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The Story Behind ‘Stan’: The Eminem Song That Added a New Word to the Dictionary

“Stan” has been a part of our cultural lexicon for what seems like forever. But how did Eminem come up with the term in the first place?

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It feels like ‘Stan’ has always been a part of our cultural lexicon. What better way to describe an obsessive fan than the term Eminem coined on The Marshall Mathers LP? In June 2018, it even became an official term that the Oxford Dictionary acknowledged. But where did it even come from?

Producer The 45 King beats floated around Interscope Records before eventually landing with the Detroit MC and his manager, Paul Rosenberg. He immediately took note of the Dido lyric, “But your picture on my wall.” His mind started to wander to the kind of fans who live and die behind an artist’s work.

“When I heard the words to that song, I was like, ‘Yo, this is an obsessed........

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