Trivia

• Eminem originally intended either “Who Knew” or “I’m Back” to serve as the album’s lead single, but the label instead requested a new song, resulting in the creation of both “The Way I Am” and “The Real Slim Shady.”

Words from Eminem

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“Who Knew” was the second song I recorded for the Marshall Mathers album. Dre was playing a DAT and was about to leave the studio. I wanted to hear some shit, so he played me some new material, and the “Who Knew” beat was one of the tracks on the DAT. I immediately thought, “Oh my God, this is ridiculous.”

Dre left, but he said if I wanted to stay and record, then I should go ahead. What Dre does is lay tracks to a DAT, but he won’t complete them unless somebody wants them. He’ll lay like ten or twenty down, and whoever likes one has to rhyme to the track. Then he’ll come in and redo it the right way.

Since he didn’t have the beat laid down yet, I just rapped to the DAT. I had just come back from Amsterdam when I wrote that song. I had the hook, the verse — I had everything — and it mixed so perfectly with Dre’s beat. So I said, “Fuck it,” and recorded it that night.

The next day he heard it and said, “Damn, you brought that shit to life. Let’s get it in and knock it out.” The whole idea behind the song was to try to make critics feel stupid.