This has been quite the journey to get to this point & I'm going to be honest with you right now in saying that this post will probably piss off a lot of die-hard Eminem fans. For those of you who aren't stuck on some type of hip hop elitist high horse & have an open mind prepare for a wild ride ahead...
Sayōnara Mathers' family home!!
Eminemma had quite the career by the time this album came out. Rather than here me ramble about how great the man is as a rapper I'll allow the facts to speak for themselves.
- The Marshall Mathers LP was the fastest selling solo album in the history of America selling 1.76 million copies in the first week of sale in the US alone. It has also been certified Diamond by selling approximately over 10 766 000 copies in the US & more than 21 million world wide.
- He has been estimated to have sold over 200 million copies of his CDs worldwide.
- Has had over 3 billion views on his Youtube videos.
- He is ranked 83rd on the Rolling Stone Magazine's 100 greatest artists of all time.
- Named the best rapper alive by Vibe magazine.
- Named artist of the decade by billboard magazine in 2009.
- In 2010 his music generated more than 94 million streams. More than any other music artist.
- 13 Number 1 singles world wide.
THIS ALBUM IS BY FAR THE SINGLE GREATEST ALBUM MADE BY THE MAN KNOWN UNIVERSALLY AS EMINEM.
& I'm not even joking. At all. On any given level, shape or form. For those of you interested in how I even managed to come close to this startling & revolutionary revelation of a conclusion you need no more than to read ahead & see inside my thoughts process as I lay everything bare track by damn track in a deep & thoughtful analysis of a genre I love to fucking death in the only way I know how: By rambling on & on using big fancy vocabulary whilst trying hard not to go off-topic. (Which is almost a guarantee to happen)
So lo & behold your host Hexus proudly brings to you the Marshall Mathers LP 2 experience
1. Bad Guy
(Part 1 Prod. S1 & M-Phazes
Part 2 Prod. StreetRunner & Vinny Venditto)
*Sigh*
Well here we go...
Straight off the beat we get what can only be described as a happy go lucky tune. That's the very first thing that comes to mind from hearing this track. From here we can tell that this is in vein & a tongue-in-cheek stab by having musical backing being the opposite emotion to what the lyrics convey but it is not apparent at first. (This is going to be a bit of a read so bare with me please) The first part of this damn epic long opening song (Over 7 mins) deals with someone who harbours a somewhat intense grudge for someone else. From the first verse you can almost mistakenly claim Eminem is about to attack someone with hate fueled rage but as the song carries on (Verse 2 & 3) you can tell Eminem is rapping from someone else's perspective instead. The chorus has this really nice laid-back & relaxing charm to it with female vocals lightly singing & humming along provided by a woman called Sarah Jaffe (I know pretty much nothing about this woman other than the fact my notes say she is a songwriter from Texas who has ties with the producer of this part S1 as part of a group called The Dividends). It is eventually revealed throughout the 3 verses that...
*SPOILERS AHEAD YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED*
The person in the song is Matthew Mitchell. The little brother of Stan. Thus making this a sequel to "that legendary Eminem song". He has an act of revenge against Eminem who he blames for his brother's death as he successfully tracks down & kidnaps Eminem in his own home & decides Eminem must die in order to finally make peace in his life. The verses are chock-full of references to past & present Eminem work & including but not restricted to: The total length of all his solo albums if played back to back, The song Stan, The choice in the naming of this album, Eminem's usage of the word faggot & how it affects people & more I can't think of right now. It ends up in the story in a near identical way to which Stan & his girlfriend in the trunk died in the song Stan. (Just replace Stan with Matthew & girlfriend in the trunk with Eminem) The whole scenario & song play is expertly laid out & has fantastic replay values but more importantly sets up the second part of this song perfectly.
Part 2 involves a radically different beat that expands more & more musically & becomes louder & more dramatic as the verse goes on with a haunting lowered pitch (the voices in his head) following & echoing Eminem's rapping as he explains what exactly Stan & Matthew are symbolically representations of (Spoilers again). Matthew is a symbol for everyone he has ever wronged personally or lyrically. In fact it took someone who was offended by Eminem & going out of their way to kill him to make Eminem realize all the deep & profound impact his words have had on people over the years. Eminem faces up to his own sins & critics on a deep & meaningful personal level here as he opens up & takes a good hard look at his life & music both from a retrospective & introspective level. Topics here include how his ungratefulness & hatred of fame came back to bite him in the ass, his double standards in saying 1 thing but doing another (example how he "women hates" but is overly protective & respectful to his daughters), his blurring of his rap personas into his personal life & what impact that has had on him both consciously & how his life turned out, & also how fans have a love-hate relationship with him, replying somewhat to those fans of his that claim he has changed for the worst & have stopped supporting him. Near the end of this verse Eminem being the technical wizard that he is in rap (& me being the sucker for a lyrical master in hip hop) uses a consonance literacy device using the letter "T". Example included for anyone interested to what the hell I'm talking about from a poetic level:
"Trying to recapture that lightning trapped in a bottle
Twice, the magic that started
It all, tragic portrait of an artist tortured trapped in his own drawings
Tap into thoughts"
This part of the song is great set up from a very self-aware & self-conscience Eminem to the rest of the album to follow & ends this song by stating he is starting this album off where the last album left off (literally as well might I add) before he "fades to black" (as he is dying from the last part of the song) as somewhat of a flashback of his life as we lead into...
2. Parking Lot (Skit)
(Prod. Eminem)
This skit ties into & is a direct sequel to the infamous robbery skit on the last track of the first Marshall Mathers LP "Criminal" (Ignoring some versions of the cassette having the bonus track "The Kids" tagged onto the end of album which I'm sure was somewhat of a re-release of the album anyway so it doesn't count). We find out that because Eminem's getaway driver (who heard Eminem fire his gun at the clerk despite warning him NOT to do it) has ditched Eminem on the scene only for Em himself to try & drive off in the vehicle just for it to break down a few places down the road. The ill fate of the puppy he mentioned about thinking of killing for getting in his way (Verse 3 off of "Criminal") & the fact the cops started closed in to his location so he bolted to a nearby parking lot where surrounded by cops in a vastly open area & refusing to surrender, kills himself which may or may not be a symbol for Eminem attempting to (metaphorically I might add) kill off Slim Shady once again (as he has done numerous times already in songs throughout his career). However everyone knows every time Eminem tries to kill off this persona he comes back to haunt him again along the line. This however is a great close off from the last Marshall Mathers LP & a great tie-in to the start of this one.
