OK, so everyone has a view on Eminem. People tend to love him to bits and take what he says as entertainment and then there's those who find him utterly offensive and a blight on music in general. Um... I love him to bits. Yes, he's offensive. Yes, he swears a lot. Yes, he's downright awful to certain groups of people. BUT if you take time to listen to what he has to say you'll find he talks a lot of sense. He has his own morals that he follows which are probably not to everyones liking but you've got to give the guy a bit of credit for not being scared to stand up and say what he thinks. He's out of place as the only major white rapper in a predominantly black enviroment, but Dr Dre took him on board and let him do his own thing. His own thing turned out to be a combination of hip hop and rap but I'm sure there's a bit of a heavy rock influence because of the themes of his music, graphically violent he's the only rapper to be blamed for tradgedies on a regular basis a la Marylin Manson.

I'll not bother going into the various skits on the album as most of them are simply Eminem making waves, letting the world know what a 'Bad Boy' he is. I've never quite got to grips with the skit thing anyway, the first time you hear them you can have a bit of a chuckle I suppose but after that they just sort of get in the way of the music.

Eminem kicks off with a track called 'Kill You'. God knows how many times I'm going to use the word angry in this review, but this song is definitely angry. At first listening you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a track about the hate he feels for women in general but listen closely and you'll realise he's talking about his MUM. There's little music as such in this track but it's got a cracking bassline with the 'gangsta rap' jingly tune over the top which doesn't fit with the murder and chainsaws that he's rapping about! Works though.

"Hey Slim, that's my girlfriend screamin in the trunk but I didn't slit her throat, I just tied her up, see I ain't like you
cause if she suffocates she'll suffer more, and then she'll die too"

'Who Knew' is Eminem trying to defend the subject of his rapping in his own inimitable style. He knows he's regularly blamed for suicides and violence in the States but this is him saying he's not to blame, he just writes music. Yeah, right! He raps so quickly in this one and the thumping background music is recorded loud so you can't hear at first what he's saying but it's definitely one to offend when you do realise what he's talking about!

"No patience is in me and if you offend me, I'm liftin you 10 feet in the air
I don't care who is there and who saw me destroy you, Go call you a lawyer, file you a lawsuit "

Eminem teamed up with RBX and the rather terrifying Sticky Fingaz for 'Remember Me'. He's dropped his voice to a much lower pitch and comes across as a raving madman! The same thumping bassline is used with a similar sound to 'The Real Slim Shady' put on top, but this song does not come across as light hearted in any way, shape or form. Put bluntly it's a song about murder - don't want to be listening to this one when that friend of Marks is near!

Pictures of Marshall Mathers LP, The (Explicit) - Eminem

Is this man not a sex god???

'Marshall Mathers' is a song about everyone wanting to be his friend now he's a star. It's another haunting tune where Eminem replaces some of his rapping with singing, although the anger comes through. Still he's talking about shooting people who dare disagree with him and despite the sad way this track starts, it's a highly homophobic song which was definitely written to offend.

Back with the angry side of Eminem is 'Amityville' which is collaboration with Bizarre from D12. It's a dark track and brilliant. There's no real story behind this one as far as I can tell, it's another one about murder, death and destruction with a loud beat which comes across as extremely violent.

For 'Bitch Please II' Eminem has teamed up with the equally wonderful Dr Dre and Snoop Dog. This is a typical Dre tune, pimp and drug references ahoy! lol The typical jangling tune that Snoop Dogg (could he get any cooler?) uses in his tracks, you can almost see the bouncing cars in your head!

The last two songs on the album are 'Criminal' and 'Under The Influence' and I'm lumping these together for the simple reason that they're basically the same song! Different beats admittedly, but essentially these two were written to be lumped together under the general heading of murder and homophobia. Criminal in particular is pretty insulting and would be highly offensive if you happen to fall into one of Eminems target groups.

To reiterate what I said earlier, if you're easily offended and you buy this album then it's your own fault! By now everyone knows what to expect when it comes to Eminem; he IS graphic, he raps about rape and murder, he thinks drugs are 'clever' and he's never heard of the term politically correct. And this is why I love him. The album comes with a Parental Advisory sticker so a no go for your 5 year old nephew - or your nan! If you like the sound of Eminem you can grab a copy on Amazon for £9.99, if you don't I suppose there's always Boyzone...