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3 a.m. (Eminem song)

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"3 a.m."
Song

"3 a.m." is the second official single by American rapper Eminem from his most recent album Relapse.[1] The single was produced by Dr. Dre. The song was released onto the iTunes Store April 28, 2009. A music video was released on May 2 at 10:00 p.m. via Cinemax.

Concept

The song deals with darker themes, pitting Eminem as a serial killer as he questions his own sanity and recalls various homicidal incidents. The song, according to Eminem, is said to be closer to the overall sound of the album, as opposed to the poppy, fun-poking "We Made You". It features Eminem presumably rapping from the perspective of his alter ego Slim Shady, utilizing both internal and multi-syllabic rhyme schemes in his three verses.[2]

The song contains a line inspired from The Silence of the Lambs,. This is the third time Eminem uses a reference to The Silence of the Lambs, to which Eminem and D12 referred in the D12 song American Psycho from Devil's Night and the music video for "You Don't Know" from Eminem Presents: The Re-Up with Eminem being restrained in a similar trolley and muzzle to that of Hannibal Lecter's. References to Nick Carter, Hannah Montana and Kim Kardashian are also made.

Reception

The song has been well received by critics. Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly gave the song a positive review, as while he said "This is, more or less, the Eminem I've been waiting for.(...)Nobody finds poetry in violence and perviness like Marshall.", he said "he's still rapping in a silly accent for some reason(...)He's a majorly offensive verbal acrobat, the world's most eloquent sociopath."[3] Joseph Barracato of The New York Post also commented on the song, as well as the other singles from Relapse, giving positive reviews regarding the song and the rapper's comeback. [4] Allmusic chose it as a track pick also.[5]

Music video

On Shade 45, Eminem announced that shooting for the video had been entirely complete and was shot in Detroit at 3 am with director Syndrome (who's also working on the video for "Crack a Bottle"). It premiered on Cinemax, May 2 right before the movie The Strangers[6]. It follows Eminem playing a serial killer who is escaping from a rehabilitation clinic and killing everyone who might try to stop him.

Popsomp Hills, the setting of the video

The video takes place at Popsomp Hills Rehabilitation Center (read: Pop Some Pills) in Detroit, MI; the name of a fake rehabilitation clinic, which serves as a viral campaign for the release of Relapse." http://www.therelapse.com/[7]

The music video shows innocent murder victims laying bloody, beaten and helpless after what seems to be a killing spree performed by Eminem's alter ego Slim Shady. The song and video suggests that it has a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde theme, being Eminem as the good side and Slim Shady as the evil side. Slim Shady roams the halls of Popsomp Hills at 3:00 am and violently slaughters members of the staff on duty and warns the audience: "It's 3 a.m. and here I come so you should probably run." Eminem is also shown watching the music video to "Crack a Bottle" on a television, which is also directed by Syndrome.

New York Magazine described the video as a revival of the "torture porn" sub-genre of horror films.[8]

Remix

Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker remixed the track on 29th May 2009 and it was released via his Youtube account, as well as on Eminem's official website.[9][10] According to an interview with RapRadar, Travis Barker explained how the song came about, saying that "Paul [Rosenberg] had hit me up and said that Em kind of heard in his head some sort of rock remix for it. They let me have a stab at it and then the rest is history." He also stated that "it’s going to be available on Eminem.com for like some special release."[11]

Charts

"3 a.m." debuted at number thirty two on the Billboard Hot 100, selling 66,000 downloads in its first week, hence making a "Hot Shot Debut" on the chart.[12]

Chart (2009) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[13] 38
Canadian Hot 100[14] 24
UK Singles Chart[15] 56
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [16] 32
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 [17] 37

References

General
  • Christgau, Robert (May 20, 2009). "Eminem: A 'Relapse' Of Horror?". All Things Considered. National Public Radio. Retrieved May 22, 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Specific
  1. ^ http://news.lalate.com/2009/04/23/eminem-3-am-shade-45/
  2. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/04/24/eminem-goes-dark-on-killer-second-relapse-single-3am/
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ [3]
  6. ^ Paul Rosenblog: 3am on Cinemax
  7. ^ http://www.brokencool.com/broken_cool/2009/04/eminem-checks-into-popsomp-hills-rehabilitation-center.html
  8. ^ Graham, Mark (April 30, 2009). "Eminem Resurrects Torture Porn for ‘3 A.M.’ Video". New York Magazine. Retrieved on June 4, 2009.
  9. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN5aECC2Dzk
  10. ^ http://www.eminem.com/blog/default.aspx?nid=21705
  11. ^ http://www.rapradar.com/rap-radar-exclusives-video/travis-barker-remixes-3-am.html
  12. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/3oh-3-hits-top-ten-on-billboard-hot-100-1003970665.story
  13. ^ http://www.ariacharts.com.au/pages/charts_display_singles.asp?chart=1U50
  14. ^ [4]
  15. ^ http://acharts.us/uk_singles_top_75
  16. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/chart_display.jsp?f=The+Billboard+Hot+100&pageNumber=11-50&g=Singles
  17. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/chart_display.jsp?f=Pop+100&pageNumber=Top+11-50&g=Singles
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