"Why R U" is a song by American R&B singer Amerie. The song was recorded for her fourth studio album, '' In Love & War'', and serves as the lead single from the album. The song contains excerpts of Ultramagnetic MCs' "Ego Trippin'". The song is also Amerie's first single under the

Island Def Jam Music Group The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American recording music unit, formed on New Year's Eve 1998 by the Universal Music Group. It consists of labels devised and consisted under the basic operations of Island Records and Def Jam Recordin ...

Background

The song samples Ultramagnetic MCs' "Ego Trippin" from their 1988 release '' Critical Beatdown'' (which also samples Melvin Bliss' "Synthetic Substitution"). An official remix premiered on Hot 97 on July 21, it features

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

, Jadakiss,

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. Prior to releasing his debut single, "Hustlin'", in 2006, Ross was the subject of a bidding war, receiving offers from Sean Combs, D ...

and Kain. The remix samples

Whodini Whodini is an American hip hop group that was formed in 1982. The Brooklyn, New York-based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, a.k.a. Ecstasy (who wore a Zorro-style hat as his trademark; Ju ...

's "One Love." Amerie spoke about "Why R U" in an interview with ''The Green Magazine'' : "I wrote the song when I was riding in a car. It was a really rainy day in New York. I always love to start out, if I can, recording in New York. Sometimes I’ll record the entire time there. This is the first time I didn’t record the majority of the album in New York, so I was kind of curious as to how things would come out. The song to me felt like a greater representation of who I am as an artist. Even when I was writing it I just felt like it was a special record. I wasn’t really thinking in terms of singles or not. I just knew that ideally if people could hear anything from me first since it’s been a few years, this was the record to me that would best show who I am right now."

Music video

The video for "Why R U" was shot during the second week of May 2009 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

with director Ray Kay. Amerie's idea behind the video, "I wanted to go with something really abstract but not too far out there, something that would look graphic." The video premiered on

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

on June 8. The video ranked at number 90 on

's ''Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2009'' countdown.

Charts

Release history

References

{{Amerie 2009 singles 2009 songs Amerie songs Music videos directed by Ray Kay Def Jam Recordings singles Songs written by Amerie