Kim (song)
| "Kim" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Eminem from the album The Marshall Mathers LP | |
| Released | May 23, 2000 |
| Recorded | 1999 |
| Genre | Horrorcore, hardcore hip hop |
| Length | 6:18 |
| Label | Aftermath, Interscope |
| Writer | M. Mathers, J. Bass, M. Bass |
| Producer | F.B.T. |
| The Marshall Mathers LP track listing | |
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"Kim" is a song by American rapper Eminem which appears on his 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP. The song reflects intense anger and hatred toward Eminem's then-wife Kim Mathers. It features Eminem imitating her voice and samples the drums from "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin.
On the clean version of The Marshall Mathers LP, this song is replaced by a clean version of "The Kids." (An unedited version can be found on the CD single of "The Way I Am" and the UK edition of The Marshall Mathers LP.)
Contents |
[edit] Background
Ever since their meeting, Eminem and Kimberley Anne Scott have had an on-and-off relationship. They had a daughter together named Hailie, born on December 25, 1995. The couple married in 1999 and divorced in 2001, later re-married in 2006 and divorced that same year. "Kim" is the second song by Eminem about Scott, the first being "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" from his debut album The Slim Shady LP (1999). A slower instrumental version of the song is played at the start of the music video of "The Way I Am".
Eminem is both emotional and aggressive throughout the entire song, as the song portrays Eminem murdering Kim.[1] The song begins with Eminem in Kim's home (after murdering her husband and her stepson). Eminem is talking calmly to their daughter, who is sleeping. Eminem then starts to shout verbal abuse at Kim, which remains a common element throughout the entire song.
In the second verse, the setting changes to Eminem and Kim in a car, while in the third, they are in the woods. The song continues with Eminem slitting Kim's throat, while screaming "Bleed, bitch! Bleed!". The song ends in a prolonged outro during which the listener can hear the sounds of a body being dragged through the grass and placed in the trunk of a car. This same clip is played as the beginning of "97' Bonnie & Clyde", indicating the association between the two songs and the direct chronology of events.
Eminem performed this song in-concert on July 7, 2000 in Detroit. Scott saw the performance. During the performance, Eminem abused a mock-up doll of her on stage to audience approval. This was a recurring part of his performance in the Up In Smoke Tour. Scott attempted suicide by slitting her wrists after viewing the show's conclusion.[2] Months later, she sued Eminem for defamation after he depicted her violent death in the song.[3]
[edit] Critical reception
The Rolling Stone album review of The Marshall Mathers LP stated that:
Things degenerate from there into the mountain of bile reserved for Kim, the mother of his baby and the star of the world's most public ongoing murder fantasy [...] "Kim" has Eminem screaming at his ex in an insane stream-of-consciousness hate spew. There's little humor to blunt the shock of the hellbent animosity of 'Kim.' What makes it powerful is that, of course, he doesn't just hate her. It's the most harrowing sick-love song since Guns N' Roses' "Used to Love Her."[4]
While Entertainment Weekly wrote that:
'Kim', a prequel to "'97 Bonnie and Clyde'" is a shout-rapped enactment of domestic violence so real it chills... 'Stan' and 'Kim' blaze significant new ground for rap.[5]
[edit] Censorship
The song censors the words "four" and "boy" in the album version when Eminem says "There's a four year old little boy, laying dead with a slit throat in your living room!" in the second verse, because of the Columbine High School Massacre and reference to child murder offending parents. The song also contains the line "And while this is goin' on/His son just woke up and he just walks in/She panics and he gets his throat cut", but is not censored. An uncensored, rare version of "Kim", known as "Bitch So Wrong," was leaked into the Internet,[6][unreliable source?] before the massacre and album release, which doesn't censor the words "four" and "boy".
[edit] References
- ^ "Eminem Songs About Kim". Gunaxin.com. 2010-07-07. http://media.gunaxin.com/eminem-songs-about-kim/63983. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
- ^ "Eminem wife's suicide bid". BBC.com.uk. 2000-07-10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/827159.stm. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
- ^ "Marshall (Eminem) Mathers and Kimberley Scott Marriage Profile". About.com. http://marriage.about.com/od/entertainmen1/p/eminem.htm. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
- ^ "The Marshall Mathers LP Eminem Review Rolling Stone". RollingStone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/315749/review/6067689/themarshallmatherslp. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
- ^ "The Marshall Mathers LP". Entertainment Weekly. 2000-06-02. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,276305,00.html. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
- ^ Kim Leaked Version found here [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js-F4pjZ1wg], Rare YouTube.
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