Featured Image Credit: Eminem/YouTube
Topics: Eminem, Music, US News, Entertainment
Gerrard Kaonga
Eminem opened up about the song that quickly changed his life and helped propel him to stardom.
If you're a music fan, you have likely heard Eminem/Slim Shady/Marshal Mathers/B-rabbit's name mentioned in conversations regarding the best rappers of all time - as he has been making waves for decades.
And as you may have guessed, he has racked up a whole lot of fans across the globe, who have been a big part of making the Detroit rapper the global superstar that he is now.
But before he was known as a legend for taking jabs at just about everyone and having very abrasive lyrics, the rapper still had to make a name for himself.
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Before Spotify and Apple Music, in the early 2000s, the most common way to get yourself known was going through the MTV cable channel, and Eminem has insisted that one song that got plenty of play on the channel is one of the reasons he became a superstar.
Speaking in his new documentary, STANS, which arrives in theatres today, August 7, the rapper explained that this song changed his life overnight and helped propel him to new heights.
That song was the hilariously wild My Name Is, released in 1999 as part of his second studio album, The Slim Shady LP.
Speaking about fame and his meteoric rise in popularity, Eminem was asked whether it ever felt ‘normal’.
He replied: “Well, none of this is normal, none of it is normal.
“Once the Hi, my name is, video... once MTV accepted that and played it was like a f****** switch went off overnight.
“All of a sudden I woke up the next day from that and my entire life was changed forever.”
While Eminem credits this hit as helping put him on the map, there are songs that he has admitted to having regrets about.
Even for the rapper, one particular song was particularly brutal as it took multiple digs at his mother, Debbie Mathers - someone Eminem has long admitted to having had a complicated relationship with.
The song is, of course, Cleaning Out My Closet, which features on Eminem’s 2002 album, The Eminem Show.
In the song, he accuses his mom of constant mistreatment during his childhood, as well as misusing prescription drugs.
He also insisted she would never meet his daughter, and he wished she would burn in hell. Yikes.
However, a few years later, in 2014, Eminem released an apology track Headlights and made it clear he was retiring the 2002 hit.
In the apology track, he rapped: “I’m sorry mama for ‘Cleanin’ Out My Closet,’ at the time I was angry.
“Rightfully, maybe so, never meant that far to take it though.
“Now I know it’s not your fault and I’m not making jokes.
“That song I no longer pay at shows, and I cringe every time it’s on the radio.”