The most controversial lyrics on Eminem's new album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)
Today, Eminem has released his first album in four years, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce). A concept album that takes in the influential rapper’s career – and various controversies along the way – the artist has framed it as a final outing from his long-standing alter-ego Slim Shady, publishing a fake obituary for the persona in the Detroit Free Press, and using gravestone iconography in the lead-up to its release.
On the record, Eminem frequently references cancel culture, the “PC Police” and “woke BS” – often setting out to shock across the album.
“People are definitely upset over Eminem's new album, and are actually calling to boycott the rapper,” announces mid-album skit Breaking News. “For songs that include insensitive comments about little people, people with mental disabilities, transgender rights and the first amendment.”
It’s a fairly accurate summary of an often-satirical record which grapples with Eminem’s public persona with mixed results, and references events such as Megan Thee Stallion’s shooting, and the 2016 CCTV footage which appears to show P Diddy violently assaulting Cassie.
Elsewhere on the album, Em’ cracks jokes about Christopher Reeve – the late actor and director who was paralyzed from the neck down after a horse-riding accident – goes back and forth on whether to use or censor a variety of slurs, and occasionally alludes to his own vulnerabilities.
While a couple of tracks here border on confessional – Somebody Save Me, for instance, along with the Skylar Grey-featuring Temporary – this is broadly Eminem at his most outrage-provoking and offense-baiting.
Here are just a few of the more controversial one-liners.
“All these pronouns, I can't remember they or them, theirs?”
Habits
“You gonna cancel me, yeah? Gen-Z me, bruh?”
Trouble
“Dance until you're wheelchair bound, here we go”
Brand New Dance
“Do not tell me what I can't say, that's gay, and not the good kind of gay either, where two men f**k each other and hate beaver”
Evil
“Gen Z, here they come now 'bout to unload rounds. Pronouns. Got me like whoa now.”
Antichrist
“Ain't never really truly over 'til Lizzo sings”
Road Rage
“If I was to ask for Megan Thee Stallion if she would collab with me, would I really have a shot at a feat?”
Houdini
“I get accused of misogyny because I will massage any bitch just like a masseuse”
Kyrie & Luka