Review: Eminem – The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)

Eminem
The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)
Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment, Interscope Records
Street: 07.12
Eminem = Beastie Boys – Tom MacDonald (If you don’t know who Eminem is, I don’t know what to tell you…)

Nostalgia is a powerful tool to wield. With great responsibility, you can make any production or release rack up the applause. Treated poorly, however, your final product could be met with torches by one pissed-off fanbase. I know my fare-share of mistreatment, just like how I would “mistreat” every physical copy of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga I could get my hands on with a junkyard car-shredder. Nonetheless, it’s nostalgia that breathes second lives into decade-old bands and half-century franchises for years to come. If it can book the Eagles a permanent residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, miracles can happen everyday. However, what if a type of nostalgic artist has been so interlaced with controversy and shit-stirring, that the current climate wants it destroyed? Will they still have a rightful place in the industry domain? That’s when nostalgia takes stand against the rising onslaught of “cancel culture.” So entering from stage left, with 11 albums under his belt spanning way back from the early ‘90s, the omnipotent “Rap God” Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, sticks up a lyrical middle finger to the modern age with The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce). 

Cementing himself as one of the most powerhouse rappers in the music industry, Eminem has fought tooth and nail to make it to the top. There was a time in our lives where every record produced with his name on it was casted in gold or platinum. The uppercut rise of The Marshall Mathers LP, the edgelord symphony of Encore, even almost poetic struggle with narcotics and fame in the career-defying Recovery—Eminem claimed his spots as one of the greats! Fast forward to 2024, where the rap game has changed drastically and Em’s last few albums came with rough reviews (I’m looking at you, Revival). So could his 12th album reignite the same type of hip hop flow that we used to bump to in high school? I’m not too sure…

There are some tough-hearted tracks in this roster that both blend those snarky cyphers we remember, as well as keeping it fresh enough to be relevant. “Renaissance” and “Antichrist” sounds stripped from The Slim Shady LP with the wicked tick-tack-y snare and heavy bombastic beats. These tracks send up a warning that Em can still lyrically attack anyone who tempts to dethrone him. If he’s willing to go after his own mother, the average mumble rapper is easy pickings. As shameless as it may sound, the catchy earworm of “Houdini” draws major attention, and that track just sounds like a sped-up nightcore version of “Without Me.” However, it’s one thing to recapture lightning in a bottle and it’s another to simply sit on an unreleased track until it’s almost irrelevant. Case in point: “Brand New Dance”—a big “yikes” of a track that pokes fun at the infamous horseback accident and ultimate demise of the Superman Christopher Reeve, complete with the hoove-trotting beat and horse huff/neigh sampling. The track was supposed to be released back in 2004 with Encore, but was later shelved after the announcement of the actor’s death. But sure, let’s wait a decade to jab at a corpse, where everyone will still find it hilarious… right?

Although some tracks may not draw the crowd we were expecting, it’s the back and forth in tone that becomes nauseating. This album is all over the place, and its concepts are not completely fleshed out. The worst part is Em’s blatant attempt to alienate his audience, claiming that Gen-Z as a whole are trying to cancel him. You cannot corner your fanbase in this manner! That’s like Disney associates stating that if you don’t like the new Star Wars films, you’re a misogynistic bigot. Doesn’t sound right, does it? One track that completely throws Em’s message out the window is “Somebody Save Me” featuring country rock singer Jelly Roll, where he backtracks on all of the rap beefs he caused with a simple apology. How do you expect to bury your hatchets in the ashes of the bridges you burned? 

Now, most could write this album off with a “whatever you say, boomer” remark and move on, but The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) is a bit more complicated than that. Eminem will always be a G.O.A.T. in the music industry, but I feel like this album is a worrisome defense against time itself. Will he still have a spot in the future of music? We shall see. In regards to the album as a whole, where a rapper pushed all boundaries to achieve un-cancellable status, nothing is more embarrassing than try-hard edginess and the only feedback is,  “Okay, we get it.”

It’s alright, Em. I also know a thing or two about killing some alter egos, but that’s a story for another day. –Alton Barnhart

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