Producer: Eminem, Jeff Bass
Album: The Eminem Show
Writers: M. Mathers, J. Bass
Label: Shady, Aftermath, Interscope
"Cleanin' Out My Closet" is an excellent ballad of frightening lyrical images mixed with harsh musical beats. Throughout the song, Eminem denounces his mother as a criminal and makes allusions to killing and burying her. The purpose of the song (to reveal all the abuses his mother has inflicted upon him) unifies with the "rebellious" theme common in rap music. The timbre of the background music is raspy, directly contrasting with Eminem's clear lyrical pronunciations. By including an alternating snare beat and bass guitar cords, the viewer almost feels like he or she is experiencing the fight between Eminem and his mother. More specifically, the short snare beats act as his mother's constant abuse, while the slow, dreary bass cords resemble Eminem's struggle to persevere. An emotion of anger is relayed through the tone of Eminem's voice as he raps--at some points in the song, he yelling and screaming.
The chorus of the song bring forth an emotional connection with the audience. Eminem raps the words "I'm sorry Mama/I never meant to hurt you/ I never mean to make you cry/But tonight/I'm cleaning out my closet." Through these words, the audience realizes that Eminem is not just denouncing his mother as a way to gain popularity, but in essence, he is trying to cope with the destructive pain of feeling unloved his entire childhood. Eminem metaphorically says "cleaning out my closet" as a way of letting his mother know that he is going to reveal all the pain and agony that has been locked up inside of him for the past 20 years. The end of the song is characterized by 10 seconds of the snare beat alternated by the bass chord, leaving the audience with the realization that the battle between Eminem and his mother has still not ended.
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