Fall of 2002 College Daze

I can distinctly remember when this song came out during the fall of 2002. I was in college at the time and was absolutely obsessed with the latest hip-hop being released at the time. A friend and classmate of mine, Jeff, was pretty good at keeping me in tune with new releases and usually had new music for me to hear. I remember one day in particular he brought in a disc of new downloads (all legal, of course) with a few tracks from the upcoming film 8 Mile, which I hadn’t even heard about yet. I remember listening to the tracks on his discman – MP3 players weren’t really common yet – with “Lose Yourself” among them.

Of course, like millions of 20-something whiteboys, I had already been a fan of Eminem since his Slim Shady LP and the phenomenal Marshall Mathers LP. “Without Me” was one of Em’s last radio singles I really loved, but when “Lose Yourself” came out, it was just such a memorable experience. Lyrically, it was phenomenal. I never felt so emotionally attached to an Eminem song. I think anyone can relate to the concept of having “one shot”, especially during a time in my life when college was nearing an end and I was going to have to face the real world at the end of the year and make something out of my life. I remember purchasing the soundtrack shortly after and listening to while driving to and from school as the weather got colder throughout the year. In fact, listening to the whole soundtrack now brings back memories of that era with other great tracks like Gangstarr’s “Battle” and Eminem’s “Run Rabbit Run”.

But “Lose Yourself” was definitely the banger. I remember hearing it on Jeff’s headphones and several times after on local radio and not being able to understand what Eminem was spitting because he was rhyming so many words together so quickly. All that “Coast to coast shows, he's known as the globetrotter/ Lonely roads, God only knows/ He's grown farther from home, he's no father” is still as phenomenal now as it was then. Those college years were among the best times of my life, and “Lose Yourself” always brings me back to that era.