Slide (FBG Duck song)
2017 song by FBG Duck
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"Slide" is a song by American rapper FBG Duck (Carlton Weekly) from his sixth mixtape, This How Im Coming 2 (2017)—the second part of his two-part How Im Coming series. Weekly and Manuel "Manny" Smart wrote the song, and Lil Riico Beatz produced it. It was released on December 8, 2017, as the fourth track from the mixtape. The song is a Chicago drill track with a trap beat. It opens with bell tones, ticking hi-hats, and handclaps. Weekly recorded the track while he was grieving the recent murder of his brother, rapper FBG Brick. In the lyrics, he dares rival gang members to act on their online threats.
- December 8, 2017 (mixtape)
- March 28, 2018 (commercial single)
- 3:56 (original mixtape release)
- 3:36 (commercial single)
| "Slide" | ||||
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Cover art for "Slide" | ||||
| Song by FBG Duck | ||||
| from the album This How Im Coming 2 | ||||
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| Recorded | 2017 | |||
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| Producer | Lil Riico Beatz | |||
| FBG Duck singles chronology | ||||
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| Official video | ||||
| "Slide" – FBG Duck on YouTube | ||||
| Remix cover | ||||
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| 21 Savage singles chronology | ||||
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| "Slide" (remix) on YouTube | ||||
Following the online success of its January 2018 music video, Columbia Records and RECORDS reissued the track as a commercial single on March 28, 2018. The labels released an official remix featuring Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage that May. Commercially, the single peaked at number eight on the United States Apple Music chart and earned a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for 500,000 track-equivalent units.
Upon its release, "Slide" received positive reviews from music journalists, who noted the song's "menacing" instrumental, Weekly's vocal delivery, and his refusal to use Auto-Tune. Critics praised 21 Savage's verse on the remix as a match to the beat and a co‑sign that put Weekly further into the mainstream. The track appeared on several year-end lists for 2018, including Spin's 101 Best Songs of the Year. Later, publications including Pitchfork, Vulture, Cleveland.com, and XXL have ranked "Slide" as one of the best and most defining tracks of the Chicago drill subgenre.
The accompanying music video, directed by Rickee Arts, was released in January 2018. The video shows Weekly with a group of armed men inside a home, using a bouncing camera to track the crowd. Critics praised the video's traditional style and compared it with the work of other 2010s drill artists. Its instrumental prompted remixes and freestyles that helped boost the careers of artists including Queen Key, Kidd Kenn, and Sexyy Red. After Weekly's death, the song was featured in Chicago's club circuit and concert events, including Lil Baby's 2023 tour stop at the United Center.
Background and recording
After the release of his November 2016 mixtape This How Im Coming, Carlton Weekly—known professionally as FBG Duck—began gathering instrumentals for a sequel.[2] Weekly, a Chicago drill rapper known for his diss tracks, contacted Lil Riico Beatz (Kyriakos Seitaridis) via an Instagram direct message, according to Seitaridis.[3] At the time, Seitaridis noted he was working as a bartender in Germany, producing instrumentals on a laptop after his shifts and sending beat packs to American drill artists.[4] Weekly selected the instrumental that became "Slide" from the pack Seitaridis sent.[5] He wrote the song with Manuel "Manny" Smart, and Seitaridis produced it as Lil Riico Beatz.[6]
Weekly freestyled "Slide", recording the track in forty minutes.[7][8] During this period, he was grieving the 2017 shooting death of his late brother, Jermaine "FBG Brick" Robinson.[9] In an October 2018 interview with VladTV, he recalled memorizing the lyrics in the booth and going "with the flow", stating that he recorded the song out of anger over online disrespect towards his late brother, framing the lyrics as a generalized diss toward "internet shooters."[10] Speaking to XXL, Weekly admitted to being "very intoxicated" during the session; he noted that he did not expect the song to become a hit, but wanted to "see what the people would like, what I gotta do to get me a big hit."[7]
Composition and lyrics
