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Eminem · S2 E2
Hailie Jade
His daughter is born. Suddenly there is a reason to keep going
December 25, 1995. A 23-year-old dishwasher with no record deal holds his newborn daughter in a Detroit-area hospital and makes a promise he will spend the rest of his career trying to keep.
Eminem, "When I'm Gone" (official music video, 2005). Marshall stands on stage and watches Hailie in the audience, crying for her father. The video builds to a devastating choice: the career that saved him, or the daughter who gave him a reason to need saving.
When I'm Gone
The final track on Curtain Call, and one of the most emotionally brutal songs in Eminem's catalog. A simple piano melody, stripped-back drums, and a vocal delivery that sounds like a man confessing in an empty room. Each verse escalates: Hailie in the crowd, Hailie backstage, Hailie asking why daddy is always leaving. Eminem has said he could barely finish recording the third verse.
TAP TO REVEAL: What does Eminem keep in every recording studio?
Two Versions of Marshall
A split in Eminem's music starts right here. On one side: Slim Shady, the character who says anything and exists without consequences. On the other: Marshall Mathers, the father who worries about daycare, school plays, and whether his daughter will one day hear his worst lyrics.
“Slim Shady is just the evil thoughts that come into my head. Things I shouldn't be thinking about. Not to be gimmicky, but people should be able to determine when I'm serious and when I'm fuckin around.”
— Eminem
Hailie's Song
From The Eminem Show (2002). Eminem does something he almost never does: he sings. Not well, and that is entirely the point. Over a warm, soulful beat, he talks about how his daughter makes every struggle worth it. The chorus is deliberately off-key. He wanted it to sound like a dad singing to his kid, not a performance.
Hailie's Song, Eminem (2002)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Eminem sings, deliberately off-key. He wanted it to sound like a dad singing to his kid, not a performance.
What is the name of the song where Eminem sings the chorus himself, about Hailie?
Hailie gives Marshall a reason to stay alive. But staying alive and staying the same are two different things. In a basement in Ferndale, a new voice is crawling out of him, and it calls itself Slim Shady.
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