3. Rhyme Or Reason
(Prod. Eminem & THE Rick Rubin)
Why did I write "THE Rick Rubin"? Well because (for those of you who are clueless) Rick Rubin is a legendary producer in the music making industry. (Prepare yourselves for an off-topic speech here by the way) He helped popularize hip hop by founding Def Jam Records with Russell Simmons, was a co-president of Columbia Records, established American Recordings. Had a hand in helping Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy & Run-D.M.C rise to fame. He also has worked with everyone including but not limited to: Black Sabbath, Slipknot, Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jay-Z, Dixie Chicks, Metallica, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Weezer, Linkin Park, The Cult, Neil Diamond, Mick Jagger, System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, ZZ Top, Adele, Lana Del Rey, Lady Gaga & Kanye West. & now he is finally working with Eminem. It's like a dream come true right there. & what better combination than 2 legendary music figures coming together to work on songs for an album.
*BACK ON TOPIC HOWEVER...*
This song is crazy off the wall for an early/opening song for an album. Quite liberally using the backing music from "Time of The Season" by The Zombies (which is a fabulous timeless song in itself & worthy of checking out) for the beat & vocal snippets from the song as well to interpolate with Eminem's lyrics, This song starts off (& continues throughout) with Eminem taking pot shots at the absentee father of his life who we can safely assume is going to be his new target in this new era of Eminem's career. To further add insult to injury to the disowned father of Marshall Mathers he cleverly announces on the very 1st line of the 1st verse of the song that his mother reproduced like a komodo dragon. For those of you who don't "get it" allow me to further explain. Female Komodo dragons can in fact produce asexually as in they don't necessarily NEED a male to mate with to lay eggs, However if they lay eggs asexually they will ONLY produce males. Now you start to see both how clever that opening line is & how insulting it would be towards Marshall Mathers the 2nd. In the same verse he makes a reference to Yoda then spins off into a Yoda voice perfectly mimicking his style of speech for a few lines whilst referencing Star Wars both while doing the voice & afterwards. In 1 particular stand out line he refers to himself as a padawan compared to Rick Rubin & that Eminem will follow under his advice & direction. Well done Marshall for using your head & knowing when someone is more experienced & more prone to knowing how to market something than you. Kudos to you "Jedi in trainning".
The chorus has Eminem singing in the exact same way that The Zombies sing their song but obviously with the words changed to fit his version of the re-imagining of the context. His second verse deals largely the same as the first with a more serious & angrier tone plus more pot shots at his dad & pretty much laying claim that hip hop is owned by Eminem, which is a fitting thought & not really 1 that can be argued. However when we get to the chorus again after this verse it sounds a lot angrier & a lot more aggressive in attitude than what has previously been stated & the reason why? Slim Shady is resurrected for Verse 3 (albeit too soon my little padawan, YES I just had to make this reference again, Damn you Feminem!!) & takes the themes already established so far & takes them to a level beyond what Marshall was drifting along with on the song which you would expect given that the Slim Shady persona of his had taken the reins. He makes some massively bold claims in this verse with the most stand out 1 being (at least to me) that although the first Marshall Mathers LP went diamond this 1 is going emerald which basically means that this album will be more precious, rarer & better to live up to compared to the last 1. WOW Marshall, Just WOW... A nice wee snippet that is only a dip in the water of the greatness that is to follow on this album. & what a nice feel this dip is...
4. So Much Better
(Prod. Eminem & Luis Resto)
With a beat that sounds oddly similar to "Criminal" (I'm sure this is deliberate but bare with me here) the connotations here seem to spell out to the listener that things are about to pick up. & I can assure you pick up they certainly do, in spades & bucketfuls. The theme of this song harks back to the misogyny & women hating that Eminem is infamously known for with a tale of a girl who is playing Eminem with various other rappers & celebrities. Eminem finally came up with an answer to the first line he had in his verse of Dr. Dre's "Forgot About Dre" song where he asks "So what do you say to someone you hate?" in the last line of the first verse in this song in the form of the chorus. I'm not gonna lie the chorus of this song with Eminem singing about how happy it would make him in life if the girl in question in this song suddenly dropped dead makes me snigger in delight at the shear audacity in the way he actually sings it. It's a truly comical moment both in this song & on the album & will instantly make anyone who has had a nasty break up or appreciates Eminem's extreme over the top views on cheating laugh in admiration as well. There are so many over the top & hilarious 1 liners in here that it'd be hard to pick 1 but there is a clever line on verse 2 that goes
"Excuse the pun, but bitches is such a broad statement"
& trust me that isn't even close to what other witty statements & double meanings this song has as it is full of them to the brink. Verse 3 is a particularly standout example as he goes from fish analogies to tool/handyman analogies to baseball analogies to quoting Jay-Z's pattern of speech & famous song lines while making a clever pig allude in-between said lines. Truly a masterful & expertly put together song that both serves it's point & makes for an entertaining & witty listen. Eminem also ends this song with the classic
"I'm just playing bitch, you know I love you"
Which if anyone remembers is a similar line that Eminem uses when he uses his satire sense of humour to illustrate a point he is trying to make while mocking critics who will hit him up on the subject matter at face value instead of looking past that & understanding it's deeper meaning. A line that was STARTED on "Kill You" off the first Marshall Mathers LP. Some people have said this song might be an extended metaphor for hip hop itself using a woman as the metaphor & while that is a wildly possible theory I might just have to disagree with it just because the evidence to support it isn't THAT concrete.
5. Survival
(Prod. DJ Kalil)
I actually first heard this song when it was used as a promotional song for the Call of Duty Multiplayer trailer. A mate of mine who is into the series was all like "Have you heard Eminem's new song?" to which I was like "He has a new song?" So of course he showed me the video & I gotta say the song kind of fit the video but I wasn't entirely convinced it was a winner because it just sounded a little out of place. I explained to him that I might better understand it within the context of an album than as a lone song & boy did hearing this song on the album make all the difference. It fits the pace & the flow of the album pretty well. The lyrics on this one mainly deal with Eminem discussing how hip hop is a do or die game that is pretty much survival of the fittest (Gee Whizz I wonder what could of given away that idea? The title?) & that he is ready to take on any & all comers. Calling out everyone in the rap game is a ballsy move but I have faith that he can hack it (otherwise he wouldn't of laid out the challenge would he?). However, as much as this song has grown on me from initial first impressions I must say the wordplay on here is bananas. There are so many good ones to pick from but I think I'll go with this teaser.
