14 DAY TRIAL // After the campy video for the first single off the “Relapse” album, “We Made You,” Eminem shows that he can still serve fans with a wide range of “choices” as regards his artistic approach. The full-length video for “3 a.m.,” the rapper’s goriest and most violent track and video to date, has been released – and it should come with a PG-13 rating, according to many.
The video, directed by Syndrome, shows Em in a posture he has never been seen before, but which is strikingly reminiscent of “Stan,” which also explored the darker side of the rapper. At first, what fans see is a seemingly confused Eminem sitting in the woods at night – bloody flashbacks will then explain why, taking the viewer on a violent journey that will see Eminem as a psychotic murderer slashing his way out of a mental institution.
Of course, the lyrics go just perfectly with what is shown in the video, with rhymes like: “I remember the first time I dismembered a family member/December I think it was/I was having drinks with my cuz and I wrapped him in Christmas lights/Pushed him into the stinkin’ tub/Cut him up into pieces/And just when I went to drink his blood I thought I outta drink this bath water/That outta be fun/That’s when my days of serial murder man slaughter begun.”
The reaction to the full-length video has been, so far, mixed. While some fans are clearly disappointed by it, saying they would have preferred something more “personal” than a track about a serial murderer and a video that verges more on horror film than a music video, others find it extremely interesting, daring and controversial, just like the rapper himself. What both have in common is that they wish Em could have found a way to shoot the vid differently so that it gets airplay on traditional music channels as well, which, obviously, can’t happen as it is now.
As we reported a few days ago, the video for “3 a.m.” premiered on Cinemax, HBO’s twin channel, where it will presumably remain because of its highly violent images. Click here to see it in full length but keep in mind that some discretion is advised.