Eminem symbolically ends the Slim Shady era with his latest release, “Tobey”, a music video featuring Big Sean and BabyTron.
In a striking move, Eminem released a music video for “Tobey”, which starts insignificant but becomes quite the spectacle.
The video starts in a variety of mundane settings – a warehouse, a hotel room, and a club – before transitioning to a more sinister scene in front of a house reminiscent of the one on the cover of The Marshall Mathers LP. Eminem’s verse begins as the scene shifts to a dingy basement where he is confronted by a figure wearing a Jason Vorhees mask. In a climactic twist, the masked figure, who is revealed to be Eminem himself, attacks him with a chainsaw, symbolically killing the Slim Shady persona.
You can watch the video, directed by Cole Bennett, below, which features Eminem alongside fellow Michigan rappers Big Sean and BabyTron.
The track is the second single from his upcoming album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce), which is set to be released on Friday, July 12th.
“Tobey” follows the unveiling of “Houdini” in May, the first single from the album, where Eminem humorously hinted at making his career “disappear.” The track included samples from his own hit “Without Me” and Steve Miller’s “Abracadabra”, with Miller expressing his honour at the sample.
Eminem first teased the end of his Slim Shady character earlier this year with a trailer for a fictional true crime documentary about Slim Shady’s demise. This was followed by a mock obituary in the Detroit Free Press, which stated, “His complex and tortured existence has come to a close, and the legacy he leaves behind is no closer to resolution than the manner in which this character departed this world.”
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The Death of Slim Shady marks Eminem’s 12th studio album, following his 2020 release, Music to Be Murdered By. This new album encapsulates a significant thematic closure for the artist, signifying a final farewell to his controversial and wildly popular alter ego.
