Lyrics annotation website Genius have once again released something remarkable, this time publishing an amazingly detailed biography of Eminem – entirely made up of lyrics from his songs.
“I almost died,” it begins – a lyric from Stronger Than I Was. “They said they found me on the bathroom floor. Technically, I’m not even really supposed to be here right now. Guess I’m lucky. Some of us don’t get a second chance,” which includes lyrics from Cinderella Man and Deja Vu.
It’s very long and absolutely astounding to read – here’s a few choice excerpts. See how many lyrics you can guess the song they’re from.
My adolescent years weren’t shit. Just shy and awkward, since age 12.They said I never knew which way I was going. I used to be the type of kid that would always think the sky is fallin’. Why am I so differently wired? Am I a martian? Felt like I don’t belong in this world. Class clown, scoffin’ at authority. Noncompliant at home and at school like “Fuck the next lesson! I’ll pass the test guessin’.” My English teacher wanted to flunk me in junior high.
Spoke to a generation of angry teenagers. I related to the struggles ofyoung America. When their fucking parents were unaware of their troubles. I never woulda dreamed in a million years I’d see so many motherfuckin’ people who feel like me. I’m the one they can relate to and look up to better. A bunch of little kids wanna swear just like me. Became a commodity because I’m W-H-I-T-E. MTV was so friendly to me.
Look at my sales. Let’s do the math: if I was black, I woulda sold half. They connected with me too because I looked like them. In the beginning, a few of the people who had a problem I was this good scoffed. Probably reminded you of the first time you saw Tiger Woods golf. Never thought about how much my race and nationality meant. But based on how I ascended, see how plain it was now.
We inherited 50’s beef with Murder Inc. We actually tried to stop the 50and Ja beef from happenin’, me and Dre had sat with him and asked him not to start it, he wasn’t gonna go after him until Ja started yappin’ in magazines how he stabbed him. I heard him say Hailie’s name on a song and I just lost it. Fuck it, 50, smash him! Ain’t got no more targets, shit Irv and Jeff, we done beat em to death. Benzino went deaf. Can-I-Bitch don’t want no beef with Slim, no!
This is truly just an amazing piece of work. I would hate to think about how long this would’ve taken the Genius team to put together.
Eminem is no stranger to the lyrics website, having annotated lyrics to many of his own songs. He and his label Shady Records also announced a partnership with Genius late last year.
Image: Genius