Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP 2

November 5, 2013 • Shady Records

Yep, an Eminem review. I've always liked him just a little bit, ever since I heard "My Name Is" on the radio when I had no idea what hip hop was. The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP were both interesting and had good cuts on each, though I've always been partial to the former. After that I didn't really bother to listen to anything else he's done, simply because I heard none of it was any good. A month after this album is out, the consensus seems to be that it isn't very good either, but while it's not great I'm enjoying it a bit more than I had thought I would.

Maybe it helps that I usually focus on the production more with hip hop, and this album has some decent stuff on it. Like most pop rap made by older artists, it has some very modern-sounding beats. As I've made obvious in the past, there's plenty of modern hip hop I enjoy and a lot of the beats and production on this album are right up my alley, especially when things take a more hard and heavy turn. It's not anywhere as dissonant and industrial as, say, the new Kanye, but there's elements of that. On the other hand, there are definitely a lot of hokey moments (too many to list) where things get obnoxious or too silly to enjoy. It doesn't make a lot of sense when you realize that the people making tracks like "So Much Better" are 40+ years old.

Vocals-wise, the guest melodic hooks on many tracks contrast well with Eminem's standard choppy rapping style, though I could definitely do without his own singing most of the time. As usual, I ignore the lyrics, which is probably the best for Eminem—although I've always enjoyed his talent for rapid-fire internal rhymes, most of what he actually says is not particularly appealing (still rocking slurs in 2013? come on).

There's good and bad bits, so it's probably the kind of album that's best enjoyed with liberal use of the "skip" button. On average, maybe it's not really worth listening to, but when it's good, it's still pretty decent, I suppose. Whether or not it lives up to its predecessor is a matter of personal opinion (and I'll never understand how anyone thinks they can get away with making sequel albums that are anywhere near as good as the originals).