Eminem Copper's OFFICIAL (?) Eminem Review Thread

Started by Copper, Nov 11, 2017, in Eminem Add to Reading List

  1. Copper
    Posts: 287
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    Copper Professional Amateur

    Nov 11, 2017
    A while ago, on another website, I got bored and decided I wanted to use the compilation of Em music that the side hosted and review the music in it. I got about 4 albums in, then stopped, because I lost my in-progress review of Devil's Night SEVERAL f---ing TIMES and got tired of starting over lmao.

    But now, with his new album just on the horizon (good joke!!11!!1!), I figured I'd try to get the ball rolling on this again.

    I realize this site generally hates Eminem, so I don't expect this thread to get much in the way of serious discussion. But f--- it, I just love talking about music, so I'm gonna do this s--- anyway.

    The first four reviews have already been done, so I'll just post those right off the bat.

    I'll link the each review in the OP as they go up. Feel free to discuss in between.

    REVIEWS:
    1. Infinite (1996)
    2. The Slim Shady EP (1997)
    3. The Slim Shady LP (1999)
    4. The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
     
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  2. Copper
    Posts: 287
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    Joined: Feb 5, 2017

    Copper Professional Amateur

    Nov 11, 2017
    Infinite (1996)
    Pre-Listen Thoughts:

    Gotta be honest, I haven't ever listened to Infinite all the way through. It just never grabbed my attention like his later releases, so I never really sat down and gave it the time of day. It's early Em, before he really developed his signature style, so there's nothing really stand-out about it. But what the h---, if I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna go balls out. So let's start listening.

    1) Infinite

    Right away, the first thing I get is a heavy Nas vibe. There's a very strong Illmatic sound to this song, and I'm not totally sure it would even sound out of place if it WERE a Nas song on Illmatic. Em is definitely already showing signs of his great rhyme schemes and flow, but there's nothing really interesting beyond that. It doesn't sound different enough to stand out.

    2) W.E.G.O.

    Just a pre-song skit-line thing. Not much to say here.

    3) It's O.K.

    Not a fan of the hook on this song at first listen. And it's kinda cringey hearing Em rap about wanting to be a happily married family man, knowing the s--- he goes through later in life. There really isn't much to talk about on this one. Not too special, but not bad. I have a feeling most of the album will be like that.

    4) Tonite

    The beat sounds about as smooth as you can get back in 1996, which kinda conflicts with early Em's voice. His voice on this, SSEP, and SSLP don't really lend themselves well to smooth songs. Songs like Role Model and My Name Is use the sound of his voice as strengths. He's got a silly voice in his early days, and he doesn't sound hardcore or seductive. But the success of the aforementioned tracks shows you he doesn't need to. He just needs to rap and be interesting and clever, and everything else will fall into place. He doesn't need to try to be something he isn't.

    5) 313

    Not sure what to think about this one. We're back to heavy Nas-sounding songs, but this on at least sounds a little more original. The feature rapper on this track doesn't sound any different than Em. In fact, I wasn't sure if it wasn't him, until he said the n-word. The featured rapper's flow is even and delivery is pretty much the same as Em's verse too. That's an issue I have with this already, all these tracks sound pretty much the same.


    6) Maxine

    Oh, man. A song about a woman that isn't named Kim. SHOCK. AWE. This song is alright. Sounds like he rehashed some of the ideas from this song for Drips in the Eminem show. And again, the featured rapper's flow is almost identical to Em's, except this one has a bit more personality. I think I enjoy his delivery more than Em's on this song, and he's doing a lot of the sounds under his vocals like Em did later in his career.

    7) Open Mic

    I wasn't sure what the h--- was happening when this track started. Sounded like people arguing, for whatever reason. But when the hook kicked in, I loved it. This one sounds great. Em's rhymes on this track are on point, and the hook is just so perfectly aggressive and silly sounding that it works perfectly. The lyrics sound like they could be spit by post-2010 Em, they just gave me that vibe.


    8) Never 2 Far

    I'm not sure I'm down with all of these pointless acting skits before each song. They don't add anything to the track, I could honestly do without them. This song is cool, I like the beat. Not a fan of when he stops mid-beat to talk to another person, mainly because I can't understand the other person. Sounds like he's muffled. This album could definitely be mixed better.

    9) Searchin'

    The whole of this track sounds NOTHING like something Em would make. It's so cheesy and smooth, it's nothing like the Em he became a few years later. And thank god for that, because this sounds really terrible coming from Em. The featured artist rap-sings in this voice that sounds like he's talking to a baby. Kindly f--- right off.

