My Name Is
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

"My Name Is" is a song by American rapper
Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...
from his second studio album '' The Slim Shady LP'' (1999). It is also the opening song and
lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...
of the album. The song contains a sample from British singer Labi Siffre's 1975 track " I Got The..." featuring the bass and guitar riff as originally played by British pop rock duo Chas & Dave. The song was ranked at #26 on "
VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...
's 100 Greatest Songs of the '90s". "My Name Is" was also ranked #6 on
Q Magazine ''Q'' was a British popular music magazine. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. ''Q'' was published in print in the ...
's "1001 Best Songs Ever". "My Name Is" peaked at number 36 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming Eminem's first top 40 hit on the chart. Outside of the United States, "My Name Is" peaked within the top ten of the charts in Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and United Kingdom. The song was placed at number 39 by ''Rolling Stone'' on their list of "100 Greatest Hip-Hop songs of all time" in April 2016. The recording garnered Eminem his first
Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance was awarded from 1991 to 2011, alongside the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Previously, a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. In 2003, this award was split into separate a ...
at the 42nd Grammy Awards in 2000.


Background

On the first day of recording, Eminem and
Dr. Dre Andre Romell Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, and actor. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and co-founder of ...
finished "My Name Is" in an hour. The song contains an interpolation from Labi Siffre's track " I Got The..." from his 1975 album '' Remember My Song''. Siffre, who is openly gay, said in a 2012 interview that he refused to approve the usage until certain sexist and homophobic lyrics were removed from the song: "Dissing the victims of bigotry – women as bitches, homosexuals as faggots – is lazy writing. Diss the bigots not their victims." The original uncensored version of the song with the aforementioned offending lyrics is mistakenly included on the compilation '' The Source Hip Hop Music Awards 1999'' and some releases do have the original version intact. The bass and guitar riff used in the interpolation was originally performed by Siffre's session musicians
Charles Hodges Charles Edward Hodges (born June 29, 1947 in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American organist and songwriter. He is known for his high tone on the Hammond B3 organ, that appeared on records by Al Green, and other musicians signed to Hi Records. Ho ...
and David Peacock, who later became the duo Chas & Dave, although the song's liner notes state that the audio sample used by Eminem was actually an interpolation (re-recording). "My Name Is" is written in the key of
F major F major is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat.Music Theory'. (1950). United States: Standards and Curriculum Division, Training, Bureau of Naval Personnel. 28. Its relati ...
. Famous names referenced in the song include Primus,
Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...
, the
Spice Girls The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"), and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice"). They have sold over 10 ...
,
Pamela Anderson Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress, model and media personality. She rose to prominence after being selected as the February 1990 ''Playboy'' Playmate of the Month. She went on to make regular appearan ...
(Pamela Lee), and
Kris Kross Kris Kross were an American hip hop duo, composed of rappers Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly and Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith, formed by record producer Jermaine Dupri. They were the youngest hip-hop group to gain commercial success, charting releases by t ...
(album version only).


Music video

The video premiered on
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
''
Total Request Live ''Total Request Live'' (commonly abbreviated as ''TRL'') is an American television program that premiered on MTV on September 14, 1998. The early version of ''TRL'' featured popular music videos played during its countdown and was also used as ...
'' on January 21, 1999. The video was co-directed by the song's producer and co-writer Dr. Dre and Phillip G. Atwell, the latter of whom would later direct music videos for several other Eminem songs, including " The Real Slim Shady", " Stan", " Guilty Conscience", "
Role Model A role model is a person whose behaviour, example, or success serves as a model to be emulated by others, especially by younger people. The term ''role model'' is credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton, who hypothesized that individuals compa ...
", " Cleanin' Out My Closet" (all with Dre), " Lose Yourself" (with Eminem and Paul Rosenberg) , " Sing for the Moment" (alongside Jeff Grippe), " Ass Like That", and " Just Lose It" (both solo). The video starts with a stereotypical redneck family watching television, who then come across a show starring "Marshall Mathers" (Eminem's real name). As the video goes on, Eminem parodies several TV shows and movies. He also imitates, among others, then-
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
,
Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and writer best known as the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson is a cultural phenomenon and w ...
,
Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the Marilyn Manson (band), same-titled band he founded in 1989. Th ...
, and a porn star. Basketball player Gheorghe Mureșan has a cameo appearance as a ventriloquist with Eminem being used as the dummy in the scene. Dre also has a cameo as a therapist. It also features a
Monica Lewinsky Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist. Lewinsky became internationally known in the late 1990s after U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an affair with her during her days as a White House intern ...
lookalike, and Eminem imitating a chemistry teacher. Eminem is seen wearing a red tuxedo in some parts of the video, something that he would pay homage to in his 2020 single "
Gnat GNAT is a free-software compiler for the Ada programming language which forms part of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). It supports all versions of the language, i.e. Ada 2012, Ada 2005, Ada 95 and Ada 83. Originally its ...
", 21 years after "My Name Is" was originally released. The video was ranked #71 in
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
's ''100 Greatest Music Videos''. As of 2019, the music video has been replaced on all official sites (including the official Eminem YouTube account and MTV's holding accounts) with alternative lyrics online making it more advertiser friendly. Lines such as, "Well, since age 12, I felt like I'm someone else 'Cause I hung my original self from the top bunk with a belt," are replaced with "Since age 12 I felt like a caged elf Who stayed to himself in one space, chasing his tail," also with lines referencing ripping Pamela Lee's breasts off replaced with ripping her lips off and kissing them, saying how they feel soft like silicone.


Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
's
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
singled out the song as an album highlight, while ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
''s David Browne wrote that this single and its accompanying video were both "attention-grabbing".


Track listing

;UK CD1 ;UK CD2 ;UK Cassette ;12" single ;Record Store Day 2020 7" single ;Notes * signifies a co- producer.


Controversy

Eminem's mother Debbie Mathers filed a $10 million slander lawsuit against him for insinuating that she does drugs in the lyrics "99% of my life I was lied to, I just found out my mom does more dope than I do". Eminem also berates his mother in the third verse of the song, with the lyrics "When I was little I used to get so hungry I would throw fits/How you gonna breastfeed me, Mom?! You ain't got no tits!" Debbie stated in her 2008 book '' My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem'', "This line was horrible and upsetting, because I'd contracted toxemia-blood poisoning when I gave birth to him and hadn't been able to breast-feed." The lawsuit was settled in 2001 for $25,000, of which Debbie received only $1,600, after Judge Mark Switalski ruled that $23,354.25 of the $25,000 settlement should go to Fred Gibson, Debbie's former attorney. Eminem would later reference this in his 2002 song " Without Me" with the lyrics, "I just settled all my lawsuits, fuck you Debbie!" Eminem later felt disillusioned by its immense popularity. In 2002, he said "I didn't hate that song when I first made it. But the shit that I really, really like, that I put my heart and soul into, I don't get recognized for, like ' The Way I Am.' There's a difference between me being funny and me being real. I feel like I don't get recognized for my best shit — the shit that's my real, true feelings and emotions."


Awards and nominations


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


References

{{authority control Eminem songs 1999 singles Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance Song recordings produced by Dr. Dre Songs written by Labi Siffre Songs written by Eminem Aftermath Entertainment singles Interscope Records singles Horrorcore songs Songs written by Dr. Dre 1999 songs Comedy hip-hop songs American hip-hop songs Songs about drugs Songs about parenthood Obscenity controversies in music Songs about fictional male characters