Product Description
NEED REF
Amazon.com
On The Slim Shady LP, Eminem wants it all. He’s conflicted, you see; the world has treated him badly, and he wants to respond in kind. But he isn’t a straight-up gangsta–this is, in the end, the first release on Dr. Dre‘s Aftermath Records, his post-Death Row-era venture–and Eminem (born Marshall Mathers) doesn’t actually want anyone to follow in his footsteps, which results in some interesting contradictions on this album. In the first single, “My Name Is,” he’s self-deprecating, rapping about his poor upbringing and his hairy palms. But on the very next song, “Guilty Judgment of right and wrong,” he plays the devil to Dr. Dre’s angel–that is, until Eminem brings up an incident from Dre’s devilish past, rapping, “You gonna take advice from someone who slapped Dee Barnes?” Later, on “’97 Bonnie & Clyde,” he turns Will Smith’s “Just the Two of Us” on its ear, making it a tale of murder; but on “My Fault,” he in truth feels bad–though whether it’s for the girl he overdosed or for himself is tough to determine. With his nasal Midwestern tone, Mathers has a clean, clear waft, and the production–by Dr. Dre, Marky, and Jeff Bass–is crisp but consistently fun. With his outlook, it’s tough to take Eminem too seriously, but he’s made an album you do not have to take seriously to enjoy. –Randy Silver
