“3 a.m.” sees Slim Shady become a serial killer, committing mass murder following his escape from a rehabilitation clinic. It’s Relapse’s third single.

While Relapse was considered by many as possibly Em’s weakest body of work, himself included, tracks like this and “Underground” showcase his nearly incomparable lyrical complexity, even when he was considered to be not “on the top of his game.” Complex ranked this songs opening verse as one of his best ever, a claim that was backed by a Genius users “advanced look at alliteration.”

To write “3 a.m.” I had to go into the mindset of a serial killer. Was it easy? Easy for me.

Travis Barker made a rock remix of the track, as:

Paul [Rosenberg] hit me up and said that Em kind of heard in his head some sort of rock remix for it. They let me have a stab at it and then the rest is history.