"...cause I don't own no diploma for school, I quit
So there's nothing for me to fall back on, I know no other trade,
so you'd better trade your fucking mics in for some tool-box-es
so you'd better trade your fucking mics in for some tool-box-es
Cause you'll never take my pride from me, it'll have to be pried from me,
so pull out your pliers and your screwdrivers"
so pull out your pliers and your screwdrivers"
Simply astounding. With Eminem on the prowl for a challenge to step up I'd watch out if I was a top rapper. The man is hungry to destroy someone's credibility & cement himself as the top dog. He is pretty much proclaiming himself to be the Ric Flair of hip hop because as the legendary man himself has said "To be the man you have to beat the man" & right now until someone can heed the call Eminem is most definitely "The Man" when it comes to being the king of the mountain in rap. On a side note I'm not entirely sure why but Liz Rodrigues who provides the chorus goes largely uncredited on this track except for a tiny piece in the liner notes of the album sleeve. Not really a big deal but she is a strong part of the song & holds up the break between his verses pretty well with her impressively sung chorus. She is great & has a talented ride ahead for her, she just needs to get out of the hook role for songs.
6. Legacy
(Prod. Emile)
To continue with this bizarre occurrence that keeps coming up the chorus to this song is provided by a lady by the name of Polina who is from new york. & that's all I got in my notes... I dunno what it is about keeping singers contributions in the dark but it is a fairly interesting thing to look into. Anyway moving on from that little thought that carried over 2 songs I have to say that this song is very intriguing on a technical level (NERD ALERT!! NERD ALERT!! COMING UP IN 3, 2, 1...) because he actually keeps the same rhyme pattern the whole entire song by emphasizing the vowel sounds "eye" "aw" & "in". It's pretty impressive & he doesn't once go off track on the subject matter either despite doing the same rhyme scheme. The vocals are also just as interesting unique on this song as well because it is made to sound like it was recorded for an old vinyl. I'm not sure why they decided to go in this direction but it really adds a unique element that goes hand in hand with the music very impressively. This song has the first 2 verses of him as a kid trying to cope & deal with the fact he is "different" from others. The first verse finds him miserable about being different & wishing he was "normal". The 2nd verse deals with him trying to find himself as a person with his imperfections as a teenager, while verse 3 has him in the present day explaining how he is proud of who he is, proud that he actually ended up turning out different to everyone & that everyone should accept themselves for who they truly are. This is a nice inspirational song & is really him trying to connect with his fanbase on a personal & emotional level with "feels". I feel ya Marshall you soppy son of a komodo dragon you!! In all honesty though the message of not giving in & feeling depressed about who you are but embracing it & using it to make something of yourself is a truly empowering statement & I'm sure many people will connect & embrace this song as a sort of spirit lifter when they are feeling low. Thanks Eminlemon it's nice to know you care about your fans sometimes.
7. Asshole (feat. Skylar Grey)
(Prod. Alex Da Kid)
Huh? We finally get a mention of a female singing the chorus in a song... What do they have to be a big time name or a hot up-n-comer to warrant a guest feature title Marshall? Is that it? WELL? Besides the point I frigging love Skylar Grey & find she has an amazing voice. It's too bad it doesn't get used to it's full capacity here but hey you can't get everything you want in life right? Pretty much as soon as this track damn starts Eminem is rapping away over a pretty strong drum smashing (or at least I think it's a thumping drum that accompanies his sudden outburst of rapping straight away). This song deals with the fact that people's perception of him is that he is an asshole & that he doesn't need to pretend otherwise because that's what people are led to believe he is no matter what he says or does. This is actually both a pretty funny & a pretty clever concept that Eminem uses to his advantage to discuss his long history with critics & the media on both a serious & satire position. The music here starts sounding a little like a supervillain's theme but slowly morphs into a special kind of instrumental that I can only really describe as dramatic. There is one part where Eminem says he wishes he could go back to his Slim Shady ways (Extreme shock rap with an attitude that is careless) but he doesn't want the hate & criticism that comes with it. Interesting thought there but that's not even the best part for me. My favourite part of the song comes in the 3rd verse where Eminem hilariously pays homage to a certain line from Insane Clown Posse's "Miracles" & then proceeds to rap like them for the next following lines making up words like they do in some of their songs. I swear it is well worth the listen just for the shits n giggles if you understand the references, otherwise that part of the song goes over your head. But it is extremely comical & brilliantly keeps consistent with the theme of him being an asshole about everything. I know there are some people who don't see this song as anything special but to truly appreciate this priceless gem you have to understand where he is coming from with some of his lines to really get a feel of how he is being an asshole in reply to accusations of people thinking & believing he is one. Great piss take of people's misconceptions of him.
8. Berzerk
(Prod. Rick Fucking Rubin)
& we are back with The legend in the production seat for this one. When I first heard this I wasn't even impressed. Hell my brain hurt just from trying to work out what to even think of this track because to me it just sounded like a complete clusterfuck of weirdness thrown into a track & I was highly confused on Rubin & Eminem's direction for this song. Then I realized the mangled mess actually fit the title of the song almost too perfectly because this track is most certainly Berzerk all right. Eminem goes for broke here (his actual words contained in the song itself not mine for once) & spends a great deal of time paying homage to the history of hip hop while making subtle disses to modern rappers throughout the song. The whole 1st verse is rapped in the style of The Beastie Boys & is a homage to them (Hell it even samples Beastie Boys' "The New Style" songs on top of that). I guess in that aspect using Billy Squier's "The Stroke" as an instrumental & interpolation was a brilliant choice to liberally borrow from to go hand in hand with that. In the second verse he pays homage to Snoop Dogg by impersonating him again much like he did in "Bitch Please II" off the first Marshall Mathers LP. There is also a shout out to Kid Rock on this verse as well which is nice given the sweet history those 2 share together. The end of the 2nd verse has Eminem pondering whether the less lyrical rappers of hip hop (who he takes subtle jabs at the whole song) will even understand that they are being mocked or if his lines are so cleverly done that it is just going to go straight over their heads. He continues his combination of homage of legends & subtle dissing of other rappers in the 3rd verse & in a pretty funny moment he mocks the hashtag rap style. Lucky for you I'm going to give you an example:
"And girl, I ain't got no money to borrow
But I am trying to find a way to get you a-loan (car note)"
This is actually both witty, clever & a mockery. Obviously a loan plays to the whole money line BUT the way it is ambiguously said he also wants to get her "alone". Hashtag rapping is basically removing the "like", "as" or "is" from a simile or a metaphor & just simply stating what simile or metaphor you wanted to use in question after your line (which would mean the hashtag punchline in question here would be the "car note" as that is a type of loan). Quite often in cases there is a slight pause to emphasize this technique but sometimes there isn't. Some rappers find this style to be stupid &/or a lazy way of writing lyrics. I personally have to agree with Eminem & others about how silly this style of rap is. I don't think it exhibits much talent or skills at all because you could just say something & pretend it's a hot line but whatevers. Anyway given I first heard this song with a friend I wasn't sure what to make of it because I thought it was a weird sounding song for an Eminem song but given the time & focus to listen to it on my own accord I found the true purpose & genius at work behind this song & I gotta say it was a brilliantly, creative & well constructed song put together serving a double purpose fucking beautifully. This however is just the icing on the cake for what is to follow... hehehe
9. Rap God
(Prod. DVLP & Filthy)
Oh boy here we go...
