Lose Yourself

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"Lose Yourself"
Single by Eminem
from the album 8 Mile Soundtrack
Released	c. November 2002
Format	CD
Genre	Hip hop
Length	5:20
Label	Shady/Aftermath/Interscope
Producer(s)	Eminem
Chart positions
#1 (UK, U.S., Australia, Portugal, Sweden, Ireland, Taiwan, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Canada, Japan, Russia, China, Spain)
Eminem singles chronology
"Cleanin' Out My Closet" (2002)	"Lose Yourself" (2002)	"Sing for the Moment" (2003)

For the sense of losing oneself, see Flow (psychology).

"Lose Yourself" is an Oscar-winning rap song written and produced by Eminem, released in 2002. At this time, he had recently made his debut as an actor in the film 8 Mile, a film based on his tough life growing up and entering the rap game. The song was taken from the film's soundtrack (8 Mile Soundtrack), an album which had achieved significant success together with the release of this single. It has since become one of Eminem's best known songs, and was a number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart for 12 weeks. The song is also known as a world number one single topping the chart in all countries; there are not many other songs in the world that have achieved such success.

Contents 1 Lyrics and Production Style 2 Success 3 Music Video 4 In culture

[edit] Lyrics and Production Style

The lyrics to "Lose Yourself" were written by Eminem during a break from filming in a portable studio on the set, doing all three verses in one take. The sheet he used to write it on 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 are explicitly about Eminem's character from 8 Mile, B. Rabbit, with the first verse summing up much of the plot of the movie and the following verses describing scenes not found in the film, presumably occurring to Rabbit after the events of 8 Mile.

The song's general production style is similar in scope to the track "'Till I Collapse" from The Eminem Show. 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. Also, there are some elements of rock music.

[edit] Success

"Lose Yourself" was the most successful single of Eminem's mainstream career. It had a 12-week run at #1 in the United States, and topped the charts in many other countries as well, including the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand among others. It debuted at number nine in Canada, but then topped the chart the following week.

The song went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Song (indeed, this was the first time a rap song ever won this award), although Eminem was not present at the award ceremony, believing he would not win a big award for a rap song. He was sleeping at the time when the Academy Awards were on, and daughter Hailie was watching cartoons. ^{[citation needed]}. Luis Resto, one of the song's co-writers, had attended the ceremony and accepted the award instead. 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 nominee of his career 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 mere three songs from the 21st century featured in the 2004 List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. (Outkast's "Hey Ya!" and Eminem's "Stan" are ranked #180 and #290, respectively).

"Lose Yourself" was later released on Eminem's greatest hits album, Curtain Call, in 2005.

[edit] Music Video

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

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

[edit] In culture

"Weird Al" Yankovic made a parody of the song by the name of "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. Eminem's concerns about "Couch Potato" were the subject of another "Lose Yourself" parody done by Tony Goldmark entitled "Fool Yourself".

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.

An underground DJ produced a Bastard Pop remix referred to as Eminem Vs.Nena or Lose Yourself Vs. Nur Getraeumt and is popular on P2P and Torrent networks.

On May 15, 2006, Jodie Foster quoted the chorus of the song in her commencement speech at the University of Pennsylvania.[1]

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.

Preceded by: "A Moment Like This" by Kelly Clarkson	Billboard Hot 100 number one single November 9, 2002	Succeeded by: "Bump, Bump, Bump" by B2K featuring P. Diddy
Preceded by: "Born To Try" by Delta Goodrem	ARIA (Australia) number one single December 8, 2002 - February 23, 2003	Succeeded by: "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera
Preceded by: "If I Didn't Have You" from Monsters, Inc. by Randy Newman	Academy Award for Best Song 2002	Succeeded by: "Into the West" from Return of the King by Fran Walsh, Howard Shore and Annie Lennox
Preceded by: "If You're Not The One" by Daniel Bedingfield	UK number one single December 8, 2002	Succeeded by: "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" by Blue and Elton John

Eminem
Discography
Infinite | The Slim Shady EP | The Slim Shady LP | The Marshall Mathers LP | The Eminem Show | Straight from the Lab EP | Encore | Curtain Call: The Hits
Singles
"My Name Is" | "Guilty Conscience" | "The Real Slim Shady" | "The Way I Am" | "Stan" | "Without Me" | "Cleanin' Out My Closet" | "Lose Yourself" | "Sing For The Moment"| "Superman" | "Business" | "Just Lose It" | "Encore" | "Like Toy Soldiers" | "Mockingbird" | "Ass Like That" | "When I'm Gone" | "Shake That" | "You Don't Know"
Other songs and collaborations
"Forgot About Dre" | "Just Don't Give a Fuck" | "Dead Wrong" | "My Fault" | "Role Model" | "Mosh" | "Smack That"