Name: Learn English with EMINEM — 8 Mile movie
Uploaded: 2026-01-23T17:03:23.000Z
Duration: 23 min 37 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

He's nervous, Keeps on forgetting when it broke down.

Mouth words won't come out locks for now.

His palms are sweaty, Knees weak, Arms are heavy.

There's vomit on his sweater already, mom spaghetti.

You know, I used to use this as a pronunciation exercise with every new student.

It's because the lyrics and the rhythm are just perfect for learning to speak more naturally and understand fast native speech.

Today we're learning English with Eminem and the movie that made this song famous and 8 mile.

This is an advanced lesson with lots of slang and we'll cover the most essential expressions for your everyday English.

If you watch this on the RealLife English app, you have the interactive transcript just in case there's anything else that you don't understand.

So let's jump into the first scene, but quickly if you're new here.

Every single week we make fun lessons like this one with your favorite series, movies and celebrities, so that you can learn to understand fast speaking natives like Eminem without getting lost, without missing the jokes, and

So simply hit that subscribe button and the bell down below and you won't miss a single new lesson.

I mean, 10 million learners from around the world simply cannot be wrong, right?

Alright, so this movie is a semi autobiographical story.

This means that some elements from the movie are actually based on Eminem's real life.

It's about a young genius, rapper, Jimmy, nicknamed Rabbit, who suffers from stage fright.

So after he choked during a rap battle at the famous Detroit club the Shelter, his friend Wink, who supposedly has connections in the music industry, approaches him with an opportunity.

Why are you still going to the Shelter, dawg?

Ain't nobody down there but a bunch of clowns who ain't got deals and never going to get deals.

You need to stay at home, you know Winks got you.

Look, I'm telling you, man, I'm on my way.

Look, I was just on the horn with my man Roy Derucci.

See, I'm the one that tipped him on Big O and got that fat man out of flipping burgers at big E Ds Roy liked what he heard, slid some cash out for that nigga's demo, and

Just like that, Big O got himself a deal.

Look, if they thought Big O was hot, wait, they'd get a taste of B Rabbit.

I'm building the Empire, Genie, and I'm taking you with me, man.

So As I mentioned, 8 Mile captures several core elements of Eminem's real experience.

He really did get his start in rap battles, some actually held at the Shelter, a real Detroit venue.

He faced the challenge of being a white rapper in a predominantly black genre.

He had a troubled relationship with his mother and lived in economic hardship in Detroit.

And I love that this movie shows a real side of the USA that we don't normally see in Hollywood.

It perfectly captures the economic and social struggles of 1990s Detroit, when the city was experiencing severe economic downturn that especially affected its poorest communities.

Now let's break down all the advanced expressions and slang that we saw highlighted in blue.

When someone gets caught out, it means that they were exposed or embarrassed in front of others.

In this context, Jimmy failed during the rap battle.

He couldn't perform when everyone was watching.

It's like being caught off guard in a situation where you should have been ready.

Ain't nobody down there but a bunch of clowns who ain't got deals and never gonna get deals.

Here's a classic example of informal English.

Ain't is non standard grammar that replaces isn't, aren't, hasn't, or haven't.

For example, you can say they ain't coming or I ain't got money.

While it's not proper English, you'll constantly see it used in casual conversation, especially in certain communities and regions of the United States.

And clowns here doesn't mean circus performers.

When someone calls people clowns, they're saying those people are jokes not serious or not talented.

Wink is basically dismissing everyone at the Shelter as wannabes.

People who want to be talented, successful or famous, but are just fakes.

Let me quickly quiz you on this expression.

If someone says I got you in this context, what do they mean?

In this context, Wink is shortening the expression I've got your back, meaning that he will support and take care of Rabbit.

The other two definitions we saw are also correct.

Check out this example from kicking screaming, where we see it being used to say, you've got someone doing something wrong.

And in this other example from for your consideration, it's used to mean I understand you.

You have to start walking and talking and thinking of yourself as a star.

I mean, give those Victor Alan Miller fans the star they've been waiting for.

I'm on my way can literally mean that you're traveling somewhere.

But here it means I'm going to be successful or I'm making progress towards my goals.

Wink is claiming he's about to make it big in the music industry.

You want to understand natives no matter how fast we speak, right?

Well, let's check out some connected speech.

That's how we natives cut, reduce and link our words together in fluent speech.