Role Model (song)

"Role Model"
Single by Eminem
from the album The Slim Shady LP
Released	May 26, 1999
Genre	Comedy hip hop horrorcore
Length	3:25 (album version) 3:22 (radio version)
Label	Aftermath Interscope
Songwriter(s)	Marshall Mathers Andre Young Melvin Bradford
Producer(s)	Dr. Dre Mel-Man
Eminem singles chronology
"My Name Is" (1999) "Role Model" (1999) "Guilty Conscience" (1999)
Music video
"Role Model" on YouTube

"Role Model" is a song by American rapper Eminem, that features on his major-label debut album The Slim Shady LP. The song also appears on the deluxe edition of his compilation album, Curtain Call: The Hits. Released as a single on May 26, 1999, following "My Name Is", a music video was made, using the heavily censored radio edit. It became a minor hit on the US charts.

Critical reception[]

David Browne described this: "In Role Model, he gleefully debunks the idea of rappers as heroes (So if I said I never do drugs, that would mean I lie and get f ---ed more than the President does)."^[1] RapReviews highlighted following lyrics: "I get a clean shave, bathe, go to a rave/ Die from an overdose and dig myself up out of my grave/ My middle finger won't go down, how do I wave?/ And this is how I'm supposed to teach kids how to behave?"^[2]

Music video[]

The video is a darker comedic offering than "My Name Is", directed by Dr. Dre and Phillip G. Atwell. The opening of the song, where Eminem announces he's going to attempt to drown himself and that the audience can follow him, is left out, but is acted out in a silent movie style. After Eminem is introduced by a host played by Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg, he proceeds to attempt a Houdini-like escape trick from being held under water. After that there are scenes of Eminem performing live at a concert, acting as a priest (who sits awkwardly in a bedroom with a young churchgoer that later dresses up in drag), a police officer arresting someone for cannabis possession (though the cigarettes are blurred out), a Norman Bates-like man and a cartoon superhero-type character beating up chicken (A similar chicken character that resembling Foghorn Leghorn from Looney Tunes). At the end of the video, the escape trick fails and Eminem drowns. The video edit is edited differently from the edited version of The Slim Shady LP. The edited version on The Slim Shady LP just backmasks, while the video edit changes the lyrics at some points, while replacing others with sound effects. An audio version with the rerecorded lyrics was never released in any format. A director's cut also exists, which is edited to the uncensored version of the song. Changes include the blood being added to Eminem as he confesses to killing Nicole Brown Simpson, adding certain segments of Eminem as a priest with the child, editing the scene where Eminem disappears differently, and Eminem with a shovel while saying "I never meant to hit you over the head with the shovel". The Foghorn Leghorn-inspired character is also now flipping Eminem the bird with his tail feathers, and the cannabis cigarettes are shown.^[3]

Track listing[]

Promotional CD single^[4]

12" vinyl^[5]

Charts[]

References[]

External links[]

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics