Eminem's best album (The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem)

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem
Date:	13/09/09 (3 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great songs

Disadvantages: None

Rap is by no means my favourite genre, but there's something about Eminem that I really like (no, it's not that he's white!). He doesn't take himself too seriously like a lot of other rappers, and raps firmly with his tongue lodged in his cheek. The Marshall Mathers LP is a seminal rap album and arguably his best work. It is Eminem's third album, following the Slim Shady LP, and came out in 2000.

Like a lot of rap, the actual backing music is quite simple rhythmically - there aren't complex melodies or anything, for the focus is largely on Eminem's lyrics, and oh my, what lyrics! Eminem has been described as "the poet of our generation", and he really proves it here. He proves that "white boys" can rap as good as anyone, and his lyrics are not only insanely clever but relevant and socially insightful. He also has his finger on the pulse of pop culture, making numerous references to popular celebrities at the time.

It's also an inverse sort of rap in as much as Eminem considers his own life, and how people just come up to him all the time, particularly in the song The Way I Am, where he can't even use a public bathroom or feed his daughter without someone asking him for an autograph. He also responds to his critics who claim he is a homophobe and a racist among other things - sadly these misguided folk fail to realise that he is a satirist.

The most famous track on the album is probably Stan, which samples Dido's song Thank You and was a big hit when it came out. It's a geniously written song about a fan that's obsessed with Eminem, and how he misunderstands Eminem's lack of a reply as a snubbing, and takes matters into his own drastic hands. It's insanely clever and one of Eminem's best songs ever, without a doubt. This entire album is very cleverly written and a pop cultural milestone.

Summary: Eminem's finest hour