    10) Backstabber

    A MAN WITH GREEN HAIR? A JOKER ON THE LOOSE? Welp. Batman, help us all. Besides Infinite, this is probably the only other song from this album I've heard before now. It's alright, closer to the Em we know now than the last song. Seriously, what the f--- was that? This song's content is very close to SSLP Em. Probably the closest this album has come so far to showing us what we'll eventually get.

    11) Jealousy Woes II

    Not a fan of the beginning of this song. Can you say "the intro from Baby Got Back"? Everything else is alright, not too special. I don't know why the song is called Jealousy Woes II, never heard Jealousy Woes I. I can't tell if the "female" on this song is Em's voice edited or a really butch sounding dude. Who the f--- knows, who the f--- cares.

    Post-Listen Thoughts

    Infinite was just okay. Nothing spectacular, nothing terrible. All the songs sounded similar, and there wasn't really any of the variety we've come to know from Eminem. He's only 3 years away from what we'll eventually see in The Slim Shady LP, but it seems like he's a decade or more away. He's still developing his own style, and that is very much apparent in this release. It wasn't a bad album, I just don't feel like I've gained anything more from listening to the whole thing than I had when I'd only heard two songs.
     
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  3. Copper
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    Copper Professional Amateur

    Nov 11, 2017
    The Slim Shady EP (1997)
    Pre-Listen Thoughts:

    I've actually heard this one once before, but I don't usually listen to it a lot because most of the songs on it were re-recorded and re-purposed for The Slim Shady LP. If I wanted to hear those, I'd just pop in that album. There's only like 3 tracks on the EP that weren't on the LP. I'm kinda excited to listen again, since this is the EP that got Dre's focus on Eminem and effectively brought him into the mainstream rap game. There's a lot I could say about Em and the whole Slim Shady thing, but I'll save that for next time when we get to the LP. Let's get started.

    1) Intro (Slim Shady)

    To be honest, I wasn't sure who the voice talking to Em was on my first listen. I still wasn't sure until just now, typing the name of the track out. I'm thinking it's supposed to be Slim Shady, since Em has spent years making sure we know that Slim is an alter ego of sorts and is supposed to be separate from Marshall Mathers the person and Eminem the rapper. The track itself doesn't really do much beside creep me the f--- out. Em's blood curdling screaming is enough to put me on edge for the next hour, so there's that. If there's anything Em is good at, it's acting. He's a natural, be it through voice or on screen. If I'm honest, though, I can't imagine Dre's reaction when he listened to this for the first time and heard the intro skit. It must have been something else. But hey, he had to have gotten through it, because he liked the rest of it.

    2) Low Down, Dirty

    In the first actual song, you notice a few things right away. First, the beat. It's a lot more unique than the beats on Infinite. It's closer to what he usually makes later in his career. The second is the recording quality. The production on this EP is A LOT better than on Infinite. I'm talking leaps and bounds. Infinite sounded really muffled and mixed poorly. In this song, the verses still kinda sound like that, but you almost get the feel that that's intentional. And it works. The choruses are clean, and they sound a million times better than anything on Infinite in terms of pure sound quality. The third thing you notice (and this is arguably the most important) is Eminem's style. He doesn't sound like Nas anymore, he's developed his own thing. And that's great, because one of the things that people said was off-putting about Infinite was that he didn't have his own style. He just sounded like Nas or AZ. But then he came out with the EP, and he was suddenly this whole different rapper. Em has said it was because of the negativity he got after Infinite was released. It pushed him to do his own thing with his music, and that really shows here.

    3) If I Had...

    One of the things I really love about this song is the poem-like segment at the beginning. It's so poignant and true, and he transitions into the rap pretty seamlessly. I love the lyrics of this song. You can tell Eminem is already fed up with how s--- is going, and he's barely even started. It's such a great song. He lays everything bare, and is so unapologetic about it that it's really brilliant. The beat is also making me rethink the stance I took on Eminem doing songs with smooth beats. This track's beat is pretty d--- smooth, and I love it. But then again, Em doesn't try to make himself fit the beat's sound. He just raps. I think that's why this is different. It's not him TRYING to be smooth. It's not even him BEING smooth. It's just the beat working in tandem with the lyrics despite itself, and that's awesome.