"Slide" is a Chicago drill song driven by a trap beat.[12][13] According to digital metadata published by Beatport, the track runs at 160 beats per minute and is in the key of B♭ minor.[14] The commercial single runs for 3 minutes and 36 seconds; the original mixtape version on This How Im Coming 2 runs for 3 minutes and 56 seconds.[15][16] The instrumental opens with bell tones, ticking hi-hats, and handclaps before the bass drops alongside Weekly's screaming ad-libs.[17] Tosten Burks of Passion of the Weiss described the beat as a "gorgeous post-drill beat",[17] while Billboard's Nerisha Penrose similarly characterized the instrumental as a "booming" beat "laced with menacing synths and thick drums."[13] Weekly raps in a deep, raspy tone, with animated accents and last-syllable flairs reminiscent of King Louie. His delivery shifts between quiet whispers, short trills, and loud screams.[18]
The song opens with Weekly telling his DJ, "I don't want no autotune", followed by the opening line about a "real nigga party".[19][17] Burks interprets the spoken line as both an aesthetic statement and a targeted diss.[17][20] The lyrics trace "the thin line between taunts and attacks," using the concept to "slide"—driving into rival territory, often to commit gang-related shootings.[17][a] Weekly taunts rival gang members, daring them to put their online threats—what Trey Alston (Vulture) describes as "pleas for his enemies to come see him"—into a physical confrontation.[23][17] As Penrose observed, Weekly "challenges his foes to put action behind their threats," listing the reasons they are afraid to "slide," before describing the violent consequences they would face if they did.[17] The lyrics address themes of distrust; analyzing the line "I can't shake your hand / No, I'm not your friend", reviewers cited the lyric as a need to keep Weekly's inner circle small and the refusal to shake hands as a warning.[13][17] Burks also read the line "Don't wanna hear them loud sounds, then be quiet" as a helpful lesson.[17]
Release and promotion
Original and music video
"Slide" debuted as the fourth of ten tracks on Weekly's mixtape This How Im Coming 2. Hosted by DJ Cortez, the tape was released on the digital distribution platform Spinrilla on December 8, 2017.[15][7]
The accompanying music video, directed by Rickee Arts, was uploaded to YouTube on January 24, 2018.[24] It features Weekly surrounded by a large crowd, using bouncing camera angles to track the group as several hooded men point weapons at the camera.[12][20] Reviewing the visual, Alphonse Pierre of Pitchfork praised the visual, writing that it "could have been recorded in any year throughout the 2010s."[12] Similarly, Lucas Foster of Passion of the Weiss noted that the song was matched with the video's visual commentary.[20] The video gained 4 million views in its first week; observing its online popularity, Robby Seabrook III of XXL noted that the song "took over his city, then blew up online."[7][5]
Following the song's success, Weekly signed with Sony's RECORDS imprint, which partnered with Columbia Records to re-release "Slide" commercially on March 28, 2018,[25][16] for digital download and streaming.[26][27] That same month, the track reached number eight on the United States Apple Music chart; Weekly promoted the chart placement on Instagram, posting a screenshot with the caption, "Thanking all my fans... Now let's push this BITCH to #1."[27] On January 17, 2023, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified "Slide" gold for selling 500,000 units.[28]
21 Savage remix
By early May 2018, the original music video had passed 18 million views, reaching 23 million by mid-year and achieved 54 million views by his death.[31] On May 8, 2018, RECORDS released an official remix featuring Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage.[13] At the time, 21 Savage was providing guest features for artists like Childish Gambino and Offset, and was touring with Post Malone.[30] According to Weekly, 21 Savage recorded his verse at an Atlanta studio during a break in his tour schedule.[10][29] On the track, 21 Savage backs Weekly's threats by issuing his own warning to rivals, cautioning against mistaking face tattoos for toughness and threatening retaliation at a candlelight vigil as he raps, "You think 'cause you went and tatted your face, that shit make you tough?"[13][30]
The remix received positive reviews from music critics. Hypebeast viewed the feature as a major co-sign for Weekly, naming the "Slide" remix as one of the biggest Chicago rap releases of 2018.[32] Alex Zidel of HotNewHipHop wrote that 21 Savage's voice was "perfect for the beat,"[30] while Jordan Darville of The Fader praised it as a "great remix", and wrote that Weekly had "retooled" his breakout single.[29] Narsimha Chintaluri of HotNewHipHop later ranked it as 21 Savage's second-best guest feature since his 2017 debut album, noting that the rapper avoided stylistic mismatches by delivering his verse "fast and strong," and aiming his lyrics at "pseudo-gangsta rappers."[33]
