Yeah, it felt like that to me, too, despite the context. Also it’s painfully obvious insecurity was (again) a major player in authoring this project with the dated “cancel me!!!” theme throughout the album, this was what stood out the most for me. Didn’t feel like having fun was a huge part of making this record.

In the album context this reads like Shady narrative, not “Eminem/Marshall”, but yeah, it was kinda weird to listen to before “Guilty Conscience” kind of put this in some artistic “alter-ego” context. The aftertaste remained, though. Reminded me how South Park re-branded Cartman for a while. I guess this is what a lot of 90s/2000s art & humor that leaned on ignorant shock humor has gone through to adapt. That wave died a natural death (or got killed (?) like Slim Shady by Eminem on this album, supposedly). Limp Bizkit comes to mind as well.

Is he taking the piss??