    4) Just Don't Give a f---

    I was watching Eminem rap battles on YouTube a while ago, and I saw a battle he did with a rapper called Juice in '97. In Em's Round 2 verse, he starts rapping and a few lines in, he drops the first few lines you hear him rap in Just Don't Give a f---. I don't know if he did the battle first and reused the lines in the song, or of the song came first and Em rattled of some pre-written bars in the battle before freestyling again. Either way, I just thought it was worth mentioning. The beat on this song is brilliant, it's so unique and plays off Em's bars so well. Em's lyrics here also really show how far he's willing to go under the veil of his Slim Shady persona. The lyrics are so graphic and really unorthodox. He's rapping about extreme violence, doing drugs, and a whole lot of other s--- that really sets him apart from everybody else who was rapping back then. And that's good. That's what we needed but didn't get from Infinite.

    5) Mommy

    This one isn't a song, so I'll keep s--- simple and just mention how I like Eminem's foresight in linking the end of Kim (a song that didn't exist yet) to this song, and in turn, linking it to Just the Two of Us/'97 Bonnie and Clyde. Brilliant.

    6) Just the Two of Us

    This song never really sat well with me. And it's not because of the content, Em is certainly no stranger to songs about Kim and/or killing Kim. But the whole song is him talking to his daughter, which kind of limits the things he can do lyrically. He doesn't get too complex, and his rhymes are pretty basic. He also uses really juvenile words that just don't feel right. Then there's parts where he just abandons words and goes into full-on baby speak (I told you it's okay HaiHai, wanna ba-ba?/Take a night-night? Nan-a-boo, goo-goo ga-ga?/Her make poo-poo ca-ca? Da-da change your dia-dee) and I just don't like this song all that much. But hey, no album is perfect.

    7) No One's Iller (feat. Swift, Bizarre Kid, & Fuzz)


    This song is pretty great, it's awesome hearing some older verses from D12 members, both past and present. The only verse I take an issue with is Fuzz's verse, because coming right after Eminem and then sounding JUST LIKE Eminem, with a flow almost identical for the most part is just not a good choice. But other than that, every verse is on point. The beat is awesome too, so this song is pretty good as a whole.

    8) Murder, Murder

    It's funny, I got a really strong Like Toy Soldiers vibe from this song, which is kind of backwards. I guess Like Toy Soldiers sounds like this, 'cause it came after. This song is awesome, Em's lyrics are on point. This song also really displays how great Eminem is at telling a story in his songs. He's able to display awesome lyrical capability while not sacrificing any of the story. He's found a perfect balance, and that's really clear in this song.

    Post-Listen Thoughts

    Since the last two tracks are just radio edits of songs I covered above, I'll just give my final thoughts now. The Slim Shady EP is really f---ing good. But then again, it'd have to be, because it's essentially the album that was the catalyst for launching Em's career. He knows what the f--- he's doing with his music now, and there's no absolutely terrible songs on this release. He's got a solid idea with his alter ago Slim Shady, and it also allows him to have more lyrical freedom. After all, it's not really HIM saying those things, it's SLIM. Eminem hit a stride with this EP, and I'm glad he kept the idea going into his next release, The Slim Shady LP.
     
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  4. Copper
    Posts: 287
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    Copper Professional Amateur

    Nov 11, 2017
    The Slim Shady LP (1999)
    Pre-Listen Thoughts

    So last review, I said that I had a lot to talk about when it came to Eminem and his Slim Shady persona. So I'll do that now...-ahem- ...It's f---ing brilliant. See, when an artist makes a song, he's indirectly putting a piece of himself out there. His thoughts, his views, his political stances, what he ate for dinner last night...And when they do that, the listener absorbs it and gets a clearer picture of the person behind the music. I mean, ideas don't take form from nothing. You get the inspiration, and then you inject a little bit of yourself into the song in its formative stage. At least, that's what successful artists do. It helps you to avoid getting stale, and it give each release a little bit of flair that people will come to associate with you and you alone. Just like how every time a Pink Floyd song comes on, you know it's them. Same with The Beatles, or Queen.

    But therein lies the danger. By putting yourself out there and allowing the viewers to get to know you, you're indirectly laying yourself bare and becoming vulnerable. People know you now. They can see how you think and feel, and they might not like that. You're painting a target on your head, and open season for critics is all year, every year. There's really no way around that, besides just being fake...Or is there?

    Eminem is a g.d. genius in this regard, because he found a way to avoid being held accountable for the things he says. By creating a character (Slim Shady), he's separating himself (Marshall Mathers) from the music he's making. Sure, he's not actually a different person and it's still him saying those things, but it's not a reflection of HIM anymore. It's a reflection of the character he made for himself.

