Image credit: Getty Images
Image caption, Eminem's Slim Shady persona has generated constant controversy, but it has also helped break down racial barriers in rap. Article Information Author, Alex Taylor Role, Culture Reporter June 1, 2024
Updated July 12, 2024
25 years after bursting onto the scene, rapper Eminem's provocative alter-ego, Slim Shady, appears to have finally been silenced.
The antagonistic Slim Shady, with his peroxide blonde hair and down-to-earth blue jeans, was a reference to Eminem's self-described “poor white” upbringing.
The title alludes to Slim Shady's violent end, with the rapper himself concluding, “I knew it was only a matter of time.”
The album was finally released on Friday, complete with artwork depicting Shady in a body bag, to mixed reviews from critics.
This follows the music video for the single “Toby,” in which Eminem wields a chainsaw at a Jekyll and Hyde-like opponent.
So if the rapper's alter-ego really did rise to the top in the end, how should we understand his legacy?
Image credit: Getty Images
Image caption: Eminem rehearsing his infamous performance of “The Real Slim Shady” at the 2000 MTV Awards.
Who is Slim Shady?
Born Marshall Mathers III, Eminem grew up in a low-income, predominantly black neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan.
Rapping became a way for him to escape a strained relationship with his parents and a childhood marked by bullying.
He was trying to break into music but felt “defeated” when Vanilla Ice became the face of white solo rap in 1990 and his pop party tune “Ice Ice Baby” sold millions of copies.
But the Mothers were different: “truly products of the ghetto streets,” Nick Hasted writes in his Eminem biography.
It also helped that he had a great flow, honed over years of rap battles.
Professor Anthony Kwame Harrison, a sociologist specializing in hip hop, praised Eminem's technique, saying, “His masterful rhyming and songwriting skills make him the last white pioneer of rap.”
Despite this, their 1996 album, Infinite, failed to garner attention from major record companies.
His early mentors, the Bass Brothers, came up with the idea of ”shock rap,” which led to the birth of Slim Shady.
“The market didn't buy into it until he started using a few foul language,” added Mark Bass.
Image credit: Getty Images
Image caption: The producing partnership between Eminem and Dr. Dre (right) helped bring rap into the commercial mainstream.
The resulting Slim Shady EP found its way to bigwigs Jimmy Iovine and NWA rap kingpin Dr. Dre, who quickly signed Eminem to Interscope.
Dre found an anti-hero in Slim Shady, and with his help, Eminem's crossover appeal was further strengthened by his collaborations with respected black rappers.
Their producing partnership may have bridged rap's racial divide, but unleashing 1999's Slim Shady LP on an unsuspecting masses also created contradictions in Slim Shady and Eminem's legacies that persist to this day.
“Incandescent”
When Eminem arrived as Slim Shady on lead single “My Name Is,” the timing was perfect to cause chaos: With America reportedly enjoying its “happiest decade” in the '90s, Shady exposed the inner workings of disillusioned white people.
The Slim Shady LP sold 500,000 copies in two weeks and won Eminem two of his 15 Grammy Awards. It was the last time an Eminem record did not debut at number one.
Released just a year later, the chart-topping Marshall Mathers LP targeted resentful parents, politicians, and societal hypocrisy. Shady delighted in exasperating white suburban life and blatantly proclaimed an unspoken truth: “There's a million guys just like me… swearing like me,” he spat.
When he performed the song on MTV in 2000, Shady challenged critics by bringing an army of look-alikes into the audience.
Rolling Stone magazine said he “rose from the white poor to a celebrity.”
“Kids get the joke.”
But despite his success, his legacy has been clouded by controversy over the violent misogyny and homophobia of his lyrics.
The depictions of murder, rape and libel continued into The Marshall Mathers LP, with rappers defending it as cinematic fantasy.
A 1999 review in Spin magazine called Eminem a “ticking time bomb” in white male culture.
Vox culture reporter Constance Grady added that during Eminem's breakthrough, “hypocrisy was seen as the last great social evil” and this justified “cynical” misogyny and homophobia as acceptable.
“The kids who listen to my music get the joke,” Eminem told Rolling Stone magazine in 2000.
