Song Analysis - Cleaning out my closet

This is a rap song called “Cleaning out my closet” by Eminem, it's first released in 2002. In the song Eminem express his anger about his childhood. At the beginning Eminem mentioned many people demonstrate against his lyrics, and the rest of the song tells why his song contains that much anger. Eminem's story is public that almost ever one knows. His Father left Eminem and his mother when he was 1 year old, and he mentioned his own daughter Hailie, said he can’t even picture leaving her,he really felt sad about that. He described how his mother mentally abused him , and in the lyrics, Eminem also mentioned his mother popping drugs in the kitchen. When Eminem grow up, his mother made him a CD trying to fix their relationship, but Eminem didn't think that can fix anything,because he hated his mother so much that he even cursed his mother in the song, and said his daughter Hailie won't even be at Eminem's mother's funeral. The other person he mentioned was his wife Kim.In the lyrics, Eminem rapped “ I’da Killed him, shit I woulda shot Kim and him both”, I think his wife cheated on him because he mentioned “him” in the lyrics. After I did some online research I found out, Eminem and his wife Kim remarried twice ,after the second time they got divorced, Kim went to jail because she refused to receive drug rehabilitation treatment. Overall, in this song, Eminem wanted to express his sad life story.

The issue that the song addresses is about how family education affects a kid, and how important it is to have a healthy family for a kid. About over two decades ago, rap songs were only underground, and were judged bad music because the lyrics are usually degrading and expresses so much anger, that was the kind of music that parents would never want their kids to hear. In truth, I think it tells the stories of the other side of the world which are hard to express. For example, your boss doesn’t treat you fairly, your wife our husband cheated on you, those issues made you so mad and you can’t do nothing. Later on, people bring rap song on stage and it has been dominating the whole music genre, I think it is because this kid of song reflects a lot of people's lives.

Most rap songs flow very fast, and there are a lot of abbreviations, so it’s hard to understand without looking at the lyrics. It is even hard for native speakers.

When we talk about rappers, we will think a lot of black people. The only white rapper that most people know and the best will be Eminem. He is famous for his lyrics and his performance which always contains such strong anger.

I like his song because when I look at the lyrics and listen to the song, I can feel his story. After some research, I found out all the names he used in the song and the stories are real.