Song: The Way I Am ~~ 2000 ~~ 4:50
Artist: Eminem
LP/CD: The Marshall Mathers LP ~~ Aftermath/Interscope ~~ 2000
Composer: Eminem

Dré, just let it run
A-yo, turn the beat up a little bit
A-yo, this song is for anyone, f*** it
Just shut up and listen, a-yo

I sit back with this pack of Zig Zags and this bag
Of this weed, it gives me the s*** needed to be
The most meanest MC on this on this Earth
And since birth I’ve been cursed with this curse to just curse
And just blurt this berserk and bizarre s*** that works
And it sells and it helps in itself to relieve
All this tension, dispensin’ these sentences
Gettin’ this stress that’s been eatin’ me recently off o’ this chest
And I rest again peacefully
But at least have the decency in you
To leave me alone when you freaks see me out
In the streets when I’m eatin or feedin’ my daughter
To not come and speak to me
I don’t know you and, no, I don’t owe you a motherf***in’ thing
I’m not Mr. ‘NSync, I’m not what your friends think
I’m not Mr. Friendly, I can be a prick
If you tempt me, my tank is on empty
No patience is in me and if you offend me
I’m liftin you 10 feet in the air
I don’t care who is there and who saw me destroy you
Go call you a lawyer, file you a lawsuit
I’ll smile in the courtroom and buy you a wardrobe
I’m tired of all you
I don’t mean to be mean but that’s all I can be is just me

And I am whatever you say I am
If I wasn’t, then why would I say I am
In the paper, the news, every day I am
Radio won’t even play my jam

‘Cause I am, whatever you say I am
If I wasn’t, then why would I say I am
In the paper, the news, every day I am
I don’t know it’s just the way I am

Sometimes I just feel like my father, I hate to be bothered
With all of this nonsense, it’s constant
And oh, it’s his lyrical content
The song “Guilty Conscience” has gotten such rotten responses
And all of this controversy circles me
And it seems like the media immediately points a finger at me
So I point one back at ‘em, but not the index or pinkie
Or the ring or the thumb, it’s the one you put up
When you don’t give a f***, when you won’t just put up
With the bulls*** they pull ‘cause they full of s*** too
When a dude’s gettin bullied and shoots up his school
And they blame it on Marilyn and the heroin
Where were the parents at and look where it’s at
Middle America, now it’s a tragedy
Now it’s so sad to see an upper class city
Havin’ this happenin’
Then attack Eminem ‘cause I rap this way
But I’m glad ‘cause they feed me the fuel that I need for the fire
To burn and it’s burnin and I have returned

And I am whatever you say I am
If I wasn’t, then why would I say I am
In the paper, the news, every day I am
Radio won’t even play my jam

‘Cause I am, whatever you say I am
If I wasn’t, then why would I say I am
In the paper, the news, every day I am
I don’t know it’s just the way I am

I’m so sick and tired of bein’ admired
That I wish that I would just die or get fired
And dropped from my label and stop with the fables
I’m not gonna be able to top on “My Name Is..”
And pigeon-holed into some poppy sensation
To cop me rotation at Rock & Roll stations
And I just do not got the patience
To deal with these cocky Caucasians who think
I’m some whigger who just tries to be black ‘cause I talk with an accent
And grab on my b***s, so they always keep askin’ the same f***in’ questions
What school did I go to, what hood I grew up in
The why, the who, what, when, the where, and the how
Till I’m grabbin’ my hair and I’m tearin’ it out
‘Cause they drivin’ me crazy, I can’t take it
I’m racin’, I’m pacin’, I stand and I sit
And I’m thankful for every fan that I get
But I can’t take a s*** in the bathroom without someone standin’ by it
No, I won’t sign your autograph
You can call me an a******, I’m glad

‘Cause I am whatever you say I am
If I wasn’t, then why would I say I am
In the paper, the news, every day I am
Radio won’t even play my jam

‘Cause I am, whatever you say I am
If I wasn’t, then why would I say I am
In the paper, the news, every day I am
I don’t know it’s just the way I am

Transcribed by: Char Star
Uploaded on: August 27, 2000