First lets look at some background information on Eminem. He was born Marshall Bruce Mathers III on October 17, 1972 in Saint Joseph, MO. Eminem currently resides in Detroit, Michigan. His stage names are Eminem (EMINƎM) and Slim Shady. He is one of the most successful Hip-Hop artists of all time. Dr. Dre brought him to the mainstream and is credited for much of Eminem’s success. Eminem is signed under Aftermath and has his own record label called Shady Records. Eminem and Dre are credited for the uprising and success of 50 Cent and G-Unit.
Now onto the list of 10 songs by Eminem. These songs are not what I consider his best, I am NOT picking favorites. I am just pointing out 10 of my favorite songs by Eminem. I have heard almost every released song by Em and it is hard to narrow them down to only 10 songs.
1. Soldier – from the fourth studio album by Eminem titled The Eminem Show, which was released in 2002. Solider is one of my favorite songs by Eminem. The beat is amazing, the world play and flow is awesome. One of my favorite parts of this song is the first part of the 3rd verse: “I spit it slow so these kids know that I’m talkin’ to em / Give it back to these damn critics and sock it to em / I’m like a Thug with a little bit of Pac influence / I spew it, and look how I got you bitches rockin’ to it / You motherfuckers could never do it like I could do it, / Don’t even try it, you’ll look stupid, do not pursue it / don’t ever in your life, try to knock the truest.”
2. Till I Collapse – also from the 2002 album The Eminem Show. It features Nate Dogg on the chorus. This song has one of my favorite beats of any Eminem song. Plus the hook by Nate Dogg is great. The entire message Em puts in this song is awesome and the word play he uses is dope. I can’t pick one favorite part of this song, each verse is awesome. This song got a big boost in 2009/2010 by being on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 commercial and brought many new listeners to it.
3. Sing For The Moment– once again from the 2002 album The Eminem Show. This song was also on Eminem’s greatest hits album Curtain Call: The Hits in 2005. Eminem samples the song “Dream On” by Aerosmith. Joe Perry plays the guitar solo at the end of the song and Steven Tyler is singing the chorus. Sing For The Moment deals with the idea of rap music’s effect on society and the misunderstanding Eminem says that critics and parents have about him and his lyrics. He explains how music has a positive message on people, but can be taken wrong. He claims that music is a relief and escape from boredom and depression, which I agree although there is bad in all music especially when misunderstood. Eminem also discuss’ his altercation with a bouncer named John Guerrera. Just an overall good song from each verse to the chorus. There is a music video for this song, which you can view right here.
4. The Way I Am – from the album Marshall Mathers LP released in 2000. This is one of Eminem’s most popular songs he has released to date. The Way I Am has a much more emotional sound than the albums first single “The Real Slim Shady” The Way I Am was named the 35th Best Song of the Decade by Complex Magazine. This song has been remixed by Danny Lohner ft. Marilyn Manson and they have performed the song on stage with Eminem. Marilyn Manson is also in the music video, which can been seen right here. The music video was named the 19th Best Music Video of 2000’s by Complex Magazine. The chorus of this song was influenced by Eric B. and Rakim’s song “As The Rhyme Goes On” >”I’m The R, the A, to the K-I-M / If I wasn’t then why would I say I am?“
5. Stan – like the song above, also from the album Marshall Mathers LP in 2000. This song was also on Curtain Call: The Hits in 2005. This is highly considered one of Eminem’s top songs. This makes every top Eminem song list. This song started a thing within Hip-Hop and culture overall where rappers and people refer to others as Stan’s. For example Nas uses the term in his famous diss song towards Jay-Z titled Ether: “You a fan, a phony, a fake, a pussy, a Stan.” Stan is a fan who is obsessed and takes it to far, also called a ‘dick rider.’ There are 2 versions of this song, one with a slightly modified break from Dido’s “Thank You” and another with Elton John. Rolling Stone magazine ranked “Stan” #290 in their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Also VH1 listed it on their Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time. Stan tells a story of a fan who is obsessed with Eminem and writes him letters without receiving any replies. The first 3 verses are flown by Eminem as the character Stan. The fourth is Eminem finally writing Stan back after many letters and attempts of contact. During the fourth verse Eminem realizes that he had already heard about Stan’s suicide on the news. Also Canibus released a song titled “U Didn’t Care” in which Canibus is portraying Stan and saying that Eminem did not care about him at all. That is one of the songs that fueled the beef between Eminem and Canibus.
