Not Afraid
"Not Afraid" is a song by the American rapper Eminem from his seventh album Recovery. It was released as the album's lead single on April 27, 2010, by Interscope Records. "Not Afraid" was first revealed as a single by Eminem via Twitter, after which the song debuted on radio. To promote the single's release, a freestyle rap, "Despicable", was released on the Internet and received attention for its tone and lyrical content. "Not Afraid" was written and produced by Eminem, Boi-1da, Jordan Evans, and Matthew Burnett; keyboardist Luis Resto was also attributed with songwriting credit. According to Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg and music critics, "Not Afraid" carries a positive message and depicts Eminem's change in direction from drugs and violence. The hip hop song features a choir that assists Eminem in a heavily layered chorus and vocals are sung over a guitar, synthesizer, and piano; no Auto-Tune was used on the sung vocals, but many reverberation tools were.
"Not Afraid" received positive reviews from music critics, who praised the song for being anthemic in nature and carrying a positive message. The song did, however, face criticism for its sudden change in theme from previous singles, and was considered to be less affecting than some of his other songs. "Not Afraid" became the 16th song in Billboard history to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 at number one; it also debuted as a chart-topper in Canada. In June 2014 the song was certified 10× Platinum by RIAA, making Eminem the first artist with digital diamond awards for two songs. "Not Afraid" has earned Eminem MTV Video Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards Japan, Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and Detroit Music Awards.
The song was accompanied by a music video, which Rich Lee directed in May 2010. New York City and Newark, New Jersey, were chosen as settings to shoot the video. Reviewers praised the video as it followed the lyrics and praised the video for such depictions. However, the product placement in the video by Nike shoes and Beats by Dr. Dre headphones was criticized. In 2010, Eminem performed "Not Afraid" at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010, Oxegen 2010, T in the Park 2010, and the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. He has also performed the song at the Bonnaroo Music Festival, Lollapalooza, and the V Festival. Rolling Stone ranked it the 24th best song of 2010, making it Eminem's most successful single since "Lose Yourself", until it was surpassed by "Love the Way You Lie".
Writing and recording
In 2009, Eminem planned to release Relapse 2, a sequel to his sixth studio album Relapse. However, he cancelled the project and released a completely different studio album titled Recovery. He said, "as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album." "Not Afraid" was primarily produced by the Canadian hip hop musician Boi-1da. According to Mike Strange, who recorded "Not Afraid", he wanted to work with Boi-1da after listening to his "Forever", which he had produced for the rapper Drake. Boi-1da sent Strange many tracks, to some of which Eminem wrote lyrics. These tracks were opened in Pro Tools, as Strange proceeded to record Eminem's vocals. Recording sessions took place at Effigy Studios, in Ferndale, Michigan, but Boi-1da was absent during the sessions of the track.The original tracks sent to Strange included mostly drums and keyboard pads; they were placed under an inactive track titled "Orig beatz". The instrumentation included a Roland TR-808 kick, a regular live kick, a hi-hat, a ride cymbal and a snare drum. Underneath the track, there were horn, orchestra hit and pads, including a Mellotron sound that plays the chord progression. Strange told Sound on Sound magazine, "I like to have the vocal tracks at the top of the Session, because in hip-hop they are the most important element." Two of Eminem's were placed underneath his main vocal track, as one of them featured his introductory words. Each play of the chorus was an overdub and not copies of a sample; the only exception was the intro. The vocals for the bridge were overdubbed six times; Auto-Tune was not used at all in the song. The Detroit musician Luis Resto provided keyboard tracks on the bridge, including piano and guitar sound effects. Resto also added orchestration in the chorus and bridge of the song.
Strange arranged the Pro Tools session in a more traditional manner by laying out the drums, bass instruments, guitars, keyboards, main vocals and overdubs from left to right. While mixing, he began with drums, then the main vocals. He added the chorus and bridge, followed by other instrumentation. Strange mixed the track to satisfy Eminem, who, after entering the studio, made his own adjustments, providing additional production; by then, Resto's tracks were added. Strange made adjustments to Boi-1da's tracks, using SSL equalization and some compression. To keep the track in tune from pitch fluctuation, Strange used Trim and Auto-Tune on Resto's TR-808 kick. Strange arranged reverberation tools, including the Bricasti, Eventide 2016, the Lexicon 480, Lexicon PMC70, and the Yamaha SPX90.