Image credit: Getty Images
Image caption: Protesters hold signs during an anti-hate rally to protest Eminem's lyrics ahead of the 2001 Grammy Awards.
Image credit: Getty Images
Image caption: Despite the protests, Eminem later performed at the ceremony alongside Sir Elton John, who helped him battle addiction.
Mothers himself is a dual personality, with Shady's antics balanced by his thought-provoking raps as Eminem.
The song that best represents Eminem's self-awareness is “Stan.”
This groundbreaking story tells the story of an obsessive Shady fan who kills himself and his girlfriend because Eminem hasn't responded to his letter. The song ends with Eminem's apologetic response for being late.
Fandom writer Dr Phoenix Andrews says the song was prescient in its understanding of today's passionate internet following and its portrayal of the pressures and responsibilities of the artist-fan relationship.
“It was very rare for men to talk about mental health at the time and it's still stigmatized to this day,” says Dr Andrews. “For Eminem to reach out to Stan and not ridicule him was unusual for the time.”
Skip YouTube contentAllow Google YouTube content?
This article includes content provided by Google YouTube, which may use cookies and other technologies and will ask for your permission before loading anything. Before agreeing, we recommend that you read the Google YouTube Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy. To view this content,[同意して続行]please choose.
Agree and continueWarning: BBC is not responsible for content on external sites. YouTube content may contain advertising
End of YouTube content
The clash between Eminem's personas had other unexpected consequences.
It could be said that the portrayal of the angry white man portrayed through Slim Shady has been co-opted by the American alt-right and white supremacist movements.
“Eminem is often mentioned in far-right online spaces,” added Sam de Bois, a musicology lecturer specialising in radicalisation at Örebro University in Sweden.
“They also sympathize with his underdog status; many young people see themselves as lacking social power,” he said.
A changing legacy?
Now the best-selling rapper of all time, Mathers is walking a tightrope, trying to come to terms with his own identity while also trying to control Slim Shady's unpredictable legacy.
This repoliticization stands in contrast to his decade-long pop-rap hits like “Not Afraid” and his collaborations with Rihanna like “Love the Way You Lie” and “The Monster,” which frequently used his own drug recovery as narrative inspiration and helped soften his image to a new generation.
The Pew Research Center found that there is an age gap in perceptions of the term, and an accompanying gap in political perceptions across age groups.
Conservative audiences generally see it as censoring artistic freedom, while more liberal people tend to see it as essential to accountability.
Image credit: Getty Images
Image caption: Eminem took a knee in protest against racism while performing with a hip-hop all-star lineup at the 2022 Super Bowl.
Despite the controversy, Eminem's last two albums have been streamed more than three billion times on Spotify, and he has ten songs that have exceeded one billion streams, putting him in line with Drake and Coldplay.
For freelance cultural journalist Kesewa Brown, the Mathers still hold an important place in hip-hop, but they're not as visible as they once were.
Though he remains widely admired for his distinctive lyrics, his name rarely features in modern rap discussions, which have been dominated by grime, Drake and socially conscious rappers like Kendrick Lamar.
So was killing Slim Shady an attempt to protect his legacy? “Maybe,” Brown says.
“He makes no secret of his disdain for the current state of the genre, and perhaps he wants to show that he still has it in him.”
“We have fans who grew up with Slim Shady, but sounding like his early 2000s music might alienate some fans.”
Skip Twitter contentAllow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before loading anything, as we may use cookies and other technologies. We encourage you to read Twitter Cookies Policy and privacy policy Before you agree, please select “Agree and continue” to view this content.
Agree and continueWarning: The BBC is not responsible for content on external sites.
Termination of Twitter Content
It's a risk Eminem has alluded to, suggesting that the new album's lead single, “Houdini,” will “annihilate” his career.
The playful, nostalgic video, released in June, sees a present-day Eminem trying to stop a 2002 Shady from grabbing the microphone, having traveled back in time to the present.
In the fight, a hybrid version could eventually be formed, sparking a new wave of controversy.
Critic Stevie Chick gave the album two stars, calling Eminem “downbeat, joyless and uninspired.”
Which one is Shady? That depends on who you ask and when.