    No one reads a novel and automatically thinks the main character (or any character, for that matter) is an avatar of the author. We read the book and shut the f--- up. The author said those things, but we don't associate those words with the author, we associate them with the character who said them. Eminem is doing the same thing, just with music.

    With Slim, Em essentially has the freedom to way whatever the h--- he wants, as long as he makes it's clear that it's Slim Shady saying it, and not him. And in doing that, he's opened up a lot more avenues for his music to go down. In The Slim Shady LP, we see him take several of those paths. He talks about topics most rappers wouldn't even touch with a ten foot pole. But Slim Shady isn't most rappers. Slim Shady takes the ten foot pole, and shoves it right up the topic's a---.

    Slim Shady just don't give a f---.

    1) Public Service Announcement

    This is a perfect introduction to this album, because it's silly and sets the tone accurately. It also sort of illustrates the points I made above, so there's that.

    2) My Name Is

    Alright. Before I talk about this song, who wants a fun fact?

    My Name Is heavily samples a song from 1975 called "I Got The" by an artist named Labi Siffre. Labi Siffre is an openly gay man, and when Eminem approached Siffre for permission to use the sample, Siffre agreed, but only after Eminem changed some of the lyrics that Siffre thought were offensive. The line "My English teacher wanted to flunk me in Junior High/Thanks a lot, next semester I'll be 35" was originally written "My English teacher wanted to f--- me in Junior High/The only problem was, my English teacher was a guy". So that got changed. Anyway...

    Who the f--- DOESN'T know this song? It's pretty much the most iconic Eminem song you can think of, aside from Lose Yourself. If you only know one song from the whole album, it's probably this one. And just as well, too, because the song pretty much cemented Eminem in pop culture single-handedly. It's basically a self-deprecating rap that never stops being silly. And that was so rare in rap at the time. Everyone was trying to prove they were the best, and they nobody could step to them. And then there's Eminem, sitting there rapping about how long it's been since he had a woman, and how hairy his palms are from masturbating as a result. It'd never been done before (at least not on that level), and it sure as h--- hasn't been done on the same level since. It set a precedent for what could be done with rap, and introduced hip-hop to a lot more than just the black community. But that's another discussion topic I have a lot to say about, so I'll save it for a certain song on the album after next (you know the one...)

    3) Guilty Conscience

    I. f---ing. LOVE. THIS. SONG.

    The concept is f---ing brilliant. Who would've ever thought of doing song like this BESIDES Eminem? I mean, a song where the rappers are two sides of a person's conscious at war with each other? It's just...Goddammit. It's f---ing GOOD. It's funny, witty, and Dre and Em's deliveries are both perfect. And the ending is the best possible ending there could have been. Just...f--- it. Listen to it if you haven't already. It's f---ing genius.

    4) Brain Damage

    This song is great. It's more introspective, and gives a look into Eminem's past. Specifically, his interactions with another student named DeAngelo Bailey (Fun Fact: DeAngelo actually filed a 1 million dollar lawsuit against Eminem, claiming the song slandered his name, damaged his reputation, and hurt his ability to start his own rap career. The lawsuit was later thrown out by a judge) who bullied Eminem in school. This song maybe exaggerates the truth a little bit, but it still shows you the type of s--- Em had to deal with growing up, which no doubt played a part in developing who he is as a rapper.

    5) Paul

    To this day, I'm still not sure if the "Paul" skits are staged or not. Each album up until Recovery has one, with each installment seeing Paul getting more and more fed up with the content of Eminem's songs. Maybe in the later skits they're staged, but still get a really strange candid feeling from the earlier skits. Who knows.

    6) If I Had

    Already discussed this one. See THIS POST for my thoughts on it.

    7) '97 Bonnie and Clyde

    Already discussed this one (albeit when it was called "Just the Two of Us"). See THIS POST for my thoughts on it.

    8) b----

    Not sure of the context on this skit. It's apparently a voicemail from a woman named Zoey to someone named Justin, and she seems so upset and disgusted about what she heard on Eminem's album that she "can't each lunch." What a b----.

