Guess who’s back? Back again? Shady’s back with his third album, and his third British number one single.
Without Me, by Eminem (his 3rd of eleven #1s)
1 week, from 26th May – 2nd June 2002
My usual moral quandaries over his lyrical themes aside, this is my favourite Eminem #1. I even used to know all the words. It’s an elevated version of ‘The Real Slim Shady’, in which Eminem contrasted his vulgarity with his popularity, and took swipes at various famous figures. Here he plays up to his pantomime villain image again, seemingly more at peace with it than on his angrier, earlier chart-topper, and the fact that everyone wants the character of Slim over the real-life Marshall Mathers: I created a monster, ‘Cos nobody wants to see Marshall no more, They want Shady, I’m chopped liver…
In the video, and in the short Batman-theme interpolation, he positions himself as an inept superhero, Rap Boy, who snatches his own CDs from children’s hands, lest they hear his inappropriate rapping. Elsewhere the rhymes are airtight, the delivery precise, and all the right/wrong buttons pressed (choose depending on your tolerance for Eminem). Two people who might have been disapproving were Liz Cheney and her husband, and Vice-President, Dick, whom Eminem kills with a defibrillator in the video. Shots are also fired at NSYNC, Limp Bizkit, Moby, Prince, and his mum: Fuck you Debbie!
The second verse is a highlight, with one of Eminem’s best lyrics: Little hellions, Kids feelin’ rebellious, Embarrassed their parents still listen to Elvis, They start feelin’ like prisoners helpless, Until someone comes along on a mission and yells ‘Bitch!’ In ten seconds it goes from making an interesting comparison between the controversies around himself, and Elvis forty-five years earlier, to him yelling a rude word. Eminem in a nutshell.
Elvis reappears later, in another astute line: I not the first king of controversy, I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley, To do black music so selfishly, And use it to get myself wealthy… Much was, and still is, made of the fact that the biggest selling hip-hop artist of all time is white. But again, just as the casual listener is starting to think Marshall Mathers might be more intelligent than he looks, the same lines are delivered in the video while a mini-Eminem balances on a giant turd that the King has just delivered into his famous toilet bowl.
In some ways, this record is typical Eminem. It wasn’t going to win him any news fans, unlike ‘Stan’, but he’s also at the peak of his powers. Many times over the years he has tried to release a ‘Without Me’ style caustically-comic single, and while many have been commercially successful, none have managed to come close to this. It’s also musically quite fun, with a grinding disco beat, and it may be the one Eminem song that you can actually dance to.
Because I can’t help myself, I have to do the now traditional Eminem Homophobic Lyrics Watch, and there’s just one example here, in which he calls Moby a bald headed fag. But then he asks that he blows him, so who knows. Perhaps the lady doth protest too much? Sixteen-year-old me noticed that lyric, though, never fear. It’s also still noticeable how much more explicit Eminem’s three number ones have been compared to almost everything else that’s made number one. He liked to revel cartoonishly in his status as a corruptor of youth, but he had a point. Few other stars could release chart-topping singles so explicit.
‘Without Me’ is the middle single of a triptych, between ‘Stan’ and his next (more serious) chart-topper, in which Eminem was untouchable. Although he has gone on to have an almost thirty-year career, nothing he’s released since 2004 has come close to these three. Not just three of the best hip-hop singles, but three of the best and most controversial #1s of all time.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
Forgot about him dressing as Osama Bin Laden in this video. Cause of many outraged headlines in the right wing press at the time 😂
That didn’t register when writing the post, but yes, in 2002 that would have been pretty provocative.
One of the greatest songs ever made — not just in hip hop, but across music in general — and easily one of the best lead singles of all time. This track absolutely screams “I’M BACK, BITCH!” It’s packed with lyrical gems, ridiculously catchy, and the music video is pure iconic Eminem. Everything about it shows why he dominated pop culture: edgy, unapologetically crude at times, but also razor-sharp, witty, and one of the most technically skilled rappers ever. He could be vicious and funny all at once, never afraid to look ridiculous or make fun of himself. Wasn’t afraid to make himself look like a cartoon.
