Tag: Eminem

Eminem coined the term “Stan” when he released his single “Stan” featuring Dido on November 21, 2000. The single was about an obsessed fan who was/is in love with him. Since then “Stan” has been used to describe a super fan. The word “Stan” got so big and cemented that it was even added to the Oxford American Dictionary in 2017.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary added the word “Stan” to its database on April 23, 2019 as both a noun (“an extremely or excessively enthusiastic and devoted fan”) and a verb (“to exhibit fandom to an extreme or excessive degree” or “to be an extremely devoted and enthusiastic fan of someone or something”).

The singer Dido who was featured on the song, ended up naming her first son Stanley.

Purchase our 100 Hip-Hop Facts (1973-2000) Book

Read: What does “Stan” mean?

Eminem wrote and recorded Lose Yourself during film breaks for his semi-autobiographical film 8 Mile, he also recorded the Oscar winning song in one take. Lose Yourself is the first rap song to win an Oscar.

Eminem had a trailer on the movie sex where he could record songs for the movie during film breaks. Eminem wrote Lose Yourself in his 8 Mile character B. Rabbit. The song’s lyrics sheet appears in the film while B. Rabbit is on the bus. According to his studio engineer Steven King “He [Eminem] was on a break from shooting and he laid down all three verses in one take.”

Eminem produced the song with Jeff Bass (one half of the Bass Brothers). Lose Yourself  went No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks, won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, won a Grammy for Best Rap Song in 2003 and is currently certified Diamond by the RIAA.

Read: Eminem was the first rapper to win an Oscar

Read: Eminem created his alter ego Slim Shady while sitting on the toilet

Read: Eminem only allowed Kendrick Lamar in the studio while recording “Love Game” to make sure he didn’t have a ghostwriter

Marshall Mathers—also known as—Eminem became the first rapper to win an Academy Award on the night of March 23rd, 2003, at the 75th annual Academy Awards. Eminem won the award for Best Original Song with Lose Yourself, the lead single from the soundtrack for his semi-autobiographical film 8 Mile.

Lose Yourself won Best Original Song over Elliot Goldenthal and Julie Taymor’s Burn It Blue from Frida, U2’s The Hands That Built America from Gangs of New York), Paul Simon’s Father and Daughter from The Wild Thornberry’s Movie, and John Kander and Fred Ebb’s I Move On from Chicago.

The song was produced by Eminem along with Jeff Bass (one half of the Bass Brothers). Lose Yourself was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Grammy for Best Rap Song in 2003.

Read: Eminem wrote “Lose Yourself” during 8 Mile film breaks, he recorded the song in one take

Eminem didn’t attend the award ceremony that night but co-writer Luis Resto accepted the award on behalf of Eminem and Jeff Bass.

In a Behind the Boards interview with SouthPawer, Eminem revealed why he didn’t attend the ceremony.

“Actually, I was sleeping that night.. I just felt like I had no chance of winning because, you know, when I heard I was nominated, I thought that was for actors… I was not sure what exactly Grammy or Oscar meant, what a certain award meant, I was not sure what they meant, so even MTV awards, all that stuff, I just didn’t know what awards meant and this particular award…I didn’t go to the show… I just felt like I had a snowballs chance of…I think I got it confused when they said about Oscar. They were talking about the song but I was like ‘yea but isn’t there other movies that got rock songs and stuff like that? At that point, in my life I always thought like rap never gets as fair shake on anything. That was one of the reasons I didn’t go for the first Grammys I was invited to, because I pretty much protested it. I didn’t understand why there was a rap category and best album category and I couldn’t understand why rap album can not be in the best album category.”

Read: Eminem created his alter ego Slim Shady while sitting on the toilet

Read: Eminem only allowed Kendrick Lamar in the studio while recording “Love Game” to make sure he didn’t have a ghostwriter

After being inspired by the failure of his debut album Infinite, Eminem thought of his infamous alter-ego “Slim Shady” while sitting on the toilet. Eminem’s toilet-born character inspired a new sound for him, it led to his debut EP, 1997’s The Slim Shady EP and his second album, 1999’s The Slim Shady LP which introduced the world to Eminem’s dark new alter ego.

After Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre got their hands on a copy of The Slim Shady EP—through an Interscope employee who attended the Rap Olympics that Eminem was battling at in Los Angeles—they signed Eminem to Aftermath Records and Interscope Records. Two years later, Eminem released his major label debut album The Slim Shady LP, executively produced by Dr. Dre and under Interscope Records. The Slim Shady LP‘s second single “My Name Is” catapulted Eminem to a wider nation audience and made him a superstar.

During a 2008 interview with Zane Lowe for BBC Radio 1, Eminem explained how he thought of his alter-ego “Slim Shady” on the toilet.

“This is not a lie, I was sitting on the toilet and a lot of good material came out of that… This name pops into my head. I was kind of skinny and I thought maybe it should be something slim. And then for some reason Slim Shady popped into my mind and I just thought of 20 things to rhyme with it.”

Purchase our 100 Hip-Hop Facts (1973-2000) Book

Read: Eminem wrote “Lose Yourself” during 8 Mile film breaks, he recorded the song in one take

Read: Eminem was the first rapper to win an Oscar

Read: Eminem only allowed Kendrick Lamar in the studio while recording “Love Game” to make sure he didn’t have a ghostwriter