My Life (song)

Infobox Single
Name = My Life

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Border =
Caption =
Artist = The Game featuring Lil Wayne
Album = LAX
Released = July 22, 2008 (U.S.)
August 5, 2008 (iTunes)
Format = CD single
Digital Download
Recorded = 2008
Genre = West Coast hip hop, Hip hop
Length = 5:27 (album version)According to single cover.]
4:35 (extended radio edit)
3:38 (main radio edit)
Label = Geffen/Interscope
Writer = Jayceon Taylor
Dwayne Carter, Jr.
Producer = Cool & Dre
Certification =
Chronology = The Game singles
Last single = "Dope Boys"
(2008)
This single = "My Life"
(2008)
Next single = "House of Pain"
(2008)Extra chronology
Artist = Lil Wayne
Type = singles
Last single = "Can't Believe It"
(2008)
This single = "My Life"
(2008)
Next single = "Let It Rock"
(2008)"My Life" is the third single from The Game's third studio album, "LAX" which was released on August 22, 2008. The song, produced by Cool & Dre, features Lil Wayne, and like many recent Lil Wayne songs, he uses the vocoder effect for the hook. The Game also mentions Kanye West and the death of his mother Donda West, stating:

:"Sometimes I think about my life with my face down,":"Then I see my sons and I put on that Kanye smile,":"Damn I know his momma proud,":"And since you helped me sell my dream - we can share my momma now." [(August 16, 2008) [http://www.hiphopmusicdotcom.com/the-game-featuring-lil-wayne-my-life.html The Game - My Life Video] Accessed August 18, 2008.]

Recording

Producers Cool & Dre have released a video documenting how they created the beat. [ [http://videos.onsmash.com/v/2mmKl2kSip2rBY1n 305 Uncut Presents Making The Beat Cool & Dre "My Life" Part 1] Accessed August 23, 2008.]

The Game spoke on his working with Lil Wayne stating:

Release

The song started to receive airplay on July 22, 2008, but was leaked in early July. [ [http://snarkfood.com/world-video-premiere-the-games-my-life-featuring-lil-wayne/ World Video Premiere: The Game's "My Life" Featuring Lil Wayne] Accessed August 18, 2008.] As of early August 2008 the song was released for download on iTunes. [(August 6, 2008) [http://www.interscope.com/artist/news/default.aspx/nid/15957/aid/418 The Game: News: "My Life" feat Lil Wayne available on iTunes] Interscope. Accessed August 18, 2008.]

Controversy

When the song first leaked, many believed The Game was "dissing" Eminem. However, later on his website, Game explained that this was not the case, and apologized to anyone who might have misunderstood what he had intended to say: [ [http://hurricane-game.net/2008/07/24/the-game-clears-up-eminem-diss/ The Game Clears Up Eminem “Diss”] ]

The exact lines which many mistook as a diss were:

:"You see them 24's spinning? I earned 'em":"And all the pictures of me and Em, I burned 'em":"So there ain't no proof that I ever walked through 8 Mile":"And since there ain't no Proof, I'll never walk through 8 Mile" [Archie Fucque (July 25, 2008) [http://www.sohh.com/2008/07/pulse-report-3.html Pulse Report: The Game Explains Alleged Eminem Diss...] SOHH. Accessed August 16, 2008.]

Although, on the version used in the music video, [http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1592651&vid=265714 The Game - "My Life" on FNMTV] MTV. Accessed August 16, 2008.] the lyrics have been changed to:

:"You see them 24's spinnin'? I earned 'em":"And I ain't no preacher, but here's my Erick Sermon":"So eat this black music, and tell me how it taste, now":"And fuck Jesse Jackson cause it ain't about race, now"

amples

Lil Wayne re-sings sections of "So Tired", a song by Birdman in which Wayne is featured. [ [http://www.defsounds.com/singles/Birdman_feat_lil_wayne_so_tired Birdman featuring Lil' Wayne - "So Tired"] ] [http://www.thehypefactor.com/the-game-feat-lil-wayne-my-life/ The Game feat. Lil' Wayne - My Life > The Hype Factor] Accessed August 23, 2008.] Also at the beginning of the second verse, The Game samples a twice used Lil Wayne line from the remix of "Party Like a Rockstar", and "Phone Home", from Tha Carter III:

