The Far East Movement is an Asian American Hip-Hop group formed in 2003 in Los Angeles, California, consisting of Kev Nish, Prohgress, J-Splif, and DJ Virman. In February 2010, they signed a major record deal with Cherrytree Records, a subsidiary of Interscope Records. Later in the year the group supported Robyn and Kelis on their double headlining tour and were the opening act for Lady Gaga on the Japanese leg of The Monster Ball Tour. After signing with Interscope subsidiary Cherrytree Records in February 2010, they released this single, which became their first hit on the Hot 100, and the first ever #1 by an Asian American on that chart.
The song features the vocals of Californian singer Dev. Electro-pop duo The Cataracs, who consist of David "Campa" Benjamin Singer-Vine and Niles "Cyrano" Hollowell-Dhar produced the track.
The Free Wired album title is named after the 'Free Wired,' movement coined by the quartet, which represents everything they do from fashion to technology in addition to describing the music that blends elements of hip-hop, electro and dance. Kev Nish explained: "'Free Wired' is about 'geekin out' however you feel most comfortable. Whether it's partying at the club, at home online, dressing a certain way, enjoying a certain activity, whatever. To live free and stay connected 25 hours a day, 8 days a week is where it stems."
Kev Nish explained the meaning of G6 to MTV News: "A G6 is not a Gatorade flavor. It's not a car, convertible, four-door. It's not a watch," he said. "But Drake, Drake talks about having G4 pilots on deck, so we said, 'What's flyer than a G4?' Of course, it would be a G6."
Prohgress told MTV News how the group sat back after recording the song and watched it take off. "After we finished the song, we actually had to go on tour," he said. "We put the song on a mixtape and on the Internet and just kind of left. We came back about three months later, and on YouTube, we had, like, a million hits, so it seems like the people were speaking."
The song's hook, "Sipping sizzurp like Three Six," refers to the Three Six Mafia track "Sippin' On Some Syrup." However Nish explained to Complex Magazine that the group aren't advocating youngsters guzzling cough syrup. He said: "We advocate partying, but we don't advocate that for the kids at all. We ain't going to shy away from that, though. We like to have fun. That's all I have to say. In my verse when I say sizz, I'm actually saying pouring champagne making it sizzle. We know we're role models, but at the same time, when we're in the studio we don't hold back."
When this song reached #1 on the Hot 100 chart dated October 30, 2010, Far East Movement became the first multi-member act to take its initial chart appearance to the summit since D4L hit the top with "
Laffy Taffy" in January 2006.
The Gulfstream IV (or G4) was a private jet aircraft produced by Gulfstream Aerospace, a company based in Savannah, Georgia, United States. The G4 ceased production in 2003. Prohgress explained its connection to this song in an interview with Us magazine: "There was a private plane called a G4. Drake talks about how he knows the pilots on a first name basis and Jay-Z also talks about it. We wanted to go even flyer than that. At that point the G6 hadn't even been made yet, and we just wanted to be at an astronomical fly rate, so we wanted the G6."
This was the third chart-topping single whose title starts with the words "Like A." Can you think what the other two were? - Here's a clue, they were both by the same artist. They were "
Like a Virgin" and "
Like a Prayer" both, of course, by Madonna.
The song's music video features half French, half Filipino model Erica Ocampo as the group's assistant. Nish told Us magazine about the clip: "When we did the video we wanted to shoot something that reflected the way we really live, so we hooked up with our buddies at SkeeTV, who are L.A. natives. We just took a camera through downtown L.A. -- to the liquor store we grew up at, the loft we throw parties at and the Korean BBQ we conduct our meetings at -- and attached it to a girl to represent a day in the life. It's crazy to see something we did for fun on MTV. It's a trip!"
Want to know what it means to get "Slizzered"? The band says it means you're a few drinks away from getting wheeled out of the club on a gurney.
