My Name Is

"My Name Is"
Song

"My Name Is" is a song by Eminem, released in 1999. It is the commercial debut but second single overall from his major label debut album, The Slim Shady LP, also released that year. This song was the first to propel him (and his debut album) up the mainstream singles charts, and helped establish his rapping styles, which lead to further chart-topping success the following year. Due to the single's widespread exposure, it became the first rap song to grace the top spot on Total Request Live, which was maintained until it was retired after 30 number one days in a row.

Producer Dr. Dre wanted to use a sample of Labi Siffre's "I Got The ..." for the rhythm track; however, as revealed in the sleeve notes of the re-mastered CD of the source album, Remember My Song, Siffre stated, "attacking two of the usual scapegoats, women and gays, is lazy writing. If you want to do battle, attack the aggressors not the victims." Eminem made lyric changes and Siffre cleared the sample.

"My Name Is" was later re-released in 2005, on Eminem's compilation album, Curtain Call: The Hits.

Changed lyrics

Due to the obscene nature of the original lyrics, the Radio/Video edit version of the song consists of a substantial number of lyrical changes. When the song was released on the Slim Shady LP, the second verse was "reconciled" between the Original and the Radio Edit, removing references that Labi Siffre (whose sample was used in the record) regarded as homophobic. This reconciled version is also the version that was re-released on Curtain Call: The Hits.

The original version of the song contained the lyrics "My English teacher wanted to have sex in junior high/the only problem was, my English teacher was a guy" and "extra-terrestrial/killing pedestrians/raping lesbians while they're screaming 'Let's just be friends' ". This is found on the LP version. In the album version (including the clean version), the lyrics were changed to "My English teacher wanted to flunk me in junior high/thanks a lot, next semester I'll be thirty-five" and "extra-terrestrial/ running over pedestrians/ in a spaceship while they're screaming "Let's just be friends".

The clean version changed plenty of the lyrics to be television friendly. Such as in the edited TV version he says "Hi kids, do you like Primus?" while on the album he says "Hi kids, do you like violence?" other notable differences are the references of him killing his original self by hanging himself "...since age 12 I felt like I'm someone else, because I hung my original self from the top bunk with a belt" and it was completely changed for television, other things such as the Pamela Lee reference, him drinking vodka and driving, him slitting his father's throat, and many other things because they were obviously too vulgar.

There is a parody of the song that mocks the Nintendo Wii, entitled "Hi I Hate This Wii".

Track listing

Original version

1. "My Name Is" (Slim Shady Radio Edit)
2. "My Name Is" (Explicit Version)
3. "My Name Is" (Instrumental)

Clean version

1. "My Name Is" (Clean Version)
2. "My Name Is" (Instrumental)
3. "Just Don't Give" (Clean Version)

Promo version

1. "My Name Is" (Clean Version)
2. "My Name Is" (Album Version)
3. "My Name Is" (Instrumental)
4. "My Name Is" (Acapella)

Charts

Chart (1999)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	13
Austrian Singles Chart	24
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)	33
French Singles Chart	68
Irish Singles Chart	4
Netherlands Singles Chart	17
New Zealand Singles Chart	4
Norwegian Singles Chart	8
Swedish Singles Chart	16
Swiss Singles Chart	29
UK Singles Chart	2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	36
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	18
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks	10

External links

• My Name Is By Eminem