Lose Yourself

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"Lose Yourself"
Song

"Lose Yourself" is a hip hop song by American rapper Eminem. It was released in 2002 as part of the soundtrack to the film 8 Mile, also starring Eminem, later released as a single in 2002, and re-released on Eminem's greatest hits compilation Curtain Call: The Hits. The song was written and produced by Eminem and producer Luis Resto. Eminem won both an Academy Award in 2003 and a Grammy in 2004 for "Lose Yourself."

Reaching #1 in a 24 charts worldwide, "Lose Yourself" became a worldwide success. It spent 12 weeks atop the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the longest-running #1 of 2002. It topped the UK and Eurocharts for over a month, ranking in the top 10 in several year-end sales charts. It won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, two Grammy Awards, and three other Grammy nominations, the most awards won by a single rap song in one year. The song is ranked 4th in the 100 greatest songs of the past 25 years by VH1.[1] It also ranked #93 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs and first of the 50 best film soundtracks by the French television channel Virgin 17. The song was named the fourth best song of the decade by the Complex Magazine.[2]

In March 2009, "Lose Yourself" topped the 2 million mark in digital downloads in the United States, becoming the second oldest song to hit that sales level, surpassed only by Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" in 1981. It also became Eminem's first song to reach 2 million digital downloads as a lead artist.[3] To this date, "Lose Yourself" has been downloaded over 3,000,000 times in the United States alone.[4] In the same year the single was named the 28th most successful song of the 2000s, on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade,[5] the seventh most successful song of the decade in Australia and 51st in the UK.[6][7]

Writing process

The song was written by Eminem during a break of the filming of 8 Mile. He recorded it in a portable studio on the set, recording all three verses in one take. The sheet on which he wrote the song appears in 8 Mile in a scene where his character is writing while riding the bus. This sheet was sold on eBay for $10,000.

The song's lyrics explicitly sum up the background info about Eminem's character in 8 Mile, B. Rabbit, with the first verse summing up much of the plot of the movie.

The song's general production style is similar in scope to the track "'Till I Collapse" from The Eminem Show (released before 8 Mile). Both tracks begin with an interlude punctuated by a piano, followed by a gradual introduction of the beat, accompanied by a spoken introduction by Eminem. Both tracks also prominently feature a bass loop and some guitar elements.

Success and legacy

"Lose Yourself" is the most successful single of Eminem's mainstream career. It had a 12-week run at #1 in the United States & Australia, and topped the charts in many other countries as well, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand and Denmark among others. It debuted at number nine in Canada and moved up to #1 the following week. According to the Guinness Book Of World Records "Lose Yourself" became the "Longest Running Single at Number One for a Rap Song" at 23 weeks.

In the United States, "Lose Yourself" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart the week of October 5, 2002, at #43. A week later, the single jumped to #18, and hit #1 by November 9. The single spent 16 total weeks in the Top 10, and a total of 23 weeks in the Top 50. While in the #1 spot (from 11/09/02 through 1/25/03), "Lose Yourself"'s impressive run kept several top contenders for the #1 spot from ever reaching #1, including Jay-Z, Nelly, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, and especially Missy Elliott, whose single "Work It" was at #2 for 10 weeks.

The song went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Original Song (the first time a rap song ever won this award), upsetting the favored song "The Hands That Built America" by U2. It is rumored that Eminem, who was not present at the award ceremony believing he would not win, was sleeping at the time the award was announced. This was the first time in 14 years the winner of the Best Original Song category did not perform at the ceremony. Luis Resto, one of the song's co-writers, had attended the ceremony and accepted the award instead. "He's creative, he has symphonies in his head," Resto said at the lectern about Eminem. [8] The American Film Institute later ranked it #93 on their list of the 100 Greatest Songs from American Films.

At the Grammy Awards of 2004, "Lose Yourself" became Eminem's second career nomination for Record of the Year (following "Without Me"), and the first rap song ever to be nominated for Song of the Year. It won Best Male Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song, which was a brand new category at the time.

