14/07/2024
Eminem - THE Dā¬ATH OF SLIM SHADY LP REVIEW
As an overall concept, this album is Eminem coming face-to-face with his alter ego, Slim Shady, and Em confronting a lot of the things that have been part of his identity especially during his peak in the 2000s:
Drug addiction, being controversial, violence, pop culture references, etc.
The first track, āRenaissance,ā is reminiscent of āoldā Eminem, particularly on The Eminem Show or Encore, from the beat to the voice Eminem uses to the subject matter. The purpose is to set the stage and let the listener know that weāre going back in time to re-experience the Slim Shady persona, and this time around Em is going to take him down once and for all.
The song ends with a line about artists not getting their flowers until theyāre dead, foreshadowing the death of Slim Shady later on in the album.
Next, on āHabits,ā Slim Shady is back and immediately forcing Em to do drugs (heās been sober since 2008). This track lets you know the type of timing Slim Shady is gonna be on in this album, using the r word and saying he doesnāt care who he is offending. Eminem is fighting it saying āyou canāt say thatā but acknowledging that Slim Shady is a part of him āBut Iām still an addict, so itās getting harderā and the chorus is essentially Em saying heās addicted to Slim.
On āBrand New Dance,ā Eminem brings back his recurrent poking fun at Christopher Reeves on a track that was originally meant for Encore, literally bridging the present with the past. The track is from Slim Shadyās perspective.
On āEvilā, āLuciferā & āAntichristā we see more of Slim Shady essentially being a menace to society, and Eminem equates himself to the devil.
āFuelā is a track basically about longevity, but I also see it as Eminem passing the torch to JID. Em is saying heās not going to run out of fuel, and reflects on what heās been through, but by giving JID the lead verse (which is nearly 1:30), I think heās basically saying that yeah, Iām here to stay but