Critical reception
Initial reviews of "Slide" were positive, with critics calling it a "brash, beef-stoking single" (The Fader)[29] and a "chilly, menacing local hit" (Chicago Reader).[34] Lucas Foster, writing for Passion of the Weiss, called the track "drill rap as God intended it to be, gleeful and terrifying" and praised Weekly's refusal of Auto-Tune as a "wise choice," predicting 2018 "will see a lot less of it."[20] At the end of 2018, Spin placed "Slide" at number 69 on its "101 Best Songs of 2018" list,[35] and Burks ranked it 26th on his year‑end rap list.[17] By December, Leor Galil of the Chicago Reader observed that it had become "a Chicago radio staple" and earned almost 40 million YouTube views, yet the media had "barely noticed it".[36]
In the late 2010s and into the 2020s, "Slide" was cited by multiple publications as both a defining example of Chicago drill and as one of the greatest drill songs made.[37] Pierre included it on a 2019 list of eleven songs that defined the genre, writing that it was a "reminder that the home of drill will always be Chicago" and that it "arrived at a time when the drill scenes in both the UK and Brooklyn were picking up steam."[12] In 2022, Alston argued that "Slide" helped pull Chicago's local rap scene back after it had cooled off following Chief Keef's 2012 breakthrough, putting Weekly in a position to revive the genre,[23] while Troy L. Smith of Cleveland.com similarly wrote that Weekly looked ready to pick up where Chief Keef left off—though Smith admitted the violent lyrics were "eerie to listen to" after Weekly was killed in 2020, ranking it 24th on a list of the 30 greatest drill tracks ever made.[38] XXL included the song in its 2021 list of the best drill songs of the previous five years.[39]
Impact and aftermath
The song's instrumental prompted freestyles and remixes in 2018; several of these established artists' careers. In April of that year, Chicago south-suburban rapper Queen Key recorded a feminist-oriented remix of the track. Premiered via WorldStarHipHop, her accompanying music video showed a crew of women with a cameo from Chance the Rapper and surpassed one million views within its first few months.[40] Music journalists described Key's version of "Slide" as having a charismatic, female-centric style within the male-led genre. They noted that a "demure cameo" from Chance the Rapper played "second fiddle to Key's charisma," observing that he appeared "unusually bashful" and "well aware he is getting out-charisma'd."[42]
Later that year, Kidd Kenn, a 15-year-old openly gay rapper from Chicago's East Side, recorded a freestyle over the instrumental. Kenn altered the song's opening line to "It's a faggot party baby, you cannot get in", reclaiming a homophobic slur over what he described as a "gangsta street track".[43] The freestyle went viral on social media platforms; Matt Harvey of the Chicago Reader credited the release with increasing Kenn's online audience and leading him to a meeting with Def Jam Recordings and a guest appearance at Kehlani's 2018 San Francisco Pride set.[43][19] Similarly, St. Louis rapper Sexyy Red used the "Slide" beat for her first YouTube upload. Fan reception to the track led to live bookings, which started her music career.[41]
Following the single's breakout success, Weekly continued releasing music until he was fatally shot in Chicago on August 4, 2020, at the age of 26.[45][46] At the time of his death, the BBC and The Fader acknowledged "Slide" as his most known single.[45][46] DJ sets across Chicago continued to feature "Slide" into the mid-2020s. In March 2021, Mahadevan, writing in the Chicago Reader, mourned the lack of live performances of the track during pandemic lockdowns, placing it alongside songs by Chief Keef, King Von, and Lil Durk in the city's active club canon.[47] During a Lil Baby concert at the United Center in August 2023, the house DJ played "Slide" to an enthusiastic crowd response.[48] The TRiiBE wrote that "the song is ubiquitous amongst young Black Chicagoans."[8]
Track listing
Personnel
Original
Credits adapted from American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Mechanical Licensing Collective and YouTube.[49]
- Carlton Weekly – vocals, lyrics
- Manuel "Manny" Smart – lyrics
- Lil Riico Beatz (Kyriakos Seitaridis) – production
- Rickee Arts – music video director
Remix
- Carlton Weekly – vocals, lyrics
- Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph – vocals
- Lil Riico Beatz (Kyriakos Seitaridis) – production
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[50] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
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‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
