Eminem – The Death of Slim Shady

 

Legendary Detroit artist Eminem came out with a new album this past summer in July with The Death Of Slim Shady. Said to be a concept album, Eminem spends the 19 tracks battling himself – more specifically – his iconic alter ego Slim Shady in an attempt to kill off the character that made him so famous and the greatest selling rapper of all time over two decades ago with classic singles such as “My Name Is”, “The Real Slim Shady” and “Without Me” to name a few. Slim Shady has been the darker side of Eminem, encapsulating murder and horror, dissing celebrities and “not giving a -” you know, while Eminem/Marshall Mathers is representative of the more personal side of his music. On this album, these two sides battle each other in an entertaining way, until one is victorious in the end. Now, I personally have been a ginormous Eminem fan since I was 13 and like many kids, it was Eminem’s music that got me into hip-hop in the first place. I spent years listening to all of his albums, unreleased music, watching interviews and old concerts, and since his return to the Hip-Hop game after a 4 year hiatus with Revival in 2017, I have been able to witness the third leg of his long and fantastic career. For years Eminem has remained my #1 most listened to artist of all time in terms of minutes and it is always a big event when Eminem drops a new album. In fact, when The Death of Slim Shady finally came out, I stayed up and listened to it the night it dropped … twice … despite having work the next morning at 6am. With this, we will be going track by track, through the narrative and breaking down each song here.
Renaissance
Now for the album itself, Eminem wastes no time starting things off hot with the opening track Renaissance, which opens up with these thunder and rain sound effects which really sets a high cinematic tone for the project as if you were just about to start watching a movie. During this short opening segment, there’s also these strings being played in the background as if it was a funeral we were hearing. Suddenly, the beat begins to swell and it is then followed by this quick “heart-beat-esque” pounding drum coupled with a single piano key on loop. It’s a fairly simple beat that works perfectly however with Eminem’s rapid fire flow that he employs to start the album off. Slim’s voice here and tone sounds very reminiscent of his earlier work, and this track feels sonically as if it would have come off The Eminem Show or 8 Mile Soundtrack which both released way back in 2002. Once Eminem starts here though, he does not stop, giving us his very aggressive, yet fun classic wordplay that we are so used to hearing in his music. As previously mentioned, his pen-game is on point here with crazy bars such as, “Elephantiasis of the nuts element//An Intelligent Hoodlum in Arrested Development//Cella Dwellas and Wise Intelligent//since elementary through hell I went//accelerant from lack of melanin//Failing’ in school, smart eloquent//Help me to rebel against s**t//so well and bent//So eloquently, yet, I was irrelevant//Soon as I quit giving’ a f**k, I started to sell a bit,”. One part I particularly love on this track was his wordplay on the back half, where he begins taking an interesting angle at “internet music critics”, a target of Eminem’s seemingly since the backlash to his 2017 project, Revival. Starting off with “Now lets travel inside the mind of a hater//because I don’t see any fans I just see a bunch of complainers”, Eminem very smartly here gives the listener an interesting perspective on the culture of music fans today in a way that, albeit a little bitterly, is put together in a thought provoking way. Overall, Renaissance is a fantastic hard hitting opener for this album, and is a song that I find myself constantly going back to due to its brevity, wordplay, and aggressiveness.
Habits
Habits follows next, which is far more fun, upbeat and playful than the previous track. This song sees the albums first feature in White Gold, an artist who Eminem has worked with before on his previous album Music To Be Murdered By who does a fair job handling the hook here. The track opens up with another sonic “cutscene” of sorts, with the sounds of someone being bound up and the lines of “been waiting a long time for this ****, thought you got rid of my a** huh?”, meaning that this is Slim Shady taking Eminem hostage – in other words, Shady’s back. Once he begins, Em’s wordplay here is great as well, with fun lines such as “In Pakistan being chased by a pack of Stans” as the beat builds up more and more as time goes on. The first verse is fairly short, before White Gold comes in with the hook singing, “You’ve got an addiction man, I know you can’t get rid of me because you know I’m prescription man”, indicative that Eminem is addicted to acting this way. Personally, I love his flow here once he comes back in, with a very smooth delivery as he “reminenses on them blowing a fuse over his points of views”. Yet, Eminem spends the rest of this track attacking “PC Culture” and those who are “overly sensitive” to everything in a very Eminem-ly way. Because it is Eminem, and he has always had a target when rapping, (whether that be himself, his mom, his ex-wife, random celebrities, other rappers, the President etc), he does so in a very fun way but I can’t help but say that it feels a little out of touch at times, especially when he mentions things such as “PC Police, PC court” or is just picking on Caitlyn Jenner consistently. It reads very much like a South Park skit, (which funny enough he does actually sample a snippet from their PC episode and mention the show a few times on this track) and as if Eminem is begging to get “canceled” in this day and age for attention. This is most evident in the beginning of the third verse, which Eminem starts off as “Mom shaming, Dad shaming, blah//Fat shaming, mansplaining, wah//cry babies, attack shady”, and it just comes off very “old man yells at cloud” like. This is a constant theme throughout the course of the album, and honestly is one of my biggest qualms with the entire project. Nonetheless however, Eminem technically speaking is still at the top of his game, most evident through the middle part of the third verse, where the beat shifts to a much darker tone and he really begins to pick up the speed with. Overall, I actually found this track very enjoyable, even if its subject matter is a little out of touch in total.
