New album

Rap legend Eminem hits it off again on new album

The rap world has been nervously awaiting this for months: Genre legend Eminem unleashes his alter ego Slim Shady once again.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Universal Music (2))

After a good 20-year break, Eminem's famous alter ego "Slim Shady" is back. On his new album "The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)", the 51-year-old enters into a musical dialog with the fictional character who brought him his first major successes. Eminem also starts the time machine musically.

This was already evident in the video for the advance single "Houdini", a homage to the music video for his 2002 hit "Without Me". The theme of the video - how would the provocative "Slim Shady" be received in the year 2024 - also runs musically through the album. For example in the song "Habits", in which "Slim Shady" refuses to be impressed by political correctness and instead raps things like "All these pronouns I can't remember. They or them, theirs? His or him, hers?".

Interplay of the characters
Slim Shady is not dissuaded from this by Eminem himself in the dialog in "Trouble" and replies "You gonna cancel me, yeah?". These dialogues between the two characters occur again and again, in which it becomes clear that Eminem is actually trying to get rid of his alter ego because it is no longer contemporary and is destroying Eminem's career with its provocative lyrics. But he doesn't even think about it and takes more and more control over Eminem, like a malicious demon.

But the album is not just full of calculated taboo-breaking. "Temporary", a song for his daughter Hailie, stands out in particular. And in the last song "Somebody Save Me", Eminem also addresses his daughters and raps about his drug addiction and how he has let his daughters down because of it.

Cancel Culture as a metaphor
In terms of rap technique, Eminem is still beyond reproach with this album, and "The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)" is also heavily produced by Dr. Dre. In terms of content, the album initially seems like a big statement against the modern zeitgeist, "Cancel Culture" and Generation Z. But on closer listening, it becomes clear that all of this is a metaphor for his addiction. Like "Slim Shady", he fights against it but cannot prevent it from taking control of him and destroying his life.

Ultimately, Eminem picks up on his old recipe for success with his twelfth album. After all, his successful albums "The Marshall Mathers LP" and "Encore" already featured songs with provocative lyrics such as "The Real Slim Shady" and "Just Lose It" alongside very serious songs like "Stan" and "Mockingbird".

But no end yet
In the end, Eminem does not bury his alter ego with "The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)". Instead, he raps about his own death at the end: "As they lower me in my coffin, I feel the tears all fallin' down on my cheek."