In the past decade or so, critics have suggested Eminem has been outpaced by new young rap talent . But the only emcee Marshall Mathers has really been competing against is his younger self. The alter-ego behind his 1999 breakthrough The Slim Shady LP and the many hits that followed – most notably the brattish, bombastic “I’m Back” – Slim Shady was Mathers’ ID, minus the ego.
A malevolent clown persona through which the Detroit rapper felt free to indulge every forbidden thought that crossed his transom, every misogynistic fantasy, homophobic zinger, and drug-addled boast. The sort of thing, we’re told, you couldn’t get away with today. Though not for lack of him trying.
Across a series of sober latter-day albums with titles such as Recovery (2009) and Revival (2017), Mathers evolved, somewhat, attempting to make peace with a childhood of abuse and neglect. To a degree, Shady followed suit – Mathers’ manager, Paul Rosenberg, told XXL a few years back that “Shady thinks a little more now, as a character”. But the horror-movie plotline of his 12th album neatly side steps any of this ideological progress by seeing Shady return via time-portal from 1999, anti-hero turned super-villain.
In the video for lead-single “Houdini”, a panicky Mathers – in superhero garb, resembling Del-Boy in that Only Fools and Horses episode with the inflatable sex-dolls – tells producer Dr Dre: “He’s trying to get us cancelled!” It sets the tone for an album that .
