Aiming for the summer, Eminem announced The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) this past Friday.
The announcement comes via a true crime mock series that casts 50 Cent for a brief cameo. Also included is a detective setting the scene.
“Through his complex, tongue twisting and oft criticized rhymes, the blonde anti-hero known as Slim Shady has had no shortage of enemies,” the detective says. “The same rude lyrics and controversial antics might have ultimately led to his demise.”
The Eminem hype cycle has begun. The rapper has been quiet for nearly four years, but fans are feening for what he has to say on his upcoming album. Not just because he’s been gone for so long, but because the title of the album is, provocatively, The Death of Slim Shady. Em will be closing the book on his iconic alter ego, which means he will be bringing it back to the beginning of his career. 50 Cent popped up in the teaser video for the album to call Slim a “psychopath.” The bigger revelation came on Instagram, though, when the rapper hinted at the album’s production.
50 Cent hopped in the comment section of The Death of Slim Shady teaser to hype up fans even more. He announced that Dr Dre, the man who put both him and Em on, will be producing the album. “This sh*t got some heat on it,” he wrote. “Dre back at it!.” This is music to the ears of Eminem fans, since Dre was crucial in developing the Slim Shady persona. He produced the rapper’s breakout single, “My Name Is,” and served as an executive producer on The Slim Shady LP. He also provided beats and creative input for Em’s subsequent four releases.
Dr. Dre has continued to work with Eminem over the years, but his involvement has lessened. He only worked on the interludes for the rapper’s most recent album, Music to Be Murdered By. He was nowhere to be found on Kamikaze, and received only an executive producer credit on Revival. 50 makes it sound like Eminem and Dre are linking back up in a more significant way than they have in decades. The two men haven’t lost any respect for each other in this time. If anything, their appreciation for each other’s abilities has grown.
Dr. Dre praised Eminem’s lyricism during a recent appearance on This Life of Mine with James Corden. He went as far as to call Em the greatest rapper of all time. “His imagination is off the charts, and I don’t think anyone would disagree with that,” he noted. “I think he’s the best MC ever. Point blank, period. I don’t think anyone that’s rapping can touch Eminem on that microphone.” It’ll be exciting to see what these two cook up for Slim Shady’s final chapter.
Eminem has not released a solo album since 2020’s Music To Be Murdered By: Side B. However, Dr. Dre shocked the hip hop world weeks ago when he announced that his musical protege would be releasing an album later this year, remarking, “I’ve got songs on it, and it’s fire.” Now that fans have seen the first promotional materials for the new project, revealed to be titled The Death Of Slim Shady, a wave of excitement has already begun. This is also the first time Eminem has announced a project with advanced notice since his critically panned 2017 effort Revival. Subsequent Eminem drops have all been surprise releases.
Eminem’s recent efforts, such as his inclusion in the Lyrical Lemonade album All Is Yellow, have been praised as a return to form by many fans, leading some to believe The Death Of Slim Shady will be his strongest body of work in a long time. While we don’t have a tracklist or album art just yet, now is as good a time as any to speculate what hip-hop legends will appear on the project, or at least, which ones the fans would be most happy to see.
Eminem and Jay-Z haven’t traded bars since 2001’s “Renegade,” though they have always shown each other love. The pair also co-headlined the Home & Home tour together in 2010, sharing the stage for some of their greatest solo hits. While Jay-Z hasn’t been rapping much lately, it would surely be a monumental moment to get these two hip-hop icons back on a track together on The Death Of Slim Shady. Jay-Z was instrumental in bringing Eminem to the Super Bowl halftime show in 2022, so the pair definitely know how to get in touch with each other.
Despite having been once signed to a distribution deal with Shady Records, Westside Gunn has never properly shared a track with the Death Of Slim Shady rapper. Gunn and Benny The Butcher hopped on a remix of the Conway The Machine track “Bang” which featured Eminem back in 2019, though that is the closest we’ve ever been to getting an Eminem track with the core Griselda trio.
These days, it’s likely kind of a long shot to get Westside Gunn on any Shady Records release, as the rapper has alluded to the imprint offering a general lack of support since concluding his deal. Still, the very notion of Eminem spitting dense, wordplay-heavy lyrics over an Alchemist beat, ad-libbed by Westside Gunn shouting gun onomatopoeias is enough to give any hip-hop head the stank face.
Nas has offered Eminem something of a career blueprint in recent years, with his illustrious six-album run from 2020 through 2023 serving as some of the best music to be produced by a hip-hop elder in the history of the genre. Eminem popped up for a feature on the King’s Disease 2 track “EPMD 2,” prompting a flurry of questions from fans as to why these two legends don’t collaborate more often. Nas is currently gearing up for a full studio album with DJ Premiere, so there’s still plenty of time for Marshall to meet him in the studio if he hasn’t already.
