The success of both Eminem’s Slim Shady persona, and subsequently the Slim Shady LP, follows the same traits of the gunslinger trope in American culture. However grandiose and unique Eminem’s entrance into hip-hop’s mainstream was, though, it became the first and subsequently most important step toward him becoming an iconic, and ultimately tragic, gunslinger figure in hip-hop. It traded in looser concepts and nonstop lyricism for darker, introspective tracks ranging from horrorcore rap to pop culture satire with a much tighter conceptual grasp.Įnter Eminem’s 1999 major label debut album, Slim Shady LP, which arrived as one of the most audacious and monstrous records of the entire decade-both critically and commercially. The Slim Shady EP was more brazen and relentless. Dre, and Interscope Records-took notice of a stark alteration in Eminem’s rhyme style. It wasn’t until the 1997 release of the Slim Shady EP that the industry-and more specifically Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Eminem could out-rap anyone else in the room, but that didn’t mean people were going to listen. Infinite, though, fell flat as a commercial jumping-off point. Marshall Mathers is a born lyricist, hellbent on maneuvering his way through rhyme patterns and metaphors with a sailor’s knot of tongue-twisting lyrics with clear influences, ranging from Ice-T to Big L to Masta Ace. Infinite was an admirable but conceptually milquetoast album filled with technically intricate and colorful lyricism, yet devoid of an engaging personality. Three years removed from his independently released 1996 debut, Infinite, frustration over poor sales and stalled buzz had begun to set in. That polarity is the foundation for his grandest achievements and his hardest falls and can be found most prominently in his earliest days as an artist. As all iconic outlaws and antiheroes of pop culture often were and are, Eminem’s career is a study in both the importance of how one becomes a legend as well as their limits. Throughout the course of hip-hop history, no artist has epitomized the tragic characteristics of the gunslinger figure better than Eminem.
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December 2022
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