Eminem is taking a walk down memory lane.
More than 25 years after the premiere of “My Name Is,” the Detroit-born rapper reflected on the hit single and shared some interesting tidbits about its official video. Directed by Phillip Atwell, the visual marked Em’s first major-label visual and the second video he had ever done.
“We shot this video a few months after recording the song…” he said in a recent installment of Vevo Footnotes. “This video was the first big budget thing I had ever done. It was such a big deal to experience a soundstage, a film crew, and all the things that come with shooting something at that scale. It was such a huge learning curve to see what a big Hollywood production looked like.”
Em also took some time to debunk a longstanding theory about the video and how he might’ve been under the influence while portraying a former president.
“If you look closely at my eyes during the scene where I was dressed like Bill Clinton, it may look like I was high on ecstasy during that part of the shoot… but that’s just a rumor,” he said.
Eminem credited Atwell and Dr. Dre for creating the “vision,” and said it was hard to “imagine the song existing without that video.” He also said the song was “like a perfect introduction to the world, and a perfect first single for [his] major label debut.”
“I don’t think I would have done it any differently, but I certainly had no idea how big it would become,” he continued. “I don’t think I could write an update in 2024, but I’ll have them write ‘Bye, My Name Was’ on my tombstone.”
You can check out all of Em’s footnotes in the video above.
