Trivia / The Slim Shady LP

• Black Sheep Hit: "My Name Is" deserves special attention because it is so much an outlier that nothing else in Eminem's discography, before or since, has sounded like it. It's based on a barely manipulated soul sample with psychedelic keyboards, while everything else on the album is done in a spooky, synthetic G-funk style; Eminem also raps it in an almost conversational flow, using little in the way of his signature complex rhythm patterns and rhyme schemes. He also raps it as Slim Shady in a squeaky, nasal voice that he stopped using after this album. Its sound is hard enough to classify that it was heavily played on rock stations, who viewed it as being suburban comedic Rap Rock rather than the Dr. Dre-produced, Battle Rapping-derived hardcore hip-hop work it was intended to be. Notably, despite extensive attempts to replicate the song, neither Eminem nor Dre could even figure out how to make another record that sounded like it.
• Breakthrough Hit: This album put Em on the map, starting with "My Name Is".
• Corpsing: Aristotle has difficulty staying a character during the "Ken Kaniff" skit when Eminem asks him if he's Cage. ^note  A rapper Eminem was feuding with at the time.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Em became so sick of "My Name Is" that after a while, he would only play snippets of it at his concerts - often stopping the song to declare that he was sick of it. He lampshades this in "The Way I Am."
  • "97 Bonnie & Clyde" is one of MANY times Marshall wishes he hadn't dragged Kim or Hailie into his career.
  • By 2002, he was highly critical of the album, complaining that his beat-riding and technical ability on it was "horrible" and that the high-pitched, nasal voice he used to portray Slim Shady sounded annoying and stupid. It's generally considered to be one of his three best albums, if not his best.
• Throw It In!: "Rock Bottom" was meant to be an uplifting song, but when the beat came back it came across as very downbeat, so Eminem just decided to run with it.

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