What does Cleanin' Out My Closet mean?

Eminem: Cleanin' Out My Closet Meaning

Album cover for Cleanin' Out My Closet album cover

Song Released: 2002


Cleanin' Out My Closet Lyrics

Where's my snare, I have no snare in my headphones, there ya' go, yeah, yo', yo'...

Have you ever been hated or discriminated against, I have, i've been protested and demonstrated
against, picket signs for my wicked rhymes, look at the times,...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    lizziloves
    click a star to vote
    Aug 4th 2006 !⃝

    Oh my god!!!

    Marshal doesn't hate his brother (first of all) his mom kept Nathan from him and em's like give it up mom, Nathan's gonna leave you too "Nathan's growin up so quick he's gonna know that you're phony"

    But the major thing the song is about is how his mom lied to him, mentally abused him, physically abused him... And he's like sorry mom, I don't want everyone to know this, but I have to get it off my chest "I'm sorry mama, I never meant to hurt you, I never meant to make you cry but tonight I'm cleanin out my closet"

    Like, the term "I got some skeleton's in my closet..." he's sayin that there's stuff about his childhood that nobody really knows, but he needs people to know
    there...

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 25th 2008 !⃝

    This song is Eminem pouring his heart out. He is getting everything off his chest and settling everything he can with his mom. He's waiting for the day that his brother comes to the same conclusion he has, that mom doesn't care. She is just a junkie that only cares about getting her fix, but the hole time she has made them think it was about them. Everything Marshall discovers about his mom, breaks his heart, even though he plays it off as it don't matter. And everything she does eats away at him, but its his job to act like everything's OK and to apologize like nothing's wrong, he is saying those days are over!

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 14th 2008 !⃝

    Okay, eminem is talking about when he was growing up.
    duh...

    His mother abused him and used him in more ways than one and so much so that he cannot forgive her because he's tired of having to deal with her sh*t
    he loves his brother so much and he is waiting for when he actually discovers what their mom is all about-drugs and alcohol.

    And about Hailie, whom he mentions in mostly all of his songs, Marshall/Eminem loves her very much and he doesn't understand how his dad could have left him-especially when he looks at Hailie and sees how much she means to him and he he could never leave her even if he did/does hate Kim.
    he is trying to "clean out his closet", or "get things off of his chest"[[c'mon people, have you never heard these expressions??]] and get over the things that his mom did to him that hurt him so much
    but he just can't seem to do it because of how badly it hurt him on the inside, which is why Hailie will never meet his mother-because he doesn't want Hailie to get hurt, first of all, and he wants to get back at his mother

    Which I could understand if you look at it from his point of view.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 8th 2022 !⃝

    Hi

    When some one searches for his required thing, thus he/she desires to be available that in detail, thus that thing is maintained over here.

    https://cutt.ly/R1YUmWG

    Best Regards

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 11th 2020 !⃝

    "Cleanin' Out My Closet" was a serious song inspired by the events of Eminem's childhood and relationships. It depicts Eminem venting his anger towards his mother, Debbie Mathers, for the way she raised him. In the chorus, Eminem sarcastically apologizes to his mother for hurting her and making her cry, but takes it back by showing the world what his mother, according to him, was like.

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 22nd 2019 !⃝

    The meaning is obvious. I love you ma BUT I also have some hate and disgust for you. You are a pos. You know it and I know it. Being to spineless and phony to admit it only makes you even more disgusting. I have to get it off my chest ma. I refuse to hold it in so you can feel all warm and fuzzy with yo sorry ass. If the shoe fits, wear the mofo. I keep holding it in, I might not be able to take those bullets out the next time. It is what it is. The next time you wonder why, look in the damn mirror. It will come to you.

  7. anonymous
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    Aug 16th 2018 !⃝

    This song adout his mother and his dad walking out and he all grown up and he mad at his father

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 5th 2017 !⃝

    I believe that in some twisted way this is his way of telling his mother that he forgives her and that she needs to admit what she's done. On the other hand I can tell that he is still pissed off about what he has been through and he tries to make her understand how hard it was to be him when he lived with her. And I believe that at one point in the song he was speak to the listeners telling us that we are not alone and we should speak up. Forgive but never forget.

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 19th 2015 !⃝

    I think the song is about his mom abusing him and if you would watch the music video he was just playing with toys and he heard his mom coming to his bedroom so he hid in his closet and his mom pulled him out by his arm and started beating on him and he got his crayons and colored paper and he wrote "I'm sorry mama I never ment to hurt you I never ment to make you cry but tonight I'm cleaning out my closet" So what I think Eminem is trying to say in this song is he tried to kill his mom because she did drugs and alcohol so in the part of the song he is digging a hole so I think he is saying that the hole is his closet and he says I'm cleaning out me closet ha I got some skeletons in my closet because dead people when they get buried and all the skin come of and that why he says that.

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 11th 2013 !⃝

    I think eminem is so subliminal in this song.eminem is sayin in this song 'i got some sketon in my closet and i dnt knw if any one knws it....thnk this one relates to illuminati

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  11. fernanda
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    Apr 18th 2012 !⃝

    Well : Eminem was trying in this video to show the pain that he was feeling from his mom and almost from his family ! because when he was a kid he got a lot of suffering especially from his mommy . but eminem talked about Hailie . and he said that to his mom :: know that your phoney, and Hailie's getting so big now, you should see her, she's beautiful, but
    you'll never see her, she won't even be at your funeral, see what hurts me the most is you won't. it means that Eminem makes Hailie hates her grandmother . such as Eminem did . and Eminem wants to find out the reason to make him sad when he was kid ! and we know that Eminem's daddy was so cruel with his wife . and eminem was watching that .offfffffffff.

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 19th 2012 !⃝

    He pissed about her going on TV and writing a book to cash in on her soon who fought to make his way to be who he its and all she did was sit there and treat him like a dog as a child. Why should she make money off of Eminem when she had nothing to do with his fame or fortune.

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 4th 2012 !⃝

    What eminem did was not wrong at all. I love the way he love and care for his daughter haillie. She is very lucky to have him as her father. I wish if i too had the luck to be his daughter.

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 22nd 2011 !⃝

    My understnding of this song ''cleaning out my closet'' the closet is the body of the eminem,the mind n soul is the skeleton.when u look at the closet frm the outside,u cnt figure out anythn thts inside unless u open it.its like a book.By releasing ths song,the closet is open n clean coz we already knws wht happened to hm whn he ws young.And hes now free in his mind n soul..

  15. anonymous
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    Jul 10th 2011 !⃝

    It's his way of letting the world know where he's coming from in all of his songs. He's "taking you back to '73." It's pretty much self-explanitory. Read the lyrics.

  16. anonymous
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    Jun 15th 2011 !⃝

    In this song, Eminem is pouring his heart out about his feelings about his family. All the conflicts and confusion - he's letting it all out. His mom has caused him so much harm and his father walked out on them both while he was just a baby. Of course he's going to be furious. His mom was just a junkie that didn't even care about him. All that he's heard about his mom, causes him pain and breaks him inside. But, he acts like he doesn't care. His days of the harm are over - he doesn't need it anymore.

  17. anonymous
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    May 12th 2011 !⃝

    This is about Eminem getting rid of all of the stress that he carries around from his past life and its about eminem showing his mother that what she did was wrong. Maybe another way to try and open her eyes??? Anyone eminem is best singer ever and will always be. EMIN3M!!!

  18. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 28th 2011 !⃝

    None of you have any clue what eminems meaning is. He's messed up and that's what makes him the best. None of you can even pretend to understand him.

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