The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)

by Eminem

Overview

Eminem's journey to the top would have been a different story without Slim Shady, the exaggerated persona he passed the mike to when it was time to fire off his most offensive and attention-grabbing lyrics. Crass and problematic but rarely serious, the Slim Shady character provided a needed foil to the often-tortured Marshall Mathers, and was the star of many of Eminem's earliest hits. He returns on concept album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), in which the two sides of the rapper's personality face off in a fight to the end. Returning from the early 2000s to 2024 with a lot of the same jokes, references, and tired points of view, Slim spends the front half of the album spewing as much seemingly random verbal menace as possible, aiming loosely at cancel culture, Gen Z, pronoun usage, and wokeism. Still an undeniably gifted rapper, Eminem gives a strong showing of his multi-leveled wordplay and dexterous flow. "Habits" has the pop sparkle that took him from the underground to the radio, and while the inclusion of "Brand New Dance" is questionable at best (the song was shelved in 2004 and is devoted to mocking quadriplegic actor Christopher Reeve, who died that same year), the chunky beat and sinister chorus are surefire nostalgia for times when Slim Shady was dominating mainstream culture. For the most part, however, The Death of Slim Shady is a bewildering slog to get through. The general concept gets old almost immediately, and from there we're left with a painful lack of new ideas. Eminem does what he's done before: recycles a classic rock hook for the chorus of "Houdini," switches into a faster-than-fast chopper flow at the end of "Lucifer," and closes with an emotional ballad on "Somebody Save Me," complete with a heartstring-tugging hook from Jelly Roll. The pacing is as confusing as the generally shaky concept, as the standoff between Marshall and Slim Shady reaches its bloody conclusion six tracks before the album ends. Even approaching The Death of Slim Shady as generously as possible -- one of the most skilled rappers of all time knowingly denouncing his former self as out of touch and no longer part of his world view -- it's still difficult to understand why he stretches this thin idea out over an entire album. The "edgy" humor struggles to land, the transphobic and anti-woke lyrics are more embarrassing than sad, and even if the point is that Slim Shady's once shocking perspectives have passed their expiry date, there's very little inspiration to drive this idea home. Much as with the last several albums that came before it, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) is really about Eminem grappling with age, his place in rap culture, and his relationship with his own celebrity and artistry so many years in. It debuted at the top of the charts like most of his studio albums before it, but even Eminem's consistent commercial success can't save him from his growing irrelevance, truly a fate worse than death. ~ Fred Thomas

Product Details

Release Date:	10/25/2024
Label:	Interscope Records
UPC:	0602468081425
Rank:	2883

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Eminem   Primary Artist
Skylar Grey   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Jelly Roll   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
JID   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
White Gold   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
BabyTron   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Sly "Pyper" Jordan   Primary Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist
Big Sean   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Dem Jointz   Primary Artist,Guitar,Keyboards,Featured Artist
Ez Mil   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
JRGotTheHiTS   Drums
Kimberly Gill   Newscast
R Palmer   Spoken Word
Curt Chambers   Bass,Guitar
Steve King   Guitar
Cocoa Sarai   Vocals
Teeba Forbes   Bass
Traci Nelson   Vocals
Steve Miller   Vocals
Robert Palmer   Spoken Word
Devin Scillian   Newscast
Luis Resto   Keyboards
Bizarre   Vocals
David Bal4   Keyboards
David Balfour   Keyboards

Technical Credits

Jeffery "Champ" Massey   Assistant Engineer
Lola Romero   Recording
John Nocito   Composer,Producer
Milan Becker   Recording
Leon Krakmo   Composer
Narza   Producer
H. LeMon Bey   Composer
L. Krakm   Composer
S. Webb   Composer
Dem Jointz   Producer,Recording
Emile Haynie   Composer,Producer
D. Stevens   Composer
T. Gray   Composer
Byron Thomas   Composer
Mr. Porter   Producer
Rufus Johnson   Composer
Mike Strange   Mixing,Recording
Jameil Aossey   Composer,Producer
Steve King   Mixing
Skylar Grey   Producer
Quentin Gilkey   Recording
Sean Anderson   Composer
Dwayne "Dem Jointz" Abernathy Jr.   Composer
Andreas Holten   Composer
Kevin Gomringer   Composer
Tim Gomringer   Composer
Cubeatz   Producer
Tom Kahre   Recording
Jason DeFord   Composer
Holly Hafermann   Composer
Bobby Yewah   Composer
Thomas Cheval   Composer
Destin Route   Composer
Lola A. Romero   Recording
Dee Abernathy   Composer
Daniyel   Producer
Marvin Jordan   Composer
Marvy Ayy   Producer
David Ray Stevens   Composer
Daniyel Weissmann   Composer,Producer
Carlton McDowell   Composer
Ez Mil   Producer
Thomas Forbes   Composer
Cole Bennett   Composer,Producer
Jeremy Zumo Kollie   Assistant Engineer
Callus   Producer
Shane Webb   Composer
Car!ton   Producer
Trevor Horn   Composer
Andre Young   Composer
Steve Miller   Composer
Fred Wreck   Producer,Recording
Brandon Thomas   Composer
Fredwreck Nassar   Composer,Producer,Recording
James Johnson   Composer,Recording
Farid Nassar   Composer
Eminem   Producer
Jeff Bass   Composer
Luis Resto   Composer,Producer
Denaun Porter   Composer
Anne Dudley   Composer
Julian Harris   Composer
Brian "Big Bass" Gardner   Mastering Engineer
Malcolm McLaren   Composer
Foul Mouth   Producer
Terius Gray   Composer
Steven Jordan   Composer
Benny Blanco   Producer
Dr. Dre   Mixing,Producer
Don Cannon   Composer,Producer,Recording
Benjamin Levin   Composer
Tony Campana   Recording
Victor Luevanos   Assistant Engineer
Kevin Bell   Composer
Hans van Hemert   Composer
Sylvester Jordan   Composer
White Gold   Producer
Fredwreck   Producer,Recording
Jeff Massey   Assistant Engineer
Marshall Mathers   Composer