"Without Me" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Single by Eminem | ||||||||||||||||||||||
from the album The Eminem Show | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Released | May 14, 2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Format | CD | |||||||||||||||||||||
Recorded | February 2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Genre | Comedy hip hop | |||||||||||||||||||||
Length | 4:50 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Eminem singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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"Without Me" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his fourth studio album The Eminem Show (2002). "Without Me" was released as the lead single from the album, and re-released on his greatest hits compilation album Curtain Call: The Hits (2005). "Without Me" is one of Eminem's most successful singles, reaching number two in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and number one in fifteen countries. It is one of his most well-known and most recognizable songs. The song is included in the soundtrack for the 2016 film Suicide Squad.
The song was Eminem's return after the successful The Marshall Mathers LP, intended as a sequel to "The Real Slim Shady" and essentially saying that he is back to save the world. It also refers to Eminem's role in the music industry and his cultural effects.
The song mocks a number of Eminem's critics, including then-Vice-President Dick Cheney (including his recurring heart problems) and his wife Lynne, the FCC, Chris Kirkpatrick (of NSYNC), Limp Bizkit and Moby, as well as parodying Prince's decision to change his name to a symbol. It also lampoons comparisons of him to Elvis Presley as a white man succeeding commercially in a predominantly black art form. A line also attacks his mother Debbie Mathers for the lawsuit she filed for the lyrics of his debut single "My Name Is".