Eminem burst onto the music scene in 1999 with The Slim Shady LP. The album’s lead single, My Name Is, introduced himself to the world along with his alter ego Slim Shady, a lovable (or detestable, depending on your perspective) bad boy and outrageous white emcee unafraid of self-ridicule. He declared that he had been sent by god to “piss the world off”.
Just over a year later came a new album The Marshall Mathers LP. The lead single, The Real Slim Shady, worked almost as a manifesto to inform listeners what Slim Shady had done (made the critics unable to stomach him), what he’s doing now (rapping about things others don’t dare to), and what he’s going to do (carry on exactly as he is).
Since then, Eminem has routinely used the lead singles from his studio albums to reintroduce himself. His latest, Houdini, is no different. It provides updates on his life, rallies against those wishing to censor him and ruminates on how the world of hip-hop has been faring in his absence. And, of course, he always leaves time to ridicule numerous of-the-moment celebrities along the way.