    9) Role Model

    This song is one of the more famous ones from this album, and for good reason. Eminem actually talked about it in his book "The Angry Blonde", and he'd probably explain it better than I ever could, so I'll just let him: "I was just f---ing around when I made this song. To me it’s just a rap record. The message behind it was just complete sarcasm. I wanted to be clear: Don’t look at me like I’m a f---ing role model. Dre and I were in the studio at his house, and he had made the track first. I had started a rhyme the night before and I hadn’t finished it yet. When I heard the track, I said 'Yo Dre, I got a rhyme that goes with that' I finished the rhyme and started writing the song in the studio. I finished the first verse, knocked out the second verse, and then I wrote a hook. Then Mel-Man thought of the part that goes 'Don’t you wanna grow up to be just like me?' I said 'Yo that’s perfect', ‘cause I was talking about the same s---. You know, smoke weed, take pills, drop out of school and all that s---, So he had that part of the hook and I filled in all the blanks. 'I came to the club drunk with a fake ID / Don’t you wanna grow up to be just like me!' This was one of the first three songs I did with Dre when we began working together.

    10) Lounge

    This one is just a funny little lead-in to the next song. It's supposed to sound like a few guys singing a bit of the hook of My Fault. Speaking of which...

    11) My Fault

    There's not much to this song, but it's a really funny story of Em giving mushrooms to a girl, her eating the whole bag, her freaking the f--- out, HIM freaking the f--- out, her dying, him crying, song's over. I feel like I just learned a valuable lesson, but I couldn't tell you what the f--- it is.

    12) Ken Kaniff

    Ah, the birth of an icon...Ken Kaniff becomes a recurring character in just about every album of Em's. Em voices him in later albums, but here he is voiced by his original creator, rapper Aristotle. There's nothing much to these skits, but they're funny.

    13) c-m On Everybody

    Apparently this is the official dance song from the album, but I can't see that, so maybe that was meant as a joke. The lyrics are funny, self-deprecating, and the song itself doesn't sound half bad. f--- it, I take it back. I'd dance to this. I'm dancing right now, look. See! ...Oh wait.

    14) Rock Bottom

    For all my praise about Em's creation of the character Slim Shady, this song abandons that character altogether and sees Eminem rapping as Marshall Mathers. That's the only time he does this on the album, and it's definitely his most vulnerable moment on the whole LP. Eminem shared the story of this song in his book "The Angry Blonde" so I'll put that here:

    “Rock Bottom” was (sigh) another song done between the EP and LP. I didn’t know when I wrote it that it was going to come out that sad. I had actually meant to be an uplifting song, but when we were sitting around making the track, Head had a sample that we played the beat and it was just so sad. I said f--- it, let’s go with this one. Not surprisingly, I wrote it while I was going through a f------up time. The night I recorded the song, I had taken a bunch of pills, thrown up, and was just real f---ing depressed. So I took a bunch of codeine tablets. Problem was, I took too many of them s----s and got real sick. When I wrote the song, it was right before the Rap Olympics happened. It was during the week when I had gotten evicted from my house. I was stayin' across the street from where I used to live. It was a street called Novara out in Detroit. I was staying with these two roommates, and this dude told me that he had cheaper rent for me and I should come live with him. We said, “Okay, he’s got cheaper rent, then f--- it, we’ll move in his house.” So me and my boy went across the street to live with him. We were paying out rent to him, but the s.o.b. was keeping our rent and wasn’t paying the landlord. He took the rent, saved up his own money, and bounced on us. So one day we come home and all our s---’s on the f---in' front lawn. We never could catch the MFer. Till this day, we haven’t caught him. It was a real f----- period in my life (no surprise there), and I felt like I had hit “rock bottom”

    15) Just Don't Give a f---

    Already discussed this one. See THIS POST for my thoughts on it.

    16) Soap

    I still don't understand this skit. I mean, I know it parodies soap operas, but it doesn't lead to the next song, and it's not even really funny. But hey, if you need padding for the album, f--- it, pad that s---.

    17) As The World Turns

    This song is another example of Em's story-telling ability. I'm still amazed at how awesome he can stay at rapping while not compromising any of the story. It's masterful. That's about all I can say, there's nothing much else to comment on.

    18) I'm Shady

    This song is one that helps introduce the character of Slim Shady to the masses. See, Em created the persona before this LP came out, so not everyone knew about it. This track helps remedy that. It's awesome, and perfectly demonstrates how far Eminem can go with the Slim Shady character. The song is funny as h---, and sounds great.

    19) Bad Meets Evil

    Ah, the birth of an(other) icon. This is the first official song of the duo that would later take the name of the song for themselves. Eminem and Royce Da 5'9" both perform exceptionally on this song. Royce's flow is very different from Em's, which is very welcome. And he also rivals Em in terms of quality lyrics, which is impressive, given the powerhouse Em proves himself to be on this album.

