Slim Shady LP - Eminem

Classic Album Martini Saturday was a disaster and for that I blame Eminem. And Dylan who suggested putting his breakthrough late nineties album, the Slim Shady LP, into the basket.

It was probably a mistake to cook dinner while we listened to it rather than focus completely on the twenty-track unrelenting album. My two-part dessert was an eight-part disaster and, gee, I was angry. I don't buy into the argument that listening to angry music will lead to you committing violent acts, however, last night I could have smacked someone in the head with a frying pan. For that, I hold the Slim Shady LP partly responsible.

While neither of us are serious Eminem fans, like most of the western world, we enjoy and respect his music and rhymes. While he's just as famous for the controversy he generates, there is no doubt about the genius of his lyrical acrobatics. My Name Is is a great introductory track. Eminem's high pitch voice and piss-take lyrics are hilarious - "I can't work out which Spice Girl I want to impregnate" (for the record, we'd choose Scary) and Dre's beat is easy to bop along to.

Dr Dre's influence kicks in more obviously in Guilty Conscience. Should Eddie rob the store? Should Stan rape the young girl? Should Grady shoot his cheating wife? After a while the conscience, Dre, gives up. The irony of Dre being the reasonable voice in the room is wonderful. Even better is that not only did Eminem get the godfather of gangsta rap to mentor and produce him, he pokes fun at Dre and mocks him for being soft. And this highlights the sophistication of Eminem's message - on this record he's reminding the hip hop community that white kids could also be poor, downtrodden and ignored. Eminem gave white kids someone other than Trent Reznor to empathise with.

While I understand Slim Shady is an alter-ego and the angry misogynistic lyrics shouldn't be taken literally, Eminem still pushes it beyond the bounds of acceptability and listening to some tracks is an uncomfortable experience. 97' Bonnie & Clyde is Eminem rapping to his daughter about killing her mother and disposing of her body. There is a lightness to the beat despite the sinister theme that makes it all the more harder to listen to.

"Da-da made a nice bed for mommy at the bottom of the lake

Here, you wanna help da-da tie a rope around this rock? (yeah!)

We'll tie it to her footsie then we'll roll her off the dock

Ready now, here we go, on the count of three..."

This is probably the first and last time that the Slim Shady LP will get spun in our house. We had to listen to some of his later work to remind ourselves of why we really do like Eminem. And some of it is truly brilliant. I saw 8 Mile in a cinema in the US. When Lose Yourself began towards the end of the film the entire cinema of white and black kids was heaving. Eminem's performance was inspiring and powerful (although we're all still traumatised by that sex scene). (Btw, youtube is full of videos of white kids doing renditions of Lose Yourself, including Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. Dear oh dear). 

I think Eminem is a pretty impressive artist and I think he is an important artist. I just don't find listening to his albums particularly enjoyable. But I know he doesn't give a fuck and that's fine too.