"How We Do" is a song by American rapper and

West Coast hip hop West Coast hip-hop is a regional genre of Hip-hop, hip-hop music that encompasses any artists or music that originated in the West Coast of the United States. West Coast hip-hop began to dominate from a radio play and sales standpoint during th ...

artist the Game, featuring rapper

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...

from his debut album, ''

The Documentary ''The Documentary'' is the debut studio album by American rapper the Game. It was released on January 18, 2005, by Aftermath Entertainment, G-Unit Records, and Interscope Records. The record serves as his major-label debut, preceded by his i ...

''. Produced by

Dr. Dre Andre Romell Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, and actor. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and co-founder of ...

and Mike Elizondo, it was released as the album's second official single in late 2004. "How We Do" achieved commercial success worldwide. The track peaked within the top 10 in multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and New Zealand. The single was commercially successful in the United States, peaking at number 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and remaining on the chart for 28 consecutive weeks. "How We Do" marked Game's first top-ten single on the chart as a lead artist and also marked 50 Cent's fifth overall top-ten single.

Background and recording

The Game first discovered the instrumental for "How We Do" whilst going through a folder of Dr. Dre's productions without his permission; the audio file was labelled "Fresh '83". Dr. Dre did not like the production at first, but The Game convinced him to let him write some lyrics to it, and after hearing The Game perform his first verse Dr. Dre decided that the song should be completed. Once The Game had completed all his verses, Dr. Dre commissioned 50 Cent to write the chorus, who whilst doing so decided he also wanted to appear on the song; he rewrote and replaced The Game's intended second verse with one of his own.

Commercial success

The song was a hit at Urban and Rhythmic radio stations in

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and was a success on American mainstream

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

radio stations. In the U.S., the song debuted at number 65 and peaked at number 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in early 2005, making it the Game's first top-five hit. The song was also certified Gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. The song fell down the charts relatively quickly for a top-ten hit. This was likely due to an overabundance of Shady/ Aftermath/

G-Unit G-Unit (short for Guerilla-Unit). was an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, and Lloyd Banks. After amassing a string of self-released mixtapes in the early 2000s, the group released ...

-related singles all competing for airtime during this time period, as

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

and

members

Lloyd Banks Christopher Charles Lloyd (born April 30, 1982), better known by his stage name Lloyd Banks, is an American rapper. He began his career as a member of East Coast hip-hop, East Coast hip hop group G-Unit, which he formed with childhood friends ...

Young Buck David Darnell Brown (born March 15, 1981), better known by his stage name Young Buck, is an American rapper. He signed with Birdman's Cash Money Records in 1997, formed the hip hop collective UTP with Juvenile and Soulja Slim in 2000, and j ...

, and

Game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

all had songs on the chart during the months of late 2004 and early 2005. However, despite its fast fall out of the top twenty, the song managed to hang on in the lower rungs of the top 40 for months, in spite of, or possibly because of, the Game's follow up, " Hate It or Love It" becoming even bigger on pop radio only a few weeks after "How We Do" had peaked. Dr. Dre had produced "How We Do" during his time in G-Unit.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was directed by

Hype Williams Harold "Hype" Williams (born August 1, 1970) is an American music video and film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Early life Williams was born in Queens. He is of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Adelphi Univ ...

; it features cameos by

, Olivia, Michael K. Williams as well as DJ Quik. It showcases night shots of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

; as well as a Dodge Magnum, driven by the Game, and a Cadillac Escalade, driven by

; as it finally cuts to a nightclub. DJ Quik can be briefly seen towards the end, raising a glass of champagne. The music video on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

has received over 215 million views as of April 2024.The Game - How We Do (Official Music Video)

Single track listing

A-side

*"How We Do (edited)" (4:03)

B-side

*"How We Do (edited)" (4:03) *"How We Do (explicit)" (4:20) *"How We Do (instrumental)" (4:04) *"How We Do (a cappella)" (3:01)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:How We Do (Song) 2004 singles The Game (rapper) songs 50 Cent songs Song recordings produced by Dr. Dre Songs written by 50 Cent Music videos directed by Hype Williams Songs written by Dr. Dre Aftermath Entertainment singles Gangsta rap songs Songs written by Mike Elizondo Song recordings produced by Mike Elizondo 2004 songs Songs written by The Game (rapper)