Work Hard Play Hard

Album: O.N.I.F.C. (2012)
Charted: 17
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Wiz Khalifa's first single from his sophomore album, O.N.I.F.C., is a club track, in which the Pittsburgh spitter advises, "Go hard. Make sure you do whatever it is that you gotta do. That's your job," over a military march-inspired beat.
  • The Norwegian production team Stargate and American hitmaker Benny Blanco produced the song. Stargate oversaw the beats for three tracks on Wiz's debut album, including his breakthrough hit, "Black and Yellow," whilst Blanco collaborated with the Pittsburgh MC on his third single, "No Sleep." Blanco was red hot, also charting around this time with productions for Britney Spears, Gym Class Heroes, Katy Perry, and Flo Rida.
  • Wiz is well known for his trademark multiple tattoos, tank tops, camouflaged shorts and rolled marijuana joints. He references the way others have adopted his garb, when he raps: "If I'm in the club, I get a 100 stacks, I'm always rollin' up, so I get love for that. Them n---as stole my swag, but I don't want it back."
  • The Pittsburgh rapper flaunts his cash earned through hard work on the chorus. "The bigger the bill, the harder you ball," he rhymes. "Well, I'm throwin' mine, 'cause my money long. The quicker you here, the faster you go. That's why where I come from the only thing we know is work hard, play hard."
  • Wiz explained to MTV News correspondent Sway Calloway on Sway in the Morning that the album title is an acronym for "Only N---a in First Class," inspired by the name of Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy's H.N.I.C. record.
  • The Bill Paladino-directed video was filmed in Khalifa's hometown of Pittsburgh. There are various images of factory folk, construction workers, a soccer player, and a ballerina, working hard so they can party later. The Taylor Gang rapper appears later in the visual clad in hippie garb, channeling the late Jimi Hendrix.

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