Customer Reviews
If Only He Had Stayed Like This - By: J. Roberts, 17 Aug 2007 
I still say that this is Eminem's masterpiece, his darkest album, & the soundtrack of his darkest hour. It also ploughs the sinister & disturbing recesses of Marshall Mathers' mind, spilling them all out with a lack of reservation which is stunning.
As is so often the case, Dr. Dre's production is impeccable, & what he can do with electronic sound is akin to what some artists can do with paint. Instantly recognisable 'My Name Is' often gets a panning by the artist himself, but it's his signature tune with good reason, being an expert masterclassin uncompromising lyrics, an assault of bad taste & shocking statements, one after the other: BANG, BANG, BANG!
And then Marshall gives us a sad & truly heartbreaking insight into his pastin 'Brain Damage', all the while giving us clues as to why he ended up being one of the most aggressive, angry menin the history of music. 'If I Had' is also sober & thought-provoking, giving us more of an insight into the psyche of Marshall Mathers than most of his recent output. Drugs, frustration, anger, sorrow & boredom are all there, as well as poverty & a sense of humour, making this a classic of modern times, easily one of the best & most honest post-modern rap albums.
But key to this fantastic honesty & unflinching realism was the fact that this was recorded whilst Eminem was still relatively unknown, living a life of abject hardship with only a dream of something better to keep him warm -in fact that tone is all over this album.
Dark humour adorns 'Role Model', whilst heart-rending despair paints 'Rock Bottom' a murky grey, &in one of the finest moments of his career, Eminem gives us empathy & truly highlights the plight of the USA's underclass. Rap just doesn't come any better than this.
Eminem's trademark nonchalance & defiance are all over 'I Just Don't Give A F**k', whilst 'Still Don't Give A F**k' amuses with it's gobbiness, & 'Bad Meets Evil', featuring Royce Da 59 shows yet more dark humour & smart-assed rapping. The most disturbing song on the album is '97 Bonnie & Clyde', a grim fantasy of separation from his other half, of the permanent kind. It shows at least how willing Eminem is to voice the thoughts which most of us never would. People accuse Eminem of misogyny but never bother to dig beneath the surface - of course a man whose mother didn't raise him properly has issues with women, just as a women who has a bad father would have issues with men... makes sense, really. But above all that, Eminem's love for his daughter shines through.
This is an incredlbly important album, & around album three, the grit & realism of it looked further & further away. Eminem is capable of genius,in the form of this album, & I am certain that at some pointin his career, if he wants to, he can return to it.
Just realised - By: Pauline Fellows, 05 Jan 2007 Upon listening to this albumn again for aboun the thounsanth time I realised how good this albumn actually is I would always have said that this albumn is amazing but this albumn should be one of the top 10 rap albumns of all time I meen not 1 song deserves less than 8 out of ten & more than 80% of this albumn is worth 10 out of 10
THE BIRTH OF A GENIUS - By: chris, 04 Sep 2006 the slim shady LP, a lookin to the dark, twisted world of eminem, this was his debut, he was broke angry, & ready to take on the world, & let me tell you this album is nothing short of brilliant, eminem proves himself as an incredible lyricist, with an amazing delivery great voice, he is brutally honest & raps about a range of subject matters, such as the struggles of being broke, hilarious storytelling songs, killing his girlfriend, vicous battle rap songs, dissing everyone from his mum to vanilla ice,in fact, the majority of the songs on this album are hilarious battle rap songs, which doesnt really matter because eminem comes up with punchlines, jokes, & multis galore, this album is mainly produced by underground producers(apart from 2 songs produced by dr dre), & the beats are amazing, theye are not heavy or commercialized but still easy on the ear, & its obvious the producers took alot of time trying to get the mood of the production to fit the songs this is the second best of eminems 3 amazing albums(encore was garbage) i would highly recommend this, if you want to hear some amazing lyricism, brutal honesty, or amazing battle rap skills, peace
OK - By: YoungB, 04 Aug 2006 
I dont really like ems style here, but it has grown on me, as has the marshall mathers lp since i wrote my review, but my opinions about songs like kim, & on this album bonnie & clyde 97 remain the same.
The beats are good & guilty conscius is great, dre shows his skills.
Em is good here, but better now. His voice suits this type of music & if he reproduces his flow here, it will bring another hit!!
A good album
Amazing. - By: dannyboy32, 01 May 2006 What can I say to give this album it's fair dues? The Slim Shady LP is probably one of the greatest albums I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. This was backin the day when Eminem was real, raw, conflicted. The album is dark even at it's most light-hearted points (see guilty conscience). If you have become bored to distraction with commercial hip-hop these days, with all the bling-bling etc. or with eminem himself, check this album out before you jump out the window.
On this album Eminem explores topics such as drugs, poverty, love, hate, hopes, dreams.........the album is just amazing & the man's flow is unreal.
The best song on here is "Rock Bottom". The sorrow, despair & frustration is so strong it's scary. I think it's eminem's truest song & best.
Eminem, you may have lost your way but backin '99 you were on point like no other. I tip my hat to you sir.