Trouble
Next we get a skit in Trouble, which yes, this is the one that blew up on Tik-Tok for Eminem saying crazy offensive things seemingly just for the point of saying crazy offensive things. Previously on the former track, I already had issues with Eminem purposefully trying to get himself “canceled”, as it just reads as cringe, yet here he outright says it in a conversation with Slim Shady Marshall: “What are you trying to do?”, Slim Shady, “Get us canceled”. Again, it’s a little cringe, but it does add to the thematics of the skit, and this is what Slim Shady has always been. I understand Eminem’s point with this album being “Would the Slim Shady character work in 2024” but he doesn’t even give us a chance to make our own decision, before ultimately telling the listener that the answer is no on the third track, before begging to be “canceled” for it. Not to mention that the version of “Slim Shady” that we have now is a far cry from what Slim Shady originally was in late 90’s and early 2000’s. Again though, it is just a skit that doesn’t distract or stray too far away from the point of the album (in fact it adds to it, I just think the sentiment is displaced/could’ve been delivered better), so I can’t dock too many points off for that.
Brand New Dance
Now here’s a track that I personally love. Brand New Dance actually is a track from 2004 originally intended for his 4th studio album Encore and you can really tell. The entire track is making fun of Christopher Reeves and his horse accident from 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Eminem has always joked about Christopher Reeves throughout his career, and given that this is a 20 year old song (from a time where Reeves was a little more relevant and known), I can let the subject matter slide by looking at it as if it were actually released back in ‘04. Had Eminem made the song now instead, I think it would come off as out of touch again, but it’s an older song so it’s nice that it finally sees the light of day. The track begins with this distorted and a very “Luigi’s mansion”-esque instrumental. The backing beat here honestly does just make you want to dance along to it and I love Eminem’s slick delivery. You can tell that this is “old Eminem” rapping here, as there’s no random flow changes, speedy delivery, and his subject matter, while comical, is very focused. For the first time on this album, this song actually does feel and sound like classic “Slim Shady” and not just an impersonation of the character, and the writing is funny. Brand New Dance overall is a classic Eminem song, and I’m glad it was finally released, even if it was 20 years late.
Evil
Evil is another well put together song. The hook is simple as Eminem just sings about how he’s so evil, but once again, this song is very topically focused as Eminem raps about just being outlandish and being in these hilarious situations. I particularly love his wordplay as he starts the second verse as he raps about his former drug habit, and transforms that narrative into how he can rap about something you feel messed up for laughing at and is “phenomenal at it”. This track sounds and feels very much as if it were to come off of his 2013 project The Marshall Mathers LP2, but it is enjoyable.
Lucifer
Lucifer see’s Eminem going back to the side of the album where he is openly trying to cancel himself. To begin, I actually love the production on this track as it is handled by Dr.Dre and Eminem starts off with his classic sayings of “People! It feels so good to be back” which is a line he used to say frequently on a lot of his earlier Marshall Mathers LP or The Eminem Show tracks. Once he begins the verse however, it personally is nothing too special to me. Eminem raps about how he’s about to be canceled, kicked off twitter and picked on by TikTok, which again, to me I don’t personally see Eminem’s qualms with this. He is complaining about teenagers who make fun of him in social media, a group of people that you would think would be below the status of a 52 year old legendary rapper, yet they are so evidently in Eminem’s head that it distracts him from delivering a verse without mentioning such. Despite that however, the hook on this track is okay, as it’s handled by Florida rapper Sly Pyper. Eminem has always been in feuds with his mom due to the neglect and way that she raised him in the ghetto of Detroit growing up. She frequently has been a target in his music in songs such as My Name is, Without Me, My Mom and most notably Cleanin’ Out My Closet. Yet, in 2013 on The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem issued an apology track to her entitled Headlights, seemingly attempting to sow back together their relationship. With this, Eminem is once again dissing his mom on this track, which I personally do not get, as he already made amends with her 10 years ago. There’s just something off about 50 year old Marshall calling out his mom when their entire relationship has already been discussed throughout his 25 year long career. I digress however, Lucifer overall for me is a more forgettable track but far from the worst on here.
