Featured Image Credit: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images/Rick Kern/Getty Images for Samsung
Topics: Celebrity, Drake, Eminem, Music, Kendrick Lamar
Olivia Burke
Topics: Celebrity, Drake, Eminem, Music, Kendrick Lamar
Everyone, stay sat down - as the real Slim Shady will never stand up again.
It's official, people. Eminem has dropped his new album and ceremoniously killed off his infamous alter-ego all in one foul sweep, marking an end of an era for hip hop fans.
The rapper's 12th album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), was released today (12 July) and if the title alone didn't give the demise of his second self away, the artwork for it certainly does.
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Eminem - real name Marshall Mathers - can be seen looking lifeless in a body bag on the album cover, while he is seen taking a chainsaw to Slim Shady in the music video for his new track 'Tobey'.
He can't really spell it out much more for us.
As I'm sure you expected, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) is brimming with brutal barbs and thinly-veiled jabs at other stars - with Em taking shots at Diddy on the song 'Antichrist'.
The father-of-three also had fans right in their feels while addressing his beloved daughter Hailie while discussing his future death on 'Temporary'.
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But some fans seem to have gotten their wires crossed when analysing the contents of the first song of the 19 track list, as a few people have been saying that it seemed like Eminem was wading in on the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef.
This is probably a good time to mention that the rapper warned listeners that The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) is a 'conceptual album' and therefore it 'might not make sense' if you listen to the songs out of order.
Anyway, on the first track 'Renaissance', the 51-year-old's wordplay seems to have gone over some people's heads.
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One person said: "Eminem just cooked kendrick, Lil Wayne and Kanye back to back looool."
Another wrote: "Eminem dissed Kendrick???"
But it seems they were in fact mistaken.
In the song, Eminem raps: "Now let's travel inside the mind of a hater.
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"'Cause I don’t see no fans, all I see is a bunch of complainers
"'Kendrick’s album was cool but it didn’t have any bangers
"Wayne's album or Ye's, couldn't tell you which one was lamer
"Joyner's album was corny, Shady's new s**t is way worse
"Everything is either too tame or there's too much anger
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"I didn't like the beat, so I hate Might Delete Later'
"You nerdy p****s would find somethin' wrong with 36 Chambers."
Although it wouldn't be unsurprising to hear Eminem lay into numerous people all at once, it's not the case here.
Even though he literally stated he was going 'inside the mind of a hater' and the official lyrics have quotation marks, a few people thought he was being dead serious while slating the other artists' projects.
On top of that, he clarifies what he is talking about towards the end of the one minute and 38 second track, pointing out that the earlier comments he made usually come from critics of great musicians.
Eminem continues: "It's what they do to the greats
"Pick apart a Picasso and make excuses to hate
"So you can wait for your flowers until you're blue in the face
"Stupid, you ain't gonna get um until your funeral, wait."
Eminem has collaborated with both Kendrick and Drake on past projects, so it seems he is staying firmly on the fence for now.
But if you're really reading into it, I suppose he might have picked a side seen as though he didn't reference the Canadian rapper when discussing rap gods in his 'Renaissance' verse.