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His fully loaded Glock 17 pistol will destroy you:

glock

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Eminem loves to lead people down roads in his hook:

Follow the yellow brick road as we go on another episode
Journey with me as I take you through this nifty little place
I once used to call home sweet home
- “Yellow Brick Road


Come along follow me
As I lead through the darkness
- “Mosh

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Eminem has previously used the phrase “Fuck the world” on his older LPs. Now, on Recovery, he’s moved on to bigger and better things, upgrading from the world to universe… Earth is also another word for dirt so that ties in.

Seems like he’s taking Lil Wayne’s metaphor from “We Be Steady Mobbin'” one step further (which is nice, since Lil Wayne was building on 2Pac’s “fuck the world” motto, quoted earlier in this verse)

Em may have been inspired by 2pac’s homie Kastro’s line on “Last Ones Left”:

And if the world was a girl I’d stick my dick in the ground

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A play on the pronunciation of “exorcise,” Em is saying he’s going to control the demons. Like a drill sergeant, he’s going to “exercise” them with jumping jacks. Will they win the Presidential Fitness Award?

Em is deciding to rid himself of the demons he alludes to in the previous line by cleaning himself up, as he explains in the next verse.

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An inspirational and brutally honest anthem for Eminem’s fans addressing that of his struggles and triumphs, and encouraging his fans to reach their triumphs as well.

When interviewed by Rolling Stone: “Not Afraid” has a positive message for people trying to overcome obstacles. Are you more comfortable now with the idea of being a role model?

Whatever I can be to people is fine. Some people may look up to me. Some people may consider me a fucking menace. But I’m grateful for every fan letter I get, and for every person who says I helped save them. I don’t know, man. I feel like I took a lot of time off. Not doing shit for those four or five years, how lazy I got – it’s time to get back to doing what I love. I feel like I’ve got a lot of gas in the tank. I just want to make up for letting people down.

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Em took a lot of heat for using various accents (Jamaican, Middle Eastern) on some of the tracks on Relapse instead of his normal voice, and now he’s apologizing. Em slips into one of the hated accents when spitting this line (as a joke).

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Eminem maintains he’s consistently been a lyricist from his 1996 debut album, Infinite to his then-most recent album, 2009’s Relapse.

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Business Insider showed just what it’s like to live on food stamps.

Food stamps might help you feed yourself, but its not enough to raise a baby daughter. Since Rabbit has no daughter in the movie, this line makes it clear that the third verse is now about Eminem’s life, not just some song for a soundtrack.

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The song starts out narrating the character Rabbit’s struggles in 8 Mile, but it transitions to being more about a sort of Em/Rabbit hybrid, with elements of both the movie’s life and Em’s real life (hence the “there’s no movie” line later in the verse).

Real life:

The movie:

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Wiz, a fashion-obsessed blipster like Kanye or Kid Cudi, is name-dropping Ralph Lauren as a label he wears:

wiz

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