I am a mid-30s white millennial who grew up unashamedly listening to Eminem (as we were wont to have done). I still listen to him. Every now and then, I get an urge just to turn on a couple of the old albums and re-live the magic that was the Slim Shady era of rap.
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I enjoy rap when it is well-written and well-produced. I’m kind of picky in that regard. My musical tastes are pretty diverse, from rock to country to rap to show tunes, I’ll listen to quite a bit. However, I am picky when it comes to writing. I like cleverness, I like humor, I like passion. I don’t like ghost-written tracks that mask themselves as good (which is why I prefer Kendrick Lamar over Drake, for those who paid attention to that little tiff in the hip-hop world).
It’s also why I like Eminem, and when he announced earlier this year that he was dropping a new album, and it was centered around the “Death of Slim Shady,” the alternate “persona” largely responsible for his notorious rise in the music industry and for the most offensive of his lyrics.
At 51 years old, Eminem had taken a far more serious path in his more recent albums. More social commentary, some political commentary, and very little of that trademark humor that drew audiences in during the 90s and early 2000s.
His work was still good, but seemed written for a different world than the world he rose through the industry in.
But, as cancel culture has attempted to claim more and more victims, and as the folks who wish to control speech have taken more and more control, the summer of 2024 just seemed to need Slim Shady. And thus, the new single “Houdini” was dropped.
The track itself is brilliant, but it’s only amplified by the video, which opens with a shot of a younger him stepping through a portal into the modern day. Several references to his past hits (it is hilarious watching a 51-year-old Eminem step back into the mock Robin suit as Dr. Dre seems pained to be seen in public with him).
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Naturally, we’re three decades from Slim Shady’s first appearance in the world, and there is a whole new generation of Humorless Scolds to go after him – which kinda was the point.
There’s a line about Megan Thee Stallion, referencing a domestic violence incident where she was shot in the foot. Her fans are losing their minds over it. But, there are also lines that some of the grumpy too-online folks are attacking for being “transphobic.” Naturally, the track dropped right before Pride Month, which makes the “scandal” extra special.
For example, “They can screw off (yeah), them and you all (uh). You too, Paul (punk), got two balls, big as RuPaul’s (woah),” he rapped at one point.
And more, via the LGBT news site Pink News:
Elsewhere on the track, which is reminiscent of some of his earlier, more controversial, work, Shady makes questionable references to the trans community, the concept of being trans racial, crossdressers and his own children.
“My transgender cat’s Siamese (why?). Identifies as black, but acts Chinese (ha ha),” Eminem says.
“Cancel me, what? OK, that’s it. Go ahead, Paul [Rosenberg], quit, snake-a*s pr*ck. You male cross-dresser (ha ha), fake-ass b***h, and I’ll probably get sh*t for that (watch). But you can all suck my d**k.
“F**k my own kids, they’re brats (f**k ’em). They can screw off.”
The line about his kids offended some because one of his kids, Stevie Laine Mathers, identifies as genderfluid.
There are other folks online who are far angrier, which can only mean that nature is healing.
It’s not difficult to argue that if the impulse of the Humorless Scolds wasn’t to silence speech and shout down everything they didn’t like, then you wouldn’t get a resurgence of Slim Shady. Nor would there really be a market for it. But the fact that there is a market for it should tell you that the backlash to those Scolds is going strong.
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It’s not because people are inherently hateful and bigoted and whatever else. It’s not that humanity is structurally racist and homophobic/transphobic. It’s that humor of this type is typically the true equalizer. No one is above it. No one is too protected to be attacked. No one is exempt. That’s why the Roast of Tom Brady on Netflix just exploded onto the scene, with some of the most viral roasts containing some of the most offensive (and funny) jokes.
“I’ve created a monster,” Eminem once sang, “’cause nobody wants to see Marshall no more. They want Shady. I’m chopped liver.” Humorless Scolds of the world created the market for Slim Shady back in the 90s, and they continue to do so now. And I, for one, love that for us.