Who is the Real Slim Shady?

His name is Marshall MathersBorn October 17, 1972 and raised in

Detroit, MIHis dad was never around in his life, and

his only constant companion was Kim Scott

They had a daughter they named Hailie, creating a need for money.

Biography-Early Life

•Marshall started developing a name in

the underground hip-hop scene in

Detroit, and by 1997 that had

developed respect in the underground

scene.

•By 1998 he had been lucky enough to

have one of his demo tapes put into the

hands of Interscope Record label head

Jimmy Iovine.

•Jimmy quickly passed the tape on to

Dr. Dre who immediately set up a

meeting with Marshall.

•They instantly clicked, and quickly

recorded his major record debut The

Slim Shady LP.

•He was an instant star and was put on

the cover of Rolling Stone magazine

before his album even released.

•Led by his hit single, My Name Is, The

Slim Shady LP did over 750, 000

albums sold in the first week.

Getting his chance

•Following the success and media

storm caused by The Slim Shady LP,

Eminem became a lightning rod for

controversy.

•Lynne Cheney and GLAAD singled

him out as a horrible influence on the

youth of America and stated he

shouldn’t be advertised or celebrated.

•Despite the naysayers, his second

album The Marshall Mathers LP sold

over 1.75 million copies in the first

week and propelled him into

superstardom.

•While GLAAD protested outside the

2001 Grammy Awards, inside Em

shattered all stereotypes and

performed his popular hit Stan with

well known homosexual Elton John,

showing how much respect he had

among his peers in the music industry.

•By 2006 he reached a peak of

stardom after selling nearly 100

million albums over his first 4 major

albums, staring in a movie about his

life growing up named 8 Mile, and

also winning an Oscar for his song in

that movie called Lose Yourself.

Superstardom

Addiction, Depression, Recovery

•The constant demand for more left him overly stressed, and

dependent on prescription drugs.

•He also lost his lifelong best friend DeShaun “Proof” Holton

which he took extremely hard.

•In 2009 after 5 years without an album he released Relapse,

which was a collection of songs written while deep in addiction,

and also during rehab.

•In 2010 he released Recovery, his sixth studio album which gave

his listeners an inside view into his struggles with drugs and the

process of becoming sober.

Legendary Status: Solidified With the most albums ever sold by

a solo artist he is now widely considered perhaps the greatest rapper of all-time.

He recently performed live on stage with a holographic image of dead rap legend Tupac Shakur, an honor many would love to have but nobody else had the resume to deserve.

Whether you love him or you hate him; it is difficult to deny his impact on hip-hop history, and popular culture.

There will never be another Slim Shady.

This is a link to the performance with Tupac; I couldn’t download the video so it’s a YouTube link, no copyright intended. I just thought you would enjoy watching it! http://youtu.be/Huw17PgFAHc

Stan YouTube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOMhN-hfMtY

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJO5HU_7_1w

Compositions

The Real Slim Shady

•The idea was started by Mark

James better known as the 45

King. He was watching TV when a

commercial popped up that had

what he thought had a catchy

chorus; he also thought it would

sound better with hip-hop.

•After sending the tape to

Interscope records he heard back

from Eminem saying he loved the

hook.

•Dido is a British singer who wrote

the track, it was a song that was

initially intended to be a love song

(Left Photo).

•Yet as only Em could he found a

way to turn the love song inside

out into an obsessive letter being

written to him by a fan of his

named Stan.

Stan

•The first 3 verses of the song are Stan

writing a letter to Eminem, and the

final verse is Em writing back to Stan.

• This was at the height of the media

crucifying him for hateful lyrics, and

this was his response.

•This story was clearly exaggerated,

but it was done on purpose to tell

everyone listening to the song that

maybe they shouldn’t take his lyrics

so literally.

Back-story/ Meaning of Lyrics

Song’s Contrast and Flow•Dido’s chorus is very melodic and harmonic, and give the song it’s

contrast through out as the verses go on.

•While Em’s verses continue to increase the anger in the tone and the

volume of his voice giving a feeling of increasing anger.

•Constant switch from dissonance and consonance.

•Stan starts off very calm in the first verse and

tells Em about his life while also calling Em his

idol.

•In the second verse his tone is angrier and his

quotes are more sadistic. He is upset that Em

didn’t acknowledge him outside of a show.

•He quotes Eminem’s lyrics several times

throughout the song, including telling Em how

much relief he felt after cutting his wrists.

•The third verse is Stan’s last verse and he is

furious in it. He ties his wife up in his trunk,

which is another quote from Em’s lyrics, and

then drives her off of a bridge.

•The fourth and final verse is Em responding to

Stan. He apologizes for not seeing him and

sends an autograph.

•Em tells Stan to get help before he loses his

mind, before recalling a news report about a

guy driving his wife off of a bridge, and then he

realizes it was Stan.

Song’s Storyline

The Real Slim Shady Amidst the pressures of living up

to his first album and needing to reach a deadline Em was feeling the pressure.

Em called on his Slim Shady alter ego for one more hit.

He concocted The Real Slim Shady, which was a tongue and cheek song that poked fun at popular culture.

Despite the playful and joking nature of the song, the chorus is meant to tell everyone to be themselves, asking the real Slim Shady to stand up in all of us at the end.

Not a Pop StarThe chorus states

that he will continue to be himself, no matter what level of success he has.

In this song he basically makes fun of everyone in popular culture from NSYNC to Will Smith to Britney Spears.

“I’m sick of all you little girl, and boy groups, all you do is annoy me, so I have been sent here to destroy you. And there’s a million others just like me, who cuss like me, who just don’t give a f*** like me, who act like me, who walk talk and dress like me, it just might be, the next best thing, but not quite me…”

“Will Smith don’t gotta cuss to sell records, well I do. So f*** him, and f*** you too.”

“Ha ha, guess there’s a slim shady in all of us, f*** it, let’s all stand up.”

This song became the most popular song of the year, won him multiple Grammys and MTV VMA Awards, and catapulted the album to over 30 million copies sold; the most ever by a solo artist.

Punch lines/Effect