Eminem in his own words and music on Slim Shady anniversary

The song and its parent album The Marshall Mathers LP made the Detroit rapper a household name, delighting fans and terrifying parents with his diabolical Slim Shady alter-ego.

Whether taking shots at celebrities, fantasising about murdering his absentee father and ex-wife in song, or recreating the Texas Chainsaw Massacre on stage he was, in his own words: “a nightmare for white parents whose worst fear is a child with dyed hair and who likes earrings”.

Since then his career has taken in dizzying highs, disappointing lows, addiction, relapse, recovery, death and politics.

Here’s the self-proclaimed “boogey monster of rap” telling his life story through his songs.

Infinite (Infinite, 1996)

A mix-tape he sold out of the back of his car, Mathers estimated Infinite sold “maybe 70 copies” and has admitted he hadn’t yet found his voice as an artist. Everything would change when he came up with his Slim Shady alter ego.

My Name Is (The Slim Shady LP, 1999)

Eminem’s real introduction to the world saw him literally telling his audience “hi, my name is Slim Shady” in the chorus. His absent father gets an early namecheck too: “If you see my dad?/Tell him I slit his throat, in this dream I had”.

The Real Slim Shady (The Marshall Mathers LP, 2000)

Mathers’ first UK number one saw him take potshots at everyone from Britney Spears to Limp Bizkit, though with a knowing undercurrent of self-deprecation in the lyrics: “Will Smith don’t gotta cuss in his raps to sell records/well, I do - so f**k him and f**k you too”.

White America (The Eminem Show, 2002)

The release of the Marshall Mathers LP saw Eminem become both a superstar and the source of a moral panic. His conclusion? “The problem is I speak to suburban kids/who otherwise would have never known these words exist”. As he wryly notes: “hip-hop was never a problem in Harlem, only in Boston”.

Cleanin’ Out My Closet (The Eminem Show, 2002)

Opening with a reflection on his pariah status (“picket signs for my wicked rhymes”), Cleanin’ Out My Closet develops into an account of Mathers’ fractious relationship with his mother. Sample lyric: “Hailie’s getting so big now, you should see it, she’s beautiful/but you’ll never see her – she won’t even be at your funeral”.

Lose Yourself (8 Mile, 2003)

Eminem at the peak of his powers, ‘Lose Yourself’ was written for the soundtrack to 8 Mile and would win the rapper an Oscar. An autobiographical account of his rise to stardom, it’s used to close out his rare live shows.

Mosh (Encore, 2004)

He’d taken shots at George W Bush before – earning a visit from the Secret Service for one lyric – but went with both barrels ahead of the 2004 election, declaring: “no more blood for oil/we’ve got our own battles to fight on our own soil” and urging the American people to “disarm this weapon of mass destruction we call our President”.

You’re Never Over (Recovery, 2010)

As he himself readily admitted, 2009’s Relapse was not Eminem’s best work as he dealt with recovery from drug addiction and the death of best friend Proof. The closing track on Recovery addresses the latter directly: “For you, I wanna write the sickest rhyme of my life/So sick it'll blow up the mic/it'll put the ‘dyna’ in ‘mite’”.

Rap God (The Marshall Mathers LP 2, 2013)

The musical equivalent of a muscle flex, Mathers showed off his astonishing technical skill in a middle section which saw him spit 101 words containing 157 syllables in 16.45 seconds—an average of 6.1 words per second.

The Storm (2017)

A freestyle at the BET Awards saw Eminem make clear his stance to any of his fans who might be in Donald Trump’s MAGA crowd: “Any fan of mine who's a supporter of his/I'm drawing in the sand a line, you're either for or against/And if you can't decide who you like more and you're split/On who you should stand beside, I'll do it for you with this: F**k you!”.

Bonus

Stan (The Marshall Mathers LP, 2000)

A story in a song, ‘Stan’ is told from the perspective of an obsessed fan writing to Em and becoming increasingly deranged when his hero doesn’t reply. The song made Dido into a household name, and was performed alongside Elton John at the Grammys. Such was its impact, committed fans of any particular artist are referred to as “stans”.

Sing For The Moment (The Eminem Show, 2002)

A meditation on the impact of hip-hop music, featuring a sample of Aerosmith’s ‘Dream On’. In the final verse Mathers muses: “we sing for these kids who don’t have a thing/except for a dream and a f*****g rap magazine” or people “sit and cry at night, wishing they’d die/’til they they throw on a rap record and they sit and they vibe” concluding “we’re nothing to you/but we’re the f*****g s**t in their eyes”.

When I’m Gone (Curtain Call, 2005)

An ostensible goodbye to the music industry included on his greatest hits collection, ‘When I’m Gone’ sees the rapper ruminating on the impact writing and touring has taken on his family, culminating in a vision of killing off Slim Shady.

Love The Way You Lie (Recovery, 2010)

The mega-hit Eminem needed after the disappointing Relapse, he’s joined by Rihanna for a tale of a toxic relationship: “Next time I'm p****d, I'll aim my fist at the drywall/Next time? There won't be no next time/I apologise, even though I know it's lies”.

Darkness (Music To Be Murdered By, 2020)

Initially appearing to be a tale of the artist himself locked in a darkened room, tormented by his demons, Eminem pulls the rug in the third verse by revealing it’s from the perpetrator of the Las Vegas massacre: “Finger on the trigger, but I'm a licensed owner/With no prior convictions, so law says sky's the limit”.