Lose Yourself

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted
In one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

Yeah,
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out
He's choking how, everybody's joking now
The clock's run out, time's up over, bloah!
Snap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity
Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked
He's so mad, but he won't give up that
Easy, no
He won't have it, he knows his whole back's to these ropes
It don't matter, he's dope
He knows that, but he's broke
He's so stagnant that he knows
When he goes back to his mobile home, that's when it's
Back to the lab again yo
This whole rhapsody
He better go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him

x2
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go go
You only get one shot,
Do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo

This soul's escaping, through this hole that is gaping
This world is mine for the taking
Make me king, as we move toward a, new world order
A normal life is boring, but super stardom's close to post mortem
It only grows harder, homey grows hotter
He blows us all over these hoes is all on him
Coast to coast shows, he's know as the globetrotter
Lonely roads, God only knows
He's grown farther from home, he's no father
He goes home and barely knows his own daughter
But hold your nose cause here goes the cold water
His hoes don't want him no mo, he's cold product
They moved on to the next schmoe who flows
He nose dove and sold nada
So the soap opera is told and unfolds
I suppose it's old partner', but the beat goes on
Da da dum da dum da da

x2
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go go
You only get one shot,
Do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo

No more games, I'ma change what you call rage
Tear this motherf***ing roof off like two dogs caged
I was playing in the beginning, the mood all changed
I been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage
But I kept rhyming and stepwritin the next cypher
Best believe somebody's paying the pied piper
All the pain inside amplified by the
Fact that I can't get by with my nine to
Five and I can't provide the right type
Of life for my family
Cause man, these god***m food stamps don't buy diapers
And it's no movie, there's no Mekhi Phifer, this is my life
And these times are so hard and it's getting even harder
Trying to feed and water my seed, plus
Teeter totter caught up between being a father and a prima donna
Baby mama drama's screaming on and
Too much for me to wanna
Stay in one spot, another day of monotony
Has gotten me to the point, I'm like a snail
I've got to formulate a plot or end up in jail or shot
Success is my only motherf***ing option, failure's not
Mom, I love you, but this trailer's got to go
I cannot grow old in Salem's lot
So here I go is my shot.
Feet fail me not this may be the only opportunity that I got

x2
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go go
You only get one shot,
Do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo

You can do anything you set your mind to, man

Eminem 2002

Eminem was born Marshall Bruce Mathers III in 1972. He has had a successful run as a rapper and has done some acting as well. Eminem tends to cause controversy with his raps yet they catch on like wildfire. Some may know him better as Slim Shady. Many people followed Eminem enjoying how he seemed to speak his mind without concern of the repercussions.

This song has an obvious meaning to it and anyone who has seen the movie 8 mile can pick it out instantly but I think the lyrics can be twisted and applied to many situations in life. As the title suggests I think people lose themselves all too often. We give ourselves to so many areas in our life that we tend to lose focus of we are or who we once were. Between work, family, friends and obligations to them all, when is there time for oneself? In the lyrics you hear a man desperate to make his life better and telling himself it's now or never. He is losing himself in the music in order to fulfill his destiny, losing himself in order to find himself. He is dealing with the day to day life dragging him down and barely able to keep his head up. I can certainly relate to times when I have looked in the mirror and wondered who I was looking back at, this isn't the person I was supposed to be, this isn't where my life was supposed to go.

The chorus of the song pretty much sums it up. You get one shot in life, you have to take it and make it what you want it to be. You cannot just let go or you may lose yourself forever. Sometimes in life we have to make decisions that are not easy to make yet they are the decisions that are best for us. Rather than lose our being it is better to make the hard decision and retain our self identity. Sometimes we have to do what we have to do for ourselves and hope others can support that. You can only give so much of yourself before there is nothing to give and you have no idea who you are. The song tells us to go for your dream, grab the moment. Live in the moment and make it your own.