6. Say What You Say – from the album The Eminem Show and featuring Dr. Dre. This song is a diss towards Jermaine Dupri and slightly Canibus. Dre and Timbaland do not get alongg with JD, and Dre disses JD throughout the song. Eminem takes his shots at JD and Canibus when he says: “Second verse, it gets worst / It gets no better than this / Amateurs drink veteran piss / From a Dixie cup, if you ever mix me up / Or confuse me with a Canibus or Dre with a Dupri / Will rub it in, every club your in / We’ll have you blackballed and make sure you never rap a fucking again..” Each verse has both Eminem and Dre within it, Eminem even states: “And it’s back and forth all day like Red and Meth.” In reference to how Method Man and Redman go back and forth on songs similar to how Em and Dre do on this song. 7. Like Toy Soldiers – from the 2004 album Encore. This song samples a sped-up sample from “Toy Soldiers” by Martika. In this song Eminem tells a story of his attempts to cool down a very violent and beef driven community of rappers. He speaks about his issues with The Source Magazine and speaks about the beef between Ja Rule and 50 Cent. He states that Ja and 50’s beef went way beyond the Jay-Z and Nas feud, which is one of Hip-Hop’s most known beefs. Eminem attempts to offer a truce to his enemies because he realizes how bad and harmful beef taken to far is to Hip-Hop. Eminem talks about his feud with Ja Rule, which started because of remarks from Ja about Eminem’s daughter Hailie. On a song titled “Loose Change” Ja says how Em’s wife is a known slut, his mother is a known crackhead, and then says what will Hailie be when she grows up. I personally would have done something similar to what Eminem did in that type of situation if anyone would ever speak on my family like that. There is a music video for this song in which Proof is being gunned down in a drive-by shooting. This was to show what could happen if the beefs continue. Some people find it ironic that not much longer Proof was shot and killed in April of 2006. 50 Cent, Obie Trice, and D12 make cameo appearances in the video. Deceased rappers such as 2Pac, Biggie, Big L, and former D12 member Bugz are shown in the video. Eminem leaves out a word in this song like he has done in other songs when he is referring to Dr. Dre’s beef with Suge Knight. The word blocked out should rhyme with ‘good’ so many believe it is Suge.
8. Lose Yourself – from the 8 Mile Soundtrack and later released on Curtain Call: The Hits. The song’s lyrics sum up the background info about Eminem’s character in 8 Mile, B. Rabbit, with the first verse summing up much of the plot of the movie. This song was written by Em during a break of filming the movie 8 Mile. He recorded each verse in one take on a portable studio on the set. The actual sheet he wrote the song on appears in the movie 8 Mile in a scene on the bus. The sheet was sold for $10,000 on eBay. This is a very influential song in the culture of Hip-Hop and one of Eminem’s most successful. There are many references in pop culture to this song.
9. Beautiful – from the album Relapse released in 2006. The feedback on this song has been great. Rolling Stone called it a “touching attempt at an inspirational ballad.” This song samples “Reaching Out” originally written by Rock Therapy. This version was taken from Queen + Paul Rodgers 2005-2006 tour. The album Relapse was in many eyes not one of Eminem’s best, Beautiful was one of the better songs on the album and I wish the album would have been more along those lines. There is a music video for this song directed by Anthony Mandler and filmed in Detroit. The content of this song speaks for itself.
10. Renegade (Original) – the original version featuring fellow Detroit rapper and friend Royce Da 5’9″ (Bad Meets Evil) There are 2 versions of this song, the second features a more professional sounding beat and Jay-Z instead of Royce, and Eminem’s verses stay the same throughout both. This song is mentioned on the famous diss song “Ether” by Nas when he says: “And Eminem murdered you on your own shit / You a dick-riding faggot.” Eminem’s 2 verses on Renegade are 2 of his best throughout his career. Em talks about how society views his lyrics and his content on songs. In the second verse he discuss’ how Religion views him with clever word play. These verses show Eminem’s writing skill and why he is considered one of the greatest.
So many other songs could have made this list, but I believe these are 10 of Eminem’s best songs and all fans should hear them at least once. Thanks for reading!
