In 1997, music producer and rapper Andre Young (Dr. Dre) heard the music of Slim Shady–the alter ego of Marshall Mathers III (Eminem)–when Jimmy Iovine, the co–founder of Interscope Records, played The Slim Shady EP in the studio. Two years later, this private listening session would lead to one of the most successful rap albums in history, The Slim Shady LP. Shady opened with a warning that Eminem’s disturbing stories were not to be taken seriously, as they reflected his fictional counterpart’s twisted outlook and sense of humor.

Despite its controversial themes of violence against women, The Slim Shady LP catapulted Eminem to fame. The cartoonish character–portrayed by Eminem brandishing a Husqvarna chainsaw in blue overalls and a white ski mask–would help the rapper become a pop-culture icon. The album also cemented Eminem’s association with cringeworthy, often derogatory, lyrics that included double entendres about taboo subjects, a trademark that would recur on subsequent albums: The Marshall Mathers LP, The Eminem Show, 8 Mile, Encore, Relapse, Recovery, and The Marshall Mathers LP2.

As Eminem has aged, the artist’s work has evolved. Some feel that his recent albums, in which he tries to remain relevant by collaborating with pop singers, do not reflect the originality of The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. That was certainly the case with the 2017 release of Revival, which was eviscerated by both critics and devout fans. This negative feedback prompted Eminem to record and release the venomous unannounced studio album, Kamikaze.  

While that album was impressive, his second unannounced studio recording, Music To Be Murdered By, released on January 17, 2020, marks the return of classic Eminem, with his penchant for brash, offensive lyrics intended to shock.

Inspired by the iconic film director Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 album of the same name, Eminem opens his recording with “Premonition,” featuring the disturbing screams of a woman, a possible allusion to the infamous shower scene in “Psycho” where Norman Bates kills Marion Crane.

From this explosive opening, it is clear that Slim Shady is back in town. Songs such as “You Gon’ Learn” (featuring Royce da 5’9” and White Gold), “Stepdad,” “Little Engine,” “Lock It Up” (featuring Anderson .Paak), and “I Will” (featuring Kxng Crooked, Royce da 5’9” & Joell Ortiz) showcase the trademark dark humor and violence associated with Eminem’s alter ego.

The second song on the record, “Unaccommodating” (featuring Young M.A, the stage name of Katorah Marrero) suggests a complex relationship between the two artists and their shared ambivalence toward fame.

Despite the fact that the presence of an openly gay artist on an Eminem album might indicate that Eminem, at the age of 47, has become more accepting, his misogynistic and bi-phobic behavior towards Alexa, a fictional bisexual woman on “Those Kinda Nights” (featuring Ed Sheeran) shows that he still harbors outdated and intolerant views. Other notable examples of this can be found in “Farewell” and “Marsh.”  

When the album was released, it immediately generated controversy with a lyric referencing the terrorist attack at Ariana Grande’s May 2017 concert in Manchester in “Unaccommodating.” This ignited an outcry on Twitter from the families of the victims, who claimed that the artist was using this tremendous loss of life for his own benefit. While Eminem uses the attack metaphorically, likening it to how the music industry explodes when he drops a new album, it is off-putting. This insensitive association between a surprise album and a suicide bombing is complicated by the fact that Eminem helped raise approximately 2 million euros for the victims of that attack.

Another example of a tasteless lyric can be found on “Yah Yah” (featuring Royce da 5’9”, Black Thought, Q-Tip, and Denaun), a cut in which he compares the media’s vilification of his music to its negative coverage of sexual predators Bill O’Reilly and Harvey Weinstein. When I listened to this song, this particularly cringey lyric made me pause the song and think about its meaning. In the song, Eminem claims that his reference to these two vile men is a projection of Slim Shady’s politically incorrect, brash viewpoints, not of his own. However, it is difficult for a listener to distinguish the two personas from one another.

These callous references to death and perpetrators of sexual violence forces the listener to question the politics of this album, given that Eminem’s most recent albums have a somewhat progressive message, perhaps in response to the Age of Trump. This is clear on his 2017 album Revival, in which Eminem skewered the Trump administration and Mitch McConnell. The album also contained the rapper’s critique of the countless mass shootings plaguing the United States. The extended version of the song “Nowhere Fast” (featuring Kehlani) opens with the lyrics: “Sandy Hook, Stoneman Douglas/ Another lone-wolf gunman…and the NRA is in our way.”

The issue of gun violence in America is also addressed on Music To Be Murdered By with the song “Darkness,” in which Eminem raps inside his hotel room about waiting for people to arrive to a show. After a while, the lyrics slowly and subtly reveal themselves to be the outlook of Stephen Paddock, the shooter at the 2017 Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. As an attempt to make this song even more disturbing, it includes gunshots and people screaming, as if Eminem obtained audio from the cellphone videos of concert goers.

It was impressive that the rapper’s criticism about the Gun Control Act of 1968, which has a provision allowing gun owners who have not been incarcerated for committing a felony to purchase large quantities of military style assault weapons, appeared near the end of the music video. In the video, which has the goal of making every voting age American register for the upcoming election, the police discover Paddock’s body surrounded in a carpet of bullets. 

While Music to Be Murdered By contains a critique of the mass shootings in America aided by the NRA’s control of Congress, the man behind the message—and his political goals—are hard to determine. Perhaps it reveals that this consequential artist is unable to decide on what voice—that of the despicable Slim Shady or that of the more “woke” Eminem—to insert in the current political climate.

The highlight of the new album is in the third verse of “Godzilla” (featuring the late Juice WRLD, to whom the album is dedicated), in which Shady delivers a remarkable rap of 229 words in 30 seconds (an average of 7.6 words/11.3 syllables per second).

By stark contrast, the somewhat romantic love song, “In Too Deep,” is the weakest cut on this extremely violent album, as it feels like a false attempt to assure the listener that he is not infected by Slim Shady’s inner demons. If music is a reflection of an individual’s psyche, the song “No Regrets” (featuring Don Toliver) reveals that Eminem is coming to terms with some of the missteps of his career, especially his volcanic temper.

Over the summer, I became a fan of Eminem after I listened closely to the double entendres and the rhyming arrangements found in the irate studio album, Kamikaze. My reaction to the 2018 album prompted me to listen to his first two LPs and his entire discography because I was curious about seeing the originality of the violent imagery and lyrics. After my close listening, I am able to recognize that rude lyrics have always been a trademark of this charade.

Taking this into consideration, I now understand why Eminem’s Slim Shady charade was original on his 1999 successful debut release, as it distinguished him from the majority of rappers. Today, however, it feels out of step and even tone deaf, given that contemporary hip-hop—and the entire music industry–has become more inclusive. Given the emergence of an increasingly diverse rap landscape, it remains to be seen whether Slim Shady can keep up.

 

Tristan Genetta can be reached at tgenetta@wesleyan.edu.