Eminem
Entering the mainstream
Entering the mainstream
Album cover of The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
Once he joined Interscope, Eminem released
The Slim Shady LP, which went on to be one of the most popular records
of 1999, going
triple platinum by the end of the year. With the album's enormous popularity
came controversy surrounding many of the album's lyrics. In "'97 Bonnie and
Clyde", Eminem describes a trip with his infant daughter, disposing of the body
of his wife. Another song, "Guilty Conscience," ends with Eminem encouraging a
man to murder his wife and her lover.
The Marshall Mathers LP was released in
May 2000,
quickly selling 2 million copies. The first single released from the album,
The Real Slim Shady, was a huge hit— thanks in part to the catchy rhythm
and chorus line, "So won't the real Slim Shady please stand up, please stand up,
please stand up?" (adapted from the catch phrase of the TV quiz show
To Tell the Truth). It also created some buzz by trash-talking
celebrities and making dubious claims about them. In the song, Eminem implies,
among other things, that Christina Aguilera gave "head" (oral sex) to Fred Durst
(of Limp Bizkit) and Carson Daly (of MTV's Total Request Live). In his second single, "The
Way I Am," he reveals to his fans the pressures from his record company to
top "My
Name Is" and sell more records, and dismisses the alleged controversial link
between music such as that of
Marilyn Manson and shootings such as at Columbine High School as absurd, instead blaming the parents. In the third
single, "Stan"
(which samples
Dido's
"Thank You"), Eminem attempts to deal with his new-found fame, telling the story
of a fan so obsessed with Eminem that the fan winds up killing himself and his
pregnant girlfriend, mirroring one of the songs on The Slim Shady LP. It
is now considered to be one of the classics of the genre.
Home | Personal life | Early career | Entering the mainstream | Themes and topics | Controversy | Other works and ventures | Retiring Slim Shady | Discography | Awards and nominations | Links | Hip Hop Music | License
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