- What Does “Fortnight” by Taylor Swift & Post Malone Mean? - April 19, 2024
- What Is the Meaning of the “H00DBYAIR” Song by Playboi Carti? - December 25, 2023
- What Is the Meaning of the “Lemon Tree” Song by Fool’s Garden? - November 24, 2023
Eminem – Darkness Lyrics Meaning
The song ‘Darkness’ is the promotional single from the latest Eminem’s shocking record, Music To Be Murdered By. The song was published along with a musical tape along with the release of his album. The music and lyrics of ‘Darkness’ are inspired by The Sound of Silence by Simon-and-Garfunkel. The lyrics ‘Hello darkness, my old friend’ taken from ‘Sound of Silence’ is repeated throughout the song. Let’s learn the deeper meaning behind the lyrics of ‘Darkness’ by Eminem.
Introduction: Darkness Lyrics Eminem
In the lyrics of ‘Darkness’, Eminem addresses a serious meaning behind the current shootings in the USA. The song describes the mass shooting event through Stephen Paddock’s perceptive. In the music video, he depicts the 2017 shooting that happened at a live performance in Las Vegas. Eminem has addressed such an important and sensitive topic providing valuable meaning through the lyrics of ‘Darkness’. However, all the mainstream media including YouTube were against the rapper’s message. YouTube went as far as to remove the music video for Darkness from its trending page and this is not okay. A lot of people need to listen to this masterpiece and contemplate it.
Darkness Lyrics Meaning Eminem
Let’s dissect the meaning behind the lyrics of the song ‘Darkness’ by Eminem section-wise.
[Verse 1]
Eminem starts with singing about how depression and loneliness can cause a person to act on such a horrific act and this is probably a reason why Eminem doesn’t wish to be alone. The rapper employs double meaning behind these lyrics. He compares the shooter with his situation. By doing this, he is trying to convey the feeling of the shooter when he was about to commit such an act and how the rapper’s anxiety and depression could put him in a similar situation due to stress in his tours and live performances. This means he was in ‘Darkness’ and he couldn’t think of anything else other than using his weapon.
Part I
Em has used the word ‘Curtain’ in a lot of his albums like The-Eminem-show, Curtain-call-the-hits, and Encore. He uses curtains to create an image of him and his career. Since he wants to make more music, he does it all the time. However, upon the release of his album, it gets poorly received by his fans. Thus, he tries to close the curtain again. He ends with the “Hello darkness’ my old friends’ after every four bars. Both of these songs have the same theme and are written from the perceptive of lonely and depressed individuals.
Part II
Eminem mentions Las Vegas, again with double meaning, i.e. one from Las Vegas shooting and other from a movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ft Johnny Depp released in 1998. The rapper compares himself with the shooter once again because both of them were raised without the presence of their father which could have affected part of their respective lives. He further mentions his excessive drinking problem with the double meaning of ‘Popping cans’ and ‘shooting rounds’ as the shooter did on that night in the room.
[Verse: 2]
In the second verse, Eminem yet again compares his and shooter’s situation by providing double meaning to his lyrics. He describes his dr*g abuse of Benzo (Benzo****epines), a strong dr*g which affects the nervous system of the human and especially uses for the schi***hrenia and anxiety. The rapper then describes his situation of him in the studio and the shooter in the hotel room in the Vegas in the state of under drugs when they listen to vague music in the background of his studio and the loud music of live performance.
Part I
Em paints a picture of himself and the shooter implying that he is scared and stressing of losing fans and the shooter. On the other hand, the criminal is stressing perhaps over fewer shooting victims. He then continues with double meaning lyrics that he doesn’t want to perform in front of an empty crowd while the shooter wants everyone to come so he could kill. Then, the media would viral the negative stories of the shooter killing the crowds and his bad performance in front of the crowd.
Part II
Eminem then cleverly speaks about how the shooter had an excessive supply of firearms and ammunition to kill everyone at the event and how he is loaded with fire rhymes ready to kill everyone with his words. The rapper incorporates a double-entendre with the scope and magazine of the firearm and of the scope being a mouthwash brand and Magazine a Media paper. As he doesn’t care about the media blowing negative news, he is going to perform despite getting hate and criticism.
[Verse 3]
Eminem again depicts the picture of the event in Las Vegas and his live performance as its time for the show and he is ready to shoot some fire bars and shooter the bullets. The end of verse 3 em continues with the killer theme and points out the flaws in America’s Gun law that the shooter was the legally licensed owner of all the weapons he used that night at vegas. The lawmakers have to make serious amendments in the law because the mass shooting events are getting common day by day.
[Outro]
At the end of the song and music video, several videos of the after events of the American Mass shooting comply. Thick and jumbled noise of people on countless shows debating about the gun laws of America. He believes that this is the national issue and it has to be resolved soon because many people and children are dying because of this. He ended the song with ‘WHEN WILL THIS END?
Conclusion: ‘Darkness’ Meaning Eminem
Eminem chooses the topic of gun laws problems, depression and anxiety, and his declining career and cleverly depicts the picture of it altogether. In the song, he beautiful presents different scenarios with double meaning which everyone could easily understand.
The rapper addresses a very serious problem through this song because it’s getting worse day by day and he believes that it is his duty as an American to shine a light on such an issue. Let us know in the comment what do you think is the meaning behind the lyrics of ‘Darkness’ by Eminem.
Read the meaning behind the lyrics of the song ‘Darkness’ by Eminem on Genius in detail.
