21 Years Ago, Eminem Released His Song “The Real Slim Shady”

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21 Years Ago, Eminem Released His Song The Real Slim Shady

Eminem dropped “The Real Slim Shady” 21 years ago.

On April 18, 2000, the lead single for “The Marshall Mathers LP” was released. Although it did not chart at No. 1 on the Billboard 100, it became one of the most well-known songs of the time. 21 years ago, Eminem released “The Real Slim Shady” as the lead single a month before the release of his third album “The Marshall Mathers LP“. It was Detroit Rapper’s first track to reach number one in the UK and it peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving him his biggest hit up to that point. The single was the 14th best-selling of 2000 in the UK and won multiple accolades, including Best Video at MTV Video Music Awards.

“The Real Slim Shady” was never supposed to be included on The Marshall Mathers LP. Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records wanted Eminem to have a song to open the album, similar to how “My Name Is” was the first single on The Slim Shady LP. Just hours before the album’s final copy was due, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Tommy Coster, and Mike Elizondo wrote “The Real Slim Shady.” “Who Knew” was supposed to be the first single.

Surprisingly, it fared much better in the United Kingdom, where “The Real Slim Shady” reached No. 1 on the Official Charts and went on to become the country’s 11th best-selling album of 2000. “The Real Slim Shady,” written by Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Tommy Coster, won the Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance, MTV’s Video of the Year, and Billboard’s Best Rap/Hip-Hop Clip of the Year. The song has been certified 4x Platinum in the United States and 2x Platinum in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Jimmy Iovine told Interscope when Eminem first brought them his masterpiece, The Marshall Mathers LP, that “the album was outstanding. They needed a song to promote the album.” Eminem was frustrated that he couldn’t create another “My Name Is,” but he was also under time constraints, so he started hastily recording tracks. However, instead of creating a formulaic hit, he created “The Way I Am.” Eminem and Dr. Dre quickly created what would become the album’s lead song when they reentered the studio just before the deadline.

Eminem’s hallmark single has a jubilant mood to it that is unlike anything else on The Marshall Mathers LP. After the remainder of his dark, tormented opus was ready, his management team felt they needed a lead single, so he composed the track. Mike Elizondo told Sound on Sound in 2006, “We started with a drumbeat that Dre built into an MPC3000.” Dre and Tommy Coster Jr. co-produced the single, with the latter creating the memorable “harpsichord-like” melody. The music bounces and offers Eminem fire thanks to Dre’s thundering bass beat. This popular tune seemed like a call to action when Eminem appeared on the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards with dozens of white males in white T-shirts “that look exactly like me.”

The song comes along with a music video that also features cameo appearances by Dr. Dre, D12, Fred Durst, and Kathy Griffin. The visual which was uploaded on youtube in 2010, has over 500 million views on the platform.

At the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, “The Real Slim Shady” won Video of the Year and Best Male Video, as well as being nominated for Best Rap Video, Best Direction, Best Editing, and Viewer’s Choice. Eminem also played the song at the performance alongside impersonators of himself, as shown in the video.

Eminem performs the song at a psychiatric facility, a local Detroit area near a park, a fast-food restaurant, the Grammy Awards, and even a factory where numerous clones of the rapper are manufactured, according to the music video. Dr. Dre, D12, Fred Durst, Kathy Griffin make cameo cameos in the video, as well as lookalikes of Kid Rock, Carson Daly, Pamela Anderson, and Tommy Lee. A stuffed Bill the Cat doll is also shown being kept in custody by one of the insane patients in the hospital scenes.

Many prominent rappers have received praise for their dual nature. It made 2Pac famous. T.I. used the idea as the basis for a full album. Eminem has gone one step further by developing all three facets of his persona to become a complete artist. There is Marshall Mathers the person, rapper Eminem, and crazy alter ego Slim Shady.

Eminem referred to Slim Shady as a means of expressing his rage, himself as a vehicle for his lyrics, and Marshall Mathers as a conduit for his honesty in his 2008 autobiography, The Way I Am. “Slim, Em, and Marshall are always in the mix when I’m writing now,” he wrote in his memoir. “I’ve found a way to morph the styles so that it’s sort of all me.”

The track is still generating huge streaming numbers as currently, it is inside the top 200 songs on global Spotify. Watch the video below.

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