The Slim Shady LP is the second studio album by American rapper Eminem. It was released through Aftermath Entertainment, WEB Entertainment, and Interscope Records on February 23, 1999. Recorded in Ferndale, Michigan, following Eminem's recruitment by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, the album features production from Eminem himself, alongside Dr. Dre and the Bass Brothers. Featuring hip-hop and horrorcore musical styles, the majority of The Slim Shady LPs lyrical content was written from the perspective of Eminem's alter ego, named Slim Shady.
Slim Shady was introduced on his Slim Shady EP (1997) and concluded on his studio album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) (2024). The album contains cartoonish depictions of violence and heavy use of profanity, which Eminem described as horror film–esque, solely for entertainment value. Although many of the lyrics on the album are considered to be satirical, Eminem also discusses his frustrations of living in poverty. "My Name Is" was released as the album's second single and became Eminem's first entry on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Commercially, The Slim Shady LP charted within the top 10 in Belgium, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States as well as the top 20 in Austria and the Netherlands. The album was largely acclaimed by critics, with praise directed at Eminem for his unique and fresh lyrical style, dark humor lyrics, and unusual personality. The album garnered Eminem his first awards of his career, including Best Rap Album and Best Rap Solo Performance (for "My Name Is") at the 2000 Grammy Awards. Eminem was also nominated for the Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist.
The Slim Shady LP has received multi-platinum certifications within Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. While its success turned Eminem from an underground rapper into a high-profile celebrity, he became a highly controversial figure due to his lyrical content, which some perceived to be misogynistic and a negative influence on American youth. Despite this, the album is often mentioned in lists of the greatest albums of all time.
Background Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, began rapping at age 14. In 1996, he released his debut studio album, Infinite, which was recorded at the Bassmint, a recording studio owned by the Bass Brothers. The album was released under their independent record label, WEB Entertainment. Infinite was a commercial failure and was largely ignored by Detroit radio stations. This experience greatly influenced Eminem's lyrical style:
After the release of Infinite, Eminem's personal struggles and abuse of drugs and alcohol culminated in a suicide attempt. The failure of Infinite inspired him to create the alter ego Slim Shady: "Boom, the name hit me, and right away I thought of all these words to rhyme with it." Slim Shady served as Eminem's vent for his frustration and rage to the world. In the spring of 1997, he recorded the eight-song extended play Slim Shady EP. During this time, Eminem and his girlfriend Kim Scott lived in a high-crime neighborhood with their newborn daughter Hailie, where their house was burglarized numerous times. After being evicted from his home, Eminem traveled to Los Angeles to participate in the Rap Olympics, an annual nationwide rap battle competition. He placed second, and the staff at Interscope Records who attended the Rap Olympics sent a copy of the Slim Shady EP to company CEO Jimmy Iovine. Iovine played the tape for hip-hop producer Dr. Dre, founder of Aftermath Entertainment. Dr. Dre recalled: "In my entire career in the music industry, I have never found anything from a demo tape or a CD. When Jimmy played this, I said, 'Find him. Now. Some urged Dr. Dre not to take a chance on Eminem because he was white. Dr. Dre responded: "I don't give a fuck if you're purple. If you can kick it, I'm working with you."
Recording
The Slim Shady LP was recorded at Studio 8 at 430 8 Mile Road in Ferndale, Michigan. Eminem, who had idolized Dr. Dre since listening to his group N.W.A as a teenager, was nervous to work with him on the album: "I didn't want to be starstruck or kiss his ass too much ... I'm just a little white boy from Detroit. I had never seen stars, let alone Dr. Dre."Bozza, 2003. p. 24 However, Eminem became more comfortable working with Dr. Dre after a series of highly productive recording sessions. The recording process generally began with Dr. Dre creating a beat and Eminem using the tracks as a template for his freestyle raps; "Every beat he would make, I had a rhyme for", Eminem recalled.Stubbs, 2006. p. 58 He later said: "Every time I sat down with a pen, everything was just like 'fuck you, fuck this, fuck them, fuck that, fuck the world, fuck what everybody thinks. Fuck them.' " On the first day of recording, Eminem and Dr. Dre finished "My Name Is" in an hour. Three other songs, including "Role Model", were also recorded that day.
