Bad Boy for Life


"Bad Boy for Life" is a song by American rappers P. Diddy, Black Rob and Mark Curry, featured on P. Diddy's third studio album The Saga Continues.... Produced by Megahertz, it was released as the second single from the album in July 2001 and reached number 33 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Background

"Bad Boy for Life" was produced in 1998 but was not released until 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 Bad Boy empire is in fact still an empire", 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. 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.

Music video

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, actors Ben Stiller and 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. The video was nominated for Best Rap Video at both the 2002 MVPA Awards and the 2002 MTV [Video Music Awards].

Track listing

Credits and samples

"Bad Boy for Life"
"Let's Get It"
  • Performed by Three The... featuring G. Dep, P. Diddy and Black Rob
  • Produced by Yogi
  • Additional production by Mario "Yellow Man" Winans
  • Vocal production by Harve "Joe Hooker" Pierre
  • Contains excerpts of "Love & Happiness" by Al Green
"Let's Get It"
  • Performed by Three The... featuring Kain, Mark Curry, Loon, G. Dep, P. Diddy and Black Rob
"Can't Believe"
"Hoodfellaz"
  • Performed by The Hoodfellaz
  • Produced by Yogi

    Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

In other media

's 2021 debut single "Boyz", featuring Nicki Minaj, prominently samples the baseline and the final lyrics of the song.