2002вЂ™s The Eminem Show found him taking a step back to examine the impact of his music and celebrity. While The Marshall Mathers LP had set one-week sales records for a solo album, the media circus surrounding its creator had reached a fever pitch. The blurring of truth and reality is addressed on closer вЂњCriminalвЂќвЂ™s spoken intro: вЂњA lot of people think what I say on a record/I actually do in real life/Or if I say that I wanna kill somebody/That IвЂ™m actually gonna do it or that I believe in it/Well, shit, if you believe that, then IвЂ™ll kill you.вЂќ Adding further fuel to the fire, Eminem answered critics that had labeled his lyrics homophobic by performing the single вЂњStanвЂќ with Elton John at the 2001 Grammy Awards.Д«y now Eminem was one of the worldвЂ™s biggest superstars. Interspersed between the stream-of-consciousness invective are moments of clarity: вЂњOh my god I love youвЂќ вЂњI donвЂ™t wanna go on/Living in this world without you.вЂќ Written at a time when the two had separated, вЂњKimвЂќ served as a method of both venting his anger and professing his love. Yet, in EminemвЂ™s oblique world, things are rarely what they seem. Shorn of the humor of much of EminemвЂ™s output, itвЂ™s the most chilling song heвЂ™s ever made. His mother came in for particular scorn on opener вЂњKill YouвЂќ his wife was verbally attacked on вЂњKim,вЂќ a prequel to вЂњвЂ™97 Bonnie And ClydeвЂќ that details an imaginary argument that leads to murder. While that album found critics and public alike trying to separate fact from fiction, The Marshall Mathers LP blurred the boundaries yet further with its mix of razor-sharp humor and personal attacks. The Marshall Mathers LP followed swiftly in 2000 and found Eminem expanding on the dark humor of its predecessor. However, The Slim Shady LP, which was partially produced by Dr Dre (and released via Interscope, home of DreвЂ™s Aftermath imprint) was an unqualified success and turned Eminem into a global star. On вЂњвЂ™97 Bonnie And Clyde,вЂќ a fantasy tale about a journey taken with his daughter to bury the wife heвЂ™d just murdered, the role of EminemвЂ™s offspring is played chillingly by Hailie. Elsewhere, On вЂњBrain Damage,вЂќ Eminem recounts an alleged bullying episode at the hands of schoolmate DвЂ™Angelo Bailey вЂ“ and another court case ensued.Д®ven the purely fictional had an unnervingly personal note. One line in particular, вЂњ99 percent of my life I was lied to/I just found out my mom does more dope than I do,вЂќ overstepped the mark as far as mother Debbie Mathers was concerned, and resulted in legal action. While much of the songвЂ™s cartoonish ultraviolence was clearly fictional, the line between truth and fiction was sometimes uncomfortably blurry. At once self-deprecating (вЂњI ainвЂ™t had a woman in years/My palms too hairy to hideвЂќ), Eminem was also brutally personal in his attacks. The darkly comic tour de force single вЂњMy Name IsвЂќ introduced Slim Shady as a vengeful, ogre-ish, loose cannon. Under the aegis of his titular anti-hero, Eminem felt the freedom to expound on anything that took his fancy. His sophomore album and major-label debut 1999вЂ™s The Slim Shady LP was issued through Interscope, and still has the capacity to shock. Bleaching his hair to add to the brattish image, Eminem now had a conduit through which he could vent both his cartoonish sense of humor and latent anger. вЂњBoom, the name hit me, and right away I thought of all these words to rhyme with it,вЂќ he recalled. The genesis of this transformation came on a trip to the toilet, when Mathers concocted his Slim Shady alter-ego. вЂњAfter that record, every rhyme I wrote got angrier and angrier,вЂќ he told Rolling Stone magazine. But the album failed to have the desired impact, which, in turn, had a profound effect on the rapper. The subject matter was already highly personal, detailing the trials of living in one of DetroitвЂ™s poorest areas, and EminemвЂ™s hopes for girlfriend Kim and their soon-to-be-born daughter, Hailie. However, it boasts a raft of complex rhymes and the verbal erudition of a man who had spent much of his youth absorbed in a dictionary.

Recorded in 1996, it found the nascent star still developing a distinctive style. Many overlook EminemвЂ™s little-known debut album, Infinite. At times his lyrics played out like a real-life soap opera, their emotional directness preempting modern hip-hop stars like Drake. The act of playing detective and trying to separate fact from fiction is one of the great pleasures of trawling through EminemвЂ™s music.

All eminem slim shady songs