“Without Me” heralds Eminem’s return to save the world, takes jabs at his adversaries and describes his impact on music and culture.

Spotlighting His Rapper-in-Training

Eminem wastes no time dropping references and double entendres in his raps, and this song is no exception. The lyrics to “Without Me” are filled to the brim with hidden meaning from start to finish.

In the intro, there’s an unabashed reference to the rapper being sampled here:

“Obie Trice, real name, no gimmicks”

Obie Trice was a protégé of Eminem as part of the Shady Records label at the time when “Without Me” was released in May of 2002. Eminem decided to throw him a bone so to speak with a bit of cross-promotion. “Rap Name” was Trice’s first single which had yet to be released at the time, and this intro features a sample from it.

Something New With Something Old

In the song’s first refrain, Eminem takes his inspiration from two lines in “Buffalo Gals,” a song that came out in 1982 and was written by Malcolm McLaren & The World’s Famous Supreme Team. McLaren is another prominent rapper who paved the way for countless other Caucasians to enter the hip-hop scene.

“Two buffalo gals go around the outside / Round the outside, round the outside”

Eminem’s interpretation slightly adjusts the lyrics’ vibe with a bit of interpolation. By replacing “buffalo gals” with “trailer park girls,” Eminem takes McLaren’s lyrics and personalizes them so they resonate more strongly with him, aligning with his self-described white trash upbringing.

The Second Coming of Mathers

In the second refrain, Eminem calls attention to the fact that this is the first song to appear on The Eminem Show album from 2002:

“Guess who’s back, back again? / Shady’s back, tell a friend”

The Marshall Mathers LP came out two years prior, and these lines serve as an announcement to the fans of his triumphant return. Although the question, “Guess who’s back?” has been posed in rap songs innumerable, Eminem pulls it off by making it his own.

A Self-Made Monster

Eminem proves that he’s not averse to making literary reference with a call-out here to the monster from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein:

“I’ve created a monster / ‘Cause nobody wants to see Marshall no more, they want Shady, I’m chopped liver”

In his first album with a major label, Slim Shady was the evil alter ego that he created. It later seemed to Mathers that fans preferred this version of him, but that was far from his original intent. He resented the idea that people only want him to be an entertainer and don’t see him as a human being.

While the rapper has expressed these sentiments, the critical and fan response to Slim Shady’s lyrics was never without controversy. There had always been a backlash to the character’s sexist, homophobic and misogynistic rapping.

Do Not Resusitate

“Some vodka that’ll jump-start my heart quicker / Than a shock when I get shocked at the hospital / By the doctor when I’m not cooperating”

These lines are part of a saga of metaphors that spans across various Eminem songs. He makes a reference to how hard liquor can speed up his heart rate, and he creates a narrative where he’s a patient dying in the hospital. The doctors are trying to get his heart started with a defibrillator, but because of Eminem’s indifference to his own health and life in general, he resists their attempts to help him.

Lyrics

[Intro: Obie Trice]

Obie Trice, real name, no gimmicks

Ra—, *record scratch*

[Refrain 1: Eminem]

Two trailer-park girls go ’round the outside

‘Round the outside, ’round the outside

Two trailer-park girls go ’round the outside

‘Round the outside, ’round the outside

Woo! (Ooh, ooh)

[Refrain 2: Eminem]

Guess who’s back, back again?

Shady’s back, tell a friend

Guess who’s back? Guess who’s back?

Guess who’s back? Guess who’s back?

Guess who’s back? Guess who’s back?

Guess who’s back?

(Da-da-da, da, da, da, da, da, da)

(Da-da-da, da, da, da, da)

[Verse 1: Eminem]

I’ve created a monster

‘Cause nobody wants to see Marshall no more, they want Shady, I’m chopped liver

Well, if you want Shady, this is what I’ll give ya

A little bit of weed mixed with some hard liquor

Some vodka that’ll jump-start my heart quicker

Than a shock when I get shocked at the hospital

By the doctor when I’m not cooperating

When I’m rockin’ the table while he’s operating (Hey!)

You waited this long, now stop debating

‘Cause I’m back, I’m on the rag and ovulating

I know that you got a job, Ms. Cheney

But your husband’s heart problem’s complicating

So the FCC won’t let me be

Or let me be me, so let me see

They tried to shut me down on MTV

But it feels so empty without me

So come on and dip, bum on your lips

Fuck that, cum on your lips and some on your tits

And get ready, ’cause this shit’s about to get heavy

I just settled all my lawsuits (Fuck you, Debbie!)


[Chorus: Eminem]

Now, this looks like a job for me

So everybody, just follow me

‘Cause we need a little controversy

‘Cause it feels so empty without me

I said this looks like a job for me

So everybody, just follow me

‘Cause we need a little controversy

‘Cause it feels so empty without me

[Verse 2: Eminem]

Little hellions, kids feeling rebellious

Embarrassed, their parents still listen to Elvis

They start feelin’ like prisoners, helpless

‘Til someone comes along on a mission and yells, “Bitch!”

A visionary, vision is scary

Could start a revolution, pollutin’ the airwaves

A rebel, so just let me revel and bask

In the fact that I got everyone kissin’ my ass

And it’s a disaster, such a catastrophe

For you to see so damn much of my ass, you asked for me?

Well, I’m back, da-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na-na

Fix your bent antenna, tune it in, and then I’m gonna

Enter in and up under your skin like a splinter

The center of attention, back for the winter

I’m interesting, the best thing since wrestling

Infesting in your kid’s ears and nesting

Testing, “Attention, please”

Feel the tension soon as someone mentions me

Here’s my ten cents, my two cents is free

A nuisance, who sent? You sent for me?

[Chorus: Eminem]

Now, this looks like a job for me

So everybody, just follow me

‘Cause we need a little controversy

‘Cause it feels so empty without me

I said this looks like a job for me

So everybody, just follow me

‘Cause we need a little controversy

‘Cause it feels so empty without me

[Verse 3: Eminem]

A tisket, a tasket, I’ll go tit-for-tat wit’

Anybody who’s talkin’, “This shit, that shit”

Chris Kirkpatrick, you can get your ass kicked

Worse than them little Limp Bizkit bastards

And Moby? You can get stomped by Obie

You thirty-six-year-old bald-headed fag, blow me

You don’t know me, you’re too old, let go

It’s over, nobody listens to techno

Now, let’s go, just give me the signal

I’ll be there with a whole list full of new insults

I’ve been dope, suspenseful with a pencil

Ever since Prince turned himself into a symbol

But, sometimes, the shit just seems

Everybody only wants to discuss me

So this must mean I’m disgusting

But it’s just me, I’m just obscene (Yeah)

Though I’m not the first king of controversy

I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley

To do Black music so selfishly

And use it to get myself wealthy (Hey!)

There’s a concept that works

Twenty million other white rappers emerge

But no matter how many fish in the sea

It’d be so empty without me

[Chorus: Eminem]

Now, this looks like a job for me

So everybody, just follow me

‘Cause we need a little controversy

‘Cause it feels so empty without me

I said this looks like a job for me

So everybody, just follow me

‘Cause we need a little controversy

‘Cause it feels so empty without me

[Outro: Eminem]

Hum, dei-dei, la-la

La-la, la-la-la

La-la, la-la-la

La-la, la-la

Hum, dei-dei, la-la

La-la, la-la-la

La-la, la-la-la

La-la, la-la

Kids!