“I Need A Doctor” Song Analysis

The Second Essay for my Hip Hop Theater Class

TFDP 115

Professor Rickerby Hinds

18 May 2018

“I Need A Doctor” featuring Marshall Mathers, Skylar Grey, and Andre Young is a tribute to the mentor and mentee relationship between Mathers and Young, that explores the passion and past of each of their careers as well as allowing itself to tackle broader topics such as dealing with negativity and having low self-esteem.

“I Need A Doctor” is a song that is dominantly song by Marshall Mathers, famously known as Eminem, features Skylar Grey singing the chorus, but is credited as belonging to Andrew Young who is famously known as Dr. Dre. Eminem, born Marshall Mathers, is a rapper born in Missouri but grew up in Michigan. In 1989, Mathers developed his “Slim Shady” alter ego and released his first album Slim Shady LP, which helped him with his rise to success (“Eminem Bio”). Mathers is known for writing and producing songs that created a lot of controversy in his career, some even leading to estranged relationships with family members. This early controversy in his music is what likely helped him in his rise to fame since it created media buzz for his music. After releasing his album Slim Shady EP, he caught the attention of Andre Young, known by his stage name Dr. Dre, and they began to work on Mathers’ music together. Many of his songs included violence, including his song “‘97 Bonnie and Clyde.” The song depicts Mathers “lovingly to his baby daughter ” while he is dumping the dead body of her mother in water (“Eminem Bio”). While some might believe that these images are disturbing, they are still what contributed to the early success of Mathers’ career. Songs with such violence and controversy as “ ’97 Bonnie and Clyde” have resulted in lawsuits from both his ex-wife as well as a defamation suit from his own mother. He took a hiatus from music and then released his album called Relapse which was meant to be part of his come back but it did not “[sell] as well as the rapper’s career-defining earlier efforts” (“Eminem Bio”). While it did help start his career, the violence of the Slim Shady caused much controversy and problems in Mathers’ life. Dr. Dre is a former and founding member of the rap group N.W.A who later went on to pursue is his own solo career. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, Young had little interest in school but took much of an interest in music. After collaborating with other hip-hop icons such as Ice Cube and Eazy-E, the stage names for both O’Shea Jackson and Eric Wright respectively, the three of them eventually formed the N.W.A with other members of the N.W.A joining later. Jackson was the first to leave the group with Young eventually deciding to leave later as well. While Young has had a thriving music career, he has also been in a “series of tangles with the law” (“Dr. Dre Bio”). Many of these crimes involved Young assaulting other people such as female hosts of shows he appeared on as well as record producer Damon Thomas. This has resulted in much criticism towards Young as well as negative stories about him in the media.

Even though “I Need A Doctor” is a song that is a tribute to the relationship between Mathers and Young it is also a song about self-esteem. It was written by Mathers and Young, with them rapping in the track and Skylar Grey singing the chorus as well. Mathers is singing to his mentor and thanking him for the things he has done for him. Mathers thanks Dr. Dre for believing in him and helping to start his career. In his last verse of the song, Mathers states that he is “crying in this booth” while he is asking Young to return to his career and continue his music (Marshall Mathers). The show of emotion that Mathers has towards the song further displays the intimate relationship between both artists. They have both had struggles in their career and now that Eminem has changed his sound, as said in his own single “Not Afraid,” he is trying to help Young return to making music (.

The lyrics help push the narrative of the song in Young’s verse when he describes the “yellow jumpsuit” Mathers wore when they first worked in the studio (Andre Young). Describing this memory exposes more the close relationship between Mathers and Young. Using this memory in the song indicates that Young treasures this memory between both him and Mathers as well as their relationship as a whole. In the song Young refers to Mathers as “Slim,” referencing Mathers’ former alter ego Slim Shady. Mathers says the line “I don’t know if I was awake or asleep when I wrote this” referencing the struggles Mathers has had with drug addiction (Marshall Mathers). Young and Mathers already knew each other at this point in Mathers’ life, indicating how much the two have been through together. This songs comes a year after Mathers released his own song “Not Afraid,” which focused on Mathers’ transition in the sound of his music as well as promise to be a “better father to his daughters” (Smooth). “Not Afraid” was released after Mathers’ own hiatus and discusses the struggles that Mathers had with his drug addiction. Mathers has returned to music after dealing with his own struggles and “I Need A Doctor” is acting as his plea to have his former mentor join him in his return to music.