    20) Still Don't Give a f---

    For the ending of his (actually good) debut, Em take his manager Paul's advice. Paul had suggested that Em make a "Just Don't Give a f---, Part II", and Em replied "Yeah...Still Don't Give a f---." He doesn't rest on his laurels either, he still goes hard as f--- on this track. But that's Eminem for you, he doesn't let up for a second, especially in his early days.

    Post-Listen Thoughts

    Well, I spent more time writing this one than I'd care to admit. I've been sitting here listening and writing for at least two hours, so I apologize if I skimped a little bit on the reviews of the later songs. I'm ready to give this s--- a rest, though. And yes, I'm aware that there's a special addition second disc with a few other songs, but I'll cover them at a later date. I don't think I can touch on the importance and brilliance of the Slim Shady persona again and still bring something new to the discussion, so I'll just say this about the album itself: It's f---ing great. Thank god Dr. Dre got his ears on Eminem, because the rap game now has one of the greatest emcees to ever pick up a mic on its roster of GOAT rappers.
     
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  5. Spatula
    Posts: 4,504
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    Spatula Relapse is a masterpiece

    Nov 11, 2017
    If you were Silver you'd have conducted these reviews better.
     
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  6. Copper
    Posts: 287
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    Copper Professional Amateur

    Nov 11, 2017
    The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
    Pre-Listen Thoughts

    A lot of people ask me stupid f---in' questions say that The Marshall Mathers LP is Eminem's greatest triumph. They say, as a follow up to The Slim Shady LP, it's perfect. They say the songs are great, there's not a single misstep.

    THEY say that.

    I don't.

    Let's get started.

    1) Public Service Announcement 2000

    Whereas the first Public Service Announcement on SSLP seemed a bit more tongue-in-cheek that this one, that doesn't make this one any less funny. It's angrier, more forward, and more unapologetic. All of those things roll perfectly with the vibe of the next song, which I personally think is one of the best album openers Eminem has ever made.

    2) k--- You

    This song is bit of brilliance. On the last album, Em rapped almost entirely as Slim Shady, so anything he said could be excused as the persona's thoughts. They didn't have to be representative of the artist. But with this album, Em raps pretty much as himself for the extent of the album. This song has the shock of Slim, but it's not performed as such. Em goes balls out in this song. The lyrical skill is evident, often feeling like a whirlwind of lines that twist around and rhyme with words a few bars back. It's just f---ing great. It's Em at his best, no argument. But when you have a full album full of songs like this that released the year prior, people are gonna want something new and different. They'll need something both shocking AND interesting, or they won't wanna listen further. Em needed to step his game up and put out something nobody expected. Speaking of which...

    3) Stan


    Okay, so...How to word this...

    This song is one of Eminem's greatest songs, but I don't think it's for the right reasons. I mean, it's good, don't get me wrong. But it's nothing super groundbreaking. The sample of Dido's song Thank You works, the story is both amazing and compelling, and the lyrics are really on point. But to me, it just doesn't bring anything particular to the table. Eminem had already proved himself to be a great lyricist by this point. His sophomore album was him showing the world he wasn't just a commodity or a flash in the pan. So it should follow that his second album would be full of diverse material. Stan definitely fits the bill in that regard.

    But (and this might just be me) Eminem doesn't seem to interested in telling this story. He gets it across, but there's really no emotion apart from the third Stan verse, and even then it sounds subdued. He just kind of plods along with the beat, narrating the words as Stan writes them. The first verse is delivered fine, but the second verse isn't. The context of the song implies that Stan is becoming more and more unhinged as time goes on without responses from Slim. The second verse is delivered the same as the first, and I feel like that's not how it should be. There should be a hint of insanity in there. You get it lyrically, with lines about Stan cutting himself, getting a tattoo of Slim's name, saying they should be together...But the performance doesn't lend itself to that. It's the same with Slim's response. As he realizes that Stan was the dude he saw on the news, he should be getting unsettled. But Eminem's delivery doesn't change from the top of the verse to the bottom. Even the "d---" once he makes the connection is poorly said.

    Despite this, I still think this song is one of Em's greatest. I just think it could have been so much more.

    4) Paul (Skit)


    Paul is fed up with Em's s---. AIN'T NOBODY GOT IT WORSE THAN PAUL MOTHERFUCKING ROSENBERG.

