BF2S Forums Stan -Eminem

"Stan" is a fictional story of a fan who is obsessed with Eminem and writes to him but doesn't receive a reply. The first three verses are delivered by Stan, while the fourth verse is Eminem responding to Stan, only to realize that he has heard about Stan's death on the news as he was writing to him.

In the first verse, Stan is writing to Eminem for the third time, hoping his hero will write back. He explains the level of his devotion ('I got a room full of your posters and your pictures, man) and maintains that Eminem 'must not have got 'em', his previous two letters. In addition, the song "Old World Disorder" is referenced as the "underground shit that you did with Skam." Stan also reveals that his girlfriend is pregnant, and that he is going to name his daughter Bonnie (a reference to Eminem's song "'97 Bonnie and Clyde" from The Slim Shady LP), and sympathizes with the suicide of a family member ('I read about your Uncle Ronnie too I'm sorry/I had a friend kill himself over some bitch who didn't want him'). Despite Stan's optimism, the menacing beats, Dido's haunting voice in the background that creates an effective recussion, intermittent thunder and rainfall, and the background music keeps the mood dark and ominous.

In the second verse, Stan is clearly frustrated. He begins somewhat optimistically but begins to lose his temper by the second line ('I ain't mad - I just think it's fucked up you don't answer fans). The thunder in the background has grown steadily more constant and louder, particularly at some of the more chilling lines in the song. The verse also establishes Stan's deteriorating sanity: 'Sometimes I even cut myself to see how much it bleeds/It's like adrenaline, the pain is such a sudden rush for me'. Stan mentions his little brother, Matthew, who Stan imagines is an even bigger fan of Eminem than Stan himself. Stan is bitter because Eminem had supposedly refused to give Matthew an autograph at a concert, after waiting in the 'blistering cold' for four hours. Stan explains why he identifies with Eminem ('I never knew my father neither/He used to always cheat on my mom and beat her'). He ends his letter with 'Sincerely yours, Stan/P.S. we should be together too.'

The third verse is Stan rapping into a tape recorder in the car he is about to drive off a bridge. His words are slurred, and he is clearly under the influence of depressants, as evidenced by the line, "I'm on a thousand downers now, I'm drowsy." His pregnant girlfriend can be heard screaming in the trunk (albeit gagged), and the rain and thunder are loud and insistent. Stan, enraged, addresses Eminem as "Dear Mister-I'm-Too-Good-To-Call-Or-Write-My-Fans". He explains his predicament: "I'm in the car right now, I'm doing 90 on the freeway/Hey Slim, I drank a fifth of vodka, you dare me to drive?" (quoting "My Name Is" on the previous Eminem album, The Slim Shady LP). This is followed by a reference to a Phil Collins song "In the Air Tonight," misquoting it as "In the Air of the Night." Specifically, Stan refers to an urban legend that the song is about Collins seeing a man drowning, while a closer bystander does nothing to save him. Screaming is heard and Stan reveals that his pregnant girlfriend is in the trunk suffocating "Thats my girlfriend screaming in the trunk/But I didn't slit her throat I just tied her up," once again referencing Eminem's song "'97 Bonnie and Clyde" in which Eminem implies that he had slit his wife's throat before putting her in the trunk and dropping her off in a lake ("And don't worry about that little booboo on her throat/It's just a little scratch, it don't hurt/Her was eatin' dinner while you were sleepin' and spilled ketchup on her shirt/Mama's messy, ain't she/We'll let her wash off in the water"). Stan vents, revealing the depths of his anger: "I hope you can't sleep and you dream about it/And when you dream I hope you can't sleep and you scream about it/I hope your conscience eats at you and you can't breathe without me", while a montage shows him ripping all his posters of Eminem down and smashing his television. At the end, Stan realizes too late he will be unable to send the tape to Eminem. A car crash then follows. In the live Grammy performance of the song, Eminem changed the first line "can't sleep" to "go to sleep". This corrected what was likely an error on the album track due to Eminem's avoidance of "punch-ins", or recording over any mistakes in a verse.

The fourth verse is Eminem's belated reply to Stan. He begins casually "Dear Stan, I meant to write you sooner but I just been busy." He also says he sends a cap with his autograph for Matthew, and reveals something of his serious and sober side with his advice for Stan: "You got some issues Stan/I think you need some counseling" and "I really think you and your girlfriend need each other/or maybe you just need to treat her better". He further explains in his letter that he had seen a similar story on the news which scared him, about a disturbed man who killed himself and his pregnant girlfriend. The song ends with Eminem's realization of what has happened; Stan was the man on the news ("... in the car they found a tape, but they didn't say who it was to/Come to think about it, his name was... it was you. Damn."), and then a sudden clash of thunder and lightning. In the music video, the lightning strike illuminates a split-second image of Stan's face staring in through a window at his former idol.

Last edited by Knifey (2008-07-23 18:44:46)

DefCon-17 wrote:

CommonSense wrote:

DefCon-17 wrote:

Says the dude with a shit rapper as his name.

(..Unless that's not the reason why you chose it.)

Wrong. I don't even know a rapper named Common Sense tbh.

Hmm..well there is a rapper whose name is Common. He dropped the "Sense".

He's one of those faggots with Kanye West whose fans are all people who started listening to rap a week ago.

DefCon-17 wrote:

CommonSense wrote:

DefCon-17 wrote:

Says the dude with a shit rapper as his name.

(..Unless that's not the reason why you chose it.)

Wrong. I don't even know a rapper named Common Sense tbh.

Hmm..well there is a rapper whose name is Common. He dropped the "Sense".

He's one of those faggots with Kanye West whose fans are all people who started listening to rap a week ago.

Last edited by Home (2008-07-25 13:21:54)

Home wrote:

DefCon-17 wrote:

CommonSense wrote:

Wrong. I don't even know a rapper named Common Sense tbh.

Hmm..well there is a rapper whose name is Common. He dropped the "Sense".

He's one of those faggots with Kanye West whose fans are all people who started listening to rap a week ago.

Lol! Common is better than your fake ass 50 Cent.

Whose fans are all pussy white kids who wear G-Unit clothes and think they're gangstas.

God Save the Queen wrote:

how can anyone who appreciates real hip hop defend 50 cent?

Roc18 wrote:

i g wrote:

God Save the Queen wrote:

how can anyone who appreciates real hip hop defend 50 cent?

cuz dat nigga got shot 9 timez

Exactly the thing people need to appreciate bad music. 50 cent is too mainstream gangsta for me, he raps about the same shit like most of these mainstream hip hop artists.