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 were uncomfortable to listen to, and one of those songs was ‘Kim’. However, another was ’97 Bonnie & Clyde,’ which the Detroit native supposedly wrote to “get back” his ex-wife.
Eminem and Kim Scott’s relationship goes back to when Scott, the aspiring rapper, was only 15 years old, and Scott was 13. The two married in 1999, but the toxic relationship quickly fell apart, and they divorced in 2001. ’97 Bonnie & Clyde’ was the prerequisite to the track ‘Kim’, which was aimed directly at his then-wife. On the song, he detailed his thoughts on his wife. However, she later claimed the song made her suicidal.
On ’97 Bonnie & Clyde’, Eminem talks to his metaphorical daughter and says, “But you know your Mama, she’s one of those type of women that do crazy things, and if she don’t get her way, she’ll throw a fit!” He also hints at domestic abuse, rhyming, “and don’t worry about that little boo-boo on her throat / It’s just a little scratch, it don’t hurt.”
In one 1999 interview with Rolling Stone, Eminem recalled, “I lied to Kim and told her I was taking Hailie to Chuck E. Cheese that day, but I took her to the studio. When she found out I used our daughter to write a song about killing her, she f*cking blew. We had just got back together for a couple of weeks. Then I played her the song, and she bugged the f*ck out.”
However, this was precisely the reaction Eminem wanted, and he was glad that Scott didn’t like how he spoke about her. In fact, he confirmed this later in 1999 while speaking with Q magazine.
During his conversation with the publication, he unveiled his true intentions while writing ‘97 Bonnie & Clyde’, detailing, “I wrote it to get back at Kim, but now the song really don’t mean sh*t to me! Hailie listens to it but she doesn’t understand it yet, and if she hears a curse word she knows not to repeat it.”
He added, “I feel like I’m starting to grow up a little bit. Me and Kim, we been through our dramas and sh*t, but I’d be bald-faced lying if I said I don’t love her or I’m with her because of my daughter. I’m with her ’cause I wanna be with her. I love that girl, man. I really do.”
However, despite his love for Hailie, Eminem couldn’t sustain his relationship with Kim Scott, and only two years after his respective interviews, in 2001, the couple filed for divorce.
