Similar Backgrounds

In the line, "I read about your uncle Ronnie too I'm sorry, I had a friend kill himself over some bitch who didn't want him," a correlation is drawn between the lives of Stan and Marshall Mathers, and ultimately helps to validate Stan and Marshall as one in the same. Marshall pays tribute to his uncle Ronnie, who committed suicide in 1991, in a tattoo.  Being closer to his uncle than anyone else in his family, Eminem was devastated when he killed himself.  The female eye overlooking the tattoo represents the woman that his uncle killed himself over.  The parallel between both Stan and Marshall losing someone very close to them helps in creating the metaphor that Stan is representing Marshall.

In the line, "I never knew my father neither, he always used to cheat on my mom and beat her," Stan references not knowing his father just as Marshall does not know his real father, and also acknowledges the difficulties of his childhood.

The past difficulties of his life create a situation where he feels that the reality of life is too difficult and Stan and Marshall both find it easier to retreat into the Slim Shady character.  Slim Shady is not hurt by the pain of losing someone he loved and he is unaffected by a difficult childhood.  The drawback of becoming Slim Shady is losing touch with reality and slipping into a life of addiction and never facing reality.  The similar backgrounds and identical solutions serve to represent Stan as being Marshall, and turn the song not into a story of a crazed fan, but into an autobiography.