"So Far..." is a song by American

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

recording artist A musician is someone who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate a person who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters, ...

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 ...

, taken from his eighth studio album ''

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 ''The Marshall Mathers LP 2'' is the eighth studio album by American rapper Eminem. It was released on November 5, 2013, by Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment, and Interscope Records. It is his last album to feature the involvement of the i ...

'' (2013). The song discusses Eminem meditating on the pitfalls of fame and the tendency for things to go wrong at the worst possible moment. The song was produced by the album's

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...

. "So Far" features samples from the

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born Joseph Woodward Fidler; November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Best known as a member of the rock band Eagles (band), Eagles, his five-decade career includes solo work and stints in other ...

recording "

Life's Been Good "Life's Been Good" is a song by American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Walsh that first appeared on the soundtrack to the 1978 film '' FM''. The original eight-minute version was released on Walsh's fourth studio album '' But S ...

" and also contains samples of " P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" as performed by

Schoolly D Jesse Bonds Weaver Jr. (born June 22, 1962), better known by the stage name Schoolly D, is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Biography Schoolly D was born Jesse Bonds Weaver Jr. in West Philadelphia and raised in Philadelph ...

Change the Beat "Change the Beat (French and English Rap)", also referred to as "Change the Beat (Male Version)", is a song written and recorded by Fab 5 Freddy and produced by Bill Laswell’s group Material. The remix by female vocalist Beside (Ann Boyle) of th ...

by Beside, as well as "

The Real Slim Shady "The Real Slim Shady" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his third studio album ''The Marshall Mathers LP'' (2000). It was released as the lead single a month before the album's release. The song peaked at number four on the ''Billboard ...

" and "I'm Back" by himself. The song was met with generally positive reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

s upon the album's release and debuted at number three on the US ''Billboard''

Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...

Background and theme

In the song, Eminem details pitfalls of fame and the tendency for things to go wrong at the worst possible moment, as he uses the song to take a look at his life of living in the "glass house of fame." Also he states the awkwardness that interacting with fans can be sometimes, as explained during an interview with

Sway Calloway Jonathan Ahmad Calloway (born July 3, 1971), known as Sway, is an American radio personality, journalist and former rapper known for hosting music, news, and culture programming. He was an on-air reporter and host for MTV News and occasional non- ...

. Additionally, he references two of his songs from ''

The Marshall Mathers LP ''The Marshall Mathers LP'' is the third studio album by American rapper Eminem, released on May 23, 2000, by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. Production on the album was handled by Dr. Dre, Mel-Man, F.B.T., Eminem, and The 45 ...

'', "I'm Back" and "

". At the end of the second verse, he raps "The other day someone got all elaborate/And stuck a head from a fucking dead cat in my mailbox", a reference to the song "I'm Back", where he raps "I used to get punked and bullied on my block/'Till I cut a kitten's head off and stuck it in this kid's mailbox". During this line, the beat also changes to the original beat from "I'm Back". He then says "Went to Burger King, they spit on my onion rings/I think my karma is catching up with me". This creates a continuation from "The Real Slim Shady", where he raps "And every single person is a Slim Shady lurking/He could be working at Burger King, spitting on your onion rings." Here the beat then changes to the beat used in "The Real Slim Shady". He also mentions listening to

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, spoken as "ludicrous" in American English), is an American rapper and songwriter. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at age ...

while complaining that technology is hurting the distribution of real rap, and name drops his

Shady Records Shady Records is an American record label founded by rapper Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg in 1999, following the commercially successful release of '' The Slim Shady LP'' that same year. The label's name comes from the last name of Eminem ...

-signee

Yelawolf Michael Wayne Atha (born December 30, 1979), better known by his stage name Yelawolf, is an American rapper. Born in Gadsden, Alabama, and raised in Antioch, Tennessee, he embarked on his recording career in 2005, releasing four mixtapes to pos ...

. Eminem also states his self-deprecating observations of aging.

Composition

The song was produced by

and written by Eminem,

and Jesse Weaver. Like other Rubin productions on the album, it features a heavy use of samples. In all "So Far..." features samples from the

recording "

" and contains excerpts of " P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" as performed by

. It was recorded by Mike Strange, Joe Strange and Tony Campana at Effigy Studios in Michigan and Jason Lader at Shangri La Studios in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

. Additional keys were provided by Luis Resto.

Critical reception

"So Far..." was met with generally positive reviews from

s. Luke Fox of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' praised the song's production as one of the album's best beat choices. Dan Rys stated, songs like "So Far" will "grow on you by getting stuck in your head, and before long you’ll know every word and skip ahead to hear the familiar refrains and deft flows." Jon Caramanica writing for the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' said the song is, "a reminder that Eminem has never settled on a musical aesthetic, only a strategy of rhyme." Jesal 'Jay Soul' Padania of RapReviews.com said, "Rick Rubin pops up for the third time and kills it (alongside the star of the show) on the cracking Detroit anthem "So Far..." - a song that conveniently shows up everything wrong with "Berzerk"." ''

The Metro Times The ''Detroit Metro Times'' is a progressive alternative weekly newspaper located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. The ''Metro Times'' was an official sponsor of the now-defunct De ...

'' and the '' Philly Inquirer'' praised the song's humor. Nick Catucci writing for ''

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, ...

'' praised the use of the Joe Walsh sample. In a negative review Mike Diver of '' Clash'' said, "It’s so awful that it should be scratched from every physical copy of this album, immediately." ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' ranked the song at number 41 on their list of the best songs of 2013.

Chart performance

References

{{Eminem singles 2013 songs Eminem songs Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin Songs written by Eminem Songs written by Joe Walsh