Eminem exploded onto the scene in the late '90s with both middle fingers raised high. He has always been provocateur at heart, and in more ways than one. Beyond his critiques of mass media and hip hop culture, he has always been eager to share his most fucked-up urges, to shine a light on the most hellish recesses of his psyche. As he rapped on "Cleaning Out My Closet," parents raised "picket signs for [his] wicked rhymes," horrified that his sick mind would corrupt their children. Indeed, that is his very appeal -- his music leaves a powerful impression upon the listener.
Click through the gallery to revisit five of Eminem's music videos that haunt us to this day.
"Like Toy Soldiers"
The "Like Toy Soldiers" video begins with two young boys who open a book that contains the song's lyrics. This opening contextualizes the song's theme of rap beef (specifically, 50 Cent vs. Ja Rule) in a the context of family to make the argument that there are worse things a beef can cause than a bruised ego.
The video continues with a hospital scene in which doctors unsuccessfully try to save D12 member Bugz -- played by Proof -- after he was shot four times at a picnic. Proof was killed over a drunken argument at a pool parlor a year and a half after the "Like Toy Soldiers" video was released.
"3 a.m."
In "3 a.m.," Eminem inserts himself inside the mind of a serial killer with an unquenchable thirst for blood. He is a demon from another dimension whose sole purpose on Earth is to raise hell. He masturbates to "Hannah Montana," "contemplating my next plot again, swallowing a Klonopin while I'm nodding in and out on the ottoman" (a reference to Eminem's near-fatal methadone overdose in 2007). Yikes!
If the video does not surpass the song's lyrical savagery, it equals it. It is an absolute gorefest that revels in the spilling of guts, like Eminem's manic and pasty alter-ego. He stalks through a hospital at night, murders its employees one by one, dismembers his victims' corpses, and bathes in their blood.
"Just Lose It"
The "Just Lose It" is not haunting like the other videos on this list, but it is forever imprinted on the mind of those who have watched it. Though Eminem had toned down his depraved sense of humor by 2004, he ratcheted it up in "Just Lose It" in an unflinching parody of Pee-Wee Herman, Madonna, and most of all, Michael Jackson, whose second child molestation trial was about to begin. The video climaxes with Eminem vomiting on Michael Jackson's face.
"Cleaning Out My Closet"
"Cleaning Out My Closet" video takes on the character of a confessional. It cuts between Eminem sitting on a dirty mattress in a garage that looks a lot like Stan's basement, Eminem shoveling dirt into an open grave in the pouring rain, and a young Eminem frightened of his abusive mother. It intensifies the feelings Eminem lays bare in the song: the resent for his mother that eats away at his core, and his resolve to be present in his daughter's life at all costs.
"Stan"
The titular Stan is impoverished, sexually confused, abusive to his pregnant wife, and utterly obsessed with Eminem. His dimly lit basement is creepily plastered wall-to-wall with Eminem's image, and he spends his nights writing Eminem letters. He reveals to Eminem his most private thoughts. All he wants in the world is for Eminem to respond and acknowledge him. When his mail goes unanswered, he writes increasingly unhinged letters to Eminem and ends up drinking a fifth of vodka and kidnapping his pregnant wife -- per Eminem's lyrics in past songs -- and ends up driving off a cliff.