Cleanin 'Out My Closet

Cleanin 'Out My Closet
publication	September 17, 2002
length	4:58
Genre (s)	Hip hop
text	M. Mathers , J. Bass
music	Eminem, Jeff Bass
album	The Eminem Show

Cleanin 'Out My Closet (English for example. " I pack' from ") is a song of the American rapper Eminem . The song is the second single from his fourth studio album The Eminem Show and was released on September 17, 2002. The song is also featured on Eminem's best-of album Curtain Call: The Hits .

content

The track is commonly seen as a sarcastic apology to Eminem's mother. In fact, the three stanzas of the song deal with different topics.

The first stanza deals with the criticism and actionism that repeatedly stirs against Eminem's texts from different directions. First he asks the listener if he has ever been hated or discriminated against. For himself, Eminem answered this question in the affirmative and said that there were protests and demonstrations against him. Then he encourages himself and tells himself to keep going.

In the second stanza he draws a narrative arc: first he speaks of his father leaving the family when he was a small child and that he only wished his father died. Because he himself would under no circumstances leave his daughter Hailie and says he will do everything to make it work between him and Kim, his ex-wife, at least for the sake of Hailie. Eminem further admits that he made mistakes in this relationship - such as the fact that he threatened Kim and her lover with a gun. The "smartest shit" he had done, however, was to take the bullets out of this weapon, otherwise he would have shot both of them.

At the beginning of the third stanza he makes it clear that he would never dissolve his own mother just to get approval. He then accuses her of drug abuse and claims to have been a victim of Munchausen Deputy Syndrome (an illness in which a mother, for example, fakes her child's illness). Then he mocks his mother and often calls her a slut. He says she will grow old lonely and alone because Nathan (Eminem's half-brother) will also see that she is wrong. Hailie had grown up too, but her grandmother would never see her - Hailie wouldn't even come to her funeral. Most of all it would hurt him that his mother did not admit her mistakes. He ironically urges her to keep telling herself that she is a good mother. In the end, he reminds her of the death of his uncle Ronnie and states that she wished he had died in his place.

production

Eminem produced the beat of Cleanin 'Out My Closet in collaboration with Jeff Bass . No samples of other songs were used. The song was recorded in Eminem's house and in the 54Sound studio.

Music video

In the video for Cleanin 'Out My Closet , Philip Atwell and Eminem's discoverer Dr. Dre director.

For the most part, it is based on the text and is dark and shows Eminem et al. a. while digging a grave. It also contains alleged scenes from Eminem's childhood where there was violence between his parents and his mother used drugs instead of taking care of him.

single

Cover design

The single cover is in black and white, it shows Eminem sitting in front of a door, hands clasped. In the upper part of the illustration are the words Eminem and Cleanin 'Out My Closet .

Chart successes

Cleanin 'Out My Closet rose to number four in the German charts in the 41st calendar week of 2002 and fell to number seven in the coming week before climbing to position four again. It then finished ninth and tenth. In total, the song stayed in the top 100 for 16 weeks.

Chart placements Charts Top ranking Weeks Chart placements  Germany (GfK) 4th (16 weeks) 16  Austria (Ö3) 5 (22 weeks) 22nd  Switzerland (IFPI) 5 (25 weeks) 25th  United Kingdom (OCC) 4th (15 weeks) 15th  United States (Billboard) 4th (20 weeks) 20th

Annual charts Charts (2002) placement Annual charts (2002)  Germany (GfK) 55  Austria (Ö3) 46  Switzerland (IFPI) 59  United Kingdom (OCC) 94  United States (Billboard) 47

Sales figures and awards

Cleanin 'Out My Closet received a UK gold record for more than 400,000 units sold . In 2018, the song was awarded a double platinum record for over two million sales in the United States .

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	platinum	70,000
Belgium (BEA)	gold	20,000
Denmark (IFPI)	gold	45,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	gold	7,500
Sweden (IFPI)	gold	10,000
United States (RIAA)	2 × platinum	2,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	gold	400,000
All in all	5 × gold 3 × platinum	2,552,500

Main article: Eminem / Music Sales Awards

Later statements by Eminem

The song Headlights on the 2013 album The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is a counterpart to Cleanin 'Out My Closet - there Eminem apologizes to his mother for the song and says he flinches every time he hears it on the radio. He probably went too far at the time, because now he knows that she was not to blame for the family's situation. He also regrets that she does not know her grandchildren.

Web links

• Lyrics with interpretations
• Music video on YouTube.com

swell

1. ↑ Lyrics in the booklet
2. ↑ Single cover at amazon.de
3. ↑ Cleanin 'Out My Closet at musicline.de ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} annual charts 2002: DE AT CH UK (PDF; 317 kB) US
6. ↑ US: 2x platinum
7. ↑ Headlights lyrics on genius.com