So, here we are. After last years 'Marshal Mathers LP 2' the iconic rapper Eminem announced a brand new record titled 'The Death of Slim Shady' to be released this year. Promising a lot off the back of it, most notably the return of his previous musical persona Slim Shady and a final face off, Eminem cued up what could have been one of the most influential and reviving records of his career. Bolstered by some great features and a brilliantly provocative concept, you would think that for the legendary and controversial rapper this would be the final kill shot in a decorated career. However, as you can probably tell from the title of this post, in my opinion it does anything but. Let's talk about it, shall we?
(Album art for 'The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace))
Eminem, to be blunt, is a shadow of himself - and this record just proves that even as hard as he tries, he can't be as prominent in the scene he helped pioneer once it has painfully moved past him. Although I respect the attempt to bring a narrative into this record, it falls painfully flat, and seems like more of an excuse to go off under the 'Slim Shady' pseudonym than finally put it to rest. Chocked full of lyrical misfires, more references to Caitlin Jenner than I would care to mention, and some commentary that seems much more harmful than genius, I feel like the space for this kind of explosive and so called 'subversive' music has been and gone.
I mean, the literal opener to 'Trouble' is 'fuck blind people.' No matter what kind of a spin you put on it, character or not, it just seems so overplayed and outdated that there's no more shock to the Slim Shady persona. Eminem is trying far too hard to be offensive and subversive, to find that sweet spot where he used to sit in the industry, but he's just coming off as out of touch. He goes off on the transgender community, rehashes beef with Christopher Reeve, and still decides to take some more shots at his own mother, even after the family issues had been resolved years prior. This hardly feels like a painless throwback, this is a re hashing of old and quite frankly played out thematic that feel like the worlds most dull moments of rap deja-vu. It's almost like he's begging to be cancelled by people who, quite obviously, have moved on and away from him. He's punching insanely low, and it's quite frankly a little painful to listen to.
The record has some merits, I will say that. I will give my flowers to Dr Dre for his production on arguably two of the most palatable tracks on the record, they come with that signature Dre flare that oozes class and invokes that nostalgic feeling I think Eminem wants. Plus, some of the features on this record actually outshine him - Jelly Roll is brilliant on 'Somebody Save Me', White Gold has some impressive moments on 'Habits' and the only redeeming quality in my eyes on 'Tobey' is Big Sean and BabyTron. And, although I think it lacks the real depth it needed, the narrative is actually quite cool. The thought of Eminem going back and destroying Slim Shady is a great concept, but the record comes across so one dimensional and needlessly vulgar that a slightly deeper look and a net wider flung could have created something really special.
The record is also a bit of a slog. To really get to the meaty thematic centre of the record, you need to wait for thirteen songs in, including interludes. In my eyes, by the point I got there, I was anything but interested. By half an hour in, Caitlin Jenner has been the butt of at least three or four lines, Eminem has attempted to bring back his signature bite but falls violently flat, and the instrumentation is really nothing to write home about. Then you'll hear something, like an unfortunate line about the Alec Baldwin shooting, and roll your eyes once again. I got so tired of this that at times I found myself audibly groaning at the so called 'shots' Slim Shady was taking. Plus, half of these lines are followed up by some sort of half arsed apology from the Marshall Mathers side of Eminem. Not only is the lyricism unfunny, even the guy who wrote them feels the need to backpedal every now and again instead of blindly doubling down like he used to. It's that same Slim Shady violence and bile with none of the backbone.
In conclusion, this record isn't anything special, which is a real shame, and a little sad. Eminem was a legend of the industry, who made his mark by quite literally burning his own way into the cultural zeitgeist. This record, that was supposed to be a brilliant return to his roots, with an enticing story and promising something different instead rehashes everything wrong with the Slim Shady persona, and more widely with Eminem in the modern day. There is no space for this kind of bland and frankly offensive record, with a lack thereof redeeming qualities. Eminem I think boils down to something Questlove tweeted about him recently, which puts a pin in where he seems to be in his career - “maybe with nothing to say any more, but with quite a talent for saying it”. Sure, he has that talent, and his flow is semi-decent and there are some sparks of something special, but in todays landscape, anything he really has to say falls just a touch redundant.
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