3 am

3 am
publication	April 23, 2009
length	5:20
Genre (s)	Hip-hop , horrorcore
text	M. Mathers , A. Young , D. Parker , M. Batson, M. Elizondo , T. Lawrence
music	Dr. Dre
album	Relapse

3 am (English for: " 3 o'clock in the morning ") is a song by the American rapper Eminem . The song is the third single from his sixth studio album Relapse and was released on April 23, 2009 for download only .

content

The song is assigned to the subgenre Horrorcore and is about the deeds of a serial killer . Eminem describes in the first stanza how a potential victim flees from the perpetrator through a dark corridor. Now Eminem slips into the role of the murderer who comes to himself at McDonald’s covered in blood and finds the corpses of people he has killed during a blackout . In the chorus, Eminem continues to rap from the point of view of the murderer, who enters his house at three in the morning and discovers many dead there, whose murder he can no longer remember. The second stanza is about the sex offender masturbating to Hannah Montana . He then wonders when this phase will finally end, in which he takes drugs, injures himself and systematically murders people. In the third verse, the killer recalls the first time he killed a family member. It was his cousin, whom he tied up for Christmas and dismembered in the bathtub. Then he drank the bloody bath water. Now it's three in the morning again and he's on the hunt for the next victim.

production

The beat of the song was created by Eminem's discoverer and producer Dr. Dre produces. He did not use samples from songs by other artists.

Music video

Syndrome directed the music video that was filmed at 3 am and premiered on May 2, 2009 .

In the video, Eminem plays a murderer who wanders through the forest, shirtless, trying to remember what happened last night. You can now see the footage from a surveillance camera from 3 a.m., showing Eminem entering the Popsomp Hills rehab clinic and killing sisters, patients and the guards there. The corpses lie partially dismembered and covered in blood on the floor. He's also sitting in his room and watching the video for Crack a Bottle on TV . In between you can see Eminem rapping in the forest and in the entrance hall of the clinic. Another scene shows Eminem bathing in a tub full of blood. At the end of the video, he screams after realizing his actions really happened.

single

Cover design

The single cover is kept very simple. It only shows the red lettering Eminem and 3AM in square letters on a black background.

Chart successes

3 am was 32nd in the US charts for one week. It reached number 56 in the UK, where it stayed in the charts for two weeks.

Chart placements

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
United Kingdom (OCC)	56 (2 weeks)	2
United States (Billboard)	32 (1 week)	1

Awards for music sales

In 2018, 3 am received a gold record for more than 500,000 units sold in the United States .

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
United States (RIAA)	gold	500,000
All in all	1 × gold	500,000

Main article: Eminem / Music Sales Awards

Remix

Cover of the remix by Travis Barker

On May 29, 2009, Travis Barker , drummer for the rock band blink-182 , released a remix of the song. This has been available for download from iTunes since August 11, 2009 . The accompanying video shows the drummer playing the song on the drums.

Web links

• Lyrics with interpretations (English)
• Lyrics (German)
• Music video on YouTube.com
• Video of the Travis Barker Remix on vimeo.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lyrics in the booklet
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: UK US
3. ↑ US: Gold