★★★★★
Five Stars
Eminem knows what we’re thinking. “Here’s a sequel to my Mathers LP just to get people to buy!” But the purpose behind The Marshall Mathers LP2 is not to repeat, but to analyze, the success of the Detroit rapper’s third album. Opening track ‘Bad Guy’ is a direct follow-up to ‘Stan’, focusing first on Stan’s brother Matthew (remember him?), who loved Eminem even more than Stan. Matthew Mitchell (notice the initials!) kidnaps his brother’s indirect killer and drives off in an all-too-familiar manner as his conscious blends with Eminem’s own, wrestling with the rapper’s self-doubt as he questions the homophobia and misogyny present in so much of his previous work. Just as some classic examples of Eminem’s brilliant rhyming ability come in towards the end, talking about a “portrait of an artist/tortured/trapped in his own drawings”, the song fades away, showing that though Eminem still has his technical skills, it’s all ultimately meaningless if he can’t “recapture the lightning trapped in a bottle” that is The Marshall Mathers LP.
With lacklustre recent albums from Jay-Z and Kanye West, it seems everyone forgot about Eminem. He’s not broke, he’s not addicted to drugs and no one’s accusing him of corrupting the youth (did you know they said that about Socrates?), and this has led to a sense of aimless anger on his recent records. On this album, references to his own and other’s classic works are so beautifully intertwined with the music that his unrestrained anger, a necessary ingredient on any good Eminem album, fits in perfectly and produces what is not only an instant classic and his best album since The Eminem Show, but also a completely successful attempt to recapture the atmosphere surrounding Slim and Mathers, two of the best hip hop albums ever.
On ‘Rap God’, Mathers goes all EDM on us to great effect, showing that Kanye’s not the only one who can rap over insane synths, and making it all the more impressive with his own mad speed. The homophobic lyrics return without any real reason, though, and make listening uncomfortable. That said, it’s impossible to ignore the stunning musicality on this track. If ‘Bad Guy’ is the perfect summing-up of Eminem’s past, this track gives us a glimpse into a possible future in which Eminem takes hip hop by the scruff of the neck and asserts his own divinity.
The inevitable reunion with Rihanna on ‘The Monster’ is a magnificent set-piece, and shows exactly why the radio loves the two of them, while also returning to the subject of Mathers’ inner demons. Apparently he’s “friends with the voices inside of [his] head” but don’t call him crazy, “that’s not fair”.
I was all ready to be first in line to rip into this album, but it proved impossible, as hits are churned out with a regularity we haven’t seen from Em in years. So great is this album’s achievement that it makes even Recovery and Relapse seem like necessary, and almost deliberate, chapters in the compelling, up-and-down story of a kid from inner-city Detroit. You’re right, Marshall: “Why be a king, when you can be a god?”