Whether you love Eminem, hate him, or feel largely indifferent to his musical legacy, we can likely all agree that his work with 50 Cent is some of his best. 50 already appeared in the first promotional video for The Death Of Slim Shady, humorously confessing, “I thought we were friends. He’s not a friend, he’s a psychopath.” Like Jay-Z, 50 doesn’t come outside to rap quite as often as he used to, but if there’s one MC who could make him dust off his pen and spit a career-defining verse, it’s Eminem.
Em and 50 also recently appeared in a comedy skit for Jimmy Kimmel Live, which saw them operating on Kimmel alongside hip-hop legends Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. Given the evidence, it’s clear that Eminem and 50 Cent have been hanging out lately, so it would come as no surprise if it turns out that they’ve been in the booth together.
In the latter half of Eminem’s career, many albums have featured unnecessary collaborations with pop singers instead of respected hip-hop legends. This has been a key critique from Eminem fans and haters alike. Of all the hardcore rhymers Em has ever stood beside, Royce da 5’9″ has pushed him the hardest, getting incredible performances out of the Detroit MC on tracks such as “You Gon’ Learn,” “Fast Lane,” “Vegas,” and even the original version of “Renegade,” before Jay-Z jumped on it. Eminem launched his official studio career with the album The Slim Shady LP in 1999, prominently featuring Royce on the track “Bad Meets Evil.” If The Death Of Slim Shady truly is the closing of a chapter, there’s no other way for Eminem to do it than with at least one or two verses from his long-time Detroit cohort.
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.
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.
Eminem is ready to deliver a new album. Aiming for the summer, Eminem announced The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce).
The announcement comes via a true crime mock series that casts 50 Cent for a brief cameo. Also included is a detective setting the scene.
“Through his complex, tongue twisting and oft criticized rhymes, the blonde anti-hero known as Slim Shady has had no shortage of enemies,” the detective says. “The same rude lyrics and controversial antics might have ultimately led to his demise.”
Eminem has been awfully quiet in the 2020s. The rapper who dominated pop culture in the 2000s and the pop charts in the 2010s hasn’t dropped an album in four years. The wait for new music is finally over, though. Eminem made a seemingly random appearance at the start of the NFL Draft on April 25, but the pieces fell into play when Em uploaded a video teaser to YouTube. It seems like the appearance was a way to drum up excitement for the rapper’s upcoming album, The Death of Slim Shady.
Eminem modeled the teaser after crime shows like Unsolved Mysteries. A man in a trenchcoat details the enemies that “Slim Shady” has made over the years due to his “tongue-twisting rhymes.” 50 Cent, Em’s longtime collaborator, then appears to voice his concern for the rapper’s alter ego. “He’s not a friend,” 50 says fearfully. “He’s a psychopath.” The teaser incorporates clips from classic Eminem videos like “Without Me” and “The Real Slim Shady.” The premise of the new album really comes focus, however, when the narrator reveals that Shady was killed. “The same rude and controversial lyrics may have ultimately led to [Shady’s] demise,” he theorizes.
The teaser confirms that Eminem’s new album, The Death of Slim Shady, will be released in summer 2024. The best part of the announcement comes at the very end, though when a pixelated Eminem moves to the side and accidentally reveals his true identity. The album boasts the subtitle “Coup de Grace,” which means “a final blow or shot given to kill a wounded person or animal.” Eminem created Slim Shady as a means of voicing his discontent when he was starting out. “When I started rapping as that character,” he told Fact Magazine. “It was a way for me to vent all my frustrations and just blame it on him. If anybody got mad about it, it was him that said it.”
The rapper has periodically returned to his alter ego over the years. He distanced himself from Slim Shady on Recovery (2010) and Revival (2017), but dove into the character’s zany antics on The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2014). Eminem’s recent albums have also tried to reckon with the skeletons of his past, whether it be addiction or family drama, so it makes sense he would close the book on his Slim in dramatic fashion.
Sometimes, rappers pull inspiration from the most unlikely places, especially long before their careers establish. For example, Slim Jxmmi recently revealed on The Bootleg Kev Podcast, on which he spoke alongside his brother and Rae Sremmurd partner Swae Lee, that he used to try to rap like Eminem. Not only that, but they both expressed being fans of the Detroit legend, despite hailing from Mississippi. During their conversation, they spoke on their recently released album Sremm 4Life, Internet virality, and many other topics. “That was definitely my favorite rapper [growing up],” Jxmmi remarked. “Man what, I used to do all that ‘Hi, my name is’ [stuff]. I used to like the way he rapped. I [even] used to try and rap like him at one point in time in my life.”
Furthermore, his use of the phrase “used to like” is quite interesting. Is he one of many Stans who think that his music fell off deeper into his career? Regardless, the Marshall Mathers connections to Rae Sremmurd run surprisingly deep. Slim Jxmmi’s rap name is quite similar to that of Em’s alter ego Slim Shady. Also, on Sremm 4 Life, they include an homage to the classic track “Stan” and the Dido song that it samples on the cut “Not So Bad (Leans Gone Cold).” While that track caused a dispute between the rap duo and fellow MC Millyz, it still made for a wild crossover moment.
