Still Don’t Give A Fuck

‘Still Don’t Give A Fuck’ is the last track of the Slim Shady LP.
The song is deranging on purpose, provocative and made to piss you off. Slim Shady grabs the sharpest lyrical knife to rip you off with no mercy.
The introduction to the song is particularly interesting. It shows that Eminem is not ready to compromise his style for anybody:
‘A lot of people ask me.. am I afraid of death..
Hell yeah I’m afraid of death
I don’t want to die yet
A lot of people think.. that I worship the devil..
that I do all types of.. retarded shit
Look, I can’t change the way I think
And I can’t change the way I am
But if I offended you? Good
Cause I still don’t give a fuck’
Get over it: Eminem doesn’t care about the way you may try to stereotype him. He stays hidden in the shadow, anticipating some silly and angry reactions to his lyrics, laughing crazy at his detractors who keep taking the Slim Shady persona seriously.
He’s been called ‘satanistic’ so many times by some narrow minded people. Go ahead, call him whatever you want.
Slim Shady still doesn’t give a fuck about what you think.
His words are here to haunt you. If you think that Slim Shady’s words are devilish, you are right: Slim Shady is like a demon. But those are Slim Shady’s not Marshall Mathers’ words.
Incisive words. Words you gonna like if you like poetry. The first verse introduces you into Slim Shady’s world of madness. The style is insane, scary and funny. Creative words and thoughts will keep you travelling through Slim Shady’s insane brain. He’s scary, but he never forgets to humor himself, as you will see in the first verse:
“I’m zonin off of one joint, stoppin a limo
Hopped in the window, shoppin a demo at gunpoint
A lyricist without a clue, what year is this?
Fuck a needle, here’s a sword, bodypierce with this
Livin amuk, never givin a fuck
Gimme the keys I’m drunk, and I’ve never driven a truck
But I smoke dope in a cab
I’ll stab you with the sharpest knife I can grab
Come back the next week and re-open your scab (YEAH!)
A killer instinct runs in the blood
Emptyin full clips and buryin guns in the mud
I’ve calmed down now — I was heavy once into drugs
I could walk around straight for two months with a buzz
My brain’s gone, my soul’s worn and my spirit is torn
The rest of my body’s still bein operated on
I’m ducked the fuck down while I’m writin this rhyme
Cause I’m probably gonna get struck with lightnin this time…”
The sarcastic chorus is made to drive you mad if you lack of sense of humor;the references to drugs (weed in particular) are numerous. There’s a beauty in the wordplays and the similarity of the sounds. A sentence like ‘My brain’s gone, my soul’s worn and my spirit is torn /The rest of my body’s still bein operated on’ is full of poetry.
The second verses introduces you into the mind of Slim Shady, a well known American Psycho. The offensiveness of those lines is more than obvious and that’s the beauty of it. Slim Shady is there to shock the offended people including old fashioned parents.
Like Saddam Hussein, he’s a public enemy who causes damages to your house, your family and to the government:
‘So tell Saddam not to bother with makin another bomb
Cause I’m crushin the whole world in my palm
Got your girl on my arm and I’m armed with a firearm
So big my entire arm is a giant firebomb
Buy your mom a shirt with a Slim Shady iron-on
And the pants to match (“Here momma try em on”)
I get imaginative with a mouth full of adjectives,
a brain full of adverbs, and a box full of laxatives
(Shittin on rappers) Causin hospital accidents
God help me before I commit some irresponsible acts again …’
The Slim Shady persona is a danger to society, but you definitly gotta realize that he is a 100% fictional.
Would you take him literally if he claims:’I can’t rap anymore – I just murdered the alphabet…’?
Some clear references to Ozzy Ozborne, Esham and Marilyn Manson are present. I don’t deny that their music may have influenced Eminem. But I’m sorry to disappoint some Esham fans who claim that Eminem has totally copied him. In this context, the references to the three artists are much more due to the use of a shock value. If Eminem uses references to people that are usually classified as ‘devilish’ or ‘satanistic’, it is made to scare and to shock people:
‘I’m a cross between Manson, Esham and Ozzy…’
If it wasn’t the case, Eminem wouldn’t say in the next sentence:
‘I don’t know why the fuck I’m here in the first place…’
The song ends with a funny note:
‘My worst day on this earth was my first birthday
Retarded? What did that nurse say? Brain damage?
Fuck, I was born during a earthquake…’