The two rap tracks in the session used the Massenburg EQ plug-in, "the '9' send goes to the eighth-note delay track immediately above the two rap tracks" and Digidesign Extra Long Delay. Strange also used compressors, including the Alta Moda Unicomp, which he felt works well on vocals, as well as the kick and snare drums. Boi-1da's track mostly used SSL and compression, but the bass used an API 550a. A Digidesign compressor limiter was set up on one of the horn sounds while the Massenburg EQ was used on an OB8 sound. Answering Eminem's request, string overdubs were arranged and recorded by Jordan Evans and Matthew Burnett—providing additional production—and Robert Reyes recorded the choir's vocals.
Composition
"Not Afraid" is a hip hop song written and produced by Rick Crowe, Eminem, Evans and Burnett; Resto did additional writing. Boi-1da provided drums; Evans and Burnett provided string sounds. The lyrics focus on a positive change from Eminem's past experiences, including an end to drug abuse, feuds and violence. The Los Angeles Times noted that a person hearing this song for the first time may identify it as Christian hip hop. MTV News writer Shaheem Reid noted that "There are no jabs at pop-culture icons, no jovial goofballing." Led by a guitar, synthesizer and piano, "Not Afraid" is published in the key of C minor and has a moderate tempo of 86 beats per minute, according to the sheet music published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing. A writer for MuchMusic website noted that Eminem chose to use his Marshall Mathers ego for the song, rather than Slim Shady. He follows a chord progression of Cm–A–E–B in the chorus.The song begins with a brief introduction in which Eminem says while the chorus plays underneath, "Yeh, it's been a ride. I guess I had to go to that place to get to this one." When he begins the first verse, his lyrics threaten people who have looked down on him: "You can try to read my lyrics off of this paper before I lay 'em/ But you won't take the sting out these words before I say 'em." On the second verse, Eminem says that he has indeed made mistakes, commenting on his Relapse album: "That last Relapse CD was ehh/ Perhaps I ran them accents into the ground/ Relax, I ain't going to do that now." When he says "All I'm trying to say is get back, click clack, pow", a gunshot is heard. Approaching the end of the second verse, Eminem raps about his personal experiences: "But I think I'm still trying to figure this crap out/ Thought I had it mapped out, but I guess I didn't/ It's time to exercise these demons/ These motherfuckers are doing jumping jacks now." After the chorus, Eminem sings a bridge and focuses on a positive change, as he says "I just can't keep living this way, so starting today I'm breaking out of this cage." Before the final chorus, he says that he "shoots for the moon". The song features a choir composed of Kip Blackshire, Christal Garrick II, Terry Dexter, Rich King, Kristen Ashley Cole and Sly Jordan.
This song is also about how Slim Shady is leaving Eminem so he can "handle his responsibilities as a father." He promises to get his life together for better. In his 2018 studio album Kamikaze, Fall shows him getting the Slim Shady part of him "back." As he desperately runs away from the shadow, it catches up with him and he realizes he can't escape it.
Release and reception
On April 26, 2010, Eminem posted a message through his Twitter account that read, "I'm 'Not Afraid", without any elaboration. Fans and news organizations were able to interpret the message and announced that Eminem's first single from his seventh studio album, Recovery would be titled "Not Afraid". Radio personality Angela Yee, from radio station WWPR-FM, confirmed that the new single would debut on Eminem's uncensored radio station, Shade 45. Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg, told Billboard that "It's not a dark song, it's an uplifting song."The new single was initially slated to impact radio on April 30, 2010; however, the date was changed to three days earlier and the song eventually aired at 10 am ET, on Shade 45's show The Morning After with Angela Yee. On May 5, 2010, the single was made available for digital download at online retailers through Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. In the song, Eminem makes a reference to Relapse and spoke at Friday Night with Jonathan Ross about it: "...looking back on it now in retrospect, I feel like there was a lot of stuff on there that was humorous and shock value and I had to go back and listen to my older material and figure out why ... Relapse didn't make me feel like used to and kind of put the feeling back into what I do."
The song was featured in a trailer for the war film Act of Valor.