The Way I Am

The Way I Am
publication	September 7, 2000
length	4:50
Genre (s)	Hip hop
text	M. Mathers
music	Eminem
album	The Marshall Mathers LP

The Way I Am (English for: " How I am ") is a song by the American rapper Eminem . The song is the second single from his third studio album The Marshall Mathers LP and was released on September 7, 2000. The song is also featured on Eminem's best-of album Curtain Call: The Hits .

content

Eminem's autobiographical references leave no doubt in the fan, media and label scolding of The Way I Am that the author appears as the narrator from a first-person perspective. The way of performing is overall much more aggressive than with other songs on the album. The song is mostly written in Anapast .

The spoken intro calls for attention from the listener. In the first verse, the hip-hop protagonist explains the purpose of rapping: It relieves frustration and helps you sleep peacefully. He also criticizes the intrusiveness of fans who do not respect his privacy. He did not owe them anything and would also accept a lawsuit for violence. The refrain picks up on the title: The rapper is what he is. The news reports about him every day, but the radio presence of his music is out of proportion. The second stanza is aimed primarily against the media, who discuss Eminem's music controversially and try to hold him responsible for various acts of violence. He alludes to the school massacre in Littleton , for which, among other things, his music and the music of Marilyn Manson was held responsible. The guilt lies more in the parents of the perpetrators than in the music they consume. After all, the media provided him with the material for his texts, which gives him satisfaction. In the third verse, the rapper criticizes his own label, which wanted to build him into a pop star after he was successful with My Name Is . He was under pressure to record a similar single (which he did with The Real Slim Shady ). At the end he demands his calm, he is tired of the same questions about his past and the background of his music.

production

The song is one of the first whose beat Eminem produced himself and one of the few that he only worked on alone. No samples of other songs were used for the beat.

Music video

The video for The Way I Am was directed by Paul Hunter .

The video begins with an excerpt from the ski Steve Berman criticized Eminem's album at a label review. Eminem initially stands on the windowsill of a high-rise building. When several passers-by have gathered in front of the skyscraper, the rapper jumps down from the windowsill. From now on, he raps while he falls. When Eminem hits the floor at the end, it catches him as if he were a huge mattress. Fictional excerpts from his private life, which is disturbed by intrusive fans, are repeatedly faded in throughout the video. So nowhere can he be undisturbed with his wife and daughter. In addition, the rock singer Marilyn Manson appears in the background in some scenes.

single

Cover design

The single cover is in black and white. It shows Eminem with his hands clasped, wearing a black T-shirt and looking at the viewer. In the middle of the picture are the yellowish letters Eminem and The Way I Am .

Chart successes

The Way I Am rose to number 19 in the German charts and stayed in the top 100 for a total of twelve weeks.

Chart placements

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK)	19th (12 weeks)	12
Austria (Ö3)	11 (12 weeks)	12
Switzerland (IFPI)	19th (17 weeks)	17th
United Kingdom (OCC)	8th (10 weeks)	10
United States (Billboard)	58 (10 weeks)	10

Awards

For more than 400,000 units sold, The Way I Am received a gold record in the UK in 2019 . In 2018, it was awarded a platinum record for over a million sales in the United States .

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Sweden (IFPI)	gold	10,000
United States (RIAA)	platinum	1,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	gold	400,000
All in all	2 × gold 1 × platinum	1,410,000

Main article: Eminem / Music Sales Awards

Remix

There is a remix of The Way I Am that Eminem recorded with rock singer Marilyn Manson . The remix was produced by Danny Lohner and can be assigned to the genre Rap-Rock . The song is included both on the single for the song Without Me and on the compilation The Singles .

Book of the same name

On October 21, 2008, Eminem published an autobiographical book called The Way I Am . In Germany it was published by the Kiepenheuer & Witsch publishing house .

In the book, Eminem describes his struggle against poverty, drugs and domestic violence, as well as his rise to fame and the controversies in his career. It also includes previously unpublished photos from Eminem's life as well as original drawings and text sheets.

Web links

• Lyrics with interpretations (English)
• Lyrics (German)
• Music video on YouTube.com

swell

1. ↑ Lyrics in the booklet
2. ↑ Single cover at amazon.de
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
4. ↑ US: Platinum
5. ↑ The Way I Am - book at amazon.de