The Meaning Behind Eminem’s Revolutionary Song “Without Me”

In May 2000, Eminem sold more than 1 million copies in the first week of the release of his third studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP. With hits like “Stan,” “The Real Slim Shady,” and “Kim,” MMLP quickly became one of the most impressive rap albums of the decade, eventually reaching RIAA diamond status. So, to follow the project up two years later, the Detroit-bred prodigy knew he had to kick the door down even more emphatically with his return.
Releasing “Without Me” in May 2002, his lead single for his eventual fourth album The Eminem Show, Eminem wanted to remind listeners what the difference was between hip-hop music with him, and hip-hop music without him.

The Intro

“Without Me” opens with a snippet of a completely different song by the rapper Obie Trice, one of the signees to Em’s Shady Records at the time. Hoping to spotlight one of his protégés on his new smash hit, Em decided to play the portion of Trice’s, at-the-time unreleased song, “Rap Name,” where he recites the lyric Obie Trice, real name, no gimmicks before a record scratch transition into the intended instrumental on “Without Me.”

The Refrain Meaning

Before the track kicks off its hooks and verses, the two refrains employed at the start absolutely steal the show and are still likely the two most recognizable portions of the song to this day. First, Em’s Two trailer-park girls go ’round the outside / Round the outside, ’round the outside refrain serves as a call-back to Malcolm McLaren’s 1982 song “Buffalo Gals,” as McLaren was an earlier caucasian emcee who paved the way for Em. Substituting McLaren’s buffalo gals with trailer-park girls, though, Em references his trailer park lifestyle before fame, noted in his October 2002 quasi-biopic 8 Mile, where Obie Trice’s aforementioned song was used on the soundtrack.

Then, Em delivers an immediate second refrain in the form of the world-famous Guess who’s back, back again? / Shady’s back, tell a friend lyric. Not only emphasizing the importance of his return to music, but Em also basks in how much fans have latched onto his Slim Shady alter-ego, an entity he views as different than his real self Marshall Mathers, which he raps about to start the song’s first verse.

I’ve created a monster
‘Cause nobody wants to see Marshall no more, they want Shady, I’m chopped liver
Well, if you want Shady, this is what I’ll give ya
A little bit of weed mixed with some hard liquor

The Disses

The subsequent verses in “Without Me” end up being filled to the brim with disses from Em, whether it be calling out U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s heart problems, the FCC for censoring his vulgarity on MTV, or oddly, pop superstar Prince for introducing his now-famous emblem to represent his artistry. Particularly in the third verse, though, Em exhibits the most brashness, firing off at *NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick, dance singer Moby, and the entirety of the metal band Limp Bizkit.

A tisket, a tasket, I’ll go tit-for-tat wit’

Anybody who’s talkin’, “This shit, that shit”
Chris Kirkpatrick, you can get your ass kicked
Worse than them little Limp Bizkit bastards
And Moby? You can get stomped by Obie
You thirty-six-year-old bald-headed f*g, blow me
You don’t know me, you’re too old, let go

In the case of Kirkpatrick, Em singled him out because he “was the only one who had the guts to say something back at him” after Em depicted him hunting down *NSYNC in his “The Real Slim Shady” music video. Plus, his last name rhymed with “get your ass kicked,” Em said during a 2002 interview with MTV’s TRL.

As for Limp Bizkit, Em had a bone to pick with them for how they handled their relationship with rock singer Everlast, who Em was at odds with at the time. At first, Limp Bizkit and Em had a solid relationship, with the band’s frontman Fred Durst making an appearance in the “The Real Slim Shady” visuals. But, when Everlast was reportedly planning to diss Em in a new song, Durst and other LB members were alleged to be collaborating with him on it, though it was never released. Still, Em caught wind of this.

Lastly, Em’s gripe with Moby is pretty simple. as the New York singer told Rolling Stone during the 2001 Grammys his nuanced stance on Eminem, explaining why he did not agree with the contents of Em’s music.

“I support Eminem’s free speech […and he’s] very good at what he does,” Moby said. “But he’s also a misogynist and homophobe and racist and anti-Semite. I’m 33 and can see through it, but I can’t imagine that an 8-year-old in Idaho sees it as just a joke.”

Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic