If there's someone who could bring the REAL Shady back....

[UofLCard]

Slim Shady hasn't been around since Devil's Night.

What I meant by this comment is that all the Slim Shady-edque songs after DN or TES seemed forced.

[SliK]

Slim Shady hasn't been around since Devil's Night.

What I meant by this comment is that all the Slim Shady-edque songs after DN or TES seemed forced.

I don't think his Drips verse seemed forced at all.

"I don't wanna hit no woman but this chicks got it comin'
someone better get this bitch before she gets kicked in the stomach
and she's pregnant but she's eggin me on
beggin me to throw her off the steps on this porch
my only weapon is force"

That is pretty awesome imo.

[AbramIsaac]

I agree that the distinction hasn't really mattered since shortly after he became famous. It's essentially just a characterization of a certain style of content, in an Eminem song.

I think the thing that really necessitated the creation of this alter ego was the fact that he was departing from his earlier style in such a crazy way.

He was Eminem. He had been known as that in one form or another since he was a teenager. That was and forever will be associated with him as a person. So when you think about how he must have been kind of nervous at first, to make such a radical change in his style and content, it makes sense that he might want to separate himself from it in a way. Coupled with the fact that he was getting some negative feedback from people he knew about his new drug content (including from Proof) I can definitely see why he would want to conceptualize the character saying these things.

After he blew up, of course, there was no longer any separation. People started to split his selected work and tracks up saying "this is Eminem" "this is Slim Shady" and "this is Marshall Mathers", when the distinction between the personas wasn't really necessary (or effective) anymore. So, he'll always be Slim Shady as long as he's making tracks where he's saying things that are offensive. Whether or not he does that well--or enough--is up to fan interpretation.

That's kind of what I think about it. What EminemBase said about it as well--that the 'Slim Shady' people seem to look for is really just a style--is also correct. I think we should all just paint our respective bedroom walls with our blood and brains and call it a day, because if you're all like me, life just isn't worth living without the real Slim Shady.

[Elision]

I was under the impression that we used these terms fairly loosely due to not everybody having identical definitions.

[Elision]

Some of Em's best songs were when he was being himself though

all of his songs are him. most rappers these days have alter egos but it's just what they choose to call a specific category of their music.

[Elision]

I meant songs in which he wasn't using his Slim Shady alter-ego.

What does that have to do with this thread?