The Real Slim Shady lyrics

Annotations

Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?: A reference to old game show To Tell The Truth in which multiple people pretend to be someone interesting. At the end, the host asks “Will the real name of character please stand up?”

It could also connect with the previous line, playing on how a principal or office worker will say call someone into his office (particularly someone who is in trouble): “Will (name of student) please come to the office…”

It’s also mocking the many wiggas who think of themselves as being the next iconic rapper but Eminem is pointing out that only he has actual balls of all them

This line was responded to by his mother on the track “Dear Marshall” which she recorded with ID-X. The song is a letter reaching out to Eminem, where she says:

"Will the real Marshall Mathers please stand up And take responsibility for his actions?"

You think I give a damn about a Grammy?: Public Enemy (who Em had referenced before) predated him in their indifference to Grammys. On their 1988 song “Terminator X to the Edge of Panic”, they famously said, “Who gives a fuck about a goddamn Grammy?”

As awards go, it is a pretty crappy one..

Why, so you guys could just lie to get me here?: Eminem claims that no matter how hateful he is of critics they will still find a way to get him to go to award shows because his controversy leads to popularity.

Feminist women love Eminem: “Feminist women” would presumably know Eminem from his at-the-time biggest hit, “My Name Is,” to which the ‘chicka-chicka’ vocal scratching sound is a reference. It’s also sarcastic—it’s very unlikely feminist women would love anyone who rapped about killing his ex-wife.

a couple of screws: Em refers to the eccentric nature of his Slim Shady alter-ego, taking the common idiom “having a screw loose” to an extreme by saying he likely has “a couple of screws” loose in his head.

And there's a million of us just like me: Em made these lines literal with his performance of this song at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, creating an army of Shadys:

However, the song meant that people are metaphorically just like him, and would act like him if they thought they could get away with it. He’s kind of willing a potential into reality.

Also a reference to his song “Just Don’t Give a Fuck” from a year before.

Kids eat up these albums like Valiums?": Much of this album, The Marshall Mathers LP, was concerned with the effect of Em’s music on children and his status as a role model. This was also something he dealt with on his first album – as was his obsession with prescription drugs. The CD art on The Slim Shady LP features a personified Vicodin.

Valiums: Valium is anti-anxiety medication, and a popular drug to use among youth. It is implied that kids use Em’s music to escape their existential dilemmas.

Viagra: Viagra is used to treat erectile dysfunction (impotence; inability to get or keep an erection) in men

The line implies that at the rate he’s going, Em will be too damaged to get an erection even with pharmaceutical help.