mean he doesn’t suffer from his fair share of mental issues. Indeed at the end of the first verse he admits to being a user of a very dangerous drug which many abusers utilize as a form of stress relief. And that is the same manner in which the rapper is using it, to “help the pain” and “make it go away”. However, he also contends that he is not an addict.  Instead it just serves the purpose of helping to alleviate his depression.

In Conclusion

So comprehensively, we can say that this is a song which is reflective of prominent factors in Lil Uzi Vert’s life at the time he wrote. He was in a serious yet troubled romance with a certain lady, whom he respects and loves enough to actually namedrop. He was also dealing with an affliction akin to general depression and related issues. Additionally, we all know Uzi Vert is quite paid.

Now as for the title of this track,  XO  is in fact a popular term  associated with romance . However, that is not the purpose it serves in this case. Rather it is a roundabout shoutout to The Weeknd, who founded a label in 2012 called XO Records. And the reason Uzi Vert was compelled to give a shoutout to the Canadian crooner in such a fashion is that he actually served as one of Abel’s opening acts during his  Starboy: Legend of the Fall Tour  in 2017. In other words, he and The Weeknd are serious homeys. Moreover, we see that the word “tour” also made it into the title. But as for the “Llif3”, that obviously reads like some type of alternate spelling of the word “life”.

Music Videos

There are three different music videos to this song, so to speak. The first was issued by Uzi Vert via his YouTube channel. It is an animated affair by an artist named Andrew William Ralph. The second, a lyric video, had Jered Harrison as its director. And the official music video was actually directed by Virgil Abloh, a prominent fashion designer who is especially popular in hip-hop circles. And it features The Weeknd as well as a Canadian rapper named Nav. The latter also participated in the aforementioned tour.

Facts about “XO Tour Llif3”

This track was officially released on 26 February 2017 as part of Uzi Vert’s second EP, “Luv Is Rage 1.5”. Also it was later issued as part of Uzi Vert’s first full-length studio album, which is “Luv Is Rage 2”. And “XO Tour Llif3” served as the lead single from both of those projects.

This track is the most-popular song of the early part of Uzi’s career. For instance, it was the first time that he, as a solo artist, broke the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 – where it peaked at number 7. It also made an appearance on the UK Singles Chart and charted in almost 20 countries overall. And it has been certified multi-Platinum in four countries, inducing Poland and Italy.  Moreover for the record, as of early 2020 “XO Tour Llif3” has actually been certified septuple-Platinum in the rapper’s home country of the United States.

“XO Tour Llif3” also blew up on social media. And its popularity spawned the  Lil Uzi Vert Challenge , where participants were tasked with  mimicking a dance move  that the artist created.

Moreover the tune proved to be so popular that Uzi Vert even  released a sequel , entitled “ P2 ”, in 2020.

Additionally the reputable crowdsourcing music site  Genius  actually deemed this track  “The Best Song of 2017” .

Production and Writing Credits

“XO Tour Llif3” was the first track TM88, who would go on to become a regular collaborator of Lil Uzi Vert, produced for the rapper. And as the story goes he completed the project using an outdated computer and a Bluetooth speaker called a Beats Pill. This was due to challenges he was facing with his normal laptop.

The other co-producer of the track is an artist by the name of JW Lucas. And “XO Tour Llif3” was written by Uzi in conjunction with TM88 and JW Lucas.

TM88 has acknowledged that he was actually sitting on the beat which ultimately served as the instrumental basis for “XO Tour Llif3” for a while.  He and JW Lucas had been shopping it, “but it didn’t reach”, as in it wasn’t actually purchased by any potential clients. So he reworked it for Uzi Vert.  More specifically, he sped up the tempo so that the track would appeal to club goers.

Related posts:

• “P2” by Lil Uzi Vert
• “Neon Guts” by Lil Uzi Vert (ft. Pharrell Williams)

Meaning of “New Patek” by Lil Uzi Vert

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• Meaning of “Suicide Doors” by Lil Uzi Vert

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Tags: JW Lucas Lil Uzi Vert Luv Is Rage 1.5 Luv Is Rage 2 TM88 XO Tour Llif3

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"XO TOUR Llif3" lyrics

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