In the duration of “I Need A Doctor” there is the use of hospital machine sounds as part of the the aesthetic for the song as well as the use of the flatline sound in order to help push the narrative of the song. After the first verse there is the sound of a machine that measures the heartbeat of a person. The audio makes it seems as though the person’s heart has stopped beating and the machine flatlines. After the sound of a flatinline is heard, Mathers begins his plea to Young which indicates that Young is the one flatlining. Rather than meaning that Young is actually dying, the flatline is used to indicate how Young’s music career has stopped through the analogy of a heartbeat stopping. Right before Dr. Dre’s verse in the song, the machine sounds as though the person’s heartbeat has started up again. This indicates that Young has essentially come “back to life” with the help of Mathers’ plea (Skylar Grey). While at the beginning of the song it might seem as though Mathers needs a doctor for the unknown person he is speaking to, but once Mathers directly addresses Dr. Dre, it becomes clear that Mathers is the one in need of help when he says “Get up, Dre, I’m dying” (Marshall Mathers). The hospital aesthetic of the songs ties in with Andre Young’s stage name, Dr. Dre. A hospital is where medical doctors are found, but Mathers is searching for his own doctor in Dr. Dre. The duration of the song is Mathers’ tribute to Dr. Dre and concludes with the final verse of the song rapped by Dr. Dre himself. Since the majority of the lyrics are Mathers thanking Dr. Dre for his part in Mathers’ career as well as encouraging Dr. Dre to accept Mathers’ help in Dr. Dre’s struggle, the use of the transition from a flatline sound to heartbeats indicates how Dr. Dre has come “back to life” after hearing Mathers’ message to him (Skylar Grey). It can be interpreted that Mathers is at Young’s hospital bed making this plea to him while Young is hooked up to the multiple hospital machines featured in the song. Within the song, I noticed that Mathers’ tone of voice gets louder as the song goes on. The escalation in the volume of his voice indicates how deeply invested Mathers is in the Young’s career due to the part Young played in Mathers own career. If someone is in the hospital, then that person’s family members are likely to talk to them as well as make a plea for that person to be healthy again. Before Young’s only verse in the song, Skylar Grey can be heard singing the chorus, but the chorus is then overshadowed by the sounds of the hospital machines and the sound of breathing. This emphasizes the beginning of Young returning to music as Mathers has brought Young “back to life” through his words and the breathing and heartbeats belong to Young (Skylar Grey). The beat in the backgrounds sounds like a heartbeat, referencing the hospital aesthetic of the song and indicating the sound of Young’s heartbeat, or rather the beats in his music.

My own personal connection with this song is through Skylar Grey. I do not listen to hip-hop music on a regular occurrence, so there are few hip-hop songs that I actually like. Most of these songs have the insertion of a person singing the chorus while rest of the song is the main artist rapping. Any time I find a hip-hop song to listen to it is through the radio. When I heard Skylar Grey sing the lyrics “I’m about to lost my mind/You’ve been gone for so long” on the radio it made me pay attention to the song more than I would have if she were not in it (Skylar Grey). Sometimes I would have the song on repeat just to listen to Skylar Grey sing and then ignore the rest of the lyrics and wait for her to sing again. After a while, I I knew of Eminem because I had previously listened to his other songs like “Not Afraid.” While the song is definitely a tribute to Mathers’ and Young’s mentor and mentee relationship together, I believe that the lyrics can also be broadly applied to self-esteem. Mathers refers to “[d]emons fighting you” while making his plea to Young in his first verse of the song (Marshall Mathers). This line can be applied to anyone that is struggling with depression and a low esteem. While Mathers is clearly talking directly to Young in his verses of the song, any fan listening to the song can take the lyrics of the song and interpret it as Mathers talking directly to them as well. The fact that the lyrics can also be applied to other people on a broader scale regarding self-esteem and dealing with negativity in one’s life is something I admire about the song as well. Another reason I have a connection with this song is that I tend to only listen to hip-hop songs that are about subjects other than love, especially if I can a find a deeper meaning in the song. Even though “I Need A Doctor” is credited as Dr. Dre’s song, I identify more with the lyrics sung by Skylar Grey and Eminem. One of the reasons I do not listen to much hip-hop music is because of the unnecessary use of curse words and slurs. In Dr. Dre’s verse at the end of the song, he uses a slur that is frequently used against the LGBTQ+ community (“I Need A Doctor”). I do not like when artists use slurs such as this one which is why I tend to steer away from listening to hip-hop, but since Marshall Mathers and Skylar Grey are heard for the majority of the song I still enjoy listening to “I Need A Doctor.”

“I Need A Doctor” sung by Marshall Mathers, Skylar Grey, and Andre Young is a song that challenges the negative perceptions against both Mathers and Young that also announces a new beginning in both of their own careers. Throughout the song, Mathers and Young reassert their bond as well as taking away the idea of letting other people put them down.

Works Cited

1. “Dr. Dre Bio.” Rolling Stone, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/dr-dre/biography. Accessed 15 May 2018.
2. “Eminem Bio.” Rolling Stone, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/eminem/biography. Accessed 14 May 2018.
3. Mathers, Marshall; Skylar Grey, & Andre Young. “I Need A Doctor.” Detox, Universal Music Publishing Group, 2011.
4. Smooth, Jay. “Eminem: ‘Not Afraid’ To Make Amends.” NPR, NPR, 26 May 2010, www.npr.org/2010/05/26/127119885/eminem-not-afraid-to-make-amends.