Eminem review, The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace): Punching downwards, joylessly and without inspiration

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The Slim Shady alter-ego behind his 1999 breakthrough LP and the many hits that followed – most notably the brattish, bombastic “I’m Back” – was Mathers’ id, minus the ego. To a degree, Shady followed suit – Mathers’ manager, Paul Rosenberg, told XXL a few years back that “Shady thinks a little more now, as a character”. In the video for lead single “Houdini”, a panicky Mathers – in superhero garb, resembling Del Boy in that Only Fools and Horses episode with the inflatable sex dolls – tells producer Dr Dre: “He’s trying to get us cancelled!” Marshall Mathers clashes with his problematic alter-ego on his 12th studio album It sets the tone for an album that often feels like a bet to see how many Caitlyn Jenner jabs Mathers can cram into 65 minutes. The “Houdini” clip ends on a cataclysmic event yielding “some unholy hybrid” of the young, insolent Shady and Mathers’ older, paunchier self.