Antichrist
Antichrist is another track in the same vein as Evil and Lucifer, but I personally find it way more enjoyable. The subject matter here is the same as the previous tracks, fitting in themes with the album as a whole. I enjoy the production on this track quite a bit, and like much of the album, it’s simple, yet allows Eminem to flow nicely between beats. Eminem’s rapping here is great, his delivery is fun, and the flows he employs are interesting and he switches them up frequently and doesn’t delve into becoming too technical where it feels like a chore to listen to. I love the hook on this track, which is a plus given that hooks have never really been Eminem’s bread and butter, and his punchlines and bars genuinely made me laugh on this track. There still are mentions of PC police and begging to get canceled, yet that isn’t the focal point of the song, making it far easier to tune out. One thing I do enjoy that was introduced on this song (and becomes more of a staple as the album continues) is the AI use of the classic nasally “Slim Shady voice” that comes in from time to time on the track to deliver the more mess up bars. I find it very creative actually, and get this image in my head of a 1999 blonde hair and earrings Slim Shady standing next to current day bearded Eminem in the booth rapping alongside him.
Fuel
Here it is. The best song on the album without question. Fuel features an amped up instrumental with these simple piano loops over a very up tempo drum loop, making it the perfect beat for Eminem and feature JID to simply spaz on, which is exactly what they do. JID has been one of my favorite rappers of the past 5 years and I can confidently say that he has one of the best flows and deliveries out of any rapper I have ever heard, so to hear him go toe to toe with such a technical giant like Eminem is was amazing to hear, and JID holds his own on the track. His flow is so smooth and is rapped with such intensity that I did not think that Eminem would have what it takes to best him – but he does. I specifically when JID flips his flow on the end of his verse before Eminem comes in with the hook saying that he simply will never run out of fuel. Once he starts his verse, you cannot help but to bob your head along to it. The latter half of Eminem’s career has been characterized by extremely fast flows and very technical word play, and up until this point, there really hasn’t been a moment on this project that Eminem has employed such aside from a short segment of it on Habits – but it is on full display here. His writing and word play is perfect and very smart such as the P. Diddy line he delivers in the beginning of the verse. His sheer rapping ability is really put on display through the line “Got the most content on the continent//And constant compliments give me confidence//I’m a cross of common sense and incompetence//I’m cognizant that conflict’s a consequence//Of accomplishments accomplished through competition//I’ve conquered and conked ’em into unconsciousness//Though conscious, I conjure this King Kong and just//Call me “Kamikaze,” I’m concoction’ this,” – I mean how do you even come up with that? Em finishes out his verse with an unparalleled characteristic of absurd intensity before closing the song out with the hook once again. Fuel is a downright amazing track that Eminem and JID both go nuts on, and I loved every second of it.
Road Rage
After an absolute heater of a song in Fuel we return to your regularly scheduled programming here in Road Rage which, to be completely honest, is yet another forgettable track. Road Rage see’s Eminem topically spit about the same matters as the songs Antichrist and Lucifer but in a far less compelling way. The production on this track is simple once again, with these booming drums but sonically, just not much is happening here. The track features Dem Jointz and Sly Pyper once again who both deliver short snippets of a verse, before Eminem comes in and cuts them off. Neither of them contribute a whole lot to the song, and the hook quite frankly (handled by Dem Jointz) is nothing special as well. Road Rage is far from bad, but is simply not memorable in any way. Eminem spends two whole verses complaining about fat people and how they’re “coddled”, which again feels like Em just punching down and rapping about an issue that doesn’t even concern him.
