Eminem
May 5, 2002

Already getting airplay on influential Modern Rock stations like Los Angeles’ KROQ, the always controversial Eminem has a cross-format smash hit on his hands, and it’s in the radio.wazee spotlight this week! "Without Me" is the first single from Eminem’s hotly-anticipated follow-up to the "Marshall Mathers LP," "The Eminem Show," due June 4th on Interscope.

Eminem, who produced the song himself, pulls no punches on "Without Me," complaining about the FCC, proclaiming that the world needs a little controversey, and dissing everyone from other white rappers to ‘N Sync’s Chris Kirkpatrick to Limp Bizkit, the latter in retaliation to a feud that arose when Bizkit's DJ Lethal took Everlast's side in a war of words between him and Eminem. Eminem even goes after Moby, who spoke out against the rapper's controversial lyrics at the time of the 2001 Grammys, where the accused homophobe performed "Stan" with Elton John. Eminem raps that at 36, Moby is too old to be in tune with what people want to hear and that "nobody listens to techno." No angry reaction from Moby, though–shortly after "Without Me’s" release to radio, he wrote in his online journal that he's honored to be name-checked in the single: "If you're reading this, Eminem, thanks for the dis. No hard feelings from me."

Eminem, whose real name is Marhall Mathers, even makes reference in "Without Me" to settling the multiple lawsuits that have dogged him since his career first broke. He sends a big "F You" out to his mom, Debbie Mathers, who sued him defamation in response to a line in his debut single, "My Name Is," claiming, "My mom smokes more dope than I do." Eminem’s mom claimed she was slandered on his album and in interviews he did with Rolling Stone, the Source and Rap Pages magazines and on the nationally syndicated "Howard Stern Show."

Aside from hyping his new album and single with a video featuring him dressed up as quite possibly the most hated and hunted man in the world, Osama Bin Laden, Eminem has been hard at work on his feature film "8 Mile," which is slated to hit theatres November 8th.

As for "The Eminem Show," the first 2 million copies released in the U.S. will include a bonus DVD containing such features as concert footage, interviews, lyrics and the trailer for "8 Mile."

Eminem, who appeared on the very first Anger Management tour in the fall of 2000, will also be appearing on the third rendition of the tour this summer, along with two other original performers from the first Anger Management outing, Papa Roach and Xzibit. They’ll be joined by Ludacris and the X-ecutioners, and while dates have not been finalized, Eminem's label, Interscope, said the tour will begin on July 24th.