This song is such a breath of fresh air compared to all the ballads and garage tracks topping the UK charts in 2002. It reminds you of when hip hop was fun — when it took itself seriously artistically, but still had room to be cheeky and self-aware. Funny enough, there are currently no rap songs in the US Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 for the first time since 1990. Rap has dominated literally my entire life (I was born in 1999), so it’s strange seeing it finally dip in relevance. There is no grunge/alt-rock to revitalise the genre like it happened in the early 90s when rock was also on a downswing. Is this how rock fans felt in the 2000s when their era started to fade?
And honestly, I’m starting to feel my age — and I’m not even old. Talking to my younger sisters and their friends makes me realise how fast culture moves. A cousin’s 10-year-old daughter had never even heard of this song or Eminem, and I was stunned. He’s been such a huge part of pop culture for so long that it’s surreal to imagine a generation growing up without him — or worse, thinking of him as “dad rap.”
I don’t know if Eminem isn’t still fairly culturally relevant – ‘Houdini’ was a big number one in the UK just last year.
Eminem at his best, the video is genius, a comic strip superhero rip-off (and I’m a massive comics fan since the 60’s), hilarious, and cartoon humour – which absolutely should stray into bad taste and make people clutch their pearls a la Family Guy and Simpsons. Shady is a cartoon character in the first place, and I enjoyed the recent re-tread of the theme on the old Abracadabra tune. Lyrically, Eminem is the biggest rapper cos he’s the best, he’s Shakespeare compared to most of the cliched drivel not currently in the US top 40 as rap is disappearing up it’s own proverbial, as a genre, with some notable exceptions. In the olden days rap was a way of commenting on society, and was important. Ego-driven boasting with graphic desciptions about sex availability, size, and money just isn’t quite in the same ballpark.
The Moby quip was a case of maybe over-stepping the line (which humour must do), and if my memory is right I think Elton came out to defend Marshall sometime in the Noughties. So to speak. As an old git that line was nothing compared to mentally-scarring physical abuse and threats I’ve had in my life, so I’m much less likely to get triggered and outraged by semi-amusing insults – and Moby could easily have provided the musical obligatory diss-reply if he was that fussed about it. I like to think instead he texted Em and made the offer you noticed. 🙂
I do feel a bit bad for pulling up one word out of the entire five minutes of a brilliant song. But, when I was sixteen, I remember this song being everywhere, and watching the music video with friends, and the line really stood out because I was at such a sensitive age (and obviously not out yet). Same with the scene in the Real Slim Shady video of two men ‘eloping’, or whatever it is. And I don’t think Eminem is really homophobic, and do now I think ‘bald headed fag’ is a genuinely funny insult (especially when applied to Moby). But this song, and all the number ones from this time, are tied to who I was in 2002 – a sixteen year old working out who he was blah blah. I hesitate to use the word ‘trauma’ because thats way OTT and such a overused buzz word these days, but there’s still something there that I’ve never forgotten. Another commenter on an Eminem post claimed it was ridiculous that young people get upset over song lyrics, when older gay men lived with AIDS, or going to jail for their sexuality, but the human mind doesn’t work like that. I’m sure gay teens today have their own hang ups that I would roll my eyes at : )
oh teen traumas def stay with you for your entire life and remain relevant, and they can shape your life too (in my case I withdrew from social life until my 40’s, and I lost out on young adult experiences most people go through post University – my own fault for being over-sensitive). I think the main issue that my generation of gay friends have is how OTT the 21st century is about words (and how intolerant a lot of folk are, ironically, of anyone that holds a view they dislike). There’s sometimes a lack of recognition of the history of struggles and what people went through to get society where it is. Having said that, my generation got the same critiques from older generations who had gone through two world wars who felt the young took for granted their sacrifices – and they were right. Young people always take life for granted, it goes with being young. So I wouldnt worry about describing anything that affected you as a teen (and my subsequent oldie moan about modern life), it makes your stories extra interesting on top of the fab musical assessments. I very much mix the two when I start reminiscing, so keep on exactly as you have been! 🙂
Thanks! I think it would be unnatural to seperate music from personal experience. Obviously, my assessments of the 50s-80s #1s were less clouded by personal experience, thanks to the small fact of me not being alive. But from the 90s onwards, and especially late-90s to mid-00s (my teenage years), things were always going to get personal!
You might be happy to learn there is no hip hop in the Top 40 right now in the Hot 100, the first since 1990.
I also think that the anarchic spirit of Eminem might live on more in female rappers than most current male ones. Take a song like WAP. Everyone got shocked over how explicit it was missed the point. It’s comedy!