Take “If I Had,” which has always been one of the album’s more distinct tracks indeed, removed from the context of The Slim Shady LP, it’s one of the most startling moments of Eminem’s career. But it often works wonders and we end up getting a few of the most unique (if not flat-out greatest) songs the man has ever made. The drums make the LP feel like a boom bap album, especially when you think about the sinister intensity of the synths that would define the peak-Eminem sound. Dre, Mark, and Jeff Bass, and Eminem himself. The solemn introspection Eminem aimed for in his later releases never matched what he did on The Slim Shady LP, and some of that is thanks to the production, overseen by Dr. Standing on the brink of a new millennium, Eminem would be catapulted to superstardom and find himself wholly unable to inhabit this world or point of view again.
His gimmicks are based in true-crime shows, soap operas, battling schoolyard bullies, earning minimum wage, and Lugz. While his lampooning of pop culture would ultimately shift to Ja Rule and boy bands, in 1999 he was decidedly more daytime television. Twenty years later, The Slim Shady LP is perhaps the most unique release in Eminem’s discography. This isn’t sensationalist – it’s beyond the pale. “Bad Meets Evil” is set up like an old Western girls are overdosing at rave parties on “My Fault” and a guy from Connecticut is making grotesque prank calls on “Ken Keniff.” Even if you’ve been paying close attention, this is some of the craziest stuff ever rapped on record. “’97 Bonnie & Clyde” warps the loving duet between Bill Withers and Grover Washington, Jr, into a revenge fantasy in which Em takes out his wife and brings his daughter along for the deed. To say that Eminem’s arrival was a disruption would be an understatement. The award had only been around since 1996 and had so far been handed to Naughty By Nature, Fugees, Diddy, and, in 1999, Jay Z. It took some getting used to, but The Slim Shady LP would win the Grammy for Best Rap Album the year after its release. Few rappers have been as committed as Eminem was during his titanic run. But it was, and often still manages to be, totally mesmerizing. The album is relentlessly violent and filled with Eminem doing colorful character work. When the hooks are consistent, they’re often unmelodic and lyrically unacceptable to sing in public. The album’s smash single, “My Name Is,” derives its title from a name tag. It would have been easy to write him off as a gimmick. This sometime-merry menace has been imitated countless times since, but no one can do it as well because Em made it look so good. What was thrilling to some – and grisly to others – was the authenticity with which Eminem managed to portray himself (or himselves, depending) as this morally derelict prankster – some Loony Tunes version of Hannibal Lecter who would chug a 40 with you and then bludgeon you to death with the bottle.
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