Eminem – The Making of ‘My Name Is’ (Vevo Footnotes)

An enviable wit, a valuable sense of silliness, and one of the most powerful voices that hip-hop has delivered us. When Eminem’s “My Name Is” premiered in 1999, those elements, as well as an full-on earworm beat from Dr Dre, united to deliver an unforgettable music video. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, we connected with Mr. Mathers himself to fill us in on the lay of the land back then. The iconic MC was just getting his start, and as he says in our Footnotes interview, from Dre sampling Labi Siffre’s 1975 jam “I Got The…,” to finding a 7’7″ dude to play the ventriloquist, to getting a bit out of his head while playing Bill Clinton, the “My Name Is” shoot was quite a leap into the bigtime. Is it one of your favorite classics? Do you want to know how it all came about? Right this way…