There’s a lot to say about Eminem, but the sampling part of his music is often left aside. It’s a shame because, he’s very clever in his choice of production to goes along well with his lyrics.

After years of damnation, trapped between drugs addictions and featurings with Rihanna, the former blondhead came back. With a head blond again. And a clear wish to get back to basics.

Let’s take it back to straight hip-hop and start it from scratch

With Berzerk, Em travels through time to be back in 1986. The year Licensed to Ill from The Beastie Boys came out. Berzerk contains everything to recognize instantly the tribute to the Beastie Boys : Rick Rubin‘s presence behind the desk (and in front of the camera), same nearly-screaming flow, same visual effects used in the well-known So Whatcha Want videoclip, vocal sample taken from one of the biggest hit of the BB ((You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)) and of course a straight rock sample with an intense electric guitar, trademark of the Beastie.

Electric guitar Rick borrowed from Billy Squier’s Stroke and even a bit of Billy’s voice for Eminem’s chorus. The guy went triple platinum with this song in 1981.

Billy Squier – The Stroke

Good old Slim Shady we got here with some tackles to showbusiness people (All I know is I fell asleep and woke up in that Monte Carlo With the ugly Kardashian Lamar, oh sorry yo, we done both set the bar low) and assumed confidence on his past drug addictions (Just like I did with addiction I’m ’bout to kick it). Go berserk !

Eminem – Berzerk

Slim always suffered the unfair comparison with other white rappers. Unfair because his rap style is unique. This thing seems to be over now. Ice-T even ranked him first at the all-time top rappers, in his documentary Something from Nothing : The Art of Rap. But I recall his debut, in Role Model, when he was claiming to be discriminated for being white.

Some people only see that I’m white, ignoring skill

This track from his second album (Infinite was the actual first even if it was only released into Detroit City limits and sold only about 1000 copies) is a good example of how Eminem used various samples to illustrates his texts.

Okay, I’m going to attempt to drown myself
You can try this at home
You can be just like me

All along the track, we hear this water-like noise in the background, to go on with the first line. Even if he was just beginning at the time, he got so big so fast. And he got quickly sick to be taken too seriously by the media.

Eminem – Role Model

For the videoclip, it’s here.

To pursue on Eminem’s clever use of noise samples, Stan stands as one of the best. The song-title refers to a stalker fan (stalker fan = Stan) who keeps writing awkward letters to Eminem. So what’s the sample ? Pen scribbling noise all over the track. We also hear rain in the background which gives a good picture of Stan’s distress throughout the song.

Back then, Dr Dre or the Bass Brothers used to take care of Eminem’s producing. But that one was left to Mark The 45 King, not really known at that time but clearly after that masterpiece.

Funny thing about the main sample from Dido. Her song became a hit after the release of Marshall Mathers LP in 2000 even though she had released her album a year earlier. Thanks to Eminem she gained international audience she might never have had.

Eminem – Stan

Eminem never really followed rap codes. He created his owns. Like sampling a child-lullaby for Mockingbird, dedicated to his often-quoted daughter Hailie. No one did that before. And no one did afterwards. It takes a lot of guts and creativity to go off established rap limits. But yeah, that’s right, beatmaking has no limits. Eminem proves it here.

Hush, little baby 

Every Shady album contains an ode to his daughter. But this time he talks directly to her, using a lullaby sample, because she was 9 at that time, and old enough to understand, for the most part, what he’s saying.

Eminem – Mockingbird

 

To conclude, I’ll take one from his debut. That one sample, surely the most famous. That particular moment when the world got aware of Eminem on February, 23rd 1999.

Hi kids, do you like violence ?

My Name Is, first single from The Slim Shady LP, got widely known due to his alter ego hyperbolic symbol of violence, drugs abuse and wild sex references. Pretty much what America hates. Or loves.

God sent me to piss the world off

But the Labi Siffre’s bass sample by Dre contributed pretty damn well to its success.

Labi Siffre – I Got The (sample appears at 2:31)

His first success came from his first day in studio with Dr Dre. In an hour, My Name Is was packed and ready to be sent.

The censorship had always been tough with Eminem’s texts. From all parts of society, he received criticisms for each lines that wasn’t politically correct. He had to change lines in that first single because of the sampled artist Labi Siffre, openly gay. So the beginning of second verse : “My English teacher wanted to have sex in junior high, The only problem was, my English teacher was a guy”  became “My English teacher wanted to flunk me in junior high, Thanks a lot, next semester I’ll be thirty-five”. 

“Extraterrestrial killing pedestrians, raping lesbians while they’re screaming at me “Let’s just be friends!” switched to “Extraterrestrial running over pedestrians, In a spaceship while they’re screaming at me “Let’s just be friends!“.

Thanks to Internet, we now get to hear the REAL version of My Name Is.

Eminem – My Name Is

The album version, here.

That was the (only) bad point of chosing this sample. Censor hit him from the inside.

Bonus : the Batman theme sampled in Without Me.

Eminem – Without Me (at 2:10)