At #166, "Lose Yourself" is the highest ranked of the three songs from the 21st century featured in the 2004 List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (joining "Stan" at #290). Outkast's "Hey Ya!" was the other, at #180. The magazine later ranked the song the twelfth best of the decade.[9] The song was the 51st best-selling single of the 2000 decade in UK.[10]

"Lose Yourself" was later released on Eminem's compilation album, Curtain Call: The Hits, in 2005.

"Lose Yourself"
The song's chorus consists of two repeated short verses.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

The song was also covered by The Script for their debut self-titled album, released in 2008.[11]

Music video

The music video for "Lose Yourself" was filmed in Detroit, Michigan, and thus contains numerous shots of the city, including the Ambassador Bridge. The video is a mixture of multiple scenarios, including scenes from and reminiscent of the movie 8 Mile, and Eminem rapping next to the "8 Mile Rd. Mobile Court" sign that appears on the cover of the movie's soundtrack.

It contains scenes focusing on Rabbit's and the real life Eminem's character, for example, the difficulties he has to face while rapping, the insult and booing of crowds as he is a white rapper and the trouble he has to face due to his alcoholic mother and people he hangs out with.

He won a Much Music Video Awards in 2003 for Favorite International Artist with the video for "Lose Yourself".

At the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards it received the award for Best Video from a Film in the final year this award was given out. It also received nominations for Video of the Year, Best Male Video, Best Rap Video, and Viewer's Choice.

The video has been viewed over 65 million times on Youtube making it one of Eminem's most popular videos on that site.

Uses in popular culture

Cover versions, parodies and samples

  • "Weird Al" Yankovic made a parody of the song, titled "Couch Potato", on his 2003 album Poodle Hat. Eminem had given him permission to parody the song, but not to produce a music video for the parody. Al has also released a t-shirt in his online store that parodies the 8 Mile movie poster.
  • The Irish pop band, The Script, did an alternative cover to this song in the BBC Radio's live lounge.
  • In 2003, the Australian comedy duo Scared Weird Little Guys produced a rap version of the folk song "Waltzing Matilda" called "Cleanin' Out My Tuckerbag", which parodies both "Lose Yourself" & "Cleanin' Out My Closet", but does not credit Eminem.
  • Christian parody band ApologetiX parodied the song as "Look Yourself". It is available on their 2003 album, Adam Up.
  • The show Robot Chicken parodied part of the film in the rapping sequence involving Bugs Bunny and a collection of other Looney Tunes characters.[13]
  • Lupe Fiasco sampled this song on his track "Lu Myself" (Jypsyeye on bass) on his mixtape, Lupe the Jedi and the Touch the Sky mixtape.
  • Justin Bieber performed the beginning of the song in Detroit, during his 2010 concerts My World Tour.
  • Taylor Swift also performed the beginning of the song to open concerts.

Track listing

CD single
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Lose Yourself"M. Mathers, L. Resto, J. BassEminem, Luis Resto, Jeff Bass5:27
2."Renegade" (feat. Jay-Z)M. Mathers, S. Carter, L. RestoEminem5:37
3."Lose Yourself" (instrumental)M. Mathers, L. Resto, J. BassEminem, Luis Resto, Jeff Bass5:29

