Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars: "Billionaire" (2010)

"Billionaire" is the debut single by American recording artist Travie McCoy, featuring guest vocals from Bruno Mars. It is the lead single from McCoy's debut studio album Lazarus. The song was produced by The Smeezingtons, which consists of Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine.

Lyrically, McCoy imagines what would happen if he became a billionaire, referencing all the good he would do to others with the money along with his desire to be on the cover of Forbes magazine, "smiling next to Oprah and The Queen". As of July 2011, the song has sold 3,000,000 digital downloads, making it Mars' third 3-million-seller.

During the summer of 2009 The Smeezingtons (Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine) were booked for a week of studio sessions writing for Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B and Travie McCoy. At the end of the week the group had created a scratch demo version of "Billionaire". The B.o.B song "Nothin' on You" was also conceived at this time. McCoy later joined The Smeezingtons in the studio to complete the full song. The radio edit of the song, replaces the word fucking with freaking and is 3:06 long instead of 3:30. The Radio edit is available for download on iTunes.


- Lyrics:

[Bruno Mars]
I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad
Buy all of the things I never had
Uh, I wanna be on the cover of Forks magazine
Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen

[Chorus]
Oh every time I close my eyes
I see my name in shining lights yeahh
A different city every night oh
I swear the world better prepare
For when I'm a billionaire

[Travis "Travie" McCoy]
Yeah I would have a show like Oprah
I would be the host of, everyday Christmas
Give Travie a wish list
I'd probably pull an Angelina and Brad Pitt
And adopt a bunch of babies that ain't never had shit
Give away a few Mercedes like here lady have this
And last but not least grant somebody their last wish
It's been a couple months since I've been single so
You can call me Travie Claus minus the Ho Ho
Get it, hehe, I'd probably visit where Katrina hit
And damn sure do a lot more than FEMA did
Yeah can't forget about me stupid
Everywhere I go Imma have my own theme music

[Chorus]
Oh every time I close my eyes
I see my name in shining lights
A different city every night oh
I swear the world better prepare
For when I'm a billionaire
Oh oooh oh oooh for when I'm a Billionaire
Oh oooh oh oooh when I'm a Billionaire
Oh oooh oh oooh

[Travis "Travie" McCoy]
I'll be playing basketball with the President
Dunking on his delegates
Then I'll compliment him on his political etiquette
Toss a couple milli in the air just for the heck of it
But keep the fives, twentys completely separate
And yeah I'll be in a whole new tax bracket
We in recession but let me take a crack at it
I'll probably take whatever's left and just split it up
So everybody that I love can have a couple bucks
And not a single tummy around me would know what hungry was
Eating good sleeping soundly
I know we all have a similar dream
Go in your pocket pull out your wallet
And put it in the air and sing

[Bruno Mars]
I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad
Buy all of the things I never had
Uh, I wanna be on the cover of Forks magazine
Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen

[Chorus]
Oh every time I close my eyes
I see my name in shining lights yeah yeah
A different city every night oh
I swear the world better prepare
For when I'm a billionaire
Oh oooh oh oooh for when I'm a Billionaire
Oh oooh oh oooh for when I'm a Billionaire
Oh oooh oh oooh

I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad