Lose Yourself

"Lose Yourself"
Single by Eminem
from the album Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture 8 Mile
Released	October 22, 2002
Format	CD
Genre	Hip-Hop, Raprock
Length	5:31
Label	Shady Interscope UMG Soundtracks
Writer(s)	Eminem, L. Resto, J. Bass
Producer	Eminem, Jeff Bass
Certification	4x Platinum (ARIA) Silver (BPI) Gold (RIAA)
Eminem singles chronology
"Cleanin' Out My Closet" (2002) "Lose Yourself" (2002) "Superman" (2003)
8 Mile Soundtrack track listing "Lose Yourself" (1) "Love Me" (2) Curtain Call: The Hits track listing "Stan" (5) "Lose Yourself" (6) "Shake That" (7)

"Lose Yourself" is an Academy Award-winning 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 Louis Resto.

Reaching #1 on a record 24 charts worldwide, "Lose Yourself" is the most successful rap song of all time. It spent a record-breaking 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 two 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] "Lose Yourself" ranked #166 in Rolling Stone magazine's the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It also ranked #93 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs. 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. It also became Eminem's first song to reach 2 million digital downloads as a lead artist.^[3] 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.^[4]

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" thus making it the most successful rap song of all time.

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 for a rap song, 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 was not performed 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. [1] 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 [2].

"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 listening to this file? See media help.

The song was also covered by The Script for their debut self-titled album, released in 2008.^[5]

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 Favourite 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.

Uses in popular culture

• The Teen drama series Instant Star named its season premiere episode after this song.
• The music video is parodied in the movie Scary Movie 3.
• Queen + Paul Rodgers used the song as the house music for all of the concerts on their 2005–2006 tours.
• On May 15, 2006, Jodie Foster quoted the chorus of the song in her commencement speech at the University of Pennsylvania.^[6]
• Many athletic teams use this song over their PA system before games.
• Part of the tune of the song is used as the theme music on the German detective series Lenßen & Partner.
• During an October 2006 interview with the K102 Morning Crew in (Minneapolis, MN), country artist Taylor Swift did an acoustic rendition of the intro and first verse of "Lose Yourself" live on the air, citing it as her favorite workout song.
• The East Village Opera Company performs this song live, usually as an encore with full orchestra backing.
• Judson Laipply dances to the song briefly in the "Evolution of Dance" video on YouTube.
• George Sotiropoulos used this as his entrance song at UFC 101.
• Mostapha Al-turk used this as his entrance song at UFC 99.

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. 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" and "Cleanin' Out My Closet", but does not credit Eminem. Apologetix has also made a parody called "Look Yourself". The show Robot Chicken parodied part of the film in the rapping sequence involving Bugs Bunny and a collection of other Looney Tunes characters.^[7] Lupe Fiasco sampled this song on his track "Lu Myself" on his mixtape, Lupe the Jedi and the Touch the Sky mixtape. This song has also been covered by alternative band, The Script in BBC Radio 1's live lounge.

Track listing

CD single

Charts

Successions

References