Photo by Scott Dudelson/WireImage
On “Stan,” the closing track from his new album East Atlanta Love Letter, singer and rapper 6LACK uses the popular term for an obsessive fan as a simile for his love interest.
The term “Stan” comes from the Eminem song of the same name, which appeared on The Marshall Mathers LP. On it, the MC plays the role of Stan, an increasingly unstable diehard Eminem fan who repeatedly writes to him with no response and eventually kills himself and his pregnant girlfriend.
6LACK’s song is less dramatic and disturbing, as he instead uses the “Stan” concept to talk about intense love and devotion. He sings on the hook:
Say you’ll always be my greatest fan
Sing your favorite words just like a band
Only if you’ll love me like a stan, stan, stan, aw, man
Down to walk the walk until the end
The prize, you find a lover and a friend
Baby, let me love you like a stan, stan, stan, aw, man
The song was produced by DJDS and features writing credits for KDrew and Kelly Zutrau, the singer of indie band Wet, because it samples their track “New Graves.”
Later in the track, 6LACK offers some clever wordplay connecting his love to songwriting:
Hoping we go out at the same time
‘Cause life without my love is a slant rhyme
That mean it works out but it ain’t quite
What it ‘posed to be that ain’t all right
The Eminem-created definition of “Stan” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in the last few years, though they say it was made official this June. It comes in both a noun (“An overzealous or obsessive fan, especially of a particular celebrity”) and verb form (“Be an overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity”).
Eminem’s “Stan” has been sampled by artists like Jon Connor, Cam'Ron and even Eminem himself on “Bad Guy,” a sequel to his original that appeared on The Marshall Mathers LP2.
In addition to releasing East Atlanta Love Letter, which features appearances from Future, Offset, and J. Cole, 6LACK recently made headlines when he said that he was never paid while being signed to Flo Rida’s International Music Group in an interview with Joe Budden.
6LACK recently appeared on Genius' Verified series to break down the East Atlanta Love Letter single “Switch.”
Read the full lyrics to “Stan” and the rest of 6LACK’s discography on Genius now.
