Eminem love him or hate him, agree with what he says or loathe him with a passion you have to agree the man is a lyrical genius. Whether it is rapping about alleged drug abuse or his mother or ex-wife Eminem constructs his rhymes and his lyrics with the precision and excellence of a master builder constructing a monument. Eminem, white or not is a force in rapping that will not go away any time soon. I am tired of listening to people complain about Eminem being Dre’s biatch or his little puppet. The fact of the matter is if you are going to say that about Eminem then you will I’m afraid have to tar various other bands and rappers with the same brush, Xzibit jumping to mind here…wonder why? Certainly Dre helped the white king of rap ascend to the throne, but the Marshall mathers lp shows us that Eminem is most certainly capable of making it for himself. He even brings a load of his posse with him and even drags British songstress Dido along for the ride.
Immediately the album goes about the constant and seemingly very important business of making u laugh and setting down a high level of profane language with the opening skit. But then breaks into some lyrical excellence. And when you listen to the album you can immediately pick out one song as the best, for sheer music and lyrics and the genius that brought the amazing singing voice of Dido together with the rapping styles of Raps white bad boy Eminem. Obviously you have realized I am talking about ‘Stan’. Instantly recognizable as the best on the album, among a talented field, it tells the rather black and twisted story of an Eminem fan who has homosexual tendencies and becomes obsessed with the rapper. Yet it is not self-serving in any way, Eminem sets out to get a message across through his profanity and here does. Coupled with the excellence of the musical styling Stan is pure musical genius akin to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ for me.
But enough about Stan, the album has other excellent songs, ‘The way I am’ ‘Marshall Mathers’ ‘The Real Slim Shady’ ‘Remember me’ and ‘Criminal’ Eminem has set the barrier for follow up albums to meet, and it is a high standard only to be surpassed by the man himself. However there is one weak link, a chink in the seemingly impregnable armor of the Marshall mathers LP and that is ‘Amminyville’ this song doesn’t work for me it lack something and placed near the excellent ‘Kim’ seems pale in comparison. Then add to this the self-bashing in places skits and the hilarious yet crude ICP skit then this is an album that will have you riveted to your stereo for hours on end, not necessarily a bad thing with music of this standard pumping out.
The cover itself tells a story, the story of Eminem it is not by coincidence it is monochrome, perhaps hinting at a level of despair in the rappers life. Shows him huddling in the corner of a back street in keeping with the lyrical story telling contained within. Eminem has created in the Marshall Mathers LP easily the best Rap album ever (I’m going to get shouted down for that but I don’t care). It was most certainly the best addition to my record collection made last year and I would recommend it to anyone.
Eminem cuts the apron strings from the doctor, and with excellent if a little depressing lyrics he tells us of a seedy under belly of America which is often ignored by the American dream, and if you hate Eminem this is selling because it is in some way true. With his explosion onto the mass market a few years back with ‘My name is’ and ‘Guilty conscious’ Eminem has captured the imagination of a nation and he will be here for a long time, so haters beware he has set up his stall and is sticking here for the time being!
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May 14th, 2001
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