Without me

Without me
publication	May 21, 2002
length	4:50
Genre (s)	Hip hop
text	M. Mathers , K. Bell, J. Bass , M. McLaren, A. Dudley, D. Horn
music	Eminem, Jeff Bass (Co)
Award (s)	Grammy 2003 ( Best Short Form Music Video )
album	The Eminem Show

Without Me ( English for " Without Me ") is a song by the American rapper Eminem . The song is the first single from his fourth studio album The Eminem Show and was released on May 21, 2002. The song is also featured on Eminem's best-of album Curtain Call: The Hits . The single was extremely successful worldwide.

content

The track is a typical Eminem first single , which contains a lot of irony, portrays him as the savior of the music industry and ridicules many of his critics. He hands out against Lynne Cheney , the wife of former US Vice President Dick Cheney , alluding to her husband's heart problems. The FCC and the music channel MTV also get a blow. He had initially remained loyal to Eminem, but then, when the criticism of Eminem's lyrics became louder and louder, his songs no longer played. At the end of the first verse, he yells to his mother, who recently sued him, “ Fuck you Debbie! "(" Fuck you, Debbie! ") Afterwards. Eminem compares himself to Elvis Presley as a white man who manages to dominate a predominantly African-American art form commercially. Other people and groups like Chris Kirkpatrick, Limp Bizkit and Moby are mocked in this song. The content of the chorus is that without Eminem the music scene would be boring and lonely, otherwise no one would cause controversy, hustle and bustle and scandals.

Production and samples

Eminem produced Without Me themselves in collaboration with Jeff Bass , who acted as co-producer. The additional production was done by DJ Head. The song was recorded in Eminem's house and in the 54Sound studio.

The song contains elements from three tracks by other artists. A sample is from Buffalo Gals by Malcolm McLaren . Parts of Its Gonna Be Such A Beautiful Day by The Moments and Rap Name by Obie Trice also appear.

Music video

Joseph Kahn directed the video for Without Me .

content

Eminem and Dr. Dre parody various cartoon characters like Batman , Robin and Blade and are all the while on the hunt for a child who has bought an Eminem Show CD with a Parental Advisory sticker that they are not allowed to hear. At the end of the video, Eminem takes the CD away from him. Otherwise, the music video contains a number of scenarios that build on the content of the text. In the beginning, porn star Jenna Jameson and fitness model Kiana Tom can be seen in bed next to Eminem. A Dick Cheney doppelganger is electroshocked to death. During the course of the video, Eminem slips into different costumes. For example, he dresses up as his mother Debbie Mathers, Moby and Elvis Presley before dancing as Osama bin Laden next to his D12 colleagues at the end of the video . Also, Obie Trice and Xzibit appear in the music video.

Awards

The video won at the 2003 Grammy Awards the award for Best Music Video Short . It also received awards for Video of the Year , Best Male Video , Best Rap Video and Best Direction in a Video at the MTV Video Music Awards 2002 .

single

Cover design

The single cover is based on the illustration of the album. There is a red stage curtain in the background. Eminem can be seen in the left part of the picture, wearing a white t-shirt. The white lettering Eminem is at the top of the picture. Below right is, much smaller, Without Me in orange letters.

Chart successes

Without Me entered the German charts at number 3 on June 3, 2002 and stayed there the next week before climbing to number 1 and then staying at the top for nine weeks. It then took second place; 3; 3 and 6. In total, the song stayed in the top 100 for 24 weeks, of which 17 weeks in the top 10.

Chart placements Charts Top ranking Weeks Chart placements  Germany (GfK) 1 (24 weeks) 24  Austria (Ö3) 1 (35 weeks) 35  Switzerland (IFPI) 1 (29 weeks) 29  United Kingdom (OCC) 1 (19 weeks) 19th  United States (Billboard) 2 (20 weeks) 20th

Annual charts Charts (2002) placement Annual charts (2002)  Germany (GfK) 4th  Austria (Ö3) 3  Switzerland (IFPI) 3  United Kingdom (OCC) 10  United States (Billboard) 21st

Sales figures and awards

Without Me sold over 500,000 copies in Germany for which the single received a platinum record in 2018 . In 2018, the song was awarded a four-time platinum record for more than four million sales in the United States.

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	3 × platinum	210,000
Belgium (BEA)	platinum	40,000
Denmark (IFPI)	platinum	90,000
Germany (BVMI)	platinum	500,000
France (SNEP)	gold	250,000
Italy (FIMI)	platinum	50,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	4 × platinum	60,000
Norway (IFPI)	2 × platinum	20,000
Austria (IFPI)	platinum	30,000
Sweden (IFPI)	platinum	20,000
Switzerland (IFPI)	platinum	40,000
United States (RIAA)	4 × platinum	4,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	2 × platinum	1,200,000
All in all	1 × gold 22 × platinum	6,510,000

Main article: Eminem / Music Sales Awards

The Grammy Awards 2003 was Without Me in the categories of Record of the Year and Best Rap Solo Performance nominated, but lost Do not Know Why by Norah Jones and Hot in Herre by Nelly .

Web links

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

swell

1. ↑ Lyrics in the booklet
2. ^ Grammys 2003
3. ↑ Single cover at hitparade.ch
4. ↑ Chart tracking Without Me on officialcharts.de
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e} 2002 annual charts: DE AT CH UK (PDF; 317 kB) US ( Memento from April 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
7. ↑ IFPI : Search Results Gold and Platinum Awards from Eminem
8. ↑ US: 4x platinum