My Gen X Playlist: Lose Yourself – Eminem

What are your favorite animals?

We had just backpacked about 15 miles. Our packs were heavy and the last three miles were incredibly painful. The terrain was a bit rocky, so we each set up our tents a short distance apart from each other. We packed our food in a bear canister that was kept a safe distance from our camp. As I lay in my sleeping bag, I noticed that I forgot to put my coffee in the bear canister. Uh oh. Bears have a keen sense of smell. I decided to risk just sleeping through the night. I was too tired to move.

Scratching. I heard scratching on my tent. Oh shit. I kept silent and prayed it was just the wind and would go away. Scratching again. I ran through my head what to do in the event of a bear – make a lot of loud noises and hopefully it will scare them off. So I yelled loud. Really loud, waking up my friends. Since they were a little distance away, I asked them to peek out to see if there was a bear near my tent. The reply was, “Are you crazy? No.” Man, friends. With enough coaxing, they eventually peeked out and said all was clear. We all got out of our tents and I explained about the coffee in my tent. Then all of a sudden, we saw a pair of eyes in the darkness. Holy shit. We shined our lights in the direction of the stare. To our surprise, it wasn’t a bear, but a floppy eared hare. Of course the jokes came. Yes, I’m afraid of a cute floppy eared hare. Haha, funny. They razzed me maliciously for awhile and then we got back into our tents to sleep.

I was just about to fall asleep. Scratching again. My eyes got big and my heart raced. I had a choice. Make a lot of loud noises again and call out to my friends, or potentially being eaten by a bear. I reached into my backpack, took out my earphones and turned up the music. There was no way I was going to further contribute to the story. I just prayed it was that floppy eared hare.

I woke up the next morning, happy to be alive. The hare became my favorite animal, at least on that trip, that is.

Hares, bunnies, rabbits . . .

Eminem played Bunny Rabbit in the movie 8 Mile. Lose Yourself was a major hit from the film.

Marshall Mathers has always been the person to clearly, and obscenely, tell it how it is, and he has no problem fitting himself into that category, proven by the fact that his character, Bunny Rabbit, gets his nickname because Eminem has some pretty big ears.

It turns out, Eminem was so busy during the filming of 8 Mile that he had to write the songs for the films in between the takes and scenes he was shooting. That ended up giving hip-hop one of its most celebrated songs in “Lose Yourself.”

8 Mile made waves as a movie, but the film’s song “Lose Yourself” became a stand-alone hit . . . The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, making it the first rap song in history to do so. Eminem perhaps wasn’t expecting to receive the accolade, because he didn’t show up to the ceremony and wasn’t able to accept the award in person.

– screenrant

Yo! His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy.
There’s vomit on his sweater already: Mom’s spaghetti. He’s nervous

That’s me, nervous in the dark, listening to scratching on my tent.

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted, in one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?

Yo! His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already: Mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out
He's choking, how? Everybody's joking now
The clock's run out, time's up, over, blaow!
Snap back to reality, ope there goes gravity, ope
There goes Rabbit, he choked, he's so mad but he won't
Give up that easy, no, he won't have it, he knows
His whole back's to these ropes, it don't matter, he's dope
He knows that but he's broke, he's so stagnant, he knows
When he goes back to this mobile home, that's when it's
Back to the lab again yo, this whole rhapsody
Better go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him, and

You better lose yourself in the music
The moment, you own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo
You better lose yourself in the music
The moment, you own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo
You better…

His soul's escaping through this hole that is gaping
This world is mine for the taking, make me king
As we move toward a New World Order
A normal life is boring; but superstardom's
Close to post-mortem, it only grows harder
Homie grows hotter, he blows, it's all over
These hoes is all on him, coast-to-coast shows
He's known as the Globetrotter, lonely roads
God only knows, he's grown farther from home, he's no father
He goes home and barely knows his own daughter
But hold your nose, 'cause here goes the cold water
These hoes don't want him no mo', he's cold product
They moved on to the next schmoe who flows
He nose-dove and sold nada, and so the soap opera
Is told, it unfolds, I suppose it's old, partner
But the beat goes on: da da dum da dum da da da da

You better lose yourself in the music
The moment, you own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo
You better lose yourself in the music
The moment, you own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo
You better…

No more games, I'ma change what you call rage
Tear this motherfuckin' roof off like two dogs caged
I was playin' in the beginning, the mood all changed
I've been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage
But I kept rhymin' and stepped right in the next cypher
Best believe somebody's payin' the Pied Piper
All the pain inside amplified by the
Fact that I can't get by with my 9-to-5
And I can't provide the right type of life for my family
'Cause man, these goddamn food stamps don't buy diapers
And there's no movie, there's no Mekhi Phifer, this is my life
And these times are so hard, and it's gettin' even harder
Tryna feed and water my seed, plus teeter-totter
Caught up between bein' a father and a prima donna
Baby mama drama, screamin' on her, too much for me to wanna
Stay in one spot, another day of monotony's
Gotten me to the point I'm like a snail, I've got
To formulate a plot or end up in jail or shot
Success is my only motherfuckin' option, failure's not
Mom, I love you, but this trailer's got
To go; I cannot grow old in Salem's Lot
So here I go, it's my shot: feet, fail me not
This may be the only opportunity that I got

You better lose yourself in the music
The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (go)
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo
You better lose yourself in the music
The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (go)
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo
You better…

You can do anything you set your mind to, man