    5) Who Knew

    I really like this song. The beat is good, the hook is catchy, and Eminem really delves into his thoughts on what people think of him. He challenges the people who accuse him of influencing this generation of children with his violent lyrics, and tells them he's probably not the issue and even he was, he didn't know he'd become a paragon to these people. This song just nails every aspect of Eminem's position in American pop culture at this point, and I'd go as far as saying this is one of the best songs on the album, if not THE best.

    6) Steve Berman (Skit)


    So, like...This skit always gets me. Not in a bad way, but it always makes me think about Eminem's rise to fame, and how unlikely it really was. I'll talk about it more with the next song, but lemme quickly touch on it here. In the skit, Eminem is chastised by the marketing exec at Interscope for talking about what he's talking about in his songs. Eminem tries to protest, but can't get a word in edgewise. He is told to change, or don't bother making more music. I have something to say about this...

    7) The Way I Am

    Alright, I'll hold off on going too in-depth about each aspect until we get to the next album, but...Think about the atmosphere of rap/hip-hop in the 90s and the early 00s. Gangsta Rap was in full swing, Biggie was huge...There was this whole air of "I'm better than you, and if you disagree, f--- you" in music, and it didn't show any sign of slowing. Then it's 1999, and here comes a white boy spitting about how his mother does more drugs than he does, how he did so bad in middle school, he's still there at 35, how he masturbates so much his palms are too hairy to hide...This was the opposite of the way rap was headed. If hip-hop was doing 60 down a highway road, Eminem came barreling past at 120 in the other direction. And yet...Instead of rap saying, "What the f---?" and continuing on its merry way, it made a u-turn and sped back down the highway to catch up with Em. And that's f---ing NUTS.

    In The Way I Am, Eminem verbally eviscerates people who invade his privacy during his day to day life. He didn't WANT to be this big, he just wanted to make enough money to support his family. But now that he IS that famous, he's not happy with how he's treated. People think they know him and can approach him whenever, just because they bought his album a year ago. This song is one of his most intense tracks, and the delivery is so aggressive it always takes me by surprise. His rhyming and lyrical content are so f---ing on point that it's hard to even say anything bad about this song. So I won't.

    8) The Real Slim Shady


    As I mentioned before, when you have a song that differs from the norm as much as My Name Is that still manages to do well commercially...You're gonna be expected to follow it up. So with Eminem's second album, he was pressured to make something with the same feel as My Name Is, even though he strongly felt he'd never be able to. In this song, Em touches on the fact that he's white, and people sometimes view him as a novelty as a result. But he's quick to point out that all the other white rappers who came out of the woodwork since he rose to stardom are chumps compared to him. He's basically claiming to be the definitive white rapper, and all the others are just posers. The song is fun, I always considered the beat on this song to be one of the best of Dre's work, and it's a snappy, on-point song that captures what Em is trying to say perfectly. Is it as iconic as My Name Is? Probably not, but it comes REALLY close.

    9) Remember Me?


    The title is a good question to ask, considering it took me a while to remember featured artists RBX and Sticky Fingaz by their voices (Unrelated Note: After typing "Sticky Fingaz" I acidentally spelled "voices" as "voicez" and I feel like an idiot), so it took a while to actually hear their verses without my brain being preoccupied thinking of who the f--- they are. RBX's voice really lends itself to a song like this, and Sticky Fingaz rhymes are insane. Everyone is lyrically impressive on this song, and I can't really find anything BAD to say about this song. I just REMEMBER (huehuehue) how the ending startled me when I first heard it because Eminem just screams his lungs out until the next song starts, with a notably less intense sound.

    10) I'm Back

    Even though The Marshall Mathers LP has less Slim Shady than before, there's still some Shady to be had. This song takes shocking lyrical content to an extreme, and probably has one of Eminem's most famous lines. He references the Columbine High School massacre, and I always found it particularly interesting that even on the explicit version of the album, the words "kids" and "Columbine" are censored. It just goes to show you how many touchy subjects Eminem can mention, but that even his label thinks some things are too far. It's a fun song, I always did like it. The beat is minimalist, but it works here.

    11) Marshall Mathers

    Probably one of the best sounding songs on the album. The beat is dark and moody, with an acoustic sounds over top of it. It sets the tone of the song perfectly, and the song itself is a juggernaut too. Em speaks on people who never gave a f--- about him until he made it, and how suddenly the whole world cares about him. I saw an interview with Em on 60 Minutes a while back where he was pondering whether or not people hounded him for his lyrics because he was white. And he makes a good point. Hip-Hop had been militant and somewhat offensive for YEARS before Eminem came about. Black rappers were saying the same s--- he did, but until he actually said it, nobody pointed fingers. Once again, I'll get into that more with the next album, but I just wanted to mention it here.

