Just Don't Give a Fuck

"Just Don't Give a Fuck" (known as "Just Don't Give" in the clean version of The Slim Shady LP) is the debut single by American rapper Eminem. The original version appears on his EP The Slim Shady EP. A re-recorded version later appeared as the fifteenth track on his second studio album The Slim Shady LP. The song samples the song "Beverly Kills" from Insane Clown Posse's album Beverly Kills 50187 and "I Don't Give a Fuck" by Tupac.

Lyrical content

The song lyrics display an indifferent Eminem stating the fact that he is not concerned about a listener or critic"s opinion of him, hence this song"s title. Some of the song's lyrics started disputes with other white rappers, namely Everlast, Miilkbone and Vanilla Ice. All three artists later released diss tracks against Eminem. Miilkbone released "Dear Slim" and "Presenting Miilkbone" and Vanilla Ice released "Exhale" and "Hip Hop Rules" (both from his album Bi-Polar released in 2001), while Everlast had a long-lasting feud with Eminem. Although Eminem dissed Vanilla Ice in other tracks (such as "Marshall Mathers" and "Role Model"), he did not reply to either him or Miilkbone after their respective disses.^[1]

The version of the song on The Slim Shady LP is one of a small number of Eminem tracks which has selective censorship on the uncensored version of the album. In the third verse, the word raped is reversed and replaced by female screaming.^[2]

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic marked it as a stand out on LP.^[3] RapReviews described the beat of the song "head nodding" but he also noted that remix version is wrong: "new one (remix) is lifeless and oddly out of place among an album full of mostly dope cuts" comparing to the "golden" non remixed version.^[4]

Music video

The black-and-white video, interspersed with some color, is set in a trailer park in the summer. A variety of scenes, unrelated to each other, are shown, starting with a boy being stopped by a woman from taking food off a table. The boy returns as Eminem and chokes the woman. In one version, the video shows him beating her and throwing her on a bed. The video also includes scenes of people drinking and swimming in a pool. Additional scenes include aliens, a clown, and people eating watermelons.