Eminem, The Rap God, Gets a Personal Remix From His Therapist, Rihanna in New Music Video for `The Monster’ (Lyrics) (Video)
Eminem and Rihanna's new music video for "The Monster" is a regressive trip through Slim Shady's past and Rihanna is the therapeutic hypnotist who brings him there. Eminem and Rihanna are riding high at the No. 1 slot on the Billboard Hot 100 with "The Monster" this week and the new video is likely to keep it there.
With pendulums swaying Rihanna brings Eminem from the couch to a straitjacket to show him the ghosts of Slim Shady past. "The Monster" is the fourth single from Eminem's new album "Marshall Mathers LP 2." This is Rihanna's 13th turn at No. 1 and the fifth time Eminem has hit the top slot.
"The Monster" was the perfect song to see Eminem and Rihanna in the studio. Eminem recently told MTV News "The perception of the record, what it's saying, I thought it would be a good idea to have her on it because I think people look at us like we're both a little nuts. That's one of the things that I was telling her in making the record: I think that people look at us a little crazy. As soon as I got the beat I just heard her on it. I wanted to make sure that I had it finished first to be able to present to her, but once I had the rhymes done, I sent it to her."
Eminem's new video was directed by Rich Lee. Rich Lee also directed music videos for Eminem's "Rap God," "Not Afraid," and "Lighters".
Rihanna runs Eminem through a televised retelling of his career from old music videos like "My Name Is," "Lose Yourself" and The Way I Am," through news footage and a shot of Eminem's Grammy performance with Elton John.
"The Monster" knocked Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" out of the number one singles spot before it was passed by the nine-week number one run from Lorde for her new song "Royals." The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is just about to hit sales of a million and a half in sales. And Christmas is still a week away.
"The Monster" lyrics:
I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You're trying to save me, stop holding your breath
And you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think I'm crazy
I wanted the fame, but not the cover of Newsweek
Oh, well, guess beggars can't be choosey
Wanted to receive attention for my music
Wanted to be left alone in public. Excuse me
For wanting my cake and eat it too, and wanting it both ways
Fame made me a balloon 'cause my ego inflated
When I blew; see, but it was confusing
'Cause all I wanted to do is be the Bruce Lee of loose leaf
Abused ink, used it as a tool when I blew steam (wooh!)
Hit the lottery, oh wee
With what I gave up to get was bittersweet
It was like winning a used me
Ironic 'cause I think I'm getting so huge I need a shrink
I'm beginning to lose sleep: one sheep, two sheep
Going cuckoo and cooky as Kool Keith
But I'm actually weirder than you think
'Cause I'm
I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You're trying to save me, stop holding your breath
And you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think I'm crazy
Well, that's nothing
Well, that's nothing
No, I ain't much of a poet but I know somebody once told me
To seize the moment and don't squander it
'Cause you never know when it all could be over tomorrow
So I keep conjuring, sometimes I wonder where these thoughts spawn from
(Yeah, ponder it, do you want this?
It's no wonder you're losing your mind, the way it wanders)
Yo-lo-lo-lo-yee-whoo
I think you've been wandering off down yonder
And stumbled onto Jeff VanVonderen
'Cause I need an interventionist
To intervene between me and this monster
And save me from myself and all this conflict
'Cause the very thing that I love's killing me and I can't conquer it
My OCD is conking me in the head
Keep knocking, nobody's home, I'm sleepwalking
I'm just relaying what the voice in my head's saying
Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just friends with the
I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You're trying to save me, stop holding your breath
And you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think I'm crazy
Well, that's nothing
Well, that's nothing
Call me crazy, but I had this vision
One day that I'd walk amongst you a regular civilian
But until then drums get killed and I'm coming straight at
MCs, blood get spilled and I
Take it back to the days that I get on a Dre track
Give every kid who got played that
Pumped up feeling and shit to say back
To the kids who played 'em
I ain't here to save the fucking children
But if one kid out of a hundred million
Who are going through a struggle feels and then relates that's great
It's payback, Russell Wilson falling way back
In the draft, turn nothing into something, still can make that
Straw into gold chump, I will spin Rumpelstiltskin in a haystack
Maybe I need a straight jacket, face facts
I am nuts for real, but I'm okay with that
It's nothing, I'm still friends with the
I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You're trying to save me, stop holding your breath
And you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think I'm crazy
Well, that's nothing
Well, that's nothing