"Rule" is the first single from rapper

Rapping

Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...

 Nas

Nas

Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...

' 2001 album Stillmatic

Stillmatic

Stillmatic received generally positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, based on 12 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews"...

. It features a chorus sung by Amerie

Amerie

Amerie Mi Marie Rogers , known professionally as Amerie or Ameriie, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She debuted in 2002 with the album All I Have, primarily co-written and produced by Rich Harrison, and was well-received in the urban market...

 and production provided by Poke and Tone of Trackmasters Entertainment. The song is known for both sampling

Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

 and interpolating

Interpolation

In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a method of constructing new data points within the range of a discrete set of known data points....

 "Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is a song by the British New Wave band Tears for Fears.It was the band's ninth single release in the United Kingdom and seventh UK Top 40 chart hit, peaking at number two in April 1985...

" by Tears for Fears

Tears for Fears

Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...

. The song's lyrics are political, inspiration and reminiscent of those on Nas' 1996 single "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)

If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)

"If I Ruled the World " is a 1996 hit hip hop single by Nas featuring Lauryn Hill of The Fugees. It is based on the 1985 hit of the same name by rapper Kurtis Blow and samples the beat of "Friends" by Whodini. The single was Nas's first Top 20 R&B hit, and was also nominated for a 1997 Grammy Award...

." It references this song in the beginning when Nas says:

"Life, they wonder, can they take me under? Naw, never that."

This references the intro to "If I ruled the World (Imagine That)" which is:

"Life, I wonder, will it take me under? I don't know."

As a single, "Rule" was not heavily promoted, but still reached #67 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. "Got Ur Self A...

Got Ur Self A...

"Got Ur Self A..." is the second single from the 2001 album Stillmatic by the rapper Nas. The song samples "Woke Up This Morning" by Alabama 3. It reached #87 on the Billboard Hot 100.-Music video:...

" is mistakenly thought to be the first single on Stillmatic because "Rule" was not heavily promoted, did not receive music video treatment and was never released in compact disc

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 format. It was released as a vinyl 12-inch single

12-inch single

The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...

 with "No Idea's Original" as its b-side.

It was featured in the 2003 film, Honey

Honey (2003 film)

Honey is a 2003 motion picture released by Universal Pictures. Featuring music produced by Rodney Jerkins, the film stars Jessica Alba, Mekhi Phifer, Lil' Romeo, Joy Bryant, David Moscow and features performances by Tweet, Jadakiss and Ginuwine. It also features a cameo by Missy Elliott...

, it is also featured on the Like Mike

Like Mike

Like Mike is a 2002 film, directed by John Schultz and starring Lil' Bow Wow, Morris Chestnut, Jonathan Lipnicki and Brenda Song. It was produced in association with NBA Entertainment and features many cameo appearances by NBA stars...

soundtrack, but includes the edited version.

A-Side

1. "Rule (Radio Edit)" (3:57)
2. "Rule (Instrumental)" (4:07)
3. "Rule (Clean A Capella)" (4:02)

B-Side

1. "No Idea's Original (Explicit)" (4:05)
2. "Rule (Explicit Edit)" (4:07)