Released:  February 25th, 1999

Recorded:  1997 – 1998

Genre:  Hip-Hop, Hardcore Hip-Hop

Record Label:  Aftermath / Interscope / Web

Duration:  59:49

Producers:  Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mark & Jeff Bass, Mel-Man

Personnel

Track Listing

Singles

Why The Slim Shady LP is One of My Favorites

Ever since I first got this project off the ground, The Slim Shady LP was an album that I debated over whether or not to include.  “Is it really one of my favorites?” I’d ask myself.  Eventually I decided that yes, it is definitely one of my favorites, and I was letting my love for Eminem’s followup, The Marshall Mathers LP, get in the way of what I thought of the former.  The Slim Shady LP walks a fine line between the ridiculous and the sublime with its over-the-top lyrics and Eminem’s cartoonish style combined with ruminations on poverty, success, and life in general.  Honestly, Em could be rapping about buttered toast with his style of delivery and expertly crafted rhymes.

The Slim Shady LP is the album that launched Eminem into popular culture and into the annuls of music history.  Years from now, decades from now, Eminem will be remembered in music history.  He will eclipse predecessors like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and even N.W.A.; these acts will become footnotes in the face of Eminem’s artistry and success.  “Best rapper” nearly always boils down to Pac or Biggie, maybe even Jay-Z…Lil Wayne has even claimed the title (gag me with a spoon), but really, it’s Eminem.  Unquestionably.

Ok, so maybe his craft hadn’t quite matured when The Slim Shady LP came out, but it was a giant leap forward from his work on the underground releases Infinite and The Slim Shady EP.  The beats represent a transition between the antiquated stylings of the 90’s and earlier and the surgical precision of what was to come; in this regard they sound somewhat dated but the majority are still enjoyable by today’s standards.  Beats aside, it’s Em’s wordplay and dead-on flow that make this album what it is.

Every song on the record reflects his skill, but it’s the uptempo numbers where he really shines.  “My Name Is,” “Guilty Conscience,” “My Fault,” and “Cum on Everybody” are some of the best examples of how his voice effortlessly rolls from one rhyme to the next.  Trying to pick out individual lines is almost impossible because the album is full of them.  He repeatedly turns a single thought into several seconds of lyrics rife with all sorts of symbols and comparisons.  I remember when “My Name Is” hit it big, and after I’d heard it a few times and really sat down and started paying attention, it was like I was hearing rap music for the first time.  It’s not only how he twists something ordinary into a humorous line, but also how he delivers it with impeccable timing and increasingly complex rhyming schemes.  And he doesn’t just stop at rhyming either.  He makes ample use of difficult to master literary concepts such as consonance, assonance, internal rhyme, and alliteration.  It is damned amazing, no matter what he’s rapping about.

As evident in the more somber tracks like “97 Bonnie & Clyde,” “Rock Bottom,” and “If I Had,” Eminem has some astute observations about poverty, family, and his upbringing to share as well.  Even beneath the humor in Em’s sillier songs there’s a frustration with the status quo and how he’s been treated both before and in spite of his success.  He’s got a surprisingly introspective eye when it comes to himself, and he’s not afraid to confront his demons.  A lot of comes out as self-deprecation, but there’s an honesty that comes out with it, an unabashed and unashamed examination of what made him who he is.

At 11 seconds shy of an hour, there are some weaker songs that could be cut, though honestly the production is the only thing that brings them down.  Less mid-tempo numbers would’ve been better; Em has to be going at high speed to truly demonstrate his impressive abilities.  I do love the quirky sound bytes inserted into many of the songs, with “Cum on Everybody” having some of the funniest.  Eminem transmits his anger as humor, and it’s one of the things the helped to distinguish The Slim Shady LP both then and now.

And like all brilliant artists, the record drew its share of criticism for misogynist lyrics, threats of violence, graphic accounts of drug use, and so forth.  Eminem more or less admits several times to saying what he says to provoke, irritate, and rile, and still the hatred flows.  I usually frown upon hip-hop’s inclusion of skits, but the opening “Public Service Announcement” is perfect.  Producer Jeff Bass outright admits, within the first few seconds, “the views and events expressed here are totally fucked, and are not necessarily the views of anyone.”  What more do you need?  It’s fun, it’s scathing, it’s fun because it’s scathing.

The Slim Shady LP is just a bit too inconsistent to be an unquestionable classic, but it is without a doubt the beginning of something great.  If nothing else, it solidified Eminem’s spot in the game and established him as a force to be reckoned with.  His full potential isn’t yet realized here, though it’s bubbling under the surface.

Written by The Cubist

Other albums from Eminem in this series:

• 2000 – The Marshall Mathers LP – Issue #58-A

Back to The Cubist’s 90’s Albums