Without Me
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| “Without Me” | |||||
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| Single by Eminem from the album The Eminem Show |
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| Released | May 21, 2002 | ||||
| Format | CD | ||||
| Genre | Hip hop, Comedy rap | ||||
| Length | 4:50 | ||||
| Label | Aftermath/Interscope | ||||
| Writer(s) | Eminem | ||||
| Producer | Eminem | ||||
| Eminem singles chronology | |||||
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"Without Me" was a hit single from Eminem's 2002 album The Eminem Show.
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[edit] Content
The song was Eminem's return after the successful The Marshall Mathers LP, intended as a sequel to "The Real Slim Shady" and essentially saying that he is back to save the world. It also refers to Eminem's role in the music industry and his cultural effects.
The song mocks a number of Eminem's critics, including Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne Cheney, the FCC and MTV, Chris Kirkpatrick, Limp Bizkit and Moby, as well as lampooning comparisons of Eminem to Elvis Presley as a Caucasian succeeding commercially in a predominantly African-American art form. A line in the song also attacks his own mother Debbie Mathers for the lawsuit she filed against him for the lyrics of his debut single "My Name Is".
The opening lyric "Two trailer park girls go round the outside" is based on the single "Buffalo Gals" by Malcolm McLaren, while the introduction which is spoken by Obie Trice "Obie Trice, real name no gimmicks." is sampled from his own track "Rap Name". The round the outside lyric could be considered a subliminal diss to Canibus, who used a similar line in Box Cutta Blade Runna, released on "C! True Hollywood Stories" which makes numerous disses against Eminem.
A sample from the track, the phrase "nobody listens to techno", became an underground techno bootleg anthem produced by Deep Dish and Danny Howells under the alias Size DDD (Deep Dish Danny). The song was played by many well-known DJs to satirize the claim. The song was also parodied on All That, a skit show on Nickelodeon, as "Without Meat". It was also parodied on MADtv, a skit show on FOX, as "Whats on TV?". In the second verse a line samples the intro from one of Eminem's own songs (The Real Slim Shady).
The background saxophone riff was sampled for Drunkenmunky's 2002 club hit "E" .
Some of the lyrics are altered on the clean version, such as "This is about to get heavy" also "Jiggle your hips" is placed to get rid of a sexually explicit remark in the 1st verse.
[edit] Music video
The music video of the song features a number of scenarios built around its context, including Eminem and Dr. Dre as parodies of comics in general, specifically Batman, Robin and Blade trying to save a child who inadverdently bought a copy of The Eminem Show that has a Parental Advisory sticker. Eminem and his band of heroes rush to the rescue before the child puts the CD in and he snatches it away from him, and showing that his CD has explicit lyrics. Eminem also appears barefoot throughout some of the video where he is on a hospital bed being pushed through a ward (a reference to ER, which here is called EM drawing from the rapper's stage name). Porn star Jenna Jameson and fitness model Kiana Tom appear in bed with Eminem at the beginning of the video. Eminem also spoofs Osama Bin Laden who sings along at the end of the music video but is then chased by the members of D12. At the end he surrenders, waves a white flag and starts to dance on which D12 fall in.
This video received MTV Video Music Awards for Video of the Year, Best Male Video, Best Rap Video, and Best Direction (for Joseph Kahn, who directed it), as well as gaining nominations for Best Editing and Viewer's Choice. It also won Best Short Form Music Video at the Grammy Awards of 2003.
Clips of the video for "Without Me" can also be seen playing in a number of other music videos, including 50 Cent's "In Da Club" and Tony Yayo's "I Know You Don't Love Me".
[edit] Success
“Without Me” was Eminem’s most successful single at that point. It reached #1 in many countries, including the U.K., Australia and New Zealand for 7 weeks[1] It also reached the #2 spot in the U.S.- none of his singles other than “Lose Yourself” have ever charted as high.
“Without Me” was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards of 2003 (losing to Norah Jones' song "Don't Know Why"), being Eminem’s first song to receive a Grammy nomination in a major category. It also received a nomination for Best Male Rap Solo Performance but lost that award as well to the song "Hot in Herre" by rapper Nelly.
"Without Me" was later released on Eminem's compilation album Curtain Call: The Hits, with a small edit. The word "fag" was replaced by "Stan".
| Preceded by "Underneath Your Clothes" by Shakira |
ARIA (Australia) number one single May 26, 2002 - June 2, 2002 |
Succeeded by "Kiss Kiss" by Holly Valance |
| Preceded by "Kiss Kiss" by Holly Valance |
ARIA (Australia) number one single June 16, 2002 |
Succeeded by "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis vs JXL |
| Preceded by "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis vs JXL |
ARIA (Australia) number one single July 14, 2002 - July 21, 2002 |
Succeeded by "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis vs JXL |
| Preceded by "Just a Little" by Liberty X |
UK Singles Chart number one single May 26, 2002 - June 1, 2002 |
Succeeded by "Light My Fire" by Will Young |
| Preceded by "Don't Let Me Get Me" by Pink |
United World Chart number one single June 15, 2002 – August 24, 2002 |
Succeeded by "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley |
[edit] External links
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