Millionaire

Album: Blood, Sweat, & 3 Years (2016)
Charted: 25
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This collaboration with British producer Digital Farm Animals and rapper Nelly incorporates the "Hey, she must be the money" line from Nelly's 2000 hit song "Ride Wit Me." According to Cash Cash member Jean Paul Makhlouf, the sample almost never happened. He recalled in a Genius annotation:

    "Before Nelly came in, we had some of his team there and I was like, 'Look, I have this idea to incorporate 'Ride Wit Me' where we take a line or take a reference and flip it around and sample it.' Everybody was against it. The whole team was like, 'It's gonna be a mess to clear. It's gonna be a pain in the ass and Nelly is not going to be down. He might think it's weird so when he gets it don't say anything. Don't bring it up.'

    But during the session, halfway through, I was like, 'I'm going to kill myself if I don't say this. I'm going to regret not bringing it up.' So I turn to Nelly and said, "Dude, what if we just took the line 'must be the money' and flipped it around and threw it before the chorus to pay homage to 'Ride Wit Me' and to tie it in with 'Millionaire.'" And he looked at me in dead silence and stared at me for a second thinking about it in his head. Then he said, 'That might be a really good idea. I'm down.' I was like, 'Oh s--t!'"
  • Digital Farm Animals is British music producer and DJ Nicholas Gale. His writing credits include co-penning Galantis' UK Top 5 single "No Money."
  • Gale told Pressparty how the collaboration come about. "Cash Cash and I had worked on the record and they'd just remixed a record for Nelly. One thing led to another and Nelly got his hands on it and we ended up cutting the record pretty soon after!"
  • Gale explained the background to the music clip: "I really wanted to get stuck in on this video as my dream was to shoot a hip-hop video circa 2002," he said. "It was a lot of fun to say the least. Every gig I do from now on will (try desperately to) be a version of the video. Free drinks, loads of people better looking than me and Nelly."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Cheerleaders In Music Videos

Cheerleaders In Music VideosSong Writing

It started with a bouncy MTV classic. Nirvana and MCR made them scary, then Gwen, Avril and Madonna put on the pom poms.

Shaun Morgan of Seether

Shaun Morgan of SeetherSongwriter Interviews

Shaun breaks down the Seether songs, including the one about his brother, the one about Ozzy, and the one that may or may not be about his ex-girlfriend Amy Lee.

Real or Spinal Tap

Real or Spinal TapMusic Quiz

They sang about pink torpedoes and rocking you tonight tonight, but some real lyrics are just as ridiculous. See if you can tell which lyrics are real and which are Spinal Tap in this lyrics quiz.

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

Ian Anderson of Jethro TullSongwriter Interviews

The flautist frontman talks about touring with Led Zeppelin, his contribution to "Hotel California", and how he may have done the first MTV Unplugged.

Stan Ridgway

Stan RidgwaySongwriter Interviews

Go beyond the Wall of Voodoo with this cinematic songwriter.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.