My Name Is

Background

On the first day of recording, Eminem and Dr. Dre finished "My Name Is" in an hour.

The song contains an interpolation from Labi Siffre's track "I Got The..." from his 1975 album Remember My Song. Siffre, who is openly gay, said in a 2012 interview that he refused to approve the usage until certain sexist and homophobic lyrics were removed from the song: "Dissing the victims of bigotry – women as bitches, homosexuals as faggots – is lazy writing. Diss the bigots not their victims." The original uncensored version of the song with the aforementioned offending lyrics is mistakenly included on the compilation The Source Hip Hop Music Awards 1999 and some releases do have the original version intact. The bass and guitar riff used in the interpolation was originally performed by Siffre's session musicians Charles Hodges and David Peacock, who later became the duo Chas & Dave; the song's liner notes state the riff in "My Name Is" is an interpolation (re-recording). "My Name Is" is written in the key of F major with a tempo of 86 beats per minute. Famous names referenced in the song include Primus, Nine Inch Nails, the Spice Girls, Pamela Anderson (Pamela Lee), and Kris Kross (album version only).

Music video

The video premiered on MTV Total Request Live on January 21, 1999. The video was co-directed by the song's producer and co-writer Dr. Dre and Phillip G. Atwell, the latter of whom would later direct music videos for several other Eminem songs, including "The Real Slim Shady", "Stan", "Guilty Conscience", "Role Model", "Cleanin' Out My Closet" (all with Dre), "Lose Yourself" (with Eminem and Paul Rosenberg), "Sing for the Moment" (alongside Jeff Grippe), "Ass Like That", and "Just Lose It" (both solo). The video starts with a stereotypical redneck family watching television, who then come across a show starring "Marshall Mathers" (Eminem's real name). As the video goes on, Eminem parodies several TV shows and movies. He also imitates, among others, then-President of the United States Bill Clinton, Johnny Carson, Marilyn Manson, and a porn star. Basketball player Gheorghe Mureșan has a cameo appearance as a ventriloquist with Eminem being used as the dummy in the scene. Dre also has a cameo as a therapist. It also features a Monica Lewinsky lookalike, and Eminem imitating a chemistry teacher. Eminem is seen wearing a red tuxedo in some parts of the video, something that he would pay homage to in his 2020 single "Gnat", 21 years after "My Name Is" was originally released.

The video was ranked #71 in NME's 100 Greatest Music Videos.

Critical reception

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine singled out the song as an album highlight, while Entertainment Weeklys David Browne wrote that this single and its accompanying video were both "attention-grabbing".

Track listing

;UK CD1

;UK CD2

;UK Cassette

;12" single

;Record Store Day 2020 7" single

;Notes

• signifies a co-producer.

Controversy

Eminem's mother Debbie Mathers filed a $10 million slander lawsuit against him for insinuating that she does drugs in the lyrics "99% of my life I was lied to, I just found out my mom does more dope than I do". Eminem also berates his mother in the third verse of the song, with the lyrics "When I was little I used to get so hungry I would throw fits/How you gonna breastfeed me, Mom?! You ain't got no tits!" Debbie stated in her 2008 book My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, "This line was horrible and upsetting, because I'd contracted toxemia-blood poisoning when I gave birth to him and hadn't been able to breast-feed." The lawsuit was settled in 2001 for $25,000, of which Debbie received only $1,600, after Judge Mark Switalski ruled that $23,354.25 of the $25,000 settlement should go to Fred Gibson, Debbie's former attorney. Eminem would later reference this in his 2002 song "Without Me" with the lyrics, "I just settled all my lawsuits, fuck you Debbie!"

Eminem later felt disillusioned by its immense popularity. In 2002, he said "I didn't hate that song when I first made it. But the shit that I really, really like, that I put my heart and soul into, I don't get recognized for, like 'The Way I Am.' There's a difference between me being funny and me being real. I feel like I don't get recognized for my best shit — the shit that's my real, true feelings and emotions."

Awards and nominations

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

References

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