Eminem’s “My Name Is” turns 22.
On this day in 1999, Eminem released “My Name Is” as the first single off his first major-label album “The Slim Shady LP“. It helped Eminem get his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 42nd Grammy Awards in 2000. The song peaked at number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it was placed at number 39 by Rolling Stone on their list of ‘100 Greatest Hip-Hop songs of all time’ in 2016.
The video begins with a clichéd redneck family watching TV, until they come upon a show starring “Marshall Mathers” (Eminem’s true name). Eminem parodies many TV shows and movies throughout the video. He also imitates former US President Bill Clinton, Johnny Carson, a porn actress, and other celebrities. Gheorghe Mureșan, a basketball player, makes a cameo appearance as a ventriloquist, with Eminem playing the dummy. Dr. Dre, the song’s producer, also appears as a doctor in the video. There’s also a Monica Lewinski impersonator and Eminem impersonating a chemistry instructor. Eminem appears in the video wearing a red tuxedo, which he will pay respect to in his 2021 single “Gnat,” which will be released 21 years after “My Name Is.”
Debbie Mathers, Eminem’s mother, has sued him for slandering her by implying that she consumes narcotics in the song “99 percent of my life I was misled to, I just found out my mum does more dope than I do.”
VH1 also ranked it at #26 on their ‘100 Greatest songs of the 90s’.
The Slim Shady LP sold 283,000 copies in its first week of sales, finishing behind TLC’s FanMail at number two on the Billboard 200 list. The song spent 100 weeks on the Billboard 200. It spent 92 weeks at the top of the R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart, where it also debuted at number one. The Recording Industry Association of America awarded the Slim Shady LP platinum status for sales of over a million copies. The RIAA awarded quadruple platinum certification to the album on November 15, 2000.
Eminem stated of the song in 2002: “I didn’t hate that song when I first made it. But the s**t 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 s**t — the s**t that’s my real, true feelings and emotions.”
Check out its music video below.
22 years ago today, @Eminem released “My Name Is” as the first single from his first major label studio album “The Slim Shady LP”… & THE REST IS HISTORY. 🐐🔥 pic.twitter.com/Z5cG1DVwNh
— Em (@Eminem_Posts__) January 25, 2021
