50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock & Roll: Eminem Says His Name in 1998

In 1997, Eminem had a one-year-old daughter at home and few commercial prospects. Determined to give the music business one more shot, he recorded the Slim Shady EP and moved from Detroit to Los Angeles. As the story goes, Dr. Dre discovered his demo tape floating around Interscope label president Jimmy Iovine's office. "I was reaching a boiling point, doing a lot of drugs and fucked-up shit because I was so depressed," Eminem said later. "When Dre called, he saved my life."

"The first day we worked together," said Dre, "we worked for, like, five or six hours and got four songs complete." "My Name Is" was one of the songs. "Em came in real quiet, real humble," says Richard "Segal" Huredia, the engineer on the track. "Once he got on the mike, though, his energy came out, with him doing all these different voices -- we'd never heard any shit like that before. At one point, we were all just vibing to the beat, and he turns around and goes, 'Hi, my name is. . . .' We were like, 'That's kinda catchy.' "

"My Name Is" introduced Eminem's evil alter ego, Slim Shady, a weed-smoking, acid-tripping trash-talking drunk who's not afraid to get "pissed off and rip Pamela Lee's tits off." Lines such as "I just found out my mom does more dope than I do" presaged libel lawsuits and eventual estrangement between Eminem and his mother, Debbie Mathers-Briggs. And behind the scenes, Em received his first accusation of homophobia: The track's signature keyboard riff was an interpolation of gay activist Labi Siffre's "I Got The," but Siffre would grant permission to use the song only if Em changed the lines "My English teacher wanted to have sex in junior high/The only problem was my English teacher was a guy" to "My English teacher wanted to flunk me in junior high/Thanks a lot -- next semester I'll be thirty-five."

"My Name Is" ended up reaching only Number Thirty-six in the Billboard singles charts, but it was an unforgettable introduction to Eminem. He ended up hating the song and eventually refused to perform it live. "I was sick of it three months after the song was done," said Eminem.

"With a record like 'My Name Is,' at a certain point he starts fighting how big it gets," said Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg. That didn't stop him from writing something of a sequel -- "The Real Slim Shady," from The Marshall Mathers LP -- and also using the track as creative fodder for another Mathers classic, "The Way I Am." " 'My Name Is' was the biggest hit off his first album, and he felt like he was never going to be able to come up with a record that was as big and catchy -- and have credibility," said Rosenberg. "That's why he says in 'The Way I Am,' 'I'm not going to be able to top "My Name Is." ' "