Houdini
Here it is, the lead single off The Death of Slim Shady. A track that models itself off of his 2002 hit Without Me very closely – even sampling the beginning intro of “Guess who’s back, back again, shady’s back, tell a friend”. The concept of the song is the same too, with Eminem rapping comedically about the rap game and state how things have been since he’s been gone, with the same “it feels so empty without me” moniker present throughout the track – except this time it’s from the perspective of if he “houdini’s” and disappears in an abra-kadabra magic trick of sorts. It’s playful, fun, and very tongue and cheek in the way that Slim Shady was so iconically way back in the early 2000’s. While at times falling defeat to feeling like an impersonation of a classic Slim Shady-esque track and not another installment such (alla Brand New Dance) it still accomplishes the goal it was intending to do with funny shots at stars such as Megan The Stallion and P. Diddy. The production is great, and the sample flip of the Steve Miller Bands 1980’s hit Abracadabra is genius in its own right. Hearing this as the lead single genuinely got me excited for the album.
Guilty Conscience 2
Guilty Conscience 2 is supposed to be the climax of the concept of this entire album, in being a battle between Slim Shady and current day Eminem. The name of the track is a reference to one of Eminem’s 1999 Slim Shady hits featuring Dr. Dre in Guilty Conscience (a track that see’s Slim Shady and Dre playing angel and devil in various situations) and I actually find it quite creative of Em to revisit this concept 20 years later, instead being old him vs new him. The production of this track is very dark and atmospheric, which again, adds to the overall thematics of the track. Guilty Conscience 2 starts off with a conversation between Slim Shady and Eminem (which again, I very much enjoy the use of AI Slim Shady to play these parts). Throughout the song, the two battle each other through lyrical acrobatics and the track is an overall very comical yet introspective look at how the Slim Shady character and his offensive words have actually hurt people before in the past, and how current day Eminem is living in the repercussions of such. The way Eminem can write an actual argument between his “good” and “bad” side in this sort of way shows his lyrical and creative ability on full display (The Ja Rule line really made me laugh). In the second leg of the track, both Eminem and Slim Shady delve into how, yes, on one hand due to Slim Shady’s crude and offensive language – a lot of people were angry and hurt by the rap, but on the other hand, he “helped you get your stacks higher” and made Eminem into what he is today. It’s a really interesting double edged sword that Em is reviewing here. Thematically and topically the track is great, but conceptually it really doesn’t go anywhere – which is somewhat disappointing as we’ve seen Eminem make great conceptual songs within the recent decade (Darkness, Bad Guy, Evil Twin to name a few). The track climaxes with Eminem tricking Slim Shady to untie him and practically shoots him in the head (Coup de grace style), thus killing the character for good. One qualm I have with this track is that yes, it is a very interesting topic and theme for Eminem to rap about, but it’s one that he has done before and arguably has done better (see My Darling off 2009’s Relapse or Evil Twin off The Marshall Mathers LP2). Also, this isn’t even the first time Eminem has killed off Slim Shady in a song before. He first did it way back in 2005 on the song When I’m Gone and more recently on My Darling in 2009. While it is a well written song, the reuse of the concept docks it some points – and if it’s supposed to be the big climatic end to the storyline of this album – why do 5 more songs proceed with it? Even still, Guilty Conscience 2 is a very enjoyable listen, just one that I feel as if he has done better in the past and is a tad misplaced in the overall tracklisting.
Head Honcho
Following the large climatic song that was Guilty Conscience 2, we get a song that doesn’t further the thematic story in any way in Head Honcho featuring Eminem’s newest label signee in EZ Mil. Personally, I’ve never seen anything special in EZ Mil, and his two verses are too little to push the needle for me. He switches his flow up early in the first verse, and begins to spit the rest of his segment in Spanish, which is cool I guess before delivering an alright hook. He comes back with a second verse that lyrically isn’t anything crazy either, and once Eminem comes in he unfortunately pales in comparison – and that’s not to say Eminem’s verse is anything amazing either. It’s filled with him practically trauma dumping over his rough childhood and then delivering these weaker humble brags to us. His overall wordplay is leagues above that of EZ Mils, but still is far from the best on this album. I fear this one could’ve been left off the overall track list.
Temporary
Eminem teams up with long time collaborator Skylar Grey on this song to deliver a very heartfelt ballad for his daughter with the intentions of her to listen to when he’s no longer around. The sentiment of the song is extremely touching, as it begins with these old vocal clips from when Hailie was a kid, and overall is very refreshing to hear as it detracts sonically from the rest of the album in a good way. The production features a bear piano playing and Skyler Grey gives a great hook. Eminem’s writing is sad, and truly I can say this is Eminem’s best song he has written to his daughter since 2004’s Mockingbird. It’s hard to judge this song, because it is so heartfelt and I personally love it.
