“Staying Alive” by DJ Khaled (ft. Drake and Lil Baby)
The chorus of “Staying Alive” reads as if the vocalists are addressing haters. But for the most part the lyrics are romantic in nature, for lack of a more ample adjective.
In the first verse, we have Drake addressing a particular romantic interest who just ‘teased’ him when he “was broke”. But now that he’s making it, it’s like she’s willing to be his sex slave or something. And in the second verse, it is implied that this is the same lady he subsequently ‘sends’ to Lil Baby, i.e. a woman who has “another guy” but is out playing the field nonetheless.
So the point of this song, apparently, is intended to be something along the lines of speaking to the benefits of stardom, i.e. the rappers throwing the fact that they have ‘stayed alive’ and prospered in the face of detractors. However, the verses themselves don’t particularly stick to that topic, unless perhaps the intended addressees of this piece are more particularly the types of guys that envy others who are afforded the opportunity to sleep with hoes.
Facts about “Staying Alive”
This isn’t the first time that a rap song has interpolated or even been named the Bee Gees’ 1977 disco classic “Stayin’ Alive“, as in 2004 Wyclef dropped a track titled “We Trying to Stay Alive”, and Lizzo also came out with a song called “Stayin’ Alive” in 2019.
DJ Khaled’s own “Staying Alive” was made public on 5 August 2022, which is the lead single from “God Did”, the project which is concurrently shaping up to be his 13th studio album.
Khaled is in fact a DJ and as such, despite also being a one-of-a-kind vocalist in his own right, doesn’t actually rap or sing or anything like that. So in this particular case, the featured vocalists are Lil Baby and Drake. And being that the headline artist has consistently worked with a number of top-notch rappers throughout the years, this actually marks the sixth time he’s collaborated with Lil Baby and the eighth outing consisting of himself and Drake.
The writers of the original “Stayin’ Alive”, the Bee Gees (brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb) are credited as co-authors of this song alongside Drake, Baby, Khaled, Nyan and Tim Suby. And it is also the latter two musicians who produced this track, with its video director being one R.T. Thorne.
“Staying Alive” is a product of the following labels:
- Sony Music Entertainment
- Epic Records
- We The Best Music (which is owned by Khaled)
