"The Real Slim Shady" is a song by American rapper

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing Hip hop music, hip hop in Middle America (United Sta ...

from his third album ''

The Marshall Mathers LP ''The Marshall Mathers LP'' is the third studio album by American rapper Eminem, released on May 23, 2000, by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album was produced mostly by Dr. Dre and Eminem, along with The 45 King, the Bass ...

'' (2000). It was released as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

a month before the album's release. "The Real Slim Shady" was Eminem's first song to reach number one in the UK and it also peaked at number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, giving him his biggest hit up to that point. The song was the 14th best selling of 2000 in the UK. It won multiple awards, including

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

for Best Video and Best Male Video, as well as a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for Best Rap Solo Performance. In October 2011, '' NME'' placed it at number 80 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". It was listed at number 396 on ''NME''s 500 greatest songs of all time.

Premise

"The Real Slim Shady" was not originally intended to be part of ''

''.

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner ...

Jimmy Iovine James Iovine ( ; ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, record executive, and media proprietor best known as the co-founder of Interscope Records. In 2006, Iovine and rapper-producer Dr. Dre founded Beats Electronics, which produces ...

wanted Eminem to have a song to introduce the album, similar to the way "

My Name Is "My Name Is" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his second album '' The Slim Shady LP'' (1999). It is also the opening song and lead single of the album. The song samples British singer Labi Siffre's 1975 track "I Got The..." as a bass and ...

" was the first single on '' The Slim Shady LP.''

Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and w ...

Tommy Coster Thomas Joseph Coster Jr. (born June 10, 1966) is an American keyboardist and composer. He played on his first song titled "Zulu" with Santana in 1977 receiving his first gold record the following year in 1978. In the following years he co-w ...

and

Mike Elizondo Mike Elizondo (born October 22, 1972) is an American producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. A protege of Dr. Dre, Elizondo has worked with 50 Cent, Eminem, Carrie Underwood, Fiona Apple, Mastodon, Ry Cooder, Skylar Grey, Twenty ...

wrote "The Real Slim Shady" just hours before the final copy of the album was due. The first single was intended to be "Who Knew."

Critical reception

PopMatters described this song:

"In a number of songs on the new album, including the current single, 'The Real Slim Shady,' Eminem slams his 'enemies' with comic book intensity. In the video, he wears a superhero costume and an insane asylum straitjacket while rapping, 'I'm sick of you little girl and boy groups, all you do is annoy me / So I have been sent here to destroy you / And there's a million of us just like me / Who cuss like me; who just don't give a fuck like me / Who dress like me; walk, talk and act like me / And just might be the next best thing, but not quite me!' Of course, the irony is built into the song: Eminem's signature style the bleached blond hair, pale skin, humungous T-shirt has spawned droves of lookalikes and wannabes. Voila, he's a teen idol. Poor Em, can't win for losing."

Allmusic highlighted the single. Will Hermes was positive:

"In the aftermath of Slim Shady, he married the girlfriend he imagined killing, while his mother, immortalized in his hit single 'My Name Is' (''I just found out my Mom does more dope than I do''), sued him for $10 million for defamation of character."

The defamation case was settled in 2001 for $25,000 as Debbie Mathers' former attorney was awarded $23,354—netting Ms. Mathers just over $1600 for her efforts. LA Times wrote:

"'The Real Slim Shady,' the first single from the album, is a modest step to the mainstream—a fresh and funny, almost PG-rated swipe at everything from the Grammy Awards to shallow teen pop."

IGN cited:

"The album's obligatory 'pop' number is exposed on 'The Real Slim Shady,' which chugs and lurches along to a boinging electro funk beat. It would be a total pop smash if it weren't for the lyrics, though. Leave it to Em to juice it up with ear candy effervescent, but keep the words in the subversive. As with the other Dre crafted tunes on the album, there's plenty of cool special effects bustling about—fart noises, heavy breathing, all of it coalescing with Em's cartoon character on crystal meth delivery. Sure it's pop, but of the most demented nature."

Rolling Stone praised the sound of the single as "slick, bright, melodic funk that's so R&B-ish, you can dance to it". The song has been in many films, notably ''

21 Jump Street ''21 Jump Street'' is an American police procedural television series that aired on the Fox network and in first run syndication from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focuses on a squad of youthful-loo ...

'' (2012) and ''

Freddy Got Fingered ''Freddy Got Fingered'' is a 2001 American surreal absurdist screwball black comedy film directed by Tom Green in his feature film directorial debut and written by Green and Derek Harvie. Green stars in the film as a childish slacker who wishes ...

'' (2001).

Music video

Actress and comedian

Kathy Griffin Kathleen Mary Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American comedian and actress who has starred in television comedy specials and has released comedy albums. In 2007 and 2008, Griffin won Primetime Emmy Awards for her reality show '' Kathy ...

, who is also known for insulting celebrities in her act, appears in the video as an attending nurse in a psychiatric ward. Griffin said during a July 21, 2005, interview on ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...

'' that Eminem selected her for the video because fellow rapper

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

told him she was "really funny."

Credits

Information from the interior booklet of The Marshall Mathers LP * Singing and Lyrics:

* Production:

And

Mel-Man Melvin Charles Bradford, professionally known as Mel-Man, is an American West Coast hip hop record producer and songwriter from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Signed with Aftermath Entertainment, he is best known for his work with Dr. Dre, produc ...

* Mixing:

* Bass Guitar –

* Keyboards –

* Editing – Dan Lebental * Executive-Producer –

* Composer – Andre Young, Marshall Mathers,

Awards

"The Real Slim Shady" was very successful at the

2000 MTV Video Music Awards The 2000 MTV Video Music Awards (stylized as MTV Video Music Awards vma.00) aired live on September 7, 2000, honoring the best music videos from June 12, 1999, to June 9, 2000. The show was hosted by Marlon and Shawn Wayans at Radio City Music Ha ...

, winning awards for Video of the Year and Best Male Video, as well as being a nominee for Best Rap Video,

Best Direction The MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction is an award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and the director of the music video. From 1984 to 2006, the full name of the award was Best Direction in a Video, and in 2007, it was briefly rename ...

, Best Editing and Viewer's Choice. The song was also performed by Eminem at the show with look-a-likes of himself, as in the video.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Real Slim Shady Eminem songs 2000 singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Iceland Number-one singles in Scotland MTV Video of the Year Award MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video Songs about domestic violence Songs about the media Songs about hip hop Songs about musicians Songs written by Eminem Songs written by Dr. Dre Songs written by Mike Elizondo Song recordings produced by Dr. Dre Song recordings produced by Mel-Man Shady Records singles Aftermath Entertainment singles Interscope Records singles Cultural depictions of Britney Spears American hip hop songs Comedy rap songs Hardcore hip hop songs 2000 songs Obscenity controversies in music Songs about fictional male characters