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The Real Slim Shady AI simulator
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The Real Slim Shady AI simulator
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The Real Slim Shady
"The Real Slim Shady" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his third studio album The Marshall Mathers LP (2000). It was released as the lead single a month before the album's release.
The song peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, giving him his biggest hit up to that point. It was also Eminem's first song to reach number one in the UK and Ireland, and the song was the 14th best-selling of 2000 in the UK. It won multiple awards, including MTV Video Music Awards for Best Video and Best Male Video, as well as a Grammy Award 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.
"The Real Slim Shady" was not originally intended to be part of The Marshall Mathers LP. Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records wanted Eminem to create a song to introduce the album, similar to how "My Name Is" was the first single on The Slim Shady LP. Eminem, Dr. Dre, Tommy Coster, and Mike Elizondo 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".
The song's first verse interpolated the 1999 novelty single "Lonely Swedish (The Bum Bum Song)" by Tom Green, and the intro and chorus of the song interpolate the famous catchphrase "will the real _____ please stand up?" from the television game show To Tell the Truth.
PopMatters described the song as "slamming their 'enemies' with comic book intensity", while also noting its ironic themes surrounding the number of near-identical "wannabes" due to Eminem's overall appearance, citing his "signature style" which bore "bleached blond hair, pale skin, [and] humongous T-shirt". AllMusic highlighted the single.
Rolling Stone expressed the sound of the single as "slick, bright, melodic funk that's so R&B-ish, you can dance to it". Will Hermes wrote in Entertainment Weekly, "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 $1,600 for her efforts.
The Los Angeles Times favored The Real Slim Shady as a "modest step to the mainstream—a fresh and funny, almost PG-rated swipe at everything from the Grammy Awards to shallow teen pop", while IGN wrote:
"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."
The Real Slim Shady
"The Real Slim Shady" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his third studio album The Marshall Mathers LP (2000). It was released as the lead single a month before the album's release.
The song peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, giving him his biggest hit up to that point. It was also Eminem's first song to reach number one in the UK and Ireland, and the song was the 14th best-selling of 2000 in the UK. It won multiple awards, including MTV Video Music Awards for Best Video and Best Male Video, as well as a Grammy Award 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.
"The Real Slim Shady" was not originally intended to be part of The Marshall Mathers LP. Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records wanted Eminem to create a song to introduce the album, similar to how "My Name Is" was the first single on The Slim Shady LP. Eminem, Dr. Dre, Tommy Coster, and Mike Elizondo 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".
The song's first verse interpolated the 1999 novelty single "Lonely Swedish (The Bum Bum Song)" by Tom Green, and the intro and chorus of the song interpolate the famous catchphrase "will the real _____ please stand up?" from the television game show To Tell the Truth.
PopMatters described the song as "slamming their 'enemies' with comic book intensity", while also noting its ironic themes surrounding the number of near-identical "wannabes" due to Eminem's overall appearance, citing his "signature style" which bore "bleached blond hair, pale skin, [and] humongous T-shirt". AllMusic highlighted the single.
Rolling Stone expressed the sound of the single as "slick, bright, melodic funk that's so R&B-ish, you can dance to it". Will Hermes wrote in Entertainment Weekly, "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 $1,600 for her efforts.
The Los Angeles Times favored The Real Slim Shady as a "modest step to the mainstream—a fresh and funny, almost PG-rated swipe at everything from the Grammy Awards to shallow teen pop", while IGN wrote:
"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."