Eminem: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Marshall Mathers LP
2. 'The Way I Am' & 'The Real Slim Shady' Were Late Additions To Appease The Record Label
‘The Way I Am’ and ‘The Real Slim Shady’ are two of the more well-known tracks to come from ‘The Marshall Mathers LP’, however neither track was on the record when it was originally completed.
When Eminem first finished his third album and sent it over to Interscope Records, some of the label’s executives were concerned about the lack of songs that they could use as the lead single from the album. Therefore they sent it back to Eminem and asked for a song that was more in the mould of the previous album’s ‘My Name Is’ that they could use to promote the record.
Eminem originally returned to the studio and hashed out ‘The Way I Am’, which was fuelled by the rappers anger at the record’s labels demands and led to one of the most aggressive and combative songs on the album.
However, Eminem later began writing another song and sent it to producer Dr. Dre, this song would go on to become the mega-hit, ‘The Real Slim Shady’.
Despite Eminem’s initial anger with the record label, it is unlikely that the album would have been as successful as it was without these two iconic tracks.