Digipak Analysis Eminem- Slim Shady LP

Gianluca Kulczycki

Background

This is Eminem’s First studio album

The album came out on the 23rd of February 1999.

This album sold 283,000 copies.

The Price for this album on iTunes is now at £7.99 and the online price retails at £5.01.

This album reached number 2 in the charts on its first week upon release in 1999.

Digipak Analysis

This album is mostly purple mixed with blues and features a full moon with Eminem standing over a car with the boot open and inside the boot is a dead body, presenting to the audience he is a evil rapper. We know that Slim Shady is Eminem’s alter ego who was seen to be crazy and quite dangerous, hence the death of the person in the car. The “The Slim Shady LP” is written in a child handwriting and it the multi-coloured to suggest that a child wrote it with crayons, linking to the child stranding next to Eminem in the picture, this could possibly be his daughter?

The Album Covers

The album comes with one CD with 20 tracks featured on it and a booklet with lyrics and information on the tracks.

The Front CoverThe front cover shows a car with a dead body and Eminem with a child over viewing a dock, possibly where the body will be dumped in the ocean. The theme of the album artwork is very evil and dark, showing that this album could be featuring dark songs and evil lyrics. This is continued through the songs and the rest of the album and the booklet.

Eminem is featured horizontally on the left hand side of the album, this has been done as the album is a “Slim Shady” album and not Eminem.

There is a warning sign to tell buyers that this album contains explicit lyrics and themes.

The Back Cover

The tone of the front cover is followed over to the back cover, it still gives a sense of darkness as there is a shadow of tree branches which can be associated with evil.

It states the tracklist and features on the album.

The logos of the record labels that produced the album are featured on the back, so that would be “Interscope and Aftermath”.

The barcode is also featured on the back cover, for pricing.

Eminem is featured holding his hand in frustration, this could be because he killed a person?

The Spine

The Spine of the album shows the album name, this makes it easier to fine when looking for it in a store, on the shelf.

Disc Impressions

Both the CD and Disc Impressions feature the right side having an illustration of a Egyptian Mummy with needles and pills coming from it, this could mirror Eminem’s drug addition. This follows the theme of evil and a scary tone, the full moon is still present in the background showing it is night, most things associated with horror are set at night.

The DiscThe CD’s design follows the design of the inner background of the mummy, it is drawn by a child. It features the artists name and the record labels, but not the name of the album.

The CD features 20 tracks on it, including the number one hits “Guilty Conscience ft. Dr.Dre” and “My Name is”.

The theme of drugs and pills are presented through this disc, possibly linking to Eminem’s his sleeping pill dependency.

Book Cover

This 10 page booklet features the album front cover, which links this to the album as it shares the exact artwork.

The Name of the album is featured alone with the warning and same car with the dead body inside overlooked by Eminem and the child.

Book Interior The first page spread has the theme of a police criminal record, showing pictures of Marshall in an unstable state. The font the lyrics and track information links with the American typewriter.

This page spread is very simplistic however shows that Slim Shady is unstable and a criminal, or a rebel.

Book Interior The second page spread has exactly the same theme, this theme gives the booklet a more natural and realist feeling to it.

The theme can be seen as a negative as it is very boring and simplistic. It does not engage the fan/audience.

The photos are taken like the camera was in a secret location and have caught Slim Shady on the sly.

Book Interior

This is the middle section of the booklet and it follows Slim Shady’s drug theme, and that he is dealing them, this could be a metaphor to say that his music is drugs to the audience.

Book Interior

The last page spread shows the recognition thank yous and dedications. This album was dedicated to his daughter Haley.

As mentioned before this is very simple and in many ways quite boring for the reader.

Booklet Back Cover

The back cover shows Eminem in a hyperactive state in a different reality to ours, the reality of cartoons and non existent things. The window is seen to be drawn, possibly by his daughter Haley. This follows the theme of craziness that is Slim Shady’s world.

Overview

The digipak sticks to the theme continuously through the album.

The album has the theme of evil, inferring this from the dead body in the trunk of the car.

It followed the generic conventions of drugs in hip-hop as there was a mummy spewing drugs from its bandages.

Overall, the design relates to Eminem’s persona in the 90’s. He was new and had to prove himself, he uses the themes of drugs and evilness within his album to show he is not to be messed with.