Eminem. Slim Shady. When people talk about greatest rap verses of all time, Eminem is never on that list. Oh, he’s definitely on the list for the greatest actual rapper of all time, but there’s countless verses from his peers that will be put forward before one of his own. To all those people I say listen to The Slim Shady LP. It’s not that they’re simply well written verses but the whole content and subject is so different to A LOT of records and joints out there. Eminem was in his Slim Shady persona and he did not give a shit. Needless to say, the outcome of not giving a shit creates an album that some might frown upon and others find hilarious. Thankfully, I’m the latter and really hope are or will be too.
Now don’t get me wrong – it’s not a comedy album, it’s just the way Eminem raps about subjects and the scenarios he’s conjured. They’re simply out of this world. I would like to reference the skit “Paul”. It’s a short skit with now CEO of Def Jam Recordings, Paul Rosenberg, leaving a message for Eminem about this album. It goes as follows “Hey what’s going on? This is Paul Rosenberg, your faithful attorney at law. Listen, I listened to the rough copy of your album.. And uh.. you know I’ve just got to be honest with you. Can you tone it down a little bit? Because there’s only so much I can explain. Give me a call”. This skit pretty much sums up what I was previously saying, except you got to listen to The Slim Shady LP yourself to see how Eminem truly makes it great.
“My Name Is”. We all know that song, as soon as you hear the beginning of that riff, you know exactly what is coming on. Being Eminem’s most popular song, and catapulting him onto the global scene, how can we not talk about it? I don’t want to say Dr. Dre was lazy in producing the track but if you go and listen to the original song from where the main sample riff is from, Dre has done absolutely nothing to it. Maybe we just have to give him credit for having a particularly good ear and realising that Labi Siffre had already done the job for him. The lyrical content is where Em really brings it home. This was his first big single, a real shot at the industry. His lyrics are witty and comical, he’s setting himself up to be someone you should not copy but leaving a big enough impact that you’ll be coming back for more.
There’s a reason why Eminem is rated as one of the top rappers of ALL TIME and it pretty much starts with this album. The Slim Shady persona, while being a weird one, created some of Em’s best content. Furthermore, it was a genius way to get a lot of different messages out there. All in all, Eminem delivered when it was necessary and created a fantastic record.
Hip-hop psa 