"Like a G6" is a song by American music group Far East Movement featuring fellow American musicians Dev and The Cataracs, released as the lead single from Far East Movement's third studio album Free Wired. The song was initially posted on November 4, 2009 on Far East Movement's YouTube page. "Like a G6" peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for three non-consecutive weeks, becoming the first single by Asian-American artists to do so and the first by any artists of East Asian origin since Kyu Sakamoto's 1963 single "Sukiyaki". Outside of the United States, "Like a G6" topped the chart in New Zealand, and peaked within the top ten of the charts in numerous countries, including Australia, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom.

Background

Dev's vocals in "Like a G6" are sampled from her previous song "Booty Bounce", another song written and produced by the Cataracs. The "G6" in the song came about when the Cataracs were looking for a rhyme for the line "Sippin' sizzurp in my ride, like Three 6", a reference to the 2000 song "Sippin' on Some Syrup" by rap group Three 6 Mafia. They settled on "G6", meant to be a reference to the private airplane model Gulfstream IV, referred to as a "G4". The G4 had been name-checked in songs such as Drake's 2009 "Forever". A G6, they decided, was "flyer than a G4", according to Far East Movement member Kev Nish. The song has been incorrectly speculated to be about other things, including the Pontiac G6 and the Suunto G6 watch. When the song came out, the Gulfstream G650 model already existed, although the song's writers were not aware of this at the time. Since then, the Gulfstream G600 has also been announced.

Reception

The song has sold 4 million paid downloads in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Gulfstream Aerospace has stated that they were "thrilled" about the product reference.

Music video

The music video, which was directed by Matt Alonzo premiered on YouTube and Vevo on June 3, 2010. The line "sippin' sizzurp" and the word "slizzered" are censored on some channels. It follows a woman in a red dress (Erica Ocampo) picking up a friend from a restaurant and going to a liquor store, presumably in preparation for a party. A later scene shows the woman and her friends at the party, Colette Carr also make a cameo, Dev, The Cataracs and the members of Far East Movement can also be seen in this party scene. The final scene shows the members of Far East Movement getting on a Gulfstream IV the next morning. The music video was produced by Skee.TV (Producers: Satien Mehta, Mike Busalacchi)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Covers and parodies