Cleanin' Out My Closet

In this song Eminem talks about his mother who he feels neglected and mistreated him. When he says "Remember when Ronnie died and you said you wished that was me," he is referring to his uncle Ronnie who committed suicide in 1991. Eminem has a tattoo with his name on his left arm which reads R.I.P. with Ronnie written below it.

This was used in some of the first trailers for Eminem's movie 8 Mile. It was going to be featured in the film, but Eminem objected because he thought it was too personal. He wrote "Lose Yourself" to use in the movie and made sure to write it as the character he played in the movie.

The phrase "Cleaning out my closet" is saying that he is tired of keeping the truth about his past inside, and he wants to let everyone know about the things that happened in his childhood.