Are you ready?
This is going to take awhile!!
This was beyond a shadow of a doubt my absolute favourite hip hop song to come out of 2013. I don't think I can think of any single rap song that even came CLOSE to topping this one. This song is easily the standout track on the whole album & hell, if you take this song & compare it from a lyrical standpoint to pretty much any of the songs on the 1st Marshall Mathers LP it will basically spit, piss & shit over any song on that album without so much as busting a sweat. The references here in this song are all over the place. We get references to hugely public situations in pop culture, music, comics, both new & old school hip hop stars, Eminem's self & past songs & other stuff in-between. Eminem definitely proves himself to be a Rap God on this track. As for why I have such an intense passion for this song? Allow me to break it down for you!!
This song starts off with a sample that is from a Captain America reading of a comic used to serve a purpose to warn rappers to prepare themselves for Eminem, while the infamous "6 Minutes Slim Shady you're on" is sampled from "Remember Me?" in the background. The intro serves the purpose of Eminem explaining that now is the time to try & lay claim to being a Rap God & he has 6 mins in which to prove himself worthy of that title as he may not have another time to do so given that he isn't nearly as big or as popular as he used to be.
What's interesting is to point out is that with each verse that pops up in this song, the length of the verses get longer & longer. Verse 1 starts off with a time of 43 seconds. Verse 2 has a run time of 1 min & 5 secs. & lucky verse number 3 is a whooping 3 mins & 6 seconds. That is a hell of a lot of rhyming & to break it down into syllables verse 1 has 290, Verse 2 has 360 & Verse 3 has 1070 which brings us to a grand total of 1720 syllables which has an average rate of 5.85 syllables per second. This may or not be be interesting to some people but given the fact he speeds things the fuck up in verse 3 (see below) it is a massive achievement considering he spends the majority of time in this song rapping pretty much non stop at a somewhat consistently fast & on time pace.
Verse 1 itself merely brushes past as a teaser but there is a clever few lines I enjoy that goes something like this:
Verse 1 itself merely brushes past as a teaser but there is a clever few lines I enjoy that goes something like this:
"They said I rap like a robot, so call me rapbot
But for me to rap like a computer must be in my genes
I got a laptop in my back pocket"
& that's nothing compared to what is to come. The rest of the verse has references to the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, Odd Future Kill Em All & a nice little reference that made grin from ear to ear. The reference in question is a reference to a skit by a rapper named Big Pun on his album "Capital Punishment" in which in a classic skit with a friend he claims to shoot up a place because he was "Packing a Mac in the back of the Ac". There is also a clever line he uses to warn rappers that references "Yakety Yak" by The Coasters (which I found so amusing at 1 point in my teenage years me & a friend from high school wrote a song in high school that used the line from that song. Which is actually really the only reason I even knew of the song's existence in the first place otherwise that reference would of gone straight over my head. Funny that...)
I also liked the Aftermath bomb explosion effect that Dr. Dre has used countless times when he makes clever references to Dre's label & 1 of Dre's signature lines. But really verse 1 is just Eminem & the listeners dipping their toes into the water compared to what lays ahead.
Verse 2 is filled to the brim with references to other rappers & their songs. I mean the list is uncanny & at 1 point he doesn't even reference them in a witty way as he does just merely name dropping his favourites while rhyming all their names in classic rhyme form. I find it interesting how he refers to how he inducted Run-D.M.C into the rock 'n' roll hall of fame but he himself is going to be inducted into "the alcohol of fame on the wall of shame". About 3/4's of the way through this verse the beat slightly changes into a southern "snap" style of hip hop for a few lines while Eminem lifts the flow from "Lookin' Boy" by the Hotstylz. Around this point Eminem takes a couple of clever shots at a couple of rappers & uses his classic homosexual slurs that got him in trouble in the past once again (Which coincidentally also got him thrust in the spotlight AGAIN for doing so, talk about going over people's heads) but the far more interesting aspect is that Hotstylz themselves did not take kindly to Eminem imitating their flow for the last quarter of the verse & actually released a diss record of them rapping over various Eminem songs mimicking his flow on those songs for retaliation of Eminem "copying" them without telling them he was going to do it or asking for permission. I'd keen to see where things go from there if Eminem replies to them. (Which he should).
Of course everyone wants to hear my expert opinion on the infamous verse 3. I haven't got 1 so I'm moving on...
Well okay maybe just this once.
Verse 3 is a lyrical machine of epic proportions. Here he assumes the role of Odin & claims everyone else to be Thor compared to him. This reference surprisingly consistently pops up a few times in this verse as Eminem definitely does school rappers. His claim of being the king of the underground at 1 point is a bold claim but he could probably back it up seeing as he was a beast in the underground before blowing up in the mainstream at the turn of the millennium. I should know I've listened to the man's stuff from that era & he was super impressive as a rapper even back THEN. He also states around this line that he still raps like he's on his "Pharoahe Monch grind" which is simply beautiful to my ears seeing as I fucking love Pharoahe Monch who had such a massive & most profound impact on my take of hip hop back when I first started listening to it. But that's a story for another time. The next few lines after that lead into Eminem re-rapping a line that was actually censored even in the explicit version of "I'm Back" to test public reaction to such a reference in today's society, given that we aren't fresh off the incident like the world was back the first time he used it. The line you ask? Is THIS:
11. Stronger Than I Was
Of course everyone wants to hear my expert opinion on the infamous verse 3. I haven't got 1 so I'm moving on...
Well okay maybe just this once.
