'' is
Eminem 's third album after signing to a
Major Label ,
Aftermath Entertainment .
Before the release of ''The Eminem Show'', Eminem was trying to think of a title for the CD. He was going to use the regular suffix that he used on all of the other CDs: LP/EP, but decided that it would get bland after awhile. So he instead put the word "show" into it.
It was intended to be released in
June 2002 , but Interscope decided to release the album early on
May 28 when pirated copies of the tracks began to pop up on popular
Peer-to-peer File Sharing networks. In the U.S. however, many stores actually began selling on Sunday,
May 26 .
''The Eminem Show'' is a reflective album; Eminem touches on the issues of race in hip hop, especially in the second track on the album, "White America", his childhood, especially in "Cleanin' Out My Closet", his conviction for assaulting a nightclub bouncer in 2000, his status as a rap superstar, and his relationship with his ex-wife Kim and daughter Hailie. Unlike ''
The Marshall Mathers LP '', ''The Eminem Show's'' release came off without allegations of
Misogyny or
Homophobia . This is likely due to the fact that Eminem only uses the word "fag" once in the entire album and no tracks are potentially offensive in the mold of "Kill You" or "Kim" on the previous album.
The album also saw Eminem take a substantially more predominant production role; most of it was self-produced, with longtime collaborator ," "Say What You Say," and "My Dad's Gone Crazy."
''The Eminem Show'' was the best-selling album of
2002 , with 7.6 million copies by year end.
Although the album was a critical and commercial success, many fans felt that it didn't live up to the power of his first two albums; some questioned Eminem's ability as a producer, while others claimed that he had lost the edge he had on his previous albums. However, ''The Eminem Show'' was generally received better than its successor, ''
Encore ''.
All tracks produced by Eminem except for "Business," "Say What You Say," and "My Dad's Gone Crazy," which are produced by Dr. Dre.
#"Curtains Up" (skit) - 0:29
#"White America" (
Bass /King/
Mathers /
Resto ) (Co-produced by Jeff Bass for F.B.T. Productions) - 5:24
#"
Business " (Bass/King/Mathers/Resto/
Young ) (Produced by Dr. Dre) - 4:11
#"
Cleanin' Out My Closet " (Bass/Mathers) (Produced by Eminem and Jeff Bass) - 4:57
#"Square Dance" (Bass/Mathers/Resto) - 5:23
#"The Kiss" (skit) (Bass/Mathers) - 1:15
#"Soldier" (Mathers/Resto) - 3:46
#"Say Goodbye Hollywood" (
Elizondo /Mathers/Resto) - 4:32
#"Drips" (featuring
Obie Trice ) (Bass/Mathers/
Porter /
Trice ) - 4:45
#"
Without Me " (Bass/Bell/Dudley/Horn/Mathers/McLaren) (Co-produced by Jeff Bass) - 4:50
#"Paul Rosenberg" (Performed by Paul D. Rosenberg, Esq.) - 0:22
#"
Sing For The Moment " (Bass/King/Mathers/Resto/Tyler) (Co-produced by Jeff Bass) (Samples
Aerosmith - "
Dream On ") - 5:39
#"
Superman " (featuring
Dina Rae ) (Bass/King/Mathers) (Additional production by Jeff Bass) - 5:50
#"Hailie's Song" (Mathers/Resto) - 5:20
#"Steve Berman (skit)" (Performed by Eminem and Steve Berman) - 0:33
#"When the Music Stops" (featuring D12) (Carlisle/Feemster/
Johnson /Mathers/Moore/Porter) (Co-produced by
Denaun Porter ) - 4:29
#"Say What You Say" (featuring Dr. Dre) (Elizondo/Feemster/Mathers/Young) (Produced by Dr. Dre) - 5:09
#"'Till I Collapse" (featuring Nate Dogg) (
Hale /Mathers/Resto) - 4:57
#"My Dad's Gone Crazy" (featuring
Hailie Jade ) (Elizondo/Feemster/Mathers/Young) (Produced by Dr. Dre) - 4:27
#"Curtains Close" (Performed by
Ken Kaniff ) - 1:01
Note: "Drips" does not appear on some Edited Version cuts.
- Eminem - Performer/Producer
- Dr. Dre - Executive producer/Producer/Performer
- Jeff Bass - Producer/Cowriter
- Luis Resto - Keyboards/Cowriter
- Obie Trice - Performer
- Dina Rae - Vocals
- D12 - Performers
- Nate Dogg - Vocals
- Hailie Jade - Performer
- Mike Elizondo - Bass/Cowriter
- "Without Me" (July 2002 )
- "Cleanin' Out My Closet" (July 2002 )
- "Hailie's Song" (October 2002 )
- "Sing for the Moment" ( 2003 )
- "Superman" ( 2003 ) - US only
- "Business" ( 2003 ) - except US
