Eminem has killed off Slim Shady in a rollercoaster blaze of glory (Picture: Matt Baron/Shutterstock)
Eminem has officially unveiled The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace), and he’s left fans in tears after a visceral, offensive and heartbreaking rollercoaster ride.
The 51-year-old rapper brought back his brutal alter ego for his 12th studio album, which clocks in at over an hour and completes a tour de force of the dichotomy of Marshall Mathers, from defiant opener Renaissance to the soul baring bars of Somebody Save Me.
The closing track, which uses the chorus of Jelly Roll’s 2020 hit Save Me, is a poignant apology to his children, as he laments on his addiction struggles and his role as a dad.
‘Another pill as I start to spiral,’ he raps. ‘Message to my daughters, I don’t even deserve the father title.’
Alaina and Hailie both feature on the collection with recordings from their childhood (Hailie is the focus of similarly brutal Temporary, a spiritual successor to the likes of When I’m Gone), and fans have been rocked by the rawness.
‘Somebody Save Me has wrecked me 💔 Eminem has always been my symbol of strength & hope & every time he’s vulnerable in his songs it breaks me to know how helpless he felt,’ wrote @shadyfan_girlx.
While @GtheTrainDriver added: ‘@Eminem just listened to the whole album, all I can say is it’s 🔥But damn.. Temporary and Somebody save me..really bro? Talk about an emotional gut punch..😳’
The two tracks were a ‘curveball’, with @TheLastMoonRose writing that the songs ‘left me on my knees with tears and runny nose.’
In isolation, the songs are heartbreaking enough, but as Eminem has pointed out this way, it’s where they fit into the album as a whole that makes everything click, with callbacks aplenty under the surface.
‘Public service announcement,’ he wrote on X on the eve of the record coming out. ‘The “death of slim shady” is a conceptual album, therefore, if you listen to songs out of order they might not make sense. Enjoy.’
The Slim Shady alter ego goes scorched earth with no one safe (Picture: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images)
Eminem delves into the truth behind the vicious bars (Picture: Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)
That’s certainly the case, with Renaissance’s barbed response to his critics (‘It’s what they do to the greats. Pick apart a Picasso and make excuses to hate’) and Habits’ breakdown of his offensive lyrics setting the stage for Slim Shady’s return.
‘Part of me gets it and wants to say I’m sorry and fix it, so all my statements are basically contradictive,’ he raps, before dropping the R-word and questioning: ‘Would this rhyme be okay if South Park had did it? Would it make you less angry if Cartman spit it?’
Slim Shady forces himself in on Trouble and promises to ‘get them cancelled’, leading into a deliberately uncomfortable verse insulting blind people, deaf people and ‘cripples’ as Marshall begs his alter ego to stop.
The harsh cruelty of Skim Shady makes songs like Somebody Save Me more poignant (Picture: M. Caulfield/WireImage)
Songs like Brand New Dance, Antichrist show Eminem with Shady taking over, as the album calls out everyone from Christopher Reeve, Caitlyn Jenner and P Diddy to Lizzo, his own mother and Gen Z.
‘Uh oh.. People are gonna be mad 🤣 this is definitely the most offensive album he’s ever done,’ tweeted fan @poltergeist_od, which is true – but as others pointed out, that’s the whole point.
‘Unfortunately some people are not going to put it in that perspective. Just because Slim Shady says something offensive doesn’t mean it reflects on Eminem as a person,’ argued @Liaverai.
The line is blurred between Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers (Picture: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for MTV)
Some of the lines (especially the fat shaming verse aimed at Lizzo and obesity in the US in Road Rage) are deliberately uncomfortable, as the alter ego takes over in a bid to kill them both off.
Might end up havin’ Slim say some shit you feel fucked up for laughin’ at, yeah – when he’s under the influence ‘I’m phenomenal at it, and that’s problematic.’
‘Matter of fact, ain’t you the same one who hated bullies calling you bad names Then you turn around and did the exact same,’ Slim tells Marshall on Guilty Conscience 2.
‘Just immature and literally, you’re still mentally 13 and still thirsty for some controversy. You still picking on Christopher Reeve.’
Eminem is honest with himself and his fans (Picture: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
Later in the song, Eminem offers blunt insight on why Slim Shady came to be, admitting the alter ego was his ‘excuse to be evil’, as Slim raps: ‘You created me to say everything you didn’t have to say.’
However, he still takes some ownership, saying earlier on Lucifer: ‘It’s like you came from 2000, stepped out a portal cursin’, hurlin’ horrible slurs towards the world, and why can’t you make fun of people behind their backs like a normal person?’
The album shifts with Guilty Conscience 2, as Eminem lists people he’s had beef with or mocked over the years, while holding a gun and trying to kill off his darker side.
‘I’m welcoming you to my last hoorah, I bid you goodbye. Murder suicide. Killshot, booyaka, c*** sucker. Coup de grâce, motherf***er,’ he shouts before freeing himself of the shackles and letting the rest of the album bare his true heart.
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