Eminem has released his new album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce). Having previewed his first album since 2020 with “Houdini” and “Tobey,” the Detroit rapper has delivered a concept album about his career milestones and controversies. Listen below.
The concept record, Eminem said, concerns the last bow of his alter ego, Slim Shady. Promoting the LP, he used gravestone imagery and published an obituary in the Detroit Free Press, as well as entreating fans to listen to the record in order. Throughout, he reckons with the alter ego and his controversial past. One tongue-in-cheek verse proclaims, “Kendrick’s album was cool, but it didn’t have any bangers/Wayne’s album or Ye’s, couldn’t tell you which one was lamer/Joyner’s album was corny, Shady’s new shit is way worse.”
Elsewhere, he more explicitly separates himself from the Slim Shady character in verses that, in a callback to his heyday, take pains to offend as crudely as possible. “Antichrist” makes a fuss about pronouns and (in Shady’s voice) “woke B.S.,” before promising to “spit a bar” that is “so hard, Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj’ll scissor.” The second verse addresses the harrowing video, released in May 17, of Sean “Diddy” Combs attacking his then-girlfriend Casse in a hotel in 2016:
To hammer home the theme, the album cover depicts Slim Shady in a body bag and the “Tobey” video depicts Eminem taking a chainsaw to Slim Shady.
Though “Tobey” guests Big Sean and BabyTron are the only credited featured artists, there are production credits for Dr. Drem, on “Lucifer” and “Road Rage,” and D12’s Bizarre raps a verse loaded with transphobic imagery as a coda to “Antichrist.” On “Road Rage,” Eminem directly addresses the topic—“So transgender rights, where do I stand? Oh, I’m all for ’em, I really am pro/But intercourse with you, would I have? No”—and continues in a similar fashion.
In the same song, he turns his attention to Lizzo: “Ain’t never really truly over till Lizzo sings (like I won’t say that)/We should coddle fat people, yeah, here’s a concept/Let’s celebrate onset diabetes and instead of us dieting we can just have a pie-eating contest.” He goes on to address “all my obese people” with some patronizing life advice.
The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) follows Music to Be Murdered By. In between studio albums, Eminem shared a deluxe expansion of his 2020 album and also put out a greatest-hits compilation.