Verse 3 is a lyrical machine of epic proportions. Here he assumes the role of Odin & claims everyone else to be Thor compared to him. This reference surprisingly consistently pops up a few times in this verse as Eminem definitely does school rappers. His claim of being the king of the underground at 1 point is a bold claim but he could probably back it up seeing as he was a beast in the underground before blowing up in the mainstream at the turn of the millennium. I should know I've listened to the man's stuff from that era & he was super impressive as a rapper even back THEN. He also states around this line that he still raps like he's on his "Pharoahe Monch grind" which is simply beautiful to my ears seeing as I fucking love Pharoahe Monch who had such a massive & most profound impact on my take of hip hop back when I first started listening to it. But that's a story for another time. The next few lines after that lead into Eminem re-rapping a line that was actually censored even in the explicit version of "I'm Back" to test public reaction to such a reference in today's society, given that we aren't fresh off the incident like the world was back the first time he used it. The line you ask? Is THIS:
"I'll take seven kids from Columbine
Put 'em all in line, Add an AK-47, a revolver & a nine"
Put 'em all in line, Add an AK-47, a revolver & a nine"
Massive statement right there. Some of you might look at it & not think much of it & granted I could probably understand your viewpoint but back in '99/00 this was a big deal which ignited huge coverings in the media & copycat killers. The music & television industry was a big target at this time as well for inciting violent behaviours in youth, so for Eminem to just come outright with such a line so soon after The Columbine tragedy was a big no no in many people's eyes. You have to take into account as well that Eminem was probably reaching his most popular peak at this time as well & so being such a global phenomenon this would of reached out to millions upon millions of people around the planet who both were influenced & took notice of every little thing he said. Granted he isn't nearly as popular nowadays & this is well over a decade & a half old event he is able to get away with such lines. It is still very interesting that he chose to revisit both this line & period in time in which censorship in music was so intense. Truly deep & compelling here. But that's not all folks...
Yup there's still more going on here!! After humourously mentioning the Ray J/Fabulous feud from 2011 Eminem pays homage to The J.J. Fad song "Supersonic" which is really where things skyrocket for most people (myself included) & is pretty much what everyone really wants my opinion of to be honest. Well in my humble opinion this portion of the song is fucking impressive as shit. For a guy who studied speed rappers (Twista, Busta Rhymes, Bone Thugs & Tech N9ne, for example) & the way in which they both construct & rap their lines so I could pull it off myself I have to say Eminem takes the cake. The reason being is that most of the rappers that speed rap use the same type of syllables & words to create their fast rapping cadence which is fine because it works for them & makes them sound impressive but at the same time sometimes they aren't actually saying anything important or interesting which is why speed rapping is not all it's cranked up to be peoples. It really isn't too hard to break down & get into if you look into it yourself as it usually has a relatively SIMPLE set up of words & word flow just recited at a double or sometimes triple the speed of how it would be normally rapped. What makes Eminem different here is his choice of words, he just decides to cram a whole bunch of words & syllables with some great variety & throw them all in "Supersonic" speed. From my research notes he raps AHEM... 96 words in 14 seconds which is the equivalent of 10.6 syllables per second. BOOM how awesome is that?
In closing the rest of the verse Eminem responds to critics who accuse him of being pop over hip hop while he gives a pretty solid example ("Lose Yourself") to counter that point & makes fun of people who try to copy or take something from him as influence or to help themselves as artists but can't come close to recreating his style or uniqueness because they don't know "what words to use". He also takes the criticism of "woman hate" head on with a counter point of asking the critics & listeners to consider how he was directly affected by the women closest in his life & take that into consideration when regarding his view of women which is a pretty fantastic point to make, given if you know (or are about to look up) his life story & the key women who played a big role in that. Alongside a couple of really witty lines about good & evil & his misogyny he ends the song asking why he would want to be a king when he could be a god which is a pretty interesting point to make as I'm sure I heard/read at 1 point the album was going to be called "King Mathers". So that would make a pretty big leap in an upgrade of a ranking title to be honest. This also pokes fun at the timeless line that rappers use to refer themselves as The King in rap by stating he is above them because he is a "God". & so that pretty much ends my review of this mountain of a song. This song is 1 of if not the biggest, best & most impressive songs of Eminem's entire catalog (which is a mountain in itself) & should not be overlooked by anybody for any reason what so ever. A definitely must have & NO STAR RATING WOULD EVER DO THIS SONG JUSTICE.
10. Brainless
(Prod. Eminem & Luis Resto)
Remember how a lot of rap &/or Eminem fans or even just people who know of his music would be highly impressed with the fact he was able to take the same syllable sound & rhyme it line after line incredibly well while making a cohesive story &/or verse? Well this is what he does here in classic Slim Shady rhyming session 101. The song starts off with a sample saying that Eminem is so crazy that if 1 were to lobotomize his brain & take the crazy out, his genius intellect could be put to good use to benefit society. My research notes state that this is from a Batman sample talking about The Joker. So being a huge Batman mark this clever sample & reference makes me happy to no end. The whole song is the classic satire stance that made Eminem a household name in the first place & is a great gem buried right here between Rap God & the next song. He claims that his mother told him that if he had a brain he'd be dangerous before rebutting with "I guess it pays to be brainless" in the chorus. He also has some really funny remarks about himself & his head in verse 2 where at 1 point he lists everything that is in his head at that moment all apart from a brain & then a witty & awesome go home line at the end of the verse which actually FOLLOWS what I just previously mentioned where he thanks god for not having a brain because if he did he'd be "Dumber" BUT here's the catch, it's really a double entendre because the way he pronounces dumber is "Dahmer" which if you don't know is a infamous serial killer/rapist by the name of Jeffery Dahmer who committed the rape, murder and dismemberment of 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. So pretty much stating he would be a serial killer/rapist instead of rapping about being 1. As Michael Cole would say "VINTAGE EMINEM"
11. Stronger Than I Was
(Prod. Eminem & Luis Resto)
So Eminem has time & time again wrote raps & songs about his ex-wife Kim. Whether he was killing her (Kim), burying her dead body ('97 Bonnie & Clyde), Puking at the thought of her (Puke) or beating up people she was seeing/hooking up with behind his back (The Kiss) he has usually maintained her as a constant theme throughout his entire career. This song however has a little twist to it. This song (for the most part it is actually SUNG by Eminem until verse 3 where he raps) is written from the perspective of Kim herself as she reacts to Eminem's treatment of her in real life & in his songs. This is 1 of Eminem's best concept tracks he has ever done (Up there with Stan) & is a unique reflection on both himself as a person AND his past relationship with Kim through all the good & bad times. This song is brutally honest & Eminem isn't above criticizing his own character & personality to really drive home a point about the hostility & dysfunction between the 2 throughout their turbulent relationship. This is a song to be heard to be truly appreciated & is a great mature & retrospective take on 2 people who tried to the best of their efforts to make a disastrous relationship work but couldn't. With lines like
"Thought we were Bonnie and Clyde, nah
On the inside you were Jekyll and Hyde"
&
"And I'd cry and I'd scream, "Baby, please don't leave"
Snatch the keys from your hand, I would squeeze
And you'd laugh, and you'd tease, you're just fucking with me"
You get a real good sense of what it was like inside of Marshall & Kim's love/hate relationship. Definitely a highlight song from the album for many reasons.
