"We Made It" is a single by

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

featuring American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

. The song was to be on Busta Rhymes's eighth studio album, '' Back on My B.S.'', but was then cancelled off the track list because the album was released on a different label as "We Made It" as Busta Rhymes's last song on Interscope. The song was produced by

Cool & Dre Cool & Dre are a record production and songwriting duo from North Miami, Florida, consisting of Marcello "Cool" Antonio Valenzano and Andre "Dre" Christopher Lyon. The duo were first discovered by New York rapper Fat Joe and began their career ...

, with additional production by Linkin Park's

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda ( ; born February 11, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and is the band's co-lead vocalist, as well as rhythm guitarist, ...

and

Brad Delson Bradford Philip Delson (born December 1, 1977) is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist and one of the founding members of the rock band Linkin Park.

. The song was released on April 29, 2008. It was Busta Rhymes's final release on

Aftermath Entertainment Aftermath Entertainment is an American record label founded by hip hop producer and rapper Dr. Dre in 1996. It operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed through Interscope Records. The label's roster includes artists ...

. The track debuted and peaked on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 charts at number 65. The song reach to the number 10 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Rhymes' 11th and Linkin Park's 5th top 10 hit in the United Kingdom. The single peaked at number 10 and remained there after the physical release. The single also had significant success in Germany peaking at number 11 on the German Singles Chart.

Background

Busta Rhymes said that the inspiration for this song was from what happened to

T.I. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born September 25, 1980), known professionally as T.I. or Tip, is an American rapper and singer raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Harris is credited as a pioneer of the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Georgi ...

after the

BET Awards The BET Awards are an American award show that was established in 2001 by the BET, Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate Black person, Black entertainers and other minorities in music, film, sports and philanthropy. The awards, which ...

Dre DRE may refer to: * ''Dre'' (album), 2010 by American rapper Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, 2010 * Dre (given name) **Dr. Dre Andre Romell Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, recor ...

originally sang the hook, until Rhymes listened to the beat and Linkin Park kept "popping up in his head". The song was first performed on May 2, 2008, during Busta's concert at Club Index in Germany. However, he was more or less introducing the song to them, as the studio version was played and Busta occasionally sang over the song, or lip synced to it while holding his microphone down. The first performance with Linkin Park was at their rehearsal studio Third Encore on May 25, 2008, to an audience of 14 members of the Linkin Park fan club who were brought there by surprise. During the

Projekt Revolution Projekt Revolution was a music festival hosted by Linkin Park, bringing artists of various genres of music together. Linkin Park started Projekt Revolution in the year 2002 with just one stage. Then, in 2004, they announced the Revolution Stage ...

2008 tour the song's performance featured Adam Monroe of

Ashes Divide William L. Howerdel (born May 18, 1970) is an American musician, best known as a founding member, guitarist, backing vocalist, songwriter, and producer for the band A Perfect Circle, as well as for his former solo project, Ashes Divide. Howerd ...

on the keyboard and

Spliff Star William A. Lewis (born April 18, 1971), professionally known as Spliff Star, is an American rapper and record producer from Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. He's best known for his work with Busta Rhymes. Both ''Vibe'' and ''Complex'' listed Spliff ...

on backing vocals and was played during Linkin Park's set. During Busta Rhymes' concerts, where Linkin Park isn't present, the studio instrumental is played and Busta usually tells the audience to move their arms up and down during Mike Shinoda's verse. The song appears on the soundtrack of ''

Madden NFL 09 ''Madden NFL 09'' is an American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 20th annual installment in the ''Madden NFL'' video game franchise. The game was released for the Ninten ...

''. Additionally, it was used as the theme song for coverage of the 2008 NBA Western Conference Finals; this marked the second time a Shinoda song was used during the NBA play-offs, the first being "

Remember the Name "Remember the Name" is a song by Fort Minor, the hip hop side project of rock band Linkin Park's co-lead vocalist Mike Shinoda. It is the second single from his 2005 album '' The Rising Tied'' and features underground hip hop band Styles of Beyon ...

" by

Fort Minor Fort Minor was a hip hop side project by American musician Mike Shinoda, who is better known as the rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, producer, and rapper of the rock band Linkin Park. The project's only album, '' The Rising Tied'', was released in ...

. The song was also used in the 2008

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

home World Series game before the team took the field in Games 3, 4, and 5 and as part of a video reel of highlights for the team leading up to the World Series, with a road in the background as the team took their playoff run "on the road". Upon watching

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's 2008 Presidential election victory, Busta began cheering and singing the chorus of "We Made It".

Chamillionaire Hakeem Temidayo Seriki (born November 28, 1979), better known by his stage name Chamillionaire (), is an American rapper. He began his career in Houston's hip hop scene in the late 1990s. He was briefly signed with the local record label Swishah ...

created his own version of the song called "The Real Thang" with a similar theme. The song is available on his ''

Mixtape Messiah 4 ''Mixtape Messiah 4'' is the fourth mixtape by American rapper Chamillionaire in his '' Mixtape Messiah'' series. It is a two-disc set that was released on August 27, 2008.Reid, Shaheem (2008)Fabolous Wants Swizz Beatz, Ryan Leslie To Go Loso's ...

''.

Music video

The music video premiered all day on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

on Tuesday, April 29, the same day as the video for its first single, "Don't Touch Me (Throw da Water on 'em)." The video also premiered for 24 hours only on Yahoo! Music on April 29. That same day, "We Made It" went to radio stations worldwide. The video also featured cameo appearances from

Styles of Beyond Styles of Beyond was an American underground hip hop group from the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The group consists of MCs Ryan Patrick Maginn (Ryu) and Takbir Bashir (Tak), Colton Raisin Fisher ( DJ Cheapshot), and produce ...

Bishop Lamont Philip Brandon Martin (born October 31, 1978), better known as Bishop Lamont, is an American rapper from Carson, California. He was signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment record label and released one project under the label, eventually le ...

and

Lamar Odom Lamar Joseph Odom (born November 6, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. As a member of the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he won NBA Finals, championships in 2009 and 2010 and was named ...

. Chris Robinson directed the video. * The warehouse in which the parts of the music video was filmed is the same location at which Linkin Park's ''

Meteora The Meteora (; , ) is a rock formation in the regional unit of Trikala, in Thessaly, in northwestern Greece, hosting one of the most prominent complexes of Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox monastery, monasteries, viewed locally as se ...

'' album artwork and album cover were done. The video starts with the credits saying Busta Rhymes and Linkin Park and then the titles We Made It appear on the screen. Then you see Linkin Park walking through the warehouse and Busta Rhymes in a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

flat. Then it cuts to scenes of people walking through the streets and people running a race through the rain.

Track listing

Personnel

– rapping * Eddie "Crack Keys" Montilla – keyboards *

– all other instruments * Neil Pogue –

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

* Gina Victoria and Rande Johnson – recording engineers ;Linkin Park *

Chester Bennington Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various po ...

– vocals *

– rapping, guitar *

Brad Delson Bradford Philip Delson (born December 1, 1977) is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist and one of the founding members of the rock band Linkin Park.

– guitar

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2008 songs 2008 singles Busta Rhymes songs Linkin Park songs Songs written by Mike Shinoda Music videos directed by Chris Robinson (director) Song recordings produced by Cool & Dre Songs written by Busta Rhymes Alternative hip-hop songs Songs written by Cool (record producer) Aftermath Entertainment singles Interscope Records singles Songs written by Dre (record producer) Song recordings produced by Mike Shinoda