9/10
EMINEM - The Marshall Mathers LP
(Aftermath/Interscope)
Production: Dr. Dre, Mel-Man, F.B.T., The 45 King, artist

Everyone gets touched on this one. No taboo is avoided, nothing is sacred! Em just fuckin' goes there. If you wanna hear hella crazy, psychotic, schizophrenic, paranoid shit, wrapped up in an extremely tight rollercoaster flow, then you might wanna get to know Marshall Mathers a little better. Or you might not. He's a cross between what Detroit is known for and emcee battle shit. Like he says on "Kill You", "I don't acid rap, I rap on acid". This crazy blonde nigga's got a fuckin' wild imagination and if you can't recognize that he got skills, then you either dumb, plain prejudiced, or don't understand the first thing about rap. For most of The Marshall Mathers LP you don't know whether to laugh or cry but the one thing that's guaranteed is you'll feel something. I guess that's what dude intended. Provoke a reaction. And it's the right reaction - the shit's clever, thought provoking, funny as fuck and offensive all at the same time. It blows the first album out tha box. Peep some of the topics: "Stan" relates the tale of a crazed fan whose letters to his idol develop from unhealthy obsession to the straight psychopathic. Stan makes the crucial mistake, believing "everything you say is real". On the incredible "Criminal", Em takes jabs at muthafuckers who blame artists and musicians for the world's ills, something he spews out on virtually every track. The chorus on "The Way I Am" goes "I am whatever you say I am/If I wasn't, then why would I say I am". He sounds pissed off and angry, sayin' "I'm so sick and tired of bein' admired". And on "Who Knew" he says: "Damn, how much damage can you do with a pen?/I'm just as fucked up as you woulda bin'". In the midst of all this, "The Real Slim Shady" sounds positively uplifting, as Marshall keeps lettin' those names fly: "Will Smith don't got to cuss in his raps to sell records/Well I do/So fuck him and fuck you too". To check what he's got in store for Puffy and Jennifer check "I'm Back", and on the ridiculous "Marshall Mathers" everyone from boy/girl groups to homosexuals to mother dearest get it in the neck. As you'd expect, this shit's got more punchlines than a washed-up comic and Em brings his pals on down to flex somethin'. On "Remember Me?", a fuckin' moody banger with RBX and Sticky Fingaz, Sticky spits "I get more pussy than those dyke bitches Total", then Em says: "Came home and somebody must've broke in my back window/and stole two of my machine guns and both of my trenchcoats". "Amityville" and "Under The Influence" contain a bunch of lyrical ass wreckage, as his crew D-12 go off (believe me, they're sickinnahead). I would say it's raping and pillaging at every corner, but it's more just the raping. "Bitch Please II" is less raw but no less bangin' than the original, only this one features the line-up of Dre, Snoop, Xzibit and Nate Dogg. Eminem however, still takes the honours. Just when you think you've heard it all, you've got "Kim", a touching story about Marshall and his wife (!!!) and hilarious skits like "Ken Kaniff". To compliment Eminem's twisted view of the world, the production is dark, kinda sombre, and definitely on point. By the end of The Marshall Mathers LP, you feel like you've been on a crazy binge like the one described on "Drug Ballad". This muthafucker's out there, somewhere. Jimmy C

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