12. The Monster (feat. Rihanna)
(Prod. Frequency & Aalias)
Bebe Rexha & Jon Bellion wrote & made the chorus for this song originally so I thought I'd give them credit first!! Somewhere along the lines their song got their verses stripped & pitched to the majors where it was destined to be an Eminem song. New era Eminem has actually made it a habit of featuring guest singers on hooks & none have been a more winning combination than that of him & Rihanna. Rihanna comes to sing the chorus here & I'm sure Bebe Rexha has her background vocals intact at parts of the song so at least some of what she did made it to the final cut. This song deals with the price that comes with fame. Eminem pretty much states that he wanted the attention of his peers & be recognized for his music but he didn't want the pain of being a celebrity where things like privacy are thrown out the window & the media comments on every little aspect of your life. He raps about how hard he works to achieve his goal (OCD like) & how it drives him to the tip of insanity sometimes. He also talks about how he 1 day dreams of being able to slip back into society as a normal civilian & that he didn't intend on making songs for kids but if kids can be influenced & inspired by his music then he's happy he's made someone's life. You know how the second you hear a song & you know it's a hot banger of a song? Well this is that song & it deservedly so became a monster single (pun intended). What I find eerie is that an underlining theme that pops up both throughout the album but also on here is the fact he seems to be hinting at going back to The Slim Shady days which in any case would be both a fucking great & awesome thing to happen. And I hope he does because honestly it's not what hip hop deserves right now but what hip hop needs right now.
13. So Far...
(Prod. That Legendary Music Producer Whose Name Begins With R)
& we are back with another smashing song from "That legendary music producer whose name begins with R". If you have even read this far you'll know who I'm referring to here. So what can I say about this track? Well... Seeing as this as produced by Mr. R we can safely assume that this will borrow liberally from an older song. & you'd be right in that respect as well as it quite liberally borrows from "Life's Been Good" by Joe Walsh in this case. Quite fitting conveniently for Eminem to rap about living the good life of a celebrity, albeit extremely sarcastically. This is a classic comedy rap by Eminem as he deals with humourous situations that he finds himself in, being famous & all. Verse 1 contains a funny story about needing to go for a #2 really bad but being 30 mins from home is forced to go in a public toilet where a fan tries to ask for his autograph while he is on the toilet. Eminem's response to this fan is both witty & hilarious & I refuse to give it away because out of sheer curiosity you will listen to the track yourself to hear it. Verse 2 mainly deals with how backwards he is with his daily life & how he does things a bit old fashioned compared to what is normal or done in today's society. Basically he hasn't adapted to modern life & still does things the same way he did when he was coming up. Like still being on his first man on Zelda on Nintendo, not being up with computers or modern phones & sagging his pants despite being in his 40s. This verse also comically has his own music come back to haunt him by his own fans as 2 classic lines (1 apiece) are referenced from 2 songs on the original Marshall Mathers LP & the beat at this point even changes to reflect the songs from which they are uplifted from ("I'm Back" & "The Real Slim Shady"). Verse 3 deals with him reacting to being busted picking his nose in public at traffic lights & trying to play it off cool but failing miserably. All in all this is a fun & entertaining song about Eminem's life in fame. A great timeless song with many funny moments & classic references throughout.
14. Love Game (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
(Prod. The Man Himself)
Sadly we get to the 4th & last time the Legend himself produces. But hell what better way to go out swinging for himself than producing this lovely track. & we have Wayne Fortana & The Mind Benders' "Game of Love" as the backing that is liberally borrowed for this one. & what a surprising song this turned out to be. Seeing as Kendrick Lamar is the ONLY rapper to guest feature on the whole album I had some pretty high expectations going into this. And not just because of the reason stated above because you see peoples, K. Dot (horrible nickname he has for himself but bare with me brave warriors) had a spectacular year for himself in 2013. He was on fire & had a moment where he got people buzzing about him in hip hop. He was a guest feature on a song called "Control" by Big Sean & also featuring Jay Electronica where he pulled no punches & basically proclaims himself to be on the level as the all time greats & calls out big name modern day rappers (his peers basically) & challenges them to step up because he is taking the hip hop game for himself. Many people were in awe & in shock over his verse on that song (It's a damn fantastic verse) & he has basically made a roller coaster of a buzz for himself since with everything he's done. So naturally for someone who had so much promise & buzz around him I was keen to see how he actually matched up when paired with an all time great in rap. & this is the result, however it is not the result most people thought of going into this. Allow me to explain:
A lot of people heading into this thought this would be a super competitive trading of verses between Eminem & Lamar that see the 2 battle rapping for superiority. However in a swerve moment they did nothing of the like & actually did a concept track together which involved them discussing their love of women & how they can't escape the love game no matter how hard they try to.
Eminem comes with the 1st verse talking about how he is walking to his girl's house & how he hears moans & automatically assumes the worst case scenario. In this segment of the verse he raps in the style of how the chorus from "Scenario" by A Tribe Called Quest is done for quite a few lines & given that Scenario is 1 of my absolute favourite rap songs of all time I couldn't of been too happier. This is followed by what I can only describe as the blowjob segment of the verse, trust me on this, when you hear him rapping this part you'll know exactly what I'm talking about... He then proceeds to run off a list of rappers/celebrities that his girl has also done (sexually) in spectacular rhyming fashion before hitting the chorus & hearing Kendrick Lamar for the first time while he sings the chorus.
