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It was only supposed to be a stopgap video while the artist shoots his official video in the coming weeks. Yet Cee-Lo Green's "F**k You" (warning, NSFW) has dominated the Internet in recent days, racking up over a million views on YouTube in its first three days (now hitting over 3 million), appearing on over 4,500 blogs (and counting) and forcing the rapper/singer's record label to rush-release the single to digital outlets.

The first single off Green's upcoming solo album 'The Ladykillers' is a sprightly, soulful 1960s throwback complemented by the minimalist video, designed internally by Warner Bros.' Art Department.

When both Ashton Kutcher and 50 Cent tweet about a song, it's enough for us to get the Goodie Mob and Gnarls Barkley member on the phone from his Atlanta home to talk about the song's immediate success and viral explosion.

Your video for 'F**k You' reached one million views on YouTube in three days and is currently at over 3.6 million. Was this part of the plan or were you surprised by the reaction?
It's amazing. You can't predict that at all. It happened too organically. I'm still finding the words now, in retrospect, to describe it to you. I think we were just having fun. We didn't take the song or ourselves too seriously. We just put it out there as a flare; a first impression to set the bar in terms of what to expect from me in the future. It wasn't meant for radio. Radio didn't come to mind until after the label suggested an alternative version just in case. We definitely felt like the song could make a good formal impression as a single. But you know, singles are meant to signify an entire project, not sum it up. So we felt that if this song works, maybe it could do that.

What was the genesis of the song? Did anyone specifically serve as inspiration?
I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but it's not biographical. I've been calling it a fictitious account of "youth in revolt". It just reminds me of the time when rock and roll wasn't legal and they couldn't film Elvis from the waist down. It's like that, but for our generation. It's definitely a new space for me to be in though.

What do you think it is about the song that created such a fervor?
I still don't know what it is about this song, but maybe with times being so trying and tensions being so high, we all sometimes need an opportunity to say "F**k You" out loud and break rules, just for a moment. Even if you're not breaking the rules and just bending them, something can be bent into an art form.

The video is creative in its simplicity, reminiscent of those kinetic typography videos that spread a few years back.
Art is equal parts acceptable and something that you don't understand. It's subject to interpretation and left to the imagination. Simplicity is a law more commonly applied to product, but simplicity can be sophisticated in its own right. There's validity in the simplicity. Maybe in modern times, it's becoming a hybrid theory of where we can actually make art product.




Have you seen The Dallas Observer's insertion of the song in famous movie scenes like 'Say Anything,' 'The Shawshank Redemption', and 'Dirty Dancing'?
Wasn't that awesome?! They're all great. I felt like one of the inmates in the yard listening to my song on the loudspeaker (laughs.) I was in awe. I was awestruck for a moment simply by how well it was married to those images and also the fact that the song was so effective and instantaneous with people. That's just the best. That's just the most gratifying, man. That's something that's just supernatural.
One of the best compliments an artist could have is to inspire more art.
That's all I would ever want to do. That's all the incentive that any artist would need to continue on.

Did you have any hand in the 50 Cent response remix?
Naw, that was 50 up to his old tricks. He did call me last week in London though to make it official and to see if I liked what he did and I said, "I'm completely flattered. It was cool."

Your website is now selling t-shirts that say "Cee Lo Says 'F**k You'". Was that a response to how the song has been received or part of the original marketing plan?
It was a response because I just approved those t-shirts last Thursday. I think it opens up another market for me. I never really did a lot of merchandise stuff even as Gnarls Barkley. We just never utilized that lane or maximized the potential of that marketing stream. But with this, it's been like a domino effect. It only makes sense to be able to rock the t-shirts. I was inspired by those old "Frankie Says Relax" t-shirts. It's like pop culture reincarnating itself again.

So is the next week or two continuing to respond to the storm?
Yeah, I think I'm gonna be fine, man. I'm having fun. I've been in the game 17 years and it's taken me that long to become an overnight success.