Rapper Flo Milli’s latest song samples Fiddler on the Roof, and it’s simply all we want to listen to and talk about until the end of time.
Flo Milli, real name Tamia Monique Carter, is a 21-year-old rapper from Alabama who went viral on TikTok with her tracks “Beef FloMix” and “In The Party.”
On January 14, she released “Roaring 20s,” which begins with Zero Mostel singing “If I Were a Rich Man,” then Flo Milli coming in to rap, “If I was a rich man / I’ll drop my nuts on a hater.” The whole song is based around the concept of imagining a more lavish lifestyle, making the sample work perfectly in tandem with the lyrics. Also, it’s a bop.
“If I Were a Rich Man” is a show tune from the classic Jewish musical Fiddler on the Roof, originally performed by Zero Mostel as Tevye. “Roaring 20s” joins a rich (ha) heritage of “Rich Man” adaptations, including Gwen Stefani’s “If I Were a Rich Girl” and “Massive Attack” by Daydreaming.
This is not Flo Milli’s first time rapping about wealth or power, and it’s intentional. As she told Spotify, “I believe that whatever you put out into the universe, that’s what you’re going to get. So if you’re speaking about these things, you’re conjuring them up. Who doesn’t want to live a lavish lifestyle, especially when you come from nothing? Those things are power, and I think it’s important to make it a habit to speak the things that we want and let everybody know, especially young girls, that they can have those things. You can reach your goals and you can be great. You can get anything you want if you put your mind to it.”
Listen to the Kenny Beats-produced “Roaring 20s” here:
P.S. Flo Milli’s “Beef FloMix” is a song you’ve probably heard as the audio to many fancams, including this one we made of Jerry Nadler carrying a Zabar’s bag during Donald Trump’s impeachment:
jerry nadler bringing zabars to the second impeachment fancam pic.twitter.com/UlpWcLVIym
— Alma (@hey_alma) January 14, 2021
