| "Bad Boy for Life" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| SinglebyP. Diddy, Black Rob and Mark Curry | ||||
| from the album The Saga Continues... | ||||
| Released | July 10, 2001 (2001-07-10)[1] | |||
| Genre | Hip hop, rap rock | |||
| Length | 4:13 | |||
| Label |
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| Songwriter(s) | Dorsey Wesley, Mark Curry, Robert Ross, Jamel Fisher, Drayton Goss | |||
| Producer(s) | Megahertz | |||
| P. Diddy singles chronology | ||||
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| Black Rob singles chronology | ||||
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"Bad Boy for Life" is a song by American rappers P. Diddy, Black Rob and Mark Curry, featured on Diddy's 2001 third album The Saga Continues.... Produced by Megahertz (Dorsey Wesley), it was released as the second single from the album in July 2001 and reached number 33 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.[2]
“Bad Boy for Life” was produced in 1998, but later released in 2001. In reviews of the album, "Bad Boy for Life" has been identified as a declaration of strength by Diddy's label Bad Boy Records. Jason Birchmeier of music website Allmusic explains that the song summarises the claim "that [the] Bad Boy empire is in fact still an empire",[3] while Entertainment Weekly reviewer David Browne similarly points out the lyric "It's official/I survived what I been through" as a declaration of strength.[4] Soren Baker of the Los Angeles Times identifies "Bad Boy for Life", in addition to previous single "Let's Get It", as particularly important to the success of the album.[5]
The music video for "Bad Boy for Life" was directed by Chris Robinson, filmed in June 2001 and released in early July, and features a number of cameo appearances including guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Travis Barker, actor Ben Stiller, actor Richard Dunn, rappers Xzibit, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and Fonzworth Bentley, boxer Mike Tyson, television host Pat O'Brien, basketball players Shaquille O'Neal and Baron Davis and rap rock band Crazy Town.[6] The video was nominated for Best Rap Video at both the 2002 MVPA Awards[7] and the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards.[8]
The song was used in the 2015 comedy movie Get Hard, as well as part of a remix/mashup with Bad BoysbyInner Circle in the trailers for the 2020 film Bad Boys for Life, the third installment in the Bad Boys film franchise.
Tom Brady and the New England Patriots also heavily used the song during their Super Bowl LIII run.
Jesy Nelson's 2021 debut single "Boyz", featuring Nicki Minaj, prominently samples the baseline and the final lyrics of the song.[9]
Mac Miller sampled the song for his 2015 song 100 Grandkids.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Bad Boy for Life" (club mix) | Wesley, Curry, Ross, Fisher, Goss | 4:09 |
| 2. | "Bad Boy for Life" (instrumental) | Wesley, Curry, Ross, Fisher, Goss | 4:09 |
| 3. | "Bad Boy for Life" (radio mix) | Wesley, Curry, Ross, Fisher, Goss | 4:09 |
| 4. | "Bad Boy for Life" (acapella) | Wesley, Curry, Ross, Fisher, Goss | 4:09 |
| Total length: | 16:36 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Bad Boy for Life" | Wesley, Curry, Ross, Fisher, Goss | 4:13 |
| 2. | "Let's Get It" | Trevell Coleman, Jeremy Graham, Ross, Al Green, Mabon Hodge | 4:16 |
| Total length: | 8:29 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Bad Boy for Life" (club mix) | Wesley, Curry, Ross, Fisher, Goss | 4:13 |
| 2. | "Bad Boy for Life" (instrumental) | Wesley, Curry, Ross, Fisher, Goss | 4:13 |
| 3. | "Let's Get It" (club mix) | Coleman, Graham, Ross, Green, Hodge | 4:16 |
| 4. | "Let's Get It" (remix) | Coleman, Graham, Ross, Green, Hodge | 4:01 |
| 5. | "Can't Believe" (club mix) | Sean Combs, Mario Winans, Mechalie Jamison, Michael Jones, Jack Knight, Andre Young, Chris Taylor, Nasir Jones, Jermain Baxter, Anthony Cruz | 3:49 |
| 6. | "Hoodfellaz" (club mix) | Graham, Ronald Smith, Chris Moss, Kamau Herbert, Goss | 4:03 |
| Total length: | 24:35 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Bad Boy for Life" | Wesley, Curry, Ross, Fisher, Goss | 4:09 |
| 2. | "Bad Boy for Life" (instrumental) | Wesley, Curry, Ross, Fisher, Goss | 4:09 |
| 3. | "Let's Get It" (remix) | Coleman, Graham, Ross, Green, Hodge | 5:19 |
| 4. | "Let's Get It" (instrumental) | Coleman, Graham, Ross, Green, Hodge | 4:30 |
| Total length: | 18:07 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Bad Boy for Life" | Wesley, Curry, Ross, Fisher, Goss | 4:09 |
| 2. | "Bad Boy for Life" (instrumental) | Wesley, Curry, Ross, Fisher, Goss | 4:09 |
| 3. | "Let's Get It" (remix) | Coleman, Graham, Ross, Green, Hodge | 5:19 |
| 4. | "Bad Boy for Life" (music video) | Wesley, Curry, Ross, Fisher, Goss | 5:56 |
| Total length: | 19:33 | ||
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Weekly charts[edit]
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Year-end charts[edit]
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