Dead and Gone

"Dead and Gone"
Song

"Dead and Gone" is a song by American rapper T.I., featuring singer Justin Timberlake. It was released as the fourth official (seventh overall) single off T.I.'s sixth album, Paper Trail. The single charted on Billboard Hot 100 even before its official release. They performed this song at the 51st Grammy Awards. This is the second collaboration between T.I. and Justin Timberlake, the first being "My Love".

Background

Rob Knox, one of the producers, expresses his feelings into creating the song.

We were like, this guy's going through a lot with his whole court case situation and his best friend dyin', and everything in the world kind of crumbling in front of him in a way. We [agreed that] it would be real cool and unexpected to give people something a little more heartfelt - not the club, party, typical record that everybody wanted. We even had a feeling that T.I. was gonna mention that, but we already had a plan for him.

The song is about T.I.'s close friend Philant Johnson who was killed on May 3, 2006,when T.I.'s crew was caught up in a shooting after a show in Cincinnati that left three injured and Johnson killed.

Release

The song was first confirmed as the next single by co-producers Rob Knox and Sam Moody. T.I. later confirmed the release of the single himself. After the single was released, it gained massive airplay.

Chart performance

Before the single was announced, the track debuted on number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100, due to high downloads. Following its official release as a single, on the first week of January it made a re-entry on the chart at number 99 and has now reached #2, so far it has not been able to succeed Flo Rida's hit single Right Round from the top spot for the third week in a row. It is T.I.'s fourth consecutive top 5 hit on the Hot 100 from Paper Trail, and his seventh of his career as a lead artist. On Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs it has reached #30 so far, and number two on Hot Rap Tracks. So far, the song peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart. It also, so far, has peaked to #11 on the Billboard Pop 100 Airplay chart and #3 at the Billboard Pop 100 chart. The song made a strong debut at #30 on the UK Singles Chart, and the following week climbed to #17 and has climbed to #4. In Canada it first debuted at #59 on the Canadian Hot 100 the same week it did as in the U.S., and after its physical release it made a re-entry at #70 and has now peaked at #3.

Music video

T.I. confirmed that the music video will be shot. The video will co-star Justin Timberlake. He went on to say, "It will require both of our utmost abilities. Both of us will need to bring all we got, both performance-wise and maybe some acting."

The video was directed by Chris Robinson and was filmed in the first week of February in Los Angeles, California. The video surfaced on the internet a few hours before the official release date on February 17.

The end of the video shows T.I. getting out of the car and entering the prison with the gates closing behind him, symbolizing his jail sentence.

Formats and track listing

CD Promo

1. "Dead and Gone" (Album Version) - 5:00
2. "Dead and Gone" (Dirty Radio Edit) - 4:33
3. "Dead and Gone" (Clean Album Version) - 5:00
4. "Dead and Gone" (Clean Radio Edit) - 3:54
5. "Dead and Gone" (Instrumental) - 5:00

Chart positions

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	25
Canadian Hot 100	3
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	14
Irish Singles Chart	13
Latvian Singles Chart	18
New Zealand Singles Chart	6
Norwegian Singles Chart	18
Swedish Singles Chart	22
UK Singles Chart	4
UK R&B Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	2
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	11
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	3