Lamar comes straight off the chorus to bat verse 2 out & boy is it entertaining & interesting to see what he does with his verse. Lamar has a unique style of rapping which I'll be the first to admit that I don't really feel him at times but that's okay (Can't all be winners) as I still recognize his immense talent regardless but he comes across really good here. Maybe out of respect for the man on the track with him or maybe out of fear of being toppled he adopts what I think of as the The Slim Shady method where he just goes for broke in matching Eminem's zany & craziness throughout his verse & he pulls it off in a most convincing & flattering manner. However his verse deals with him not being able to get over a girl by the name of "Sherane" whose character apparently is used in his album "good kid, m.A.A.d. city" but what would I know? I haven't actually gone out of my way to sit down & listen to a whole album by the man so I'll go by my research notes. Anyway his verse has him rap 1 of the funniest phone messages I've ever heard someone leaving for someone else to hear but it is clever as fuck nonetheless. The rest of his verse has so many quote worthy 1 liners & clever wordplay lines that it's really hard to pick just ANY of them. I'll just leave it for people to listen to & appreciate themselves. His verse of him changing himself in every way & sheding away any elements of things that she doesn't like in a boy in an attempt to woo her over is so funny & spot on in a way that shows the lengths some people will go just to get that 1 person they are obsessing over.
Eminem joins Lamar in the singing on the chorus & finally returns for verse 3 which is straight fire. Eminem on some fucking Inception shit takes us through dreams built upon dreams until he finally wakes up in reality & decides to go get rehab for his dream haunting trust problems. Before we even get that far though, his dreams upon dreams are actually quite comical including a story where his girl tries to ram him off a highway for forgetting her birthday & him killing her for it by smashing her so hard against the concrete it creates a sink hole. This is just a prime example of the over the top humour sprinkled throughout this verse which cleverly ends in Eminem after ruling out a chance of getting back with the particular girl in the song, trying to announce the reason for this is that he hates the love game to end his verse but being interrupted by a text message to an invite for dinner which is assumed he takes her up on which adds a great deal of context to the line he then re-attempts to announce & successfully does. This song about being trapped in a game of love is a great laugh & thoroughly enjoyable upon repeated listens.
Eminem joins Lamar in the singing on the chorus & finally returns for verse 3 which is straight fire. Eminem on some fucking Inception shit takes us through dreams built upon dreams until he finally wakes up in reality & decides to go get rehab for his dream haunting trust problems. Before we even get that far though, his dreams upon dreams are actually quite comical including a story where his girl tries to ram him off a highway for forgetting her birthday & him killing her for it by smashing her so hard against the concrete it creates a sink hole. This is just a prime example of the over the top humour sprinkled throughout this verse which cleverly ends in Eminem after ruling out a chance of getting back with the particular girl in the song, trying to announce the reason for this is that he hates the love game to end his verse but being interrupted by a text message to an invite for dinner which is assumed he takes her up on which adds a great deal of context to the line he then re-attempts to announce & successfully does. This song about being trapped in a game of love is a great laugh & thoroughly enjoyable upon repeated listens.
15. Headlights (feat. Nate Ruess)
(Prod. Emile, Jeff Bhasker & Eminem)
& what a song this one is. Eminem has touched upon his mum numerous times throughout his career (much like Kim) & has always had something profound & personal to say about his mother but nothing is more profound & personal than what this song has to say. This song (obviously about his mother if you haven't already worked that 1 out) actually has him apologizing to his mother for all the stress & pressure he has caused her with his venomous attacks against her his whole career. This song showcases that Eminem DOES in fact care deeply about & love his mum & is a very touching ode to his mother. He shows a level of realization & maturity about his life with his mother that is absolutely incredible & can understand her struggle with drug addiction at this point in his life from having gone through the exact same thing himself. He finally shows appreciation for the hard effort his mum put in for raising him & his half brother playing the role of both mum & dad, which speaking of, mentions at one point in the 1st verse how his father ditching them both should of brought them closer together as a bonding family because of a common enemy but how it actually did the opposite effect & drove them further apart from each other. He also expresses deep regret about slandering her harshly in his single "Cleanin' Out My Closet" & the fact that he didn't make the effort to keep her an important part of his life. The emotion evoked in this song is amazing coming from Eminem & you can feel his frustration that he might of ruined for good what should of been the most important family relationship of his life. The chorus & bridge perfectly mirror the mood of the song & is sung stunningly well by Nate Ruess who puts in a grand effort to have both a somber & lifting vibe. It's stuff like this that shows Eminem is a truly diverse & mature artist who wasn't just a cheap 1 trick pony like many critics think.
16. Evil Twin
(Prod. Sid Roams & Eminem)
Now this is a unique but killer finale track on the album (Much like Criminal was on the original one). I for sure thought this song would feature Royce Da 5'9" (His Bad Meets Evil equal & who is often referred to as his "twin") but alas it was not to be. BUT in saying that the evil twin aspect of this song makes a whole lot of sense in the fact that Eminem's evil twin is Slim Shady. Yup that's right, this song has Eminem trading verses with his Slim Shady persona over 2 blistering hot verses split into 2 sections each verse, The format has Eminem rapping & then a split change halfway through the verses where the Slim Shady persona takes the reigns of the rest of the verse. In this unique but masterfully set up format we see just how different both personas work within the same context. This song starts off with Eminem stated he is trying to work out the difference between the Eminem & Slim Shady personas but he is finding it harder to do because he feels the lines are getting blurred. So basically what I'll do is try to sum up both persona's roles in both verses alongside anything else I feel like putting while I do so.
Verse 1
Eminem
Eminem basically states he is pissed off & has nowhere to vent his frustrations but that he is going to go all out to combat everyone in sight. He actually sounds quite mad that there aren't any boy bands to make fun of anymore. Anyway he takes a quick pot shot at Sarah Palin & then has some witty lines to say about the next time he appears in court. Which leads to him resurrecting
Slim Shady
Don't hold back now. Considering the first things out of his mouth at this point are "I believe people can change, but only for the worst" You know you are in for some shit. He takes no time in making fun of retail stores using back masking as a censoring tool by back masking his own following line from this with even more profound explicitness backwards than playing it forward. The potty mouth language picks up in shovel fulls at this point as well as Slim Shady pulls no punches when it comes to saying what is on his mind. He makes a fucking massively bold claim that he likes to revisit his old albums only to make sure he is keeping up with his only competition. Then he proceeds that to state that he is a borderline genius who is bored of his own lines & how he is thinking about striking rappers first without bothering to wait around for replies. I understand I just wrote more about Slim Shady's portion of the verse but the intensity picked the fuck up at this point of the verse so naturally it had more profound content.
The chorus pretty much states that Slim Shady writes the more controversial rhymes & not Eminem so don't blame him for them, blame Slim Shady instead. This is a special kind of statement & 1 that really hits home with the swerve at the end of the song, which speaking of...
The chorus pretty much states that Slim Shady writes the more controversial rhymes & not Eminem so don't blame him for them, blame Slim Shady instead. This is a special kind of statement & 1 that really hits home with the swerve at the end of the song, which speaking of...
