"How We Do" achieved commercial success worldwide. The track peaked within the top 10 in multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and New Zealand. The single was commercially successful in the United States, peaking at number 4 on theBillboard Hot 100 and remaining on the chart for 28 consecutive weeks. "How We Do" marked Game's first top-ten single on the chart as a lead artist and also marked 50 Cent's fifth overall top-ten single.
The Game first discovered the instrumental for "How We Do" whilst going through a folder of Dr. Dre's productions without his permission; the audio file was labelled "Fresh '83". Dr. Dre did not like the production at first, but The Game convinced him to let him write some lyrics to it, and after hearing The Game perform his first verse Dr. Dre decided that the song should be completed.[1] Once The Game had completed all his verses, Dr. Dre commissioned 50 Cent to write the chorus, who whilst doing so decided he also wanted to appear on the song; he rewrote and replaced The Game's intended second verse with one of his own.[1]
The song was a hit atUrban andRhythmic radio stations inAmerica, and was a success on American mainstreampop music radio stations. In the U.S., the song debuted at number 65 and peaked at number 4 on theBillboard Hot 100 in early 2005, making it the Game's first top-five hit. The song was also certified Gold by theRIAA.
The song fell down the charts relatively quickly for a top-ten hit. This was likely due to an overabundance ofShady/Aftermath/G-Unit-related singles all competing for airtime during this time period, asEminem andG-Unit members50 Cent,Lloyd Banks,Young Buck, andGame all had songs on the chart during the months of late 2004 and early 2005. However, despite its fast fall out of the top twenty, the song managed to hang on in the lower rungs of the top 40 for months, in spite of, or possibly because of, the Game's follow up, "Hate It or Love It" becoming even bigger on pop radio only a few weeks after "How We Do" had peaked.[citation needed] Dr. Dre had produced "How We Do" during his time in G-Unit.
