Middle America was terrified. In the year 2000, you couldn't turn on a news station without seeing a panicked anchor talking about the "moral decay" of the youth. At the center of that storm stood two men who seemed like they were competing to see who could get banned from the most malls: Marshall Mathers and Brian Warner.
Most people remember them as separate entities of chaos. You had the blonde rapper from Detroit and the pale, contact-lens-wearing shock rocker from Florida. But for a brief, incredibly intense window of time, the lines blurred. Eminem as Marilyn Manson wasn't just a costume choice or a throwaway lyric. It was a calculated alliance between two artists who realized they were being used as the same scapegoat for every tragedy in the country.
Honestly, the connection was deeper than a few music video cameos. Before Dr. Dre even saw the potential, Eminem’s management was literally pitching him to record labels as the "Marilyn Manson of rap."
The Night Shady Became the Antichrist Superstar
If you want to understand the peak of this "crossover," you have to look at the music video for My Name Is. It's one of the most iconic visuals of the late 90s. Towards the end, Eminem appears in full Manson drag—long, stringy black hair, heavy white face paint, and that signature gloomy, rhythmic swaying.
It was hilarious. It was also a massive middle finger.
The story goes that Eminem saw the costume in a store and decided on the spot to wear it for the final scene. His director, Philip Atwell, reportedly had no idea it was coming. When Em walked out of the dressing room looking like he’d just crawled out of a Mechanical Animals photoshoot, the crew just rolled with it.
But it wasn't just a joke.
Both artists were being hammered by Congress. After the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, the media didn't look at mental health or gun laws; they looked at the liner notes of Antichrist Superstar and The Slim Shady LP. They were the twin faces of "bad influence."
By dressing as Manson, Eminem was basically saying, "If you're going to treat us like the same monster, I might as well look the part."
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Why Manson Said "No" to Shady
Here is a bit of trivia that usually shocks people: Eminem actually wanted Marilyn Manson to be on his debut album. Specifically, he wanted him for the hook on '97 Bonnie & Clyde.
Think about that for a second.
The song is about Eminem taking his daughter to the beach to dump his wife's body in the ocean. It is arguably the darkest thing he ever wrote. Manson, the guy who used to tear up Bibles on stage, actually turned it down.
Why? Because it was "too misogynistic."
In a 2007 interview with SPIN, Manson admitted that he liked the record, but the idea of being associated with that specific narrative was a step too far even for him. He joked that he doesn't even drive, so why would he be helping someone put a girl in a trunk?
It’s a weirdly wholesome moment in a very unwholesome friendship. Two of the most "dangerous" men in the world drew a line at a song about domestic violence.
The Way I Am: The Ultimate Collaboration
Eventually, they did find common ground. If My Name Is was the parody, The Way I Am was the reality.
In the official music video, you can see Manson looming behind Eminem like a ghost. He doesn't say a word. He just stands there, a physical manifestation of the controversy the lyrics are describing.
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"When a dude's getting bullied and shoots up his school / And they blame it on Marilyn and the heroin / Where were the parents at?"
Those lyrics were a direct defense of Manson. Eminem was pointing out the hypocrisy of a society that blames entertainers for the failures of parenting.
The bond went beyond the screen. During the Anger Management Tour in 2001, Eminem brought Manson out on stage in Hamburg, Germany, and later in Barcelona. They performed a heavy, industrial-tinged remix of The Way I Am (produced by Danny Lohner of Nine Inch Nails).
Watching the footage now is surreal. You have a stadium full of rap fans screaming along to a rock star singing the chorus. It was a bridge between two subcultures—the "freaks" and the "hoods"—that normally didn't mix.
The Marketing Genius of the "Marilyn Manson of Rap"
Marky Bass, one-half of the Bass Brothers who helped discover Eminem, once told the Sun-Herald that "shock rap" was their intentional strategy. They knew that a white kid who could rap wasn't enough to break through the noise of the late 90s.
They needed a hook.
They looked at what Manson was doing in the rock world—the calculated outrage, the costume changes, the "public enemy number one" persona—and they applied it to Hip-Hop.
It worked better than anyone expected.
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Eminem didn't just become the "Marilyn Manson of rap." He became bigger. While Manson eventually settled into a niche as a cult figure (and later faced serious real-world legal allegations that tarnished his legacy), Eminem’s career trajectory went toward "elder statesman" of the genre.
What Most People Get Wrong
People often think they were best friends who hung out every weekend. That's probably not true. Based on interviews from both sides, they were more like "mutually respected coworkers."
They were two guys who found themselves in the same foxhole during a culture war.
They shared a stylist at one point. They shared a label (Interscope). They even shared a specific type of fan: the kid who felt like an outsider and wanted to scare their parents.
But their lifestyles were worlds apart. Eminem was a father who, despite his lyrics, was notoriously private and focused on his craft. Manson was... well, he was Manson. A full-time performance artist who lived the character 24/7.
Why It Still Matters in 2026
The "Eminem as Marilyn Manson" era was the last time pop culture felt truly dangerous. Today, everyone tries to be controversial for clicks. Back then, these guys were actually being investigated by the government.
They proved that you could take the heat from the entire world and turn it into a multi-platinum career.
If you want to see the DNA of this collaboration in today's music, look at artists like Tyler, The Creator in his early years, or even the aesthetic of "rage" rappers. The idea of the "villain" as the protagonist started right here.
Your Next Steps:
- Watch the Live Remix: Go find the 2001 Hamburg performance of The Way I Am on YouTube. The energy is vastly different from the studio version.
- Check the Lyrics: Re-read the second verse of The Way I Am and Who Knew. Eminem breaks down the Columbine/Manson connection better than any sociology professor ever could.
- Listen to the Lohner Remix: Search for the Danny Lohner Remix of The Way I Am. It features actual vocals from Manson on the hook and gives the track a much grittier, industrial feel.