Eminem
Guilty Conscience
"Guilty Conscience" is a song by the rapper
Eminem,
released in 1999. It was the second single from his major label debut
album,
The Slim Shady LP, which was also released that year. The song featured
Em's mentor, Dr. Dre, and it helped cement his musical style. The song was
successful, featuring a contrasting rap between the two rappers, who are playing the role of the
good and evil inside someone's brain, the "angel and devil on the shoulders."
There are also spoken parts and sound effects describing several dilemma
scenarios, making the contrast even more interesting by building tension and
curiousity.
The first verse of the song features the story of Eddie, 23, who is about to
rob a convenience store. In this one, Dre manages to convince him not to go
through with it, though Eminem tries to justify the theft with the poverty of
Eddie's family. In the unedited version, Eminem also tries to get him to murder
the store clerk.
The second verse features Stan, 21, who took a girl of 15 upstairs during a
rave. Eminem convinces him to date-rape
her to get her to have sex with him, despite Dre's protests. In the edited
version, they tone down the intensity and Eminem suggests leaving her passed out
on her parents' doorstep.
The third verse is about Grady, 29, a construction worker who came home to
find his wife having sex with another man. In the unedited version, Eminem
demands that Grady kill his wife brutally. When Dre tries to cut in, Eminem
brings up Dre's violent N.W.A past, accusing him of hypocrisy. In the end, Dre
agrees that Grady should murder both his wife and her lover. This ending in
particular caused a lot of controversy, especially since the ending was left in the edited version of
the song.
The video for "Guilty Conscience" has a nonstop backbeat with a chorus,
unlike the album version, and a different narrator. The version that aired on
MTV also eliminated the murder at the end and converted it into an escalating
argument between Eminem and Dre with no resolution. The lyrics in the chorus are
intended to resemble lyrics from "I Will Follow Him" by Little Peggy March.
The song contains a sample from the
Ronald Stein song "Go Home Pigs", from the soundtrack to the film Getting
Straight (1970). This sample was apparently not cleared and Eminem was taken to court over the
matter.
Eminem later released "Guilty Conscience" on his greatest hits album,
Curtain Call: The Hits.
Home | Up | Business | Cleanin' Out My Closet | Encore | Guilty Conscience | Just Lose It | Like Toy Soldiers | Lose Yourself | Mockingbird | My Name Is | Shake That | Sing for the Moment | Stan | Superman | The Real Slim Shady | The Way I Am | Without Me | Crazy in Love
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