My Band

"My Band"
Single by D12
from the album D12 World
Released	April 6, 2004
Format	CD
Genre	Hip hop, comedy rap
Length	4:58 (Album Version) 4:44 (Radio Edit)
Label	Shady/Interscope
Producer	Eminem
D12 singles chronology
"Fight Music" (2001) "My Band" (2004) "How Come" (2004)
Music video Video on YouTube

"My Band" is a 2004 rap single by the rap group D12. It is the first single from their second album D12 World. The song is a parody of the false concept that Eminem is the lead singer of the "band" D12. The single became the group's most successful so far (outside Britain), reaching #2 in the United Kingdom, #6 in the United States and #1 in Australia, New Zealand & Norway. My Band was the first song to top the revamped singles chart introduced in New Zealand in April 2004.^[1]

Lyrics

The brief introduction summarizes the song's satirical message: that Eminem is the lead "singer" of the "band" and it makes everyone else in D12 jealous and looked down upon. In the chorus, he describes how girls have confidence in the group just because he is in it, even though they “don’t even know the name of [his] band”.^[2]

Eminem talks about his own popularity in the first verse. It describes episodes such as him meeting some of his fans offstage, and when group member Kuniva tries to attack him when he claims that Jessica Alba is his future wife.

In the second verse, Swift wrestles the mic from Eminem and then describes some of the negative consequences this propaganda has for the rest of the D12’s members. Kon Artis and Kuniva talk about this together in the third verse, with Eminem occasionally interrupting. The two find themselves unable to find a proper insult for him.

Just like Swift, Proof complains about the propaganda in his solo part, and says how people that view it this way know nothing about the group (To back up his point, fans yell out “Where’s Obie and Dre?”, referring to rappers Obie Trice and Dr. Dre).

In the fifth verse, Bizarre, after attacking Eminem who is at the time singing in traditional boy band, attacks the media for promoting a concept that he clearly views as nonsense, and claims that it's actually he that's the most popular person in the group. He also threatens to leave D12 on several occasions, claiming he'll "start a group with The Real Roxanne."

After this fifth verse, there is a short hook by Eminem, and Bizarre follows by trying to sing the chorus, which results in laughter. After that, some members yell out random comments while the others sing the song's title repeatedly.

At the end of the song, Eminem sings in a Spanish-style accent, "promoting" his fictional next single "My Salsa" (a parody of Kelis' hit single "Milkshake"). The song then ends abruptly, followed by Eminem saying, "Where did everybody go?".

Parodies

• 50 Cent's "In da Club" video.
• Eminem's "Superman" and "Lose Yourself" video.
• Kelis' "Milkshake"

Music video

The music video begins by showing the rest of D12 look through the window of a door to find Eminem receiving a massage, which is similar to the song's preceding skit on the album, "Dude". It then cuts to shots of Eminem in a limousine while the others are forced to wait for a bus, and the whole song's context is picked up from there.

Later scenes include Bizarre attempting to get in shape (parodying the video for 50 Cent's "In Da Club"), Bizarre and a midget spoofing fellow Detroit rapper and country/rock/metal singer Kid Rock, Bizarre in the background of Eminem's "Lose Yourself" and "Superman" music videos, the entire band performing a boy band-style song while dressed like The Backstreet Boys, and a re-enactment of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" (with Bizarre as Janet and Eminem as Justin Timberlake).

At the MTV Video Music Awards in 2004, "My Band" was nominated for Video of the Year, Best Group Video, and Best Rap Video. It failed to win any, though. During their performance of the song, Eminem mooned the audience. MTV originally planned to blur Eminem's bare bottom, but in light of their recent problems with the aforementioned "wardrobe malfunction" they instead decided to cut the mooning from the performance altogether. Pictures of Eminem's mooning have been spread across the internet.

In an uncensored version of the video, a woman without anything on appears next to Eminem.

Track listing

CD single

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"My Band"	D. Porter, O. Moore, D. Holton, V. Carlisle, R. Johnson, M. Mathers, L. Resto, S. King	Eminem, Luis Resto	4:58
2.	"B. N. U." (non-album track)	D. Porter, D. Holton, M. Mathers, O. Moore, R. Johnson, V. Carlisle	Eminem	4:43

Charts

Chart (2004/2005)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	1
Austrian Singles Chart	4
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)	9
Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia)	15
Canadian Singles Chart	3
Eurochart Hot 100	2
Finnish Singles Chart	16
French Singles Chart	23
German Singles Chart	2
Irish Singles Chart	2
Italian Singles Chart	13
Netherlands Singles Chart	2
New Zealand Singles Chart [3]	1
Norwegian Singles Chart	1
Romanian Singles Chart[4]	10
Swedish Singles Chart	9
Swiss Singles Chart	3
UK Singles Chart	2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	6
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	26
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks	7

Preceded by "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)" by Eamon "Left Outside Alone" by Anastacia

ARIA (Australia) number-one single May 2, 2004 May 16, 2004

Succeeded by "Left Outside Alone" by Anastacia "Black Betty" by Spiderbait

External links

• "My Band (Explicit Version)" Official music video on YouTube

References

1. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=xRAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA68&ots=y5Fyp78TKH&dq=the%20eminem%20show%20%22first%20time%22%20%22lyrics%22%20%22included%22&pg=PA52#v=onepage&q&f=false
2. ^ "D12 - My Band lyrics". http://lyricblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/d12-my-band-lyrics.html. 
3. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=xRAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA68&ots=y5Fyp78TKH&dq=the%20eminem%20show%20%22first%20time%22%20%22lyrics%22%20%22included%22&pg=PA52#v=snippet&q=%22first%20act%20to%20top%22&f=false
4. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20050118013312/www.rt100.ro/editie-top-100_x10131.html