97 Bonnie & Clyde", which was formerly featured on the Slim Shady EP as "Just the Two of Us", was re-recorded for The Slim Shady LP to feature his daughter Hailie's vocals. Because the song focuses on disposing of his girlfriend's corpse, Eminem was not comfortable with explaining the situation to Kim Scott, and instead told her that he would be taking Hailie to Chuck E. Cheese's. He explained, "When she found out I used our daughter to write a song about killing her, she fucking blew. We had just got back together for a couple of weeks. Then I played her the song and she bugged the fuck out." Eminem also said, "When [Hailie] gets old enough, I'm going to explain it to her. I'll let her know that Mommy and Daddy weren't getting along at the time. None of it was to be taken too literally, although at the time I wanted to fucking do it." Eminem asked Marilyn Manson to guest appear on the song, but the singer declined because he felt that the song was "too misogynistic". The song "Guilty Conscience" contains a humorous reference to an occasion in which Dr. Dre assaulted Dee Barnes. Having only known Dr. Dre for a few days, Eminem was anxious about how he would react to such a line, and to his relief, Dr. Dre "fell out of his chair laughing" upon hearing the lyric.Stubbs, 2006. p. 68
"Ken Kaniff", a skit involving a prank call to Eminem, featured fellow Detroit rapper Aristotle. After a falling out between the two in the wake of Eminem's breakthrough success, Eminem instead played Ken Kaniff on skits on future albums. Ken Kaniff would end up appearing in more Eminem albums over the course of his career and was last heard in The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) (2024).Bozza, 2003. p. 43 Another skit, "Bitch", is an answering machine message in which Zoe Winkler, daughter of actor Henry Winkler, tells a friend that she was disgusted by Eminem's music. He met and had dinner with her in order to get permission to use the recording on the album. During the mixing process of The Slim Shady LP, at the same time, Kid Rock was recording his fourth studio album, Devil Without a Cause (1998); being friends with Kid Rock, Eminem asked Kid Rock to record scratching for Eminem's song "My Fault"; in return, Eminem delivered a guest rap verse on Kid Rock's song "Fuck Off" for Devil Without a Cause.
Production
The album's production was handled primarily by Dr. Dre, the Bass Brothers, and Eminem. The beats have been compared to West Coast hip-hop and G-funk musical styles. Kyle Anderson of MTV wrote that "The beats are full of bass-heavy hallucinations and create huge, scary sandboxes that allow Em to play." According to the staff at IGN, "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" is backed by the "lulling serenity of a super silky groove". "Cum on Everybody"; which features guest vocals from American singer Dina RaeStubbs, 2006. p. 78 contains an upbeat dance rhythm, while "My Name Is", which is built around a sample from British musician Labi Siffre's "I Got The...", features a prominent bassline and psychedelic-style keyboards. "I'm Shady" was originally written over a Sade track, but after hearing a sample of Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman" in Ice-T's song "I'm Your Pusher", Eminem decided it would be more fitting to use "Pusherman".Stubbs, 2006. p. 84
Eminem's vocal inflection on the album has been described as a "nasal whine"; Jon Pareles of The New York Times likened his "calmly sarcastic delivery" to "the early Beastie Boys turned cynical". Writing for the Chicago Tribune, columnist Greg Kot compared the rapper's vocals to "Pee-wee Herman with a nasal Midwestern accent". A skit entitled "Lounge" appears before "My Fault" featuring Eminem and the Bass Brothers imitating rat pack crooners. Jeff Bass came up with the line "I never meant to give you mushrooms" for the skit, which in turn inspired Eminem to write "My Fault".Stubbs, 2006. p. 75
Lyrical themes
Many of the songs from The Slim Shady LP are written from the perspective of Eminem's alter ego, Slim Shady, and contain cartoonish depictions of violence, which he refers to as "made-up tales of trailer-park stuff". The rapper explained that this subject matter is intended for entertainment value, likening his music to the horror film genre: "Why can't people see that records can be like movies? The only difference between some of my raps and movies is that they aren't on a screen." Some of the lyrics have also been considered to be misogynistic by critics and commentators. Eminem acknowledged the accusations, and clarified, "I have a fairly salty relationship with women ... But most of the time, when I'm saying shit about women, when I'm saying 'bitches' and 'hoes', it's so ridiculous that I'm taking the stereotypical rapper to the extreme. I don't hate women in general. They just make me mad sometimes." Despite the album's explicit nature, Eminem refused to say the word "nigga" on the album, noting, "It's not in my vocabulary." The Slim Shady LP begins with a "Public Service Announcement" introduction performed by producer Jeff Bass of the Bass Brothers, and serves as a sarcastic disclaimer discussing the album's explicit lyrical content. Later in the album, a skit entitled "Paul" features a phone call from Paul Rosenberg to Eminem telling him to "tone down" his lyrics.Hasted, 2011. p. 111
"Guilty Conscience" is a concept song featuring Dr. Dre. The song focuses on a series of characters who are faced with various situations, while Dr. Dre and Eminem serve as the "angel" and "devil" sides of the characters' conscience, respectively. The song draws inspiration from a scene in the 1978 comedy film National Lampoon's Animal House, in which a man takes advice from an angel and devil on his shoulder while considering raping an unconscious girl at a party. In the film, he ends up deciding not to go through with the rape, but in "Guilty Conscience", the outcome is unclear. On "My Fault", Eminem tells the story of a girl who overdoses on psychedelic mushrooms at a rave.Bozza, 2003. p. 49 97 Bonnie & Clyde" features Eminem convincing his infant daughter to assist him in disposing of his wife's corpse. It is an epilogue to the song "Kim", although 97 Bonnie & Clyde" was released first. Eminem wrote the song at a time in which he felt that Kim Scott was stopping him from seeing his daughter. Reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic explained that "There have been more violent songs in rap, but few more disturbing, and it's not because of what it describes, it's how he describes it -- how the perfectly modulated phrasing enhances the horror and black humor of his words." On the song "Brain Damage", Eminem discusses his childhood experiences with bullies at school, particularly recalling a traumatic incident where he sustained a serious concussion after he was severely beaten by a bully.