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. anonymous
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    Mar 22nd 2011 !⃝

    This song has nothing to do with him hating anyone! Maybe a little, but the title says it all. He is coming clean about everything, hence "Cleaning out my closet" stop trying to put a deeper meaning to every set of lyrics you see! Some are just that obvious.

  2. anonymous
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    Mar 22nd 2011 !⃝

    LOLLL this has nothing to do with his mom.
    " now i would never diss my own momma just to get recognition, take a second to listen who you think this record is dissin."
    its about the music industry & life itself.

    "i've got some skeletons in my closet and i dont know if no one knows it so before they throw me inside me coffin & close it imma expose it. ill take you back to 73, before i ever had a multi platinum sellin' cd.. etc."
    i think its about the illuminati & how he got into it & wants to expose it before he leaves us, knowing the reason he leaves us will be because of exposing it.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  3. anonymous
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    Mar 11th 2011 !⃝

    The song informs us that eminem has had a very tough childhood and is now finally getting it off his chest and telling the rest of the world how he feels and what truly happened. What did happen in the past has obviously affected him mentally, emotionally and physically and when you listen to all of the lyrics eminem say 'remember when uncle ronnie died and you said you wished it was me'. He is finally expressing his feeling towards his mum and how he hopes his brother nathan and his daughter hallie have nothing to do with his mother as she doesnt give a shit about anyone except for herself. This song kinda explains why the majority of eminems song are so hardcore, beacause of his past. He also says that debbie, his mother, should not be able to see hallie because debbie should not have something that eminem never have. He also says he wants his father to die as he just left his mother snd him without a warning. Eminems life is pretty messed up and this is what he expresses to us in his song.

  4. TwiztidJuggalo95
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    Feb 14th 2011 !⃝

    He's pretty much apologising to his mom for whatever it is he's done, if anything.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  5. anonymous
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    Jan 29th 2011 !⃝

    my interpretation is that skeleton in my closet is like marshall's dead childhood which was 'killed' by his mother.

  6. cityflavah
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    Aug 25th 2010 !⃝

    HA! I never read that article. And I understand 100% completely why Em don't wanna hear it all that bullshit. Your wife/girlfriend w.e doesn't just take off with your child and you lose them forever and have no control. Thats what the court systems are for. But if his girlfriend was an addict its highly likely he was too and could not afford to pay child support which would give him visitation. Em isn't the type to wanna be fucked around with and Im sure if his father would own up and take responsibility for what he should there would have been a lot more respect there and willingness to forgive. Not saying he shouldn't forgive its not something we do for others its for ourselves. Hes expressed a lot of anger and guilt over the matter and if he came to terms which he practices doing everyday it will help him a lot.

  7. JojoMaan
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    Jul 8th 2010 !⃝

    I agree with everything u said and I noticed one more thing to add.The song is called "Cleaning Out My Closet" not "Cleaning up". So i think he basically means he gets these things out of hes "closet"(heart,mind or whatever), hes not cleaning it and forgetting about it like hes been trying to do,hes releasing it out to the world.

  8. anonymous
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    Jun 18th 2010 !⃝

    It's how he went through hell as a child, with his ma being a druggy and all that stuff, he doesn't want that for his daughters.

  9. anonymous
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    Jul 30th 2009 !⃝

    RollingStone, you're not even close. Whatsername was right. Cleaning out my Closet is all about Bender Bending Rodriguez from Futurama.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  10. anonymous
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    May 26th 2009 !⃝

    Ok, first of all, Rollingstone... you're a fucking idiot... Does your mother pop pills and poison your food? 'Cos Marshall's mum did! Numerous claims have been made against her by coworkers and friends, saying that she had Munchhausen Syndrome and if you don't know what it is then find on google, Dickhead...

  11. anonymous
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    Oct 17th 2008 !⃝

    Alright guys let us get a couple things straight about Em's father because there was an article about it in Rolling Stone a few years ago.

    Eminem's father was interviewed by Rolling Stone and his father talked about what happened to the situation when he left his family.

    They were living in a motel at the time and Mr. Mather's had left to go out somewhere, I want to say the supermarket but I cannot recall exactly. Now, he came from wherever he was and his son was gone along with his mother. His father has tried to reach out to him but Em won't here none of it. Eminem was corrupted by his mother to believe that his father was evil and deceitful just as I was by my mother. Eminem never had the opportunity when he was young enough to clear things up with his father like I did.

    This song is basically what most people are talking about, his mother and how she tortured him and always held him back. However, he does try to wipe the slate clean but there is so much hatred for what she had done to him and she made him struggle.

    I don't think it is "Cleaning Out My Closet" but it relates to this song. Eminem legit sits there and says he does not owe his mother anything and that he has accomplished everything on his own. If you look at it, because of the way he was raised by his mother he turned out to be the greatest rapper alive, greatest rapper ever. For that he really should be eternally grateful.

  12. anonymous
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    Aug 13th 2008 !⃝

    Doode, ROLLINGSTONE...I clearly don't know your life...
    but eminem lets his anger out in his songs... I've started doing that too...
    I write shit about my mom cause she's an alcoholic/drug addict....
    it fucking hurts to see you're mom like that and have no where to turn...
    my dad died over a year ago...so I do know. I don't think you understand em's music.

  13. anonymous
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    Apr 22nd 2008 !⃝

    Hey "rollingstone" were you there being abused by his mom? I mean I don't know your life but maybe this was a way to let his anger out instead of killing her.

  14. anonymous
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    Feb 11th 2008 !⃝

    It's about how he hates his mom, and how he wants his daughter and his brother to have nothing to do with her. He also talks about how he doesn't want to ruin his daughters life like his dad and mom did to him. He doesn't hate life, and he's not apologizing. This is his way of saying "Mom, you ruined my life and there's no way of making it right. for that, you will never see your granddaughter and now I'm gonna tell the whole fucking world about what you did to me. Now the world hates you. Happy?" She deserves it

  15. borbas001
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    May 21st 2007 !⃝

    This song is a little different this time he apologises to his mom for all the things that he has done to her like insulting hr in her songs

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway



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