Verse 2
There is an interlude just before this that welcomes Slim Shady back to the land of living who if you remember attempted to kill himself on the parking lot skit earlier. This full resurrection assumes that Slim Shady will carry the legacy on once Eminem is "dead" considering that Matthew is killing Eminem at the end of "Bad Guy" & that this LP is Eminem's last hope at making an impression.
Eminem
Eminem starts off pondering which celebrities are left to start aiming his targets at & who he HASN'T yet attacked. He then talks about him getting sicker & dying which I guess further alludes to Eminem being killed off. He mentions his old house (the house on the cover of both Marshall Mathers LP's.) where he met Proof in a nice little nod to his deceased best friend. But I think the biggest revelation we get here is that Eminem doesn't believe himself to be in a top 5 of all time greats for rap but a top 4. With only Tupac & Biggie above him with him & Slim Shady as the 3 & 4 spots respectively. That is an extremely unique & bold statement & 1 that you would be hard pressed to argue with to be perfectly honest. He then admits straight after that no one wants a "plain Eminem" when they could have Slim Shady so he introduces him to come back onto the song.
Slim Shady
After a cheery greeting of "Hi !!" which sounded awfully like the way he introduces himself on "My Name Is" he follows it up with a typical but astounding "faggot" to bring the tone back down just as quick. He then proceeds to start ripping the song apart while proclaiming that not even OJ could win a battle against him & that he is off the the hook like Casey Anthony (clever lines if I must say so myself). While he follows that with some clever wordplay which leads us to the end of the verse & the song in which he explains that his inner-Shady will always have that dyed blonde hair & also that while he tried to shift the controversy of his shock raps to the Slim Shady persona & not necessarily for himself he makes the startling revelation that it doesn't matter because they are 1 in the same. Basically saying there is no difference between the 2 personas.
This is probably 1 of the most important songs on the entire album if only because of the subtle hints & connotations that Marshall is killing off the Eminem character so Slim Shady can make his grand comeback. You know how I mentioned earlier that there seems to be an underlying theme about this? Well it is nowhere more obvious & thrown out there than this song. Fingers crossed this sets up a Slim Shady LP 2 or something along the lines. Because that would be the perfect way to go out in hip hop, the same way he came onto the scene for the masses: with the Slim Shady persona by & at large.
BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!
17. Don't Front ( Call of Duty: Ghost Bonus Track)
feat. Buckshot
(Prod. Katalyst)
Seeing as I ultimately decided to end my last review with a bonus track not found on the original copy of that album I decided I'll do the same here with this review. So this is just a little treat & keeping consistent with the variables at play here. This song features Buckshot from the rap group Black Moon & fuck me this song is riddled with Black Moon references & samples. Hell the beat & the chorus (by Buckshot) are both uplifted from the Black Moon song "I Got Cha Opin". & Eminem pays homage to the original by starting each verse with the same line they use to start those verses. This song is pretty much a battle rap orientated song with Eminem reminding us who he considers the real rappers are & calling out for rappers to come have some. Verse 2 has a reference to an old Eminem song off his underground "Infinite" album which is a nice little nod to that pre-Slim Shady era. He also makes an interesting point that before he signed with Dr. Dre's Aftermath label he almost signed to Buckshot's record label Duck Down Records because Rawkus & Loud wouldn't offer him to be signed & jerked him around. Basically don't front on Eminem or he is going to tear you up. You got that rappers?
& so basically we can say I'm done here reviewing this fucking monster of an album. There is actually 5 tracks on a bonus disc in the Deluxe edition of this album but I'll maybe save that for another time because I've already spent a shit load of my spare time writing this second part piece. Double if not triple the amount of time I spent on the first part because I've been busy & so I had to write in about 3 or 4 different sessions & on top of that I know that what people really care about is the almighty Verdict & Comparison to the first Marshall Mathers LP so here goes nothing.
Verdict / The Comparison
There really is no comparison to be honest with you...
& that wasn't even a joke. There really isn't. In fact this album here is easily & I truly mean EASILY the single greatest album the man known worldwide as Eminem has ever done bar none. This album is every bit better than the original Marshall Mathers LP in nearly every single way. The instrumental choices are top notch & for the most part more enjoyable to listen to & hear in their depth than the simple but damn catchy beats on the original. The concepts & themes on this album are so wide & varied it may be 1 of the most creative Eminem albums ever conceived. The lyrics themselves are in top form & rightfully so, you would expect someone who has been around the rap game as long as Eminem has to be nothing but a technical wizard on the mic & he pulls it off with such ease & style on here I honestly believe him when he says he is so good at rapping now that sometimes it bores him. The references, the wordplay, the multi-syllables, the stories, the humour, the actual feel is so high leveled I defy anyone to find someone who has worked harder than Eminem to claim the top spot on the best rapper alive list. Eminem is a fucking beast & if this is what he can pull off today, off the drugs & back on top form BETTER than he has ever been before then I can not fucking wait to see how he will tackle & best this album. There is literally nothing that wound me up on this record. Sure I made a few jokes about singers not getting credit but that was just more a running gag of something I spotted as I was reviewing track by track. Rick Rubin & Eminem suited bloody perfectly which is both a damn shame & great because it is like a super team come true & they pull it off with such fantastic chemistry but I somewhat wish they had done it sooner because of that reason!! The other artists who worked on the production side came hard & Eminem wasted no time in cleaning house on each & every track the best way he could possibly tackle them. This album is a whooping 78 mins & 13 seconds long or if you like 1 hour & 18 mins. With the added bonus track it takes the time up to 1 hour 22 mins & 57 seconds which is a huge amount of time for a listen. In fact it is longer than the original Marshall Mathers in it's original form without the bonus track I included here & that's including "The Kids" bonus extension time on the first one. By & in large if anyone thinks that The Marshall Mathers LP is the man's magnum opus that I can surely assure you that in fact YOU ARE ENTIRELY WRONG!! This album right here is definitely the magnum opus of the Eminem discography & he will definitely have a tough time topping this perfect masterpiece of an album. Constructed with such precision & ridiculously high level content every single track is a hit. There is no comparison to this juggernaut & I have to say this has to rank right up there as 1 of the best hip hop albums of all time. He wasn't kidding when he said this album was going emerald. Not only did it go emerald but shits on any other of his albums in every single way possible. Don't skip out on this 1, this album deserves to be in your Eminem or hip hop collection as it is the most must-have album from him.
- Hexus
- Hexus