:"We are not the same, I am a Martian" [ [http://www.defsounds.com/singles/Da_shop_boyz_feat_jim_jones_lil_wayne_chamillionaire_party_like_a_rock_star_rmx Da Shop Boyz feat. Jim Jones, Lil Wayne, & Chamillionaire - Party Like a Rock Star (rmx)] DefSounds. Accessed August 23, 2008.] [ (June 10, 2008) [http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-lil-wayne-tha-carter-iii-review-080610-ht,0,2139754.story LIL' WAYNE 'THA CARTER III' REVIEW] Accessed August 23, 2008.]

Although multiple samples were used for the song, the album credits only list the sample of "So Tired". [cite album-notes |bandname=The Game feat. Lil Wayne |title=LAX |year=2008 |publisher=Geffen/Interscope |publisherid=001146502]

Music video

The video which was filmed on July 23, 2008, [(July 25, 2008) [http://www.therealbws.com/blog/2008/young-buck-at-the-game-my-life-video-shoot/07/25/ Young Buck at The Game - My Life Video Shoot] Accessed August 16, 2008.] was directed by Bryan Barber, and premiered on "FNMTV" on August 15, 2008. The setting takes place mostly within a graveyard and other areas in and around Compton and features Lil Wayne, with appearances by Birdman, Cool & Dre, and Young Buck, with references to the deceased Sean Bell. The video also makes references to the gang the Bloods, [ Arch Sagesse (August 16, 2008) [http://hypetrak.com/2008/08/the-game-ft-lil-wayne-my-life-2/ The Game ft. Lil Wayne - My Life] Accessed August 20, 2008.] of which The Game is a member . [Sarah Godfrey (May 10, 2005} [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/09/AR2005050901357.html The Game Fizzles and Snoop Dogg Sizzles] Washington Post. Accessed August 20, 2008.] [ [http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/game_the/artist.jhtml#/music/artist/game_the/bio.jhtml The Game's biography on MTV] MTV Accessed August 20, 2008] Also in the video is a reference to the "Beats by Dr. Dre" headphones [ Universal Music Group [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDEhd3W4oSw The Game - My Life: Pre-Roll, closed Captioned] YouTube. Accessed August 20, 2008.] made by Monster. [ [http://www.monstercable.com/beats/ "Beats by Dr. Dre" Official website] Accessed August 20, 2008.] In the video The Game also wears a shirt that reads [http://therealbws.com/store/hip-hop-broke-my-heart-tee.html "Hip Hop Broke My Heart"] , which, in an interview with website HipHopDX.com, he stated, among other things,

Build up

In addition to the controversy surrounding the supposed "diss" to Eminem and deceased rapper Proof, on August 1, 2008, DJ Skee released a behind-the-scenes video on his official "SkeeTV" YouTube account. The video has many people speaking to the camera including director Bryan Barber speaking on different subjects within the video. Young Buck is seen speaking about his label, Cashville Records, and artists signed to the label such as the Outlawz, and C-Bo. [ DJ Skee (August 1, 2008) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCFtFySNqAA The Game ft. Lil Wayne "My Life" Music Video OFFICIAL BTS Skee.TV **LAX] YouTube. Accessed August 21, 2008.] Also on "SkeeTV", a trailer was released to promote the video, on August 14, the day before the video was officially released. [ DJ Skee (August 14, 2008) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq3pU_IAXOQ The Game ft. Lil Wayne "My Life" Music Video TRAILER PREVIEW from SkeeTV] YouTube. Accessed August 17, 2008.]

Chart performance

"My Life" has been the Game's most successful single overall in the U.S. since "Hate It or Love It" from his debut album. The song has reached #21 on the Hot 100, his highest peaking song on the chart since "Hate It or Love It." The song has sold over 412,000 in digital downloads so far, achieving a #6 peak on the digital chart. It has also peaked at #16 so far on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and #4 on Hot Rap Tracks. On the Canadian Hot 100 it has peaked at #42 so far. It debuted at #75 on the UK Singles Chart and has risen to #45.

Charts

References