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"Party Like a Rockstar" is a song by American hip-hop group Shop Boyz. It was released as their commercial debut single and also served as the
lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...
from their debut album '' Rockstar Mentality'' (2007). It reached huge success during mid-2007, namely in the United States, peaking in the top five of the '' Billboard''
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...
,
Hot Rap Tracks Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stati ...
, and Hot 100 charts. The song was nominated for
Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group was awarded between 1991 and 2011, alongside the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Previously a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. The award was discontin ...
at the
50th Grammy Awards The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 10, 2008. It honored musical achievement of 2007 in which albums were released between October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007. The primary ceremonies ...
. For a time, "Party Like a Rockstar" was the most played rhythmic, and rap song in the United States, according to '' Radio & Records''. In foreign countries, the song also gained airplay in the UK on
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
, and was added to the B-List on its playlist.


Music and lyrics

The rap rock song was produced by Jason “Pit” Pittman. Lyrically the song makes references to prominent
rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
figures such as Marilyn Manson,
The Osbournes ''The Osbournes'' is an American reality television program featuring the domestic life of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and his family—his wife Sharon, their daughter Kelly, and their son Jack. The series premiered on MTV on March 5, 20 ...
,
Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
,
Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
, Bruce Springsteen,
Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk ...
, and
Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has also performed as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Tran ...
.


Music video

The
music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
for the song opens with a clip of the group performing
doughnuts A doughnut or donut () is a type of food made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and fra ...
in a black 1968
Pontiac GTO The Pontiac GTO is an automobile that was manufactured by American automaker Pontiac from 1963 to 1974 for the 1964 to 1974 model years, and by GM's subsidiary Holden in Australia for the 2004 to 2006 model years. The first generation of the G ...
. It then progresses to show the group performing at a crowded concert, with intercut clips of an actual rock band playing and clips of the group performing in a hotel room reminiscent of
Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated as A7X) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist M. Shadows, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Zacky Vengeance ...
's hit song " Bat Country", both of which were directed by
Marc Klasfeld Marc Klasfeld is an American music video director. He has directed over two hundred music videos for artists such as Slipknot, Sum 41, Katy Perry, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Britney Spears, Kid Rock, Michael Bublé, Nelly, Foo Fighters, Kelly ...
. Cristal Athena Steverson from VH1's ''
Flavor of Love ''Flavor of Love'' is an American reality television dating game show starring Flavor Flav of the rap group Public Enemy. While not a direct spin-off, the show was a result of Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav's failed relationship on ''Strange ...
'' and '' Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School'', as well as LaLa Brown make
cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...
s in the video.


Chart performance

"Party Like a Rockstar" was a mid-charting hit in the United States as an airplay-only single. Confusion ensued, however, when a similarly titled song by hip hop artist
Freak Nasty Eriq Timmons, professionally known as Freak Nasty, is an American hip hop recording artist and record producer from New Orleans La. He was raised in New Orleans. He is best known for his Top 40 single " Da' Dip" released in 1996 which was a sl ...
(who had his own hit a years earlier with
Da' Dip "Da' Dip" is a song written and recorded by American freestyle artist Freak Nasty. It was released in 1996 as the lead single from his second album, ''Controversee...That's Life...And That's the Way It Is''. To date, "Da' Dip" is Freak Nasty's only ...
) titled "Do It Just Like a Rock Star", was erroneously listed in the American
iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
with the title "Party Like a Rockstar". This led to Freak Nasty's song, recorded in 2005, selling approximately 30,000 digital downloads even though his track was completely dissimilar. In the ''Billboard'' issue dated May 26, 2007, the Shop Boyz were at number 54 on the Hot 100 due to heavy airplay while Freak Nasty was number 56 due to strong sales. The following week, after the Shop Boyz had an official digital release of their single, "Party Like a Rockstar" shot to number two while Freak Nasty dropped completely off the chart. After its jump, "Party Like a Rockstar" managed to remain in the runner-up spot for a total of six weeks.


Critical performance

Nathan Rabin of
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
stated that the song was "one of my favorite guilty pleasures of the past few years: 'Party Like A Rockstar' by Shop Boyz, a hip-hop group whose conception of the rock-star mentality—which not so coincidentally is also the name of its debut album—began and ended with smashing guitars, staying up late, and saying 'totally' or 'dude' every other sentence." Amid accusations of Freak Nasty taking advantage of the popularity of the Shop Boyz song, he responded in ''Billboard'' magazine's letters to the editor, stating in part, "I expect any artist that's signed to a major to do far better than any independent artist. Unlike Shop Boyz, I don't have a video. I also don't have any radio play or marketing. They do. My song sounds totally different from theirs, and our names are distinctly different. So how can consumers be confused? I have much love and respect for Shop Boyz, and I would never do anything to block their shine."


Remixes

The song was officially remixed featuring verses from fellow hip hop rappers
Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining ...
,
Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher, political activist and mass murderer. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. In what he called "revolutionary suicide ...
and Chamillionaire, with more
guitar riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompanime ...
s included. Jones' verse however does not appear on the official iTunes release of the remix. A line from Lil Wayne's verse in this remix was later used in The Game's 2011 single " Martians vs. Goblins", with Lil Wayne being officially credited as a feature on the Game's track. A unofficial remix was produced by crunk music legend
Lil Jon Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971) better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, producer and former frontman of the rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. He was instrumental in the emergence of the hip hop subgenre cr ...
. Additionally there were also " freestyles" recorded by hip hop rappers
J. R. Writer Rusty Brito (born May 28, 1985) better known by his stage name J.R. Writer, is a Dominican American rapper and freestyle champion. He was also a member of East Coast hip hop group The Diplomats. Career Writer is from Harlem, New York. He ha ...
of
Dipset The Diplomats (also known as Dipset) is an American hip hop collective formed in 1997 by childhood friends Cam'ron and Jim Jones in Harlem, New York. The group was originally composed of Cam'ron, Jim Jones and Freekey Zekey, all of whom grew ...
,
Trina Katrina Laverne Taylor (born December 3, 1978), known professionally as Trina, is an American rapper. She rose to prominence in 1998 with her appearance on the Trick Daddy single "Nann Nigga". Trina has been described by '' XXL'' as "the most ...
and Bow Wow.


In media

The song was featured in the video game ''
NBA Live 08 ''NBA Live 08'' is the 2007 installment of the ''NBA Live'' series by EA Sports. It was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Windows and PlayStation Portable. This is the first '' NBA'' video game to include all three n ...
''. The song was covered by
Kidz Bop Kidz Bop is an American children's music group composed like a music brand that produces family-friendly cover versions of pop songs and related media. Kidz Bop releases compilation albums that feature children covering clean versions of contemp ...
, but also featured in the 13th album.


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Party Like A Rockstar 2007 songs 2007 debut singles Shop Boyz songs Universal Republic Records singles Music videos directed by Marc Klasfeld