    12) Ken Kaniff (Skit)

    Aaaaand here's where the album stops being great for the just about the whole rest of it. This skit is f---ing disgusting and serves no real purpose other than to slam ICP. But he could have done that lyrically. We didn't have to hear the two sucking Ken off. If the skit were short, I might be inclined to give it a pass. But it wasn't. It was a full minute. And on a music album, that's a long-a--- time. The songs that follow aren't as great as the songs that preceded it either.

    13) Drug Ballad


    Not a BAD song, but certainly not up to par with the previous songs on the album. I actually think it'd fit better if it were on The Slim Shady LP instead. 'Cause that's the kind of feel I get from this song. Also, there's a girl on it that doesn't really do anything but ad-lib riffs, and I kinda wish she did something else, because she just seems f---ing pointless as it.

    14) Amityville

    One of the songs that just seems like it's shocking just to be shocking, at least on Bizarre part. Can we talk about Bizarre for a second? To me, he's easily the least talented member in D12, at least from what I've heard. He raps like he's drunk off his a---, or is just bored out of his skull. There's no emotion, there's no interest. He just says shocking s--- because Eminem says shocking s---. His verse on this song is just gruesome, but devoid of substance. He doesn't strike me as a great rapper, just based on the stuff I've heard from him so far.

    15) b---- Please 2

    Ah, Snoop Dogg. What the f--- happened to you? I know you've been rapping for like 89 years, but what the f--- have you been doing in the last decade? You did a song with PSY, you appeared on the Roast of Justin Bieber, you just...What the f---? Will you say "Yes" to anything now? The song is more of a Snoop and Dre song, with a verse from Xzibit and Eminem in there for good measure. I just question why a sequel to a song on one of Snoop's albums is on an Eminem album. Was Em pressured by Dre, who's just cool with Snoop or some s---?

    16) Kim


    f---.


    17) Under the Influence

    Under the Influence has the unfortunate honor of following a track that just...Well, let's just say it's a tough song to follow. And as such, this song cannot EVER hope to stand on its own. It's a fun, bouncy song with D12 members, but there's nothing really beyond that. And after Kim, the listener needs time to regroup and figure out what the f--- just happened. There's no place for a song like this after Kim. Imo, if the album ENDED with Kim, there would be an argument made for this song's inclusion among the previous songs. But AFTER Kim? No. No f---ing way.

    18) Criminal


    The last song on this album is just as strong as the songs before the Ken Kaniff skit. It's jumpy, funny, and feels like a true early-Em song. It's brilliant. Still, it has the disadvantage of being placed after Kim, but at least there's been some time to recollect yourself and finally begin jamming again.

    Post-Listen Thoughts

    So...The Marshall Mathers LP. Do I think it's his greatest album? Obviously not. Do I think it's a great album? Yes. For the most part, at least. Like I said in the review, everything (save for Kim and Criminal) after the Ken Kaniff skit is just okay. There's no real sense of belonging in those songs, and more a sense of "Well, we need a D12 collab, and Snoop feature, and a song about drugs, so...f--- it, let's tack 'em on." And I feel like that hurts the album as a whole. Instead of thinking "We need this, this, and this" he should have been focused more on song placement. Because after a song like Kim...The rest of your album is f-----.

    So yeah. It's a good album, not his best. You're free to disagree and discuss, but those are my thoughts.
     
    #6
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    Mar 28, 2024
  7. Copper
    Posts: 287
    Likes: 417
    Joined: Feb 5, 2017

    Copper Professional Amateur

    Nov 11, 2017
    b---- i'm conductive as f---

    do you have silver wiring in your house?

    NO.

    YOU HAVE COPPER WIRING.

    SIT THE f--- DOWN, YA g.d. PIECE OF KITCHENWARE.

    :emoji_heart:
     
    #7
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    Spatula likes this.
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    Spatula likes this.
    Mar 28, 2024
  8. Spatula
    Posts: 4,504
    Likes: 8,533
    Joined: Jan 11, 2015

    Spatula Relapse is a masterpiece

    Nov 11, 2017
    Calm down, we're all metal here.
     
    #8
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    Copper likes this.
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    Copper likes this.
    Mar 28, 2024
  9. Copper
    Posts: 287
    Likes: 417
    Joined: Feb 5, 2017

    Copper Professional Amateur

    Nov 11, 2017
    ya d--- right

    [​IMG]
     
    #9
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    Mar 28, 2024