Later this summer, the world will mourn the death of one of music's most influential and successful provocateurs: that one guy working at Burger King, spitting on your onion rings. As magnanimous and lauded as Eminem's work is, and as much as people have started to hate on it over time, nothing represents the highs and lows of the Detroit rapper's career quite like his Slim Shady persona. Moreover, the announcement of his new album, The Death Of Slim Shady, calls into question what the future really holds for Marshall Mathers. Will his art continue without Shady, is this his final album as an artist, or will another persona rise like a phoenix to bring his career out of the ashes for a (third? fourth?) revamp?
Regardless of what goes down with this new LP this summer, we're taking a look at just a handful of Slim Shady bars that would still turn many caring souls into Karens on impact. Eminem's alter ego has used every taboo, trigger word, or buzz term under the sun as a punching bag or punchline: murder, homophobia, racism, sexism, sodomy, sex, drugs, the youth, war, the military, politics, mental health, the rap game, celebrities, pop culture, divorce, religion... even gerbils, to most sane people's disgust. Whether to subvert, challenge, offend, or simply reflect poor taste, he's got one heck of a lyrical legacy that paved the way for so much good (and bad) in not just hip-hop, but pop culture at large. So before Slim's "death" this summer, and in chronological order, let's debate over which of his many quotables across his discography should be on his tombstone.
"My Name Is" (1999, The Slim Shady LP)
What better place to start than our introduction to Slim Shady? While there are plenty of wild bars here, we picked one that is already quite disturbing as is, but was reportedly originally meant to be much more harrowing. "Extraterrestrial, running over pedestrians / In a spaceship, while they're screaming at me, 'Let's just be friends!'" Eminem raps on the cut. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, according to Em's autobiography The Way I Am from 2009 (plus various other reports), the original version was this: "Extraterrestrial, killing pedestrians / R**ing lesbians while they're screaming, 'Let's just be friends!'" He changed it because Labi Siffre, a gay rights activist, found this and other lines on this song to be homophobic, and would not clear the sample of his song "I Got The..." for "My Name Is." As provocative as Shady could be, he could've been way worse...
"The Real Slim Shady" (2000, The Marshall Mathers LP)
Of course, this classic couldn't go without a mention either, and one particular line kept its controversial luster over the years for interestingly different reasons. "But if we can hump dead animals and antelopes / Then there's no reason that a man and another man can't elope," Eminem spits towards the end of this first verse. Its first part refers to MTV star Tom Green's moose-humping antics, and it overall argues that folks shouldn't treat homosexuality as disgusting if they find Green's comedy funny. Yes, it points out double standards in what is permitted and what is "taboo" in media and culture, but it's also a backhanded way to denounce homophobia, which was much more common back then. Especially today, we can't help but wonder if there was a less derogatory way to stand for gay rights. Then again, Slim Shady doesn't discriminate: he hates and mocks everyone equally.
"I'm Back" (2000, The Marshall Mathers LP)
And when he returned, the world was never really the same. The reason why? Particularly abhorrent but still intricate lines like "If this chick was my own mother, I'd still f**k her with no rubber / And cum inside her and have a son and a new brother / At the same time and just say that it ain't mine," directed towards Jennifer Lopez and, by association, to taunt Diddy. To say that this is probably the most sickening line on this Slim Shady cult gem, which also includes a censored reference to the Columbine shootings, should really illustrate just how sick Eminem was back then, and not in a good way. Alas, even incest is something that these alter egos rarely tackle, and to tack this on before the last chorus of "I'm Back" is one heck of a mic drop.
"Without Me" (2002, The Eminem Show)
We promise this is the last classic on the list, but sometimes democracy is right. Speaking of democracy, one of the most cutting lines on here isn't explicitly profane; just a cold jab at a politician's health and a quick but merciless dismissal of criticism. "I know that you got a job, Ms. Cheney / But your husband's heart problem's complicating," Eminem raps, responding to her denouncement of his lyrical content.
So, what does he do to Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife? Does Shady critique their politics and war-mongering, cut them up in a billion little pieces, put his bum on their lips, or spike their drinks at a cocktail party? In other words, does he prove them right? No. He just remembers the VP's four heart attacks before this song's release (which rose to five afterward), recalls his three heart procedures at the time, and tells Lynne: "Your husband's going to die soon." Yikes...
"A** Like That" (2004, Encore)
Now we get to the slightly deeper cuts from Slim Shady that don't have the benefit of the doubt or the undisputed quality of his best work. Over an Indian-inspired beat, and with a pretty offensive Asian and Southeast Asian accent, Eminem's lust takes aim at Hilary Duff... who was 17 years old when this song came out. "Hilary Duff is not quite old enough, so I ain't never seen a butt like that / Maybe next year, I'll say 'a**' and she'll make my pee-pee go d-doing, doing, doing." From 2004's Encore onwards, and especially on 2009's Relapse, Slim Shady starts to use more accents to find way more ethnicities and cultures to make fun of. Add to that his obsession with celebrities and crossing any sort of line, you have one of the most cringe-worthy moments in his entire catalog.
"Same Song & Dance" (2009, Relapse)
Speaking of the 2009 album Relapse, this song doesn't lean into the accents as much, or into cultural appropriation, but it's among the most explicit, descriptive, and disturbing accounts of targeting various celebrity women and engaging in murder, sexual assault, and the like. "I'm 'bout to make a new outfit out of you / New outfit? S**t, I'll make a suit out of you, shoot / Now, show me how you move, baby, do how a-you do," Slim Shady threatens towards the end of the song. It's one of many horrible moments of describing torture, with this one specifically referencing the skin-wearing villain from the film The Silence Of The Lambs, Buffalo Bill. Eminem doesn't usually break out the skin-carving in his murderous or sexually depraved narratives, so we at least need to give him points for creativity... or is it the other way around?
"Fall" (2017, Kamikaze)
This is easily the least shocking or controversial bar on this list, but we included it because we think it's not only one of, if not the most controversial, Eminem lyric to appear in his late-career arc. It's also possibly indicative of what his creativity looks like today and what The Death Of Slim Shady could really mean. On this song, Marshall Mathers targets Tyler, The Creator, his then-recently revealed sexual orientation, and his criticism of Em's later work despite being a lifelong fan. "Tyler create nothin', I see why you called yourself a f***ot, b***h," he raps, and it's important to note that in no version of the song does he actually or fully pronounce or spell out the homophobic slur. An improvement from his early stuff, at least, but with even more backlash than in the past.
For one, this isn't really Slim Shady anymore: this is Em, Slim, and Marshall all rolled into one throughout this LP. It doesn't have the same shock value or relevance as back in the 2000s. This song came out during a more progressive time in hip-hop (although some fanbases sadly haven't caught up), and represents the then-45-year-old MC's anger at the negative reception to his post-2000s work. Furthermore, the personalities became harder to distinguish, and any attempt to shock or subvert in the same way he did for decades was more corny than controversial. Nevertheless, it does pose an interesting question as to how Eminem will deal with Shady's loss after this summer, whether that rebellious and brash part of him can ever really die in his music, and what are the sides of him that this persona has, for better or worse, obscured from our view.