Marshall Bruce Mathers,  who most commonly referred to as Eminem, is absolutely my favorite rapper in the United State. If you pay close attention to the words he rapped, you’ll know that he’s a storyteller. He raps about his personal struggles, his medical condition, his family, etc. He married Kimberly Anne Scott twice and also divorced twice. They had a daughter Hailie, who was born on December 25th, 1995. I think the song “When I’m gone” is one of Eminem’s best storytelling songs because it tells his personal story of his relationship with his daughter Hailie by using a lot of dialogues to make people stay in the situation.

The song itself shows how much Eminem cares and loves his daughter, although he’s always away from home. He admitted the fact that he spent too much time in his music business instead of being together with family.  As a shiny star who has millions of fans, Eminem belongs to stages, flashlights and cheering from people. In this song, he is trying to find a balance point between his beloved career and his responsibility as a father and a husband, and he is seeking for some changes.

In the official video, it starts with a meeting that everyone talks about their problems and ways to change them, which Eminem grabs the microphone, and the song begins. The first verse describes the situation that Eminem is always busy for work when his daughter Hailie wants him to spend time with her. He admits his mistakes of ignoring his family to follow his career. He expresses his feeling that Hailie is the center of his emotion, and he wants to protect her. The second and third verses talk about Eminem keeps having a dream that Hailie doesn’t want him to go out and perform, so that she tries to block the door with boxes. He walks out the bedroom door and it turns into a stage with spotlights on. All of a sudden, Eminem surprisingly sees his daughter in the crowd under the stage screaming that he laid about never leaving her alone. Finally, he wakes up and sees Hailie swinging outside with Kim standing besides her. He learns a lesson from his dream and realizes that family is as important as career.

The lyrics “When I’m gone, just carry on, rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice. Just know that I’m looking down on you smilling. And I didn’t feel a thing so baby don’t feel no pain just smile back.” is not only speaking directly to his daughter, but to his fans as well. He wants both sides to know that they shouldn’t be sad when he’s gone, indeed, they should be happy every time they hear his music. Even when he dies, they should keep in mind that it’s painless and he’s looking down at them in heaven all the time.

Citations :

http://genius.com/Eminem-when-im-gone-lyrics/

http://www.metrolyrics.com/when-im-gone-lyrics-eminem.html