Eminem Is Haunted By His Past In "The Monster ft. Rihanna"

By Meghan O'Keefe

December 17, 2013 / 10:54 AM

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What haunts Eminem? According to the new music video for "The Monster," Em is most afraid of himself. The music video starts with Eminem going through a therapy session with Rihanna dressed as his sexy shrink and follows the hip hop superstar as he goes through his most iconic moments--and tries to get away from them?

Eminem has had a very public battle with drug addiction and it seems that in "The Monster," he's pointing the finger at himself for his troubles. The video not only serves as a retrospective on his career, but suggests that his greatest moments serve as his greatest personal monsters.

eminem the monster

The plot of the video follows Eminem as he descends in an elevator watching himself stuck in iconic moments from his career. First, he's tied up in a straight-jacked as he was in the video for "My Name Is." Only his therapist switches from Dr. Dre to Rihanna at the last minute, implying that the image of Dre watching over his progress is an illusion. Then, we see him in the same scenarios as in the "Lose Yourself" and "The Way I Am" music videos. Then, the imagery shifts from iconic music video moments to the famous image of him hugging Elton John on stage. Rihanna's inclusion on the song itself could also be seen as a reference to "Love The Way You Lie."

The last level of the video is a new scene. Eminem gets off on the ground floor and leaves the "building" to discover two military officers pointing guns at some sort of violent monster in a cage. The titular monster is, of course, Eminem himself.

The monster version of Eminem throws scraps of paper at the rapper, and while we never see the message, you have to wonder if Eminem is saying that the most dangerous, violent and wounded part of himself is where his genius comes from.

[Photo Credit: Interscope Records]