Is Eminem’s New Album Any Good?
I was a white boy who liked rap as a teenager when Marshall Mathers (aka Eminem) was launched to global superstardom in the early 2000s. So of course, I am familiar with Eminem's early work. Since then, I have grown up, become a pastor, and stayed a fan of the hip-hop genre. I have listened to Eminem's later albums, as well. So when Eminem released his latest album titled "The Death of Slim Shady" this summer, I was intrigued. Slim Shady was the horrifically crass alter ego Eminem used to say almost unimaginably heinous lyrics. What did his new album's title mean? Would there be a final statement of leaving his past immaturity behind? Additionally, there were song titles on his new album that caught my attention because of their spiritual overtones and themes. After I listened to the album, there’s really not much good in it. But I believe goodness can come from our own reflections about it. Here are some of my own.
In short, the album is disappointing. While the album explores Eminem's internal identity struggle with the Slim Shady alter ego, he does nothing to move past it. The title's implied death of Slim Shady is more idealistic imagination than any sort of reality. The recurring external theme of the project is Eminem's critique of the world from a social perspective. But his critiques are dripping with irony because the persona he has created to speak his criticism through has no moral standards. The album contains all the jarring, repulsive, and socially offensive lyrics one would anticipate from his work. But as we follow Eminem’s struggle to emerge independent from Slim Shady, this album challenges us to choose our true identity to be meaningful and purposeful.
No one is interested in hearing architectural opinions from an arsonist.
The encouragement for the listener to build something positive in the world comes through a negative example. Eminem brings up many socially significant topics, like uncritical political support, how to hold people accountable to living well, how to share honest critique, how far to act with respect for others' feelings, and the value of free speech. But by making fun of or insulting those impacted in these arguments, he demonstrates he can't approach these topics seriously. I don't know if he wants to make any honest critiques of culture, but no one is interested in hearing architectural opinions from an arsonist. Because he can't shake this Slim Shady identity, Eminem is sidelined from participating in any meaningful conversation about these important topics or others. We should want to explore tough topics and find goodness in them. Eminem shows us that making jokes and insults is not the way to do it.
Even with his stubborn acceptance of an "evil" identity, there are songs that demonstrate a desire for love and tenderness, in particular with his daughter. He recognizes and feels something special about the relationship between a parent and a child. And yet, the power of these songs is lost in Eminem's intentional destruction of everything sacred in other songs. Multiple times, his own mother is the punching bag in his lyrics. If Marshall’s daughter followed her father’s example of respect for parents, these songs would be worthless. Yet, I believe Marshall truly loves his daughter and wants the songs to be meaningful. Eminem acknowledges this disconnect through irony when he opens one song admitting the one thing he is afraid of is "not being able to say all the things I wanna say to you" when speaking to his daughter. This coming from the man who isn't afraid to say anything to anyone, no matter how sacred it seems. These pensive songs aren't just songs to his daughter, but funeral songs, mourning the loss of the sacred things in life that were killed because his alter ego wasn't.
Eminem speaks to our need as humans for things that are sacred. We lose more than we gain if we pursue the brutal honesty and authenticity that Eminem models when we speak our mind and vandalize the things others value for our own pleasure. It is worth treating certain areas of our life with special care, filtering our language and behavior to be tender and caring. The things that we respect and keep as sacred are places we can turn to for refuge when the world gets overwhelming. These are things like family, religion, marriage, and friendship.
We will find our own authenticity in who we consistently choose to be.
Ultimately, this album speaks of our struggle with authenticity and identity. Authenticity is born through consistency. Perhaps the reason Eminem struggles to shake Slim Shady is because Slim Shady has consistently been a part of him through his music. The authenticity he has marketed and sold is found in the repulsive character he's created and tolerated. Let this be a warning for us. We will find our own authenticity in who we consistently choose to be. What we tolerate in our life will become who we are, whether we like it or not. So consistently choose what is good and reject what is evil, so that you may live (Amos 5:14).