Slim Shady is back—possibly for the last time.
Eminem has just released his 12th studio album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), and it features the legendary rapper trying something new: releasing a fully realized conceptual album.
The Death of Slim Shady is about Eminem’s inner battle with his alterago. Longtime fans should know that there is Em and then there’s Slim Shady, the rude, vulgar, confrontational rapper willing to go at anyone. Even in 2024, Slim Shady very much wants to piss the world off, and spends a good portion of the album sending fire at a wide spectrum of people, from Lizzo to Diddy to ‘Ye to Ja Rule to poor Christopher Reeve (again).
This is Em’s first album in four years, and we can already say it’s a stark improvement over 2020’s Music to Be Murdered, with the rapper energized by the idea of doing something that’s a little out-of-the-box for him. And it does seem like Em is particularly pleased with this album. Hours before the release, he urged fans to listen to it as an entire project, not in bits and pieces.
So that’s exactly what we did. Here are eight takeaways from Eminem’s new album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce).
Slim Shady is back—possibly for the last time.
Eminem has just released his 12th studio album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), and it features the legendary rapper trying something new: releasing a fully realized conceptual album.
The Death of Slim Shady is about Eminem’s inner battle with his alterago. Longtime fans should know that there is Em and then there’s Slim Shady, the rude, vulgar, confrontational rapper willing to go at anyone. Even in 2024, Slim Shady very much wants to piss the world off, and spends a good portion of the album sending fire at a wide spectrum of people, from Lizzo to Diddy to ‘Ye to Ja Rule to poor Christopher Reeve (again).
This is Em’s first album in four years, and we can already say it’s a stark improvement over 2020’s Music to Be Murdered, with the rapper energized by the idea of doing something that’s a little out-of-the-box for him. And it does seem like Em is particularly pleased with this album. Hours before the release, he urged fans to listen to it as an entire project, not in bits and pieces.
So that’s exactly what we did. Here are eight takeaways from Eminem’s new album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce).
The Slim Shady Easter eggs
The Death of Slim Shady is a museum for Em’s early career. “Guilty Conscience 2” is, of course, a sequel to the first “Guilty Conscience” with Dr. Dre; “Houdini” is basically a remake of “The Real Slim Shady.” There’s a Bizarre feature on “Antchrist.” And on “Trouble” and “Brand New Dance” he continues his long running one-sided feud with the diseased Christopher Reeve (It’s not Reeves, Em.). There’s a lot of history on this album, and it creates an air of genuine finality, even if it’s still hard to believe at the moment.—Peter A. Berry
He remains the best acrobat in hip-hop
While the quality of his albums have fluctuated since 2004, Eminem has remained a technical marvel, and things are no different here. For essentially each verse on the LP, he turns stanzas into gymnastic exhibitions, piling syllables and rhyme patterns in completely unpredictable fashion. Plenty of people can thread rhymes with a lot of precision, but Em stacks them omnidirectionally; it can feel like walls closing in on any empty space between words. Check what he does to conservative talking head Candace Owens on “Road Rage:”
“And Candace O, I ain't mad at her /I ain't gon' throw the fact bitch forgot she was Black back at her/Laugh at her like them crackers she's backin' after her back is turned/In a cute MAGA hat with her brand-new White Lives Matter shirt/Or say this MAGA dirtbag in a skirt.”
This is just vintage Slim Shady shit right here. —Peter A. Berry
The Death of Slim Shady is a conceptual album that works for Eminem
The divide between Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers is thicker than ever. Eminem uses skits and songs to emphasize this, making it the thematic centerpiece of the album. He presents Slim as a destructive force whose mayhem usually comes at the cost of Em’s peace of mind. For “Houdini,” Slim makes a last-ditch attempt to get Em canceled, and for “Guilty Conscience 2,” he turns the premise of the OG “Guilty Conscience” into a battle of his two identities. This level of commitment is an asset; he is approaching this new music with a level of freedom and energy we haven’t heard in years. —Peter A. Berry
Em adds new rappers to his rhyme tribe
There’s a tendency to paint Eminem as a middle-aged man who’s against the new school, but it’s not all the way true; dating back to the late 2010s, he collaborated with plenty of younger acts, especially ones that mirror his verbal athletics. The latest additions are JID, Babytron, and Filipino-American rapper Ez Mil. All of these collaborators fit what Em is doing here deftly. Babytron goes punchline to punchline with Em on “Tobey,” and JID fills the Joyner Lucas lane perfectly on “Fuel,” providing speed raps that nearly match Marshall’s inhuman agility. But it’s Ez Mil, who’s signed to Em, who shines in the most unique way, rapping part of his verse in Tagalog on “Head Honcho.” —Peter A. Berry
The Em and 2 Chainz Song should have been on the album
We’re sure there's a perfectly good reason why “Kyrie & Luka '' didn't make the final cut. But, also… what? This song is crazy and it features Em and 2 Chainz putting on a rapping clinic over a crazy DJ Premier beat. There is something exhilarating when two rappers get on a track and try to compete. It’s even better when you can tell there's mutual respect.
On the song, both showcase their individual strengths, with 2 Chainz barraging the listener with quips (“My partner is a Crip, the only thing he eat is seafood”) and Em stringing along syllables like a fucking mad man (“They're tryna make Marshall the guy responsible For little Joshua's giant arsenal.”) Right now the song isn’t on streaming. Em, big mistake. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
It’s open season on Diddy
Eminem has had a checkered past with Diddy. On his MGK diss “Kill Zone” he famously rapped about him getting Tupac killed (before adding that he was joking.)
Well on this album it seems like the gloves are fully off. He goes after Diddy with the same venom 50 Cent has in the past. He makes Diddy disses on multiple tracks, referencing the Kid Cudi car bombing incident and Duane “Keffe D” Davis. The most vicious diss is on “Antichrist,” where he raps about the infamous 2016 Diddy and Cassie video, rapping:
"Next idiot ask me is gettin’ his ass beat worse than Diddy did
But on the real, though
She prolly ran out the room with his fuckin’ dildo
He tried to field goal punt her, she said to chill
Now put it back in my ass and get the steel toe.”—Dimas Sanfiorenzo
Em Joins the Country-Hip-Hop Frenzy
Between Post Malone teaming up with Morgan Wallen and Shaboozey going No. 1 with a J-Kwon remix, it’s clear we’re in a big country-hip-hop crossover moment—and Eminem just hopped on board. Em hijacks Jelly Roll’s 2020 hit “Somebody Save Me;” using the heartfelt backdrop to reflect on the perils of his own drug addiction. Jelly Roll provides new vocals here, making the song sound fresh. And it’s a track that plays to both their strengths, as two extremely emotive and descriptive artists. More pragmatically speaking it’s got the potential to be a big single, joining other big rap-country collabs near the top of the charts. —Peter A. Berry
Eminem’s meta cancel culture commentary
After all of these years, Eminem is having the same fights. Back in 2000, he was on the front line of the culture wars when he released the Marshall Mathers LP, an album so hardcore and filled with so much violent imagery he was in news cycles for months. Times are different. Audiences are more sensitive to violence and Em is also not a firecracker anymore. So it’s interesting to see Eminem try to ignite some controversy again, almost as if he’s daring people to throw him into headlines.
A common theme of the new album is not just getting “canceled,” but also mockingly using words and phrases that can get you “canceled.” There are various transphobic and fatphobic jokes all over this project. He also kills Gen Z for being too sensitive and uses the “r word” liberally.—Dimas Sanfiorenzo