Bad One
And we’re back to your regularly scheduled programming. Overall, I really wonder what Eminem was thinking with the track listing order of these songs as, after we get the albums practical thematic closer in Guilty Conscience 2, we then go to a rap-off with EZ Mill, followed by one of the saddest Eminem songs I’ve heard in years, and then to a track here in Bad One that sounds like it fits more with the first leg of the project (with songs such as Habits, Antichrist, and Lucifer). This track features White Gold once again, who delivers an okay but ultimately pretty forgettable hook here as Eminem once again humble brags about his money and how evil he is (which confuses me because didn’t we just kill off Slim Shady 3 songs ago?). The production here is alright, it’s slower and allows Eminem to switch his flow up constantly. Technically he performs fairly well here, but the content just isn’t there really and this track comes off as a bit of a throw away that could’ve been saved for the deluxe or just left off all together.
Tobey
Tobey is a lyrical showcase between three big Detroit rappers now featuring Babytron and Big Sean, two artists that I admit I am a fan of. Eminem and Big Sean have collaborated for years, yet seeing two stylistically different rappers in Em and Babytron sharing the mic is fairly cool to see. This track was also the second and final single to drop before the album’s official release and Babytron and Big Sean both perform pretty well on it. The entire concept of the song is that “If Tobey McHuire got bit by a spider, they must’ve got bit by a goat”. It’s pretty playful and I do overall enjoy the production here, even if it doesn’t amount to the big drop that it feels like it should. Babytron opens the track up by delivering the chorus followed by a really interesting and fun verse. Typically Babytrons verses are more playful and “meme-centered” but you can tell he came with his A-game when teaming up with Eminem. Big Sean surprisingly has the best verse here with great flows and even better punchlines (“I come from the D where they move the keys like a chord progression”.) Eminem closes out the track with another good verse, as he raps about a recent incident where fellow rap legend Melle Mel dissed Eminem, calling him washed and the discourse surrounding that situation. Additionally, Em spits about how often times he is disrespected in the game for being so successful and surrounding question of how much of that is credited due to the fact that he is white (a question that Eminem himself has admitted to saying that he wouldn’t be nearly as big as he is had he been black). Typically verses such as these come off as out of touch from Em, but I think here he does a good job concisely putting it together coupled with timeless flows and good wordplay. Tobey is an overall enjoyable track, and I hope that these three make more music together in the future.
Somebody Save Me
And here we are finally, the last and closing track off The Death of Slim Shady featuring Jelly Roll. The song conceptually revists Eminem’s drug addiction in the mid 2000’s, where he was 2 hours away from overdosing on Valium. The track is played as a message to his three daughters apologizing from the perspective of if he had died on that day and all the things he would’ve missed in their lives. Similarly to Temporary, it is a very emotional track as Em apologizes for missing their dance recitals, weddings, and college success. The track also opens up with these old vocal snippets of a younger Hailie and Marshall with Jelly Roll delivering an amazing chorus. Eminem’s verses are very touching and like Temporary again, it’s a song that I can’t go back to just because it is so sad. Even still however, you can tell Eminem poured his whole heart out into this song, and while conceptually Guilty Conscience 2 would’ve been the perfect closer story wise to the album, this track does a great job closing it out regardless.
Overall Thoughts
The Death of Slim Shady is not a bad album by any means. Being 25 years into his career and having already achieved legendary status in the industry off the back of his commercial success in the early 2000’s and 2010’s, I’m glad Eminem still has the general passion for music and hip-hop to deliver us a full length concept album in 2024. The concept, in theory, is one that I do like a lot, but I feel like Eminem himself distracts himself and strays off topic in many instances by ultimately punching down, complaining and begging (albeit very desperately at times) to get canceled. The production across the project is good for the most part, but there really weren’t any tracks where the beats really stick out to me in ways that some of his former albums had (such as The Slim Shady LP, Marshall Mathers LP and Relapse). The features are alright, with JID easily having the best showing. Simply put, this album is enjoyable, and there are a lot of moments I find myself coming back to, but in terms of the concept, the overall delivery and application of such could’ve been brushed up on quite a bit. It is however his best album to come out of this recent leg of his career (surpassing 2017’s Revival, 2018’s Kamikaze, and 2020’s Music To Be Murdered By).
BEST SONGS: FUEL, RENAISSANCE, BRAND NEW DANCE, HABITS, SOMEBODY SAVE ME, HOUDINI
WORST SONGS: ROAD RAGE, BAD ONE, LUCIFER
RATING: 6.6/10