Fast Life (Kool G Rap song)

"Fast Life"
Single by Kool G Rap featuring Nas Escobar
from the album 4,5,6
B-side"4,5,6"
ReleasedNovember 14, 1995
Recorded1995
GenreMafioso rap
Length4:55
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Buckwild
Kool G Rap singles chronology
"It's a Shame"
(1995) 		"Fast Life"
(1995) 		"Hey Mister Mister"
(1996)
Nas Escobar singles chronology
"One Love"
(1994) 		"Fast Life"
(1995) 		"Gimme Yours"
(1995)
Music video
"Fast Life" on YouTube

"Fast Life" is the second single from American hip hop artist Kool G Rap's 1995 album 4,5,6, featuring Nas. Released with the song "4,5,6" as a B-side, it later also featured on the compilation album Greatest Hits (2002).

Background

Produced by Buckwild, "Fast Life" is a track that glorifies the criminal lifestyle with Kool G Rap and Nas Escobar portraying themselves as powerful and wealthy cocaine kingpins, boasting of their luxurious possessions and ruthless efficiency. The Mafioso theme of "Fast Life" is set early as the song opens with a sound bite from the 1983 film Scarface (Al Pacino's Tony Montana saying "The time has come, we gotta expand, the whole operation. Distribution, New York, to Chicago, L.A. We gotta set our own market, and enforce it.") and Nas later references such mob figures as Lucky Luciano, Bugsy Siegel and Frankie Yale. G Rap and Nas go line for line in the third and final verse of the song which Complex has described as "mind-blowing".[1][2] The song's chorus goes as follows:

Livin the fast life, in fast cars
Everywhere we go, people know who we are
A team from out of Queens with the American Dream
So we're plottin' up a scheme to get the seven figure C.R.E.A.M.

Speaking of his collaboration with fellow Queens rapper Nas in a 2014 interview, Kool G Rap stated:

"Fast Life" was looked at as a passing of the torch to Nas, because before I had been shopping him around. He recorded his whole demo in my studio. By the time we did "Fast Life" together, Nas had already started to make his entry into the game. That was the first time we had rapped together on a song, and the timing made it a passing of the torch. Before that, I set up a meeting with Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles at Def Jam to talk about Nas. Kevin Liles was the one who said that he sounds too much like a G Rap, and so Def Jam passed. I knew I had some influence on him but I knew he had his own identity.[3]

— Kool G Rap

Music video

The music video for "Fast Life" was directed by Brian "Black" Luvar and shows Kool G Rap and Nas "Escobar" living lavishly as they plot the construction of a mythical "Fast Life Hotel and Casino".[4]

Samples

"Fast Life" samples the following songs:[5]

And was later sampled on:

Track listing

12"

A-side
  1. "Fast Life" (Original) (4:54)
  2. "Fast Life" (Instrumental) (4:54)
  3. "Fast Life" (Acapella) (3:52)
B-side
  1. "4,5,6" (Original) (3:20)
  2. "4,5,6" (Instrumental) (3:20)

CD

  1. "Fast Life" (Original) (4:54)
  2. "Fast Life" (Instrumental) (4:54)
  3. "Fast Life" (Acapella) (4:50)
  4. "4,5,6" (Original) (3:20)
  5. "4,5,6" (Instrumental) (3:20)

Charts

Chart (1995) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[6] 74
US Dance Singles Sales (Billboard)[7] 18
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[8] 42
US Hot Rap Songs (Billboard)[9] 7

References

  1. ^ The 100 Best Nas Songs
  2. ^ The 50 Best Nas Verses
  3. ^ Kool G Rap Breaks Down His 25 Most Essential Songs
  4. ^ The King Of Kool
  5. ^ Fast Life at Who Sampled
  6. ^ "Kool G Rap Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  7. ^ "Kool G Rap Chart History (Dance Singles Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  8. ^ "Kool G Rap Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  9. ^ "Kool G Rap Chart History (Hot Rap Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved May 28, 2022.