At the turn of the millennium, Eminem was huge. After releasing his Slim Shady LP in 1999, everybody wanted to know more about who he was and where he came from. Following his head-turning LP in 2000, Eminem released his most ground-breaking project, The Marshall Mathers LP. As revered as it is now, the album created a lot of controversy and received vast amounts of backlash due to its dark content and somewhat questionable lyrics.
The Marshall Mathers LP boasted exceptional singles like ‘The Real Slim Shady’ and ‘Stan’. However, some of the tracks featured on the LP made for uncomfortable listening, and one of those songs was ‘Kim’. In fact, the song made for such uneasy playing that even Eminem himself couldn’t continue to listen to it following its release.
The track’s title ‘Kim’ refers to the mother of Eminem’s daughter Kim Scott, whom Mathers got pregnant shortly before he released his debut album Infinite. It is common knowledge that Eminem and his ex-girlfriend Kim Scott have had a somewhat rocky relationship. Most assume that it began when he found fame. However, the two individuals had a tenuous and strained relationship long before Mathers entered the limelight. The pair were on and off, young and undecided about what they wanted. According to the late Detroit rapper Proof, the relationship was as turbulent as it was toxic.
Speaking with music publication Rolling Stone, Proof once unveiled, “One time we came home and Kim had thrown all his clothes on the lawn which was, like, two pairs of pants and some gym shoes. So we stayed at my grandmother’s, and Em’s like, ‘I’m leaving her. I’m never going back.’ Next day, he’s back with her… there’s always gonna be conflict there!'”
Eminem is known for letting it all hang concerning his emotions, and ‘Kim’ was not the first time he had mentioned Scott on a record. In 1997, the Detroit rapper produced a track entitled ’97 Bonnie and Clyde.’ In the song, he talks about his love for his daughter (Hailie) but also describes a fictional scenario in which he rids Scott’s dead body in front of her.
The 2000 track was written as a prequel to the 1997 release. However, instead of body disposal, ‘Kim’ actually describes a fictional murder Mathers commits by abusing his ex-girlfriend. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Mathers admitted that he now finds it hard to listen to that song. Speaking about the 2000 record, he admitted, “It’s really weird for me to listen to that song. he pain that I felt at that time was so real that I really actually wanted to do that. That’s why I just don’t listen to the song anymore.” You can listen to the track in the video below.
