Eminem "The Slim Shady LP" (1999)
Eminem/Slim Shady/Marshall Mathers' story has already been told (in
broad strokes) via the film "8 Mile": Poor, working class white kid in a
predominantly black neighbourhood, falls in love with hip-hop and
builds up his skill in underground rap battles.
Mathers released the relatively straight-ahead hip-hop album "Infinite"
which was a commercial failure and led to some DJs suggesting that as a white guy he should
stick to 'rock'. Mathers channelled his anger and frustration into a
new persona Slim Shady, an angry-yet-mischievous alter ego who could and
would say anything Mathers wanted him to say.
The character was a success, after an EP release, Mathers got to work
with N.W.A.'s Dr Dre of whom he was a fan. The pair worked well
together, with beats by Dre inspiring Em. The arrangements are mostly
just stripped back to bass and beats while Mathers is rapping, but with
lots of interesting bits and pieces going on in between.
The album opens with a pretty hefty 1-2 punch of "My Name is"
and "Guilty Conscience", both solid tracks that introduce the new
anarchic, angry Slim Shady (his voice even sounds different than from on
"Infinite") who was also an engaging storyteller.
Where Will Smith released "Just the two of us" as a loving ode to fatherhood, Eminem's track "97' Bonnie and Clyde"
previously also titled "Just the two of us" is a horror story of making
his daughter unwitting accessory to murder. The horror theme feels
like it's continued on "Rock Bottom" the backing track of which sounds
akin to old giallo soundtracks, maybe something from Morricone.
Mathers' first album sold around 1,000 copies. Though he would come to
largely retire the Slim Shady character as he matured, Slim helped him
sell millions of copies of this second album and essentially put him on
the musical map.
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