Charts

Chart successions

Order of precedence
Preceded by
"Dilemma" by Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland
 Billboard Hot 100 number one single
November 9, 2002 - January 25, 2003 (12 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Irish IRMA number-one single
December 7, 2003 - January 4, 2003 (5 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Australia ARIA number-one single
December 8, 2002 - February 23, 2003 (12 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK number-one single
December 8, 2002 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
"Per me è importante" by Tiromancino
 Italian FIMI number-one single
December 12, 2002 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
"Per me è importante" by Tiromancino
Preceded by
"Dilemma" by Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland
 Belgian (Flanders) number-one single
January 4, 2003 - January 18, 2003 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"Live on Mars" by Jasper Steverlinck + Steven & Stijn Kolacny
Preceded by Dutch Top 40 number-one single
January 4, 2003 - February 1, 2003 (5 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Norwegian VG-Lista number-one single
2/2003 - 5/2003 (4 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Finnish number-one single
2/2003 (1 week)
6/2003 - 7/2003 (2 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
"Der Steuersong (Las Kanzlern)" by Die Gerd Show
 Austrian number-one single
January 12, 2003 - January 26, 2003 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Eurochart Hot 100 number-one single
January 18, 2003 - February 8, 2003 (4 weeks)
March 22, 2003 - April 12, 2003 (4 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Swedish number-one single
January 23, 2003 - March 13, 2003 (8 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Belgian (Wallonia) number-one single
January 25, 2003 - February 15, 2003 (4 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by New Zealand RIANZ number-one single
January 26, 2003 - February 9, 2003 (3 weeks)
February 23, 2003 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
"Every Little Part of Me" by Julie
 Danish number-one single
January 30, 2003 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Swiss number-one single
March 9, 2003 (1 week)
March 23, 2003 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
"Le Frunkp" by Alphonse Brown
"Take Me Tonight" by Alexander
Awards
Preceded by Academy Award for Best Original Song
2002 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ "VH1's '100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years'". The Sydney Morning Herald. June 12, 2003.
  2. ^ Best.complex.com
  3. ^ "Week Ending March 15, 2009: The Idol With The Most - Chart Watch". New.music.yahoo.com. 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  4. ^ http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/66598/week-ending-oct-3-2010-americas-most-popular-inmate/
  5. ^ Hot 100 Decade Songs
  6. ^ McCabe, Kathy (2010-07-01). "Delta Goodrem's talents top the charts". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2010-10-01. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
  7. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pfmdj
  8. ^ Elson, Rachel F. (2003-03-24). "Eminem Naps Through His Oscar Victory - Eminem". People.com. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  9. ^ [1][dead link]
  10. ^ Radio 1 Official Chart of the Decade, as broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on Tuesday 29th December 2009, presented by Nihal
  11. ^ The Script - Lose Yourself [Lyrics]
  12. ^ "Jodie Foster Quotes Eminem in Commencement Speech - Celebrity Gossip | Entertainment News | Arts And Entertainment". FOXNews.com. 2006-05-16. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  13. ^ Youtube.com
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Lose Yourself", in various singles charts Lescharts.com . Retrieved April 17, 2008.
  15. ^ a b "Single top 100 over 2003" (PDF) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  16. ^ "Archívum - Slágerlisták - MAHASZ - Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége". Mahasz.hu. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  17. ^ Irish Single Chart Irishcharts.ie . Retrieved April 17, 2008.
  18. ^ UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  19. ^ a b c d e f Billboard allmusic.com . Retrieved April 17, 2008.
  20. ^ 2003 Australian Singles Chart aria.com . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  21. ^ 2003 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  22. ^ 2003 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart Ultratop.be . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  23. ^ 2003 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart Ultratop.be . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  24. ^ 2003 French Singles Chart Disqueenfrance . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  25. ^ 2003 Irish Singles Chart Irma.ie . Retrieved December 11, 2008.
  26. ^ 2003 New Zealand Singles Chart Rianz.org.nz . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  27. ^ 2003 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  28. ^ Australian certifications aria.com . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  29. ^ Austrian certifications ifpi.at . Retrieved August 23, 2008.
  30. ^ Belgian certifications Ultratop.be . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  31. ^ Finnish certifications [2] . Retrieved September 21, 2010.
  32. ^ French certifications Disqueenfrance.com . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  33. ^ German certifications musikindustrie.de . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  34. ^ New Zealand certifications Rianz.org.nz . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  35. ^ Norwegian certifications Ifpi.no . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  36. ^ Swiss certifications Swisscharts.com . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  37. ^ UK certifications Bpi.co.uk . Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  38. ^ U.S. certifications riaa.com . Retrieved August 24, 2008.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lose_Yourself&oldid=390059874"