If you were anywhere near a car stereo or a sweaty dance floor in early 2006, you heard it. That bouncy, minimalist bassline. That smooth-as-butter baritone. And, of course, Eminem rapping about throwing up on his shoes. Nate Dogg and Eminem Shake That wasn't just a song; it was a cultural reset for how we viewed "Slim Shady" at the peak of his mid-2000s burnout.
It’s a weird track when you actually sit down and look at it. Released as the second single from Eminem’s first greatest hits compilation, Curtain Call: The Hits, it felt less like a career-spanning celebration and more like a rowdy, 3 a.m. detour. It shouldn’t have worked. By 2005, Em was spiraling into pill addiction, and his music was getting darker, weirder, and more erratic. Then, he drops a strip club banger? With the King of G-Funk?
Honestly, it was a stroke of genius.
The "Cheat Code" Factor of Nate Dogg
Most people forget that Nate Dogg and Eminem Shake That was actually nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. It lost to Justin Timberlake and T.I.’s "My Love," which, fair enough. But the fact that a song with the lyric "get more ass than a toilet seat" was even in the building tells you everything about the power of Nate Dogg.
Nate was basically a human cheat code. You put him on a hook, and the song becomes an instant classic. He brought a West Coast smoothness that balanced out Eminem's frantic, high-pitched energy. While Eminem is busy detailing a "routine" of drinking and vomiting in a bathroom sink, Nate Dogg slides in to tell us about "Conversation and Hennessy."
It’s the ultimate "odd couple" dynamic. Nate is the cool guy at the party who actually gets the girl; Eminem is the dude in the corner who’s had four too many shots and is about to start a fight with a plant.
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Why the production matters
Eminem actually produced this track himself, along with Luis Resto. If you listen closely, the beat is incredibly stripped back. It’s mostly just a looping, infectious piano-style synth and a heavy kick.
- Minimalism: There aren't a lot of layers, which leaves massive room for the vocals.
- The Tempo: At roughly 107 BPM, it’s faster than your average hip-hop track but slower than house, making it perfect for that specific "bump-and-shuffle" club vibe.
- The Bridge: That "we 'bout to have a party" section is pure 2000s nostalgia.
The Animated Video and the "Slim Shady" Mythos
You can’t talk about this song without mentioning the video. Because Eminem was largely avoiding the public eye at the time—dealing with personal issues and the exhaustion of the Encore era—they went with an animated music video.
Plates Animation handled the visuals, creating stylized, bobble-head versions of Em and Nate. It was smart. It allowed Eminem to maintain his "Shady" persona without actually having to show up to a film set. The video is set in a cartoon strip club, filled with the kind of over-the-top, slightly grotesque humor that defined the The Slim Shady LP era.
It’s one of those rare cases where the lack of a live-action video actually helped the song's longevity. It feels like a time capsule. Watching the cartoon Nate Dogg cruise in his car while the cartoon Eminem does a frantic dance at the bar is just... it’s peak 2005.
The TikTok Resurrection of Shake That
Here’s the thing about "old" music: Gen Z decides what stays and what goes. Recently, Nate Dogg and Eminem Shake That has seen a massive resurgence on TikTok and Reels.
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Why? Because the "Two to the one, from the one to the three" verse is incredibly "meme-able." It has a rhythmic cadence that fits perfectly with quick-cut editing. In 2025, the track surpassed 600 million streams on Spotify, a number that’s frankly insane for a "throwaway" track from twenty years ago.
It’s joined the ranks of "Mockingbird" and "Superman" as tracks that have found a second life with a generation that wasn't even born when Nate Dogg was still with us. It’s bittersweet, really. Nate passed away in 2011, and we haven't really seen a hook-man like him since. There’s a certain "depth" to his baritone that modern AI or auto-tune just can't recreate.
The Lyrics: What most people get wrong
A lot of people think this song is just a generic club track. It’s actually pretty self-deprecating. Eminem isn't playing the "cool rapper" role here. He’s playing a "menace," a "dentist," and an "oral hygienist." He’s leaning into the absurdity.
The "fluoride rinse" line? It’s classic Em—gross, clever, and completely unnecessary all at once. It’s that lyrical dexterity hidden inside a "dumb" club song that keeps people coming back.
Is it actually a "Good" song?
Critics at the time were split. Rolling Stone famously called it a "Nate Dogg throwaway." Sputnik Music, on the other hand, called it the "quintessential club banger."
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The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. It’s not "Stan." It’s not "Lose Yourself." It’s a song about a strip club. But in terms of technical execution—the way the vocals sit in the mix, the infectiousness of the hook, and the sheer charisma of the performers—it’s a masterclass.
It also serves as a bridge between the Dr. Dre-produced G-Funk of the 90s and the more electronic-influenced hip-hop that would dominate the late 2000s. It was the last time we got a truly massive collaboration between these two icons before the landscape of the industry shifted entirely.
How to experience the track today
If you want to appreciate the song properly, don't just listen to the radio edit. The "dirty" version is where the actual flow lives. The rhythm of the profanity—especially in Nate Dogg’s verse—is part of the percussion.
What to do next:
- Check out the "Casin" mashup: There is a famous mashup of this song with a track called "Casin" by glue70. It’s often called "You Reposted in the Wrong Neighborhood." It’s a weird internet rabbit hole that shows just how versatile the vocals are.
- Watch the official video again: Look for the small background details in the animation. There are several "Easter eggs" referencing Eminem’s earlier videos.
- Listen to Nate Dogg’s "Music & Me": If you only know him from this song, go back and listen to his solo work. You’ll realize why everyone in the industry called him the "King of Hooks."
The song is a reminder of a time when hip-hop didn't take itself so seriously. It was loud, it was crude, and it was undeniably fun. Sometimes, that's all a record needs to be.