Meaning Behind the Song “‘Till I Collapse” by Eminem

When Eminem released his fourth studio album The Eminem Show in 2002, its promotional single “Without Me,” as well as subsequent singles post-release like “Superman” and “Sing for the Moment,” stole the show. With all three of these aforementioned tracks reaching the top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, and the album sitting atop the Billboard 200 for six straight weeks, some songs on the track list were ultimately left to the wayside.

One of these was “‘Till I Collapse,” the 18th song on the 20-song track list. The track was aided by a chorus from the now-late Nate Dogg, regarded as one of the catchiest songwriters in hip-hop at the time. “‘Till I Collapse” truly did not get the credit it deserved until after The Eminem Show‘s rollout and promotion winded down.

Eminem’s List

One of the primary storylines involved in “‘Till I Collapse,” aside from its infectious ‘Til the smoke clears out, am I high? Perhaps / I’ma rip this shit ’til my bones collapse hook, is the fellow rappers Em listed in the song’s second verse. Likely alluding to who he believed to be the best artists in the genre in 2002, Em rattled off his top 8, which included names like André 3000, Redman, and deceased legends Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.

I got a list, here’s the order of my list that it’s in
It goes: Reggie, Jay-Z, 2Pac and Biggie
André from OutKast, Jada, Kurupt, Nas, and then me
But in this industry I’m the cause of a lot of envy

However, when revisiting his list in 2020, under a tweet from hip-hop Youtuber No Life Shaq, Em added names and subtracted a few. Taking out Jadakiss and Kurupt, he filled plugged in more icons like LL Cool J, Kendrick Lamar, and Royce Da 5’9.”

“For me, in no particular order… Toss up between wayne, pac, royce, jay, redman, treach, g. rap, biggie & king crook…. Plus redman, LL, nas, joyner, kendrick, cole, andre, rakim, kane,” he tweeted in two separate responses.

Flying Under the Radar

As mentioned before, “‘Till I Collapse” was an underrated gem of The Eminem Show. But, even though it never found its way on the Hot 100, the streaming numbers and sales it racked up years later spoke volumes about its impact. In February 2021, the song became the first non-single to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify.

A year later in March 2022, RIAA certified it as 8x platinum, slowly but surely creeping up on becoming Eminem’s seventh diamond song. Still with the honor of most streamed non-single, “‘Till I Collapse” currently sits at 1.6 billion plays on Spotify.

Inspiring millions of fans with a message about perseverance and determination, “‘Till I Collapse” and its organic rise is now one of the highlights of Eminem’s illustrious career.

Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic