The Way I Am (Eminem song)

"The Way I Am"
Single by Eminem
from the album The Marshall Mathers LP
A-side	The Way I Am (Unedited)
B-side	The Kids (Unedited Version), '97 Bonnie & Clyde, Steve Berman (skit), The Way I Am (Video Track)
Released	September 7, 2000
Format	CD, digital download
Genre	Hardcore hip hop, rap rock
Length	4:50
Label	Aftermath, Interscope
Writer(s)	Marshall Mathers
Producer	Eminem
Certification	Gold (SRIA)
Eminem singles chronology
"The Real Slim Shady" (2000) "The Way I Am" (2000) "Stan" (2000)

"The Way I Am" is a song by the rapper Eminem, released in 2000. It was the second single from his worldwide hit album, The Marshall Mathers LP. It is also featured on his 2005 album Curtain Call: The Hits. In the tradition of most of Eminem's follow-up singles, "The Way I Am" features a much darker and emotionally driven sound than the album's lead single, which was "The Real Slim Shady." The song was named the 35th Best Song of the decade by the magazine Complex.

Background

It features the first beat Eminem produced on his own, featuring an ominous bass line, a piano loop, and chimes. In the song, Eminem lashes out at people he feels are putting too much pressure on him, including overzealous fans and record executives expecting him to top the success of his hit single "My Name Is" (though in fact he went on to do so with "The Real Slim Shady," as well as other songs). He delivers each line very aggressively, almost shouting them out.

The song has also been remixed by Danny Lohner featuring Marilyn Manson, who has performed the song with Eminem live on stage.

The song reached number 8 on the UK singles chart, while in the US it did not fare as well, not charting on the top 50. In 2005 it was released on the album Curtain Call: The Hits.

"The Way I Am" certifying Gold in Sweden, sold over 10,000 copies.

In 2008, Eminem released an autobiography titled The Way I Am.

Music video

The music video at the beginning plays a slow instrumental of his song "Kim", and part of the "Steve Berman" skit (which is the track before this song in the album), and when the song starts, it shows him about to jump out the window of a tall building, and shows him falling through the sky, in a sequence inspired by the Coen brothers film The Hudsucker Proxy, in which the hero also falls slowly from a skyscraper window. Marilyn Manson appears behind Eminem when the song refers to him—and a few more times thereafter. Other shots show fans coming up to him, asking for his autograph, as well as Eminem in his hood in front of an old house. At the end of the video, when Eminem hits the ground, it bounces him safely like a giant mattress. It was named the 19th Best Music Video of 2000's by Complex Magazine .

The song is angst-ridden and ostensibly directed towards the record executives who had greatly stressed Eminem to top the success of his last album. As of the time of writing, which was shortly before the album's end of production, Eminem had yet to create any such singles that might replicate his previous success with My Name Is (though he would soon pen The Real Slim Shady which would go on to be his most successful single to date). Resultantly, the song lashes out at those who he perceived were placing undue burdens upon him. He also directs the song at overzealous fans, telling them they should leave him alone rather than harass him and his family.

Music and lyrics

From the perspective of traditional poetic theory, almost the entire song (excluding the chorus) can be described as being written in anapestic tetrameter. However, though this poetic label accurately describes the short-short-long pattern that dominates Eminem's flow in this song, it fails to capture the musical rhythm of his delivery, which in Rap is more significant. Eminem delivers his short-short-long "anapestic" rhythm in a highly syncopated manner which is completely off the beat: he rests on the beat itself (1,2,3,4) and delivers his words on the other 16th notes (e & a), accenting the last 16th note (the same place where the kick drum hits). This highly syncopated rhythm gives this piece much of it's dramatic tension and is identical to the rhythm of the piano accompaniment.

The chorus adapts lines from the song "As the Rhyme Goes On" from Eric B. and Rakim's debut album Paid in Full in which Rakim raps, "I'm the R, the A, to the K, I M--if I wasn't, then why would I say I am?" - Rakim would later be signed to Aftermath, but left before releasing an album.

Track listing

European CD single

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"The Way I Am" (unedited version)	A. Young, M. Mathers	Eminem	4:53
2.	"The Way I Am" (clean version)	A. Young, M. Mathers	Eminem	4:53
3.	"Kids" (unedited version)	M. Mathers, J. Bass, M. Bass, S. King	Bass Brothers, Eminem	5:07
4.	"'97 Bonnie & Clyde"	Mathers, J. Bass, M. Bass	Bass Brothers, Eminem	5:17
5.	"Steve Berman" (Skit)			0:56
6.	"The Real Slim Shady" (Video)	Andre R. Young, M. Mathers, M. Elizondo. T. Coster	Mike Elizondo, Dr. Dre (co)	4:44

UK CD single

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"The Way I Am"	A. Young, M. Mathers	Eminem	4:53
2.	"Bad Influence"	M. Mathers, J. Bass, M. Bass	Eminem, Bass Brothers	3:40
3.	"My Fault" (Pizza Mix)			3:54
4.	"The Way I Am" (Video)	A. Young, M. Mathers	Eminem	4:53

Charts

Chart (2000)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	34
Austrian Singles Chart	11
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)	16
Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia)	9
Danish Singles Chart	15
Dutch Top 40	10
Finnish Singles Chart	8
German Singles Chart	19
Irish Singles Chart	4
Swedish Singles Chart	6
Swiss Singles Chart	19
UK Singles Chart	8
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	58
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	26
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40	5

External links

• "The Way I Am" Official music video on YouTube