Throwback Thursday: Eminem - Stan

To celebrate the appearance of the new track from Em that emerged last night (http://thesportandmusicblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/new-music-eminem-survival.html) I’m tacking you all the way to 2000 for what I believe to not only be the best song he has ever written but one of the best songs in hip hop, ever. I know that it’s a big call to say that Stan is one of the greatest hip hop songs ever but here is my reasoning.

There are tracks, with better verses, there are tracks which are harder hitting lyrically, but in terms of a ‘song’ that tells a story, a song that makes you feel something I’m not sure that there are many better. The production is 1^st rate and I think the record just shows Em at the top of his game creatively, a high that frankly he may never hit again.

Anyway the track samples Dido ‘Thank you’ and is pretty much responsible for launching her career, and she even appears in the video. It peaked at number 3 in both the UK and the US. And even managed to create term used in hip hop slang, a ‘Stan.’

It became a staple of live shows and the most famous performance came at the 2001 Grammy’s when he performed with Elton John at a time when he was getting loads of abuse from gay rights groups and causing controversy all over place, even been seen as a hate figure in some circles.

So here it is….