Eminem
My Name Is b/w Bad Guys Always Die
So roundabout 25 years after I first heard "My Name Is" it's interesting to revisit the whole hubbub. I remember seeing his name, in a variety of spellings, in concert listings in the Detroit Metro Times, well before this ever dropped.
So when I finally saw the video on MTV, it was a little bit of "oh shit...THIS is THAT guy?"
But with the impending release of the first White Stripes album and already hearing the earliest swirls of Kid Rock's "Bawitdaba" I couldn't help but think that the song was just everything I was against. Him being from Detroit didn't really have any bearing on the situation, positive or negative.
I had very little rap music that spoke to me, and the idea of a white guy rapping felt ill (the bad kind) since Vanilla Ice. I don't really recall any instant excitement or fandom amongst the other 16-year-olds in my social circle, but years later I would find out that my brother and some of his friends had crossed paths and hung with Em and his crew way back in '97 or whatever.
But now..shit, the song is almost cute. The plonky keyboard sample interpolation of "I Got The" feels clever and well-placed. That, on top of knowing this was the opening salvo of an artist who's now got TEN songs with more than one BILLION streams on Spotify, and a weird little me in the back of my head pines for a time when this was rolling out.
I grew up in the Suburbs where nothing happened… The radio stations didn’t play anything outside of Madonna’s, “Ray of Light.” I got a brand new JVC boom box that summer and used the timer to turn on the radio for a wake up. I always had the radio glued to the hippest station available and everyday went through the motions of just starting high school.
One morning the radio turns on right at the beginning of, “my name is.” (perfect timing) “Hi kids, do you like primus? (violence), you wanna see me stick nine inch nails through each one of my eye lids?” I thought it was a dream. The suburban Messiah arrived, it had my dark humour and single handedly made fun of everything on the radio… I was in love and felt better about being, “me.” A memorable core memory if I ever had one. I paid a buddy 10 bucks to give me his, “copy” of the marshall mathers LP and played it on loop in secret.Mancini…
A lot of talent comes from the Detroit area and this one is no different. I love the way he tells it like it is, I guess for so many years living in poverty made him what he is today. I have always liked his stuff; he is very talented!! I agree with Ben A., a vault of his would be golden. He did mention Primus and you got them for a Vault (and a very good Vault I must add)!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
……and the idea of a white guy rapping felt ill. There is a long music history discussion in that line for sure.
So how about an Eminem Third Man Vault some day? A show in the Blue Room or on stage at Third Man Detroit? Could it ever happen Ben?
This video version changes violence to Primus, I am okay with it…