"Cleanin' Out My Closet" is a song by American rapper Eminem released in 2002. It was from his worldwide hit album, The Eminem Show and was later re-released in 2005 for Eminem's greatest hits album Curtain Call: The Hits. "Cleanin' Out My Closet" was the second single released off "The Eminem Show" album following "Without Me". However, unlike the preceding single Eminem departed from his humorous Slim Shady persona to take observers on a solemn journey into a deeply personal reservoir of fury and pain. It became the second top-ten single from the album (reaching #4 on the United States Billboard Hot 100) and one of the highest-charting singles of his career. Lastly, the song was used for the initial theatrical trailer to 8 Mile that was released in winter 2001.
[edit] Alternate Version
From the most famous mashup video of "Atomic Closet", a fusion of Eminem's original "Cleaning Out My Closet" and Blondie's "Atomic", the Blondie's most famous hit was heavily sampled as the background song throughout the entire video, while Eminem himself rapped throughout the whole song. The music video for the song was directed by Dr. Dre and Philip Atwell.
[edit] Lyrical content
In the song, Eminem introspectively examines his life reflecting on such topics as his troubled childhood, marital conflicts, and resentful feud with his mother. Eminem underscores his animosity towards her by melodically rapping a searingly honest portrayal of what he experienced as a child.
Also in the song, he describes how others protest his lyrics. He expresses the anger that he feels towards his family and how he is better off without them now, and goes on to reassure his audience that his words regarding his mother are not done for the sake of public attention "now I would never diss my own mama just to get recognition". The song also describes how Eminem suffers at the hands of his mother because of Münchausen syndrome by proxy in the line "All my life being made to feel sick when I wasn't".
Eminem also mentions the demo that his mother put out for him called Set The Record Straight.
[edit] Track listing
- UK / European CD single
| Writer(s) |
Producer(s) |
| 1. |
"Cleanin' Out My Closet" |
M. Mathers, J. Bass |
Eminem, Jeff Bass |
4:57 |
| 2. |
"Cleanin' Out My Closet" (Instrumental) |
M. Mathers, J. Bass |
Eminem, Jeff Bass |
4:57 |
| 3. |
"Stimulate" |
M. Mathers |
Eminem |
5:06 |
| 4. |
"Cleanin' Out My Closet" (Video - Version 1) |
M. Mathers, J. Bass |
Eminem, Jeff Bass |
4:57 |
- DVD single
| Writer(s) |
Producer(s) |
| 1. |
"Cleanin' Out My Closet" (Video - Version 2) |
M. Mathers, J. Bass |
Eminem, Jeff Bass |
4:57 |
| 2. |
"Cleanin' Out My Closet" (Making of the Video) |
M. Mathers, J. Bass |
Eminem, Jeff Bass |
4:57 |
[edit] Charts and sales
[edit] Peak positions
|
[edit] End of year charts
| End of year chart (2002) |
Position |
| Australian Singles Chart[7] |
40 |
| Austrian Singles Chart[8] |
46 |
| Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[9] |
42 |
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[10] |
59 |
| Dutch Top 40[11] |
73 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[12] |
59 |
| UK Singles Chart[13] |
94 |
[edit] Certifications
| Country |
Certification |
Date |
Sales certified |
| Australia[14] |
Platinum |
2002 |
70,000 |
| Belgium[15] |
Gold |
December, 2002 |
20,000 |
| New Zealand[16] |
Gold |
November 17, 2002 |
7,500 |
| Sweden[17] |
Gold |
December 20, 2002 |
10,000 |
|
[edit] In culture
[edit] References
[edit] External links
