Eminem claims that Slim Shady is his evil half that is responsible for all the criticism that he encounters. It has been rumored that Mathers said in an MTV interview that the character of Slim Shady was developed after a drug overdose. Allegedly, he said that after a drug overdose, Marshall Mathers died and Slim Shady was born. Slim Shady has the ability to see the negativity of the world and express it in a lyrical sense through Eminem's songs.
In actuality, Marshall Mathers (Eminem) is a normal, down to earth guy who works hard to write songs so that he can be a rap star. He just projects himself in a view that makes him different from others in his class. He is similar to Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus) who projects himself as a gangster who will completely decapitate those persons of the media who criticize him. In reality, Broadus is a family man as well who has a wife, three children, and many houses around the country that he owns.
Slim Shady, on the other hand, is a mushroom chewing, marijuana and crack smoking, cocaine sniffing, heroine pumping person who just doesn't care about the rest of the world. He describes himself as "a head trip to listen to" in the song "The Real Slim Shady" which appears on his newest album The Marshall Mathers LP. Slim Shady is responsible for the flagrant criticism of other rap artists such as Will Smith, Christina Aguilera, and the ever-popular Britney Spears.
In the song "The Real Slim Shady" he makes reference to Will Smith and says that "Will Smith don't got to curse in his raps to sell records, but I do, so f*** him and f*** you to. You think I give a damn about a Grammy. Half of you critics can't even stomach me, let alone stand me." In the albums, Eminem does appear as his real self in a few songs. One of which is the song "Stan" which tells of a frustrated fan who believes all the teachings of Slim Shady and ends up driving his car over a bridge killing himself and his girlfriend. In this song, the two are writing letters to one another and Stan is a fan who truly worships Slim Shady, but confuses the two thinking that Eminem actually does all the things that he says he does in the songs. Stan makes a reference to cutting his arm and watching how much he can bleed and that pain gives him a rush just like what Eminem said in one of his songs. Eminem writes back and tells him that he shouldn't believe the things that are said in his songs because he just says them to be joking. The last letter from Eminem arrives too late and he describes how he saw a news report about a guy named Stanley that drives his car off a bridge and kills himself, a girl tied up in the trunk, and an unborn child. Eminem realizes that the person names Stanley is the same frustrated fan that wrote him several times. This song describes some of the legal problems that Mathers was involved in.