We all know those little samples and vocal inclusions in hip-hop tracks that seem to be arbitrary, yet are eternally instilled in your mind, memorised along with the rest of the lyrics, regardless of their meaning. One of the most famous ones, for instance, is Jay-Z’s “You’re crazy for this one Rick!” on 99 Problems, a reference to producer Rick Rubin. Another, of course, is Eminem asking, “Where’s my snare? I have no snare in my headphones” at the opening of confronting The Eminem Show single Cleaning Out My Closet.
In a new annotation on lyric website Genius, Em revealed that this was in fact true, it wasn’t just a cool way to start the song.
“This was true. I was recording and couldn’t hear the snare, the engineer had it muted for some reason. I left it.”
Well, there you go. A simple but interesting, and for some people, important piece in the endless puzzle that is understanding Eminem.
Eminem recently announced that he and Shady Records had become investors in the website, who have gone from strength to strength in recent years, including recently teaming up with Spotify to introduce lyric annotations to the streaming platform.
For now, let’s revisit the dark and tormented track, which, presumably after Em heard the snares, went on to become one his most popular singles to date.
Image: Song Texte