However, it’s not the only hip-hop legends that the rap duo is connected to. Moreover, they addressed comparisons to Outkast, specifically a viral 2022 tweet that claimed that Rae Sremmurd was better than the Atlanta icons. “Y’all gotta chill,” they posted on Twitter, and each member actually elaborated on the comparison previously in a 2018 interview with NME. “Shout-out to OutKast man, they’re some originals in the game, so you can never compare us,” Slim Jxmmi stated. “But I think that Rae Sremmurd are doing our own thing, in our own way, in our era of time and music. But OutKast is a great group, and we really like them, you know what I’m saying?”
“I think the game is trying to turn us to some OutKast [comparisons],” Swae Lee added. “And there’s a lot of hate and hating on us going on because we’re doing our own thing and we’re in our own lane. They tried to turn Rae Sremmurd into OutKast and count us out, so we had to come out and remind them that, ‘Look, we’re here to stay.’” Regardless of your take on that, return to HNHH for more on Eminem, and the latest on Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi of Rae Sremmurd.
Eminem filed a trademark opposition against two Real Housewives of Potomacstars for their “Relatively Shady” podcast trademark. Before going on, reports suggest they filed trademark for “Relatively Shady,” but their podcast is found online as “Reasonably Shady.” With that being said, the Detroit rapper already has a similar trademark in “Slim Shady” and filed a motion to block the Housewives‘s trademark. Moreover, Robyn Dixon and Gizelle Bryant host the Reasonably Shady relationship advice podcast, and filed for trademark of that name in February of 2022.
Furthermore, trademark infringement cases typically rest on the likelihood that a consumer would confuse two brands. For example, a small restaurant can’t file a trademark for their “McDonald’s Hot Dogs” because consumers will likely confuse them for the fast-food giant. Within his opposition request, Marshall Mathers states that consumers would be confused by the “Reasonably Shady” name. However, another important aspect in these cases is the similarities between each trademarked product. After all, who would believe that Slim Shady is starting a relationship advice podcast with two Real Housewives of Potomac?
Eminem’s Trademark Case Against The Real Housewives
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 05: Eminem performs onstage during the 37th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Microsoft Theater on November 05, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/WireImage)
Still, multiple other trademarks exist with the term “Shady” in them. Moreover, trademarks like “Super Shady,” “Stay Shady,” and “Shady Baby” exist in active registration databases. Even with that in mind, trademark confusion isn’t all that the “Lose Yourself” MC hinges on. Also in his request is the claim that the new trademark could dilute Eminem’s existing “Slim Shady.” In this instance, the rapper believes that Dixon and Bryant’s registration hinders the “distinctive quality” of his “Slim Shady” trademark. In addition, the opposition request claimed that “Reasonably Shady” will inevitably remind people of Marshall’s artistry and brand.
Meanwhile, the Reasonably Shady podcast already has over 43,000 followers on Instagram, and the Real Housewives are clearly finding success. Furthermore, they must answer to Eminem’s opposition request by March 26 of this year. If they don’t, their request to trademark their “shady” podcast name may fall on deaf ears. However, if they fight back, it will be up to each party to make their case to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Regardless of what happens, stick around on HNHH for the latest updates on Eminem and this new trademark dispute.
Slim Shady’s one of the most successful and profitable names in hip-hop, but even he missed out on some major bags sometimes. In a recent interview with Big Boy’s Neighborhood, 50 Cent revealed that Eminem rejected an $8 million offer to perform at last year’s World Cup. Moreover, the offer came after the two performed alongside Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and Kendrick Lamar at the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show.
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – AUGUST 28: Eminem performs onstage at the 2022 MTV VMAs at Prudential Center on August 28, 2022 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for MTV/Paramount Global)
According to Fif, organizers of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar reached out to his and Eminem’s teams to sign the on to perform.
“Because of the Super Bowl, I got an inquiry about the World Cup,” the Queens mogul stated. “They had a budget of $9 million for it. So they was gonna give— I would have took one, Big. Then the other eight would have been for Em.”
Meanwhile, 50 said that if anybody was interested in a one-and-done, they’d do “the biggest live sporting event in the world.” If the FIFA World Cup won’t cut it, what could?
Still, once they made the offer, 50 Cent called Em’s manager Paul Rosenberg to talk it over. Ultimately, they turned it down. While it seems likely, there’s no telling whether the news got directly to the “Lose Yourself” rapper.
“I wanna bring — I’m gonna bring 8 Mile to television,” Fif stated. Also, he told Big Boy that the prospect is already “in motion.”
“It’s gonna be big,” he went on to state. “I’m working. I ain’t got no duds. I’m batting 10… I think it should be there for [Eminem’s] legacy because it’s important to me that they understand it.”
What do you think of Eminem turning down $8 million’s worth of a World Cup performance? Whatever the case, let us know in the comments down below. Also, as always, check back in with HNHH for the latest interview highlights and hip-hop business.
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