The Marshall Mathers LP

Thanks to these Eminem clowns, I'm no longer a glass half full guy.   I had a 30 minute drive so thought I'd start listening to this in the car. Quick search for Marshall Mathers and hit play.  As expected, shitty rap made by dumb ass white guys wasn't doing it for me. I took a quick look and saw the playing time was north of 70 minutes. Sometimes with 1001 you just have to do the hard time and hope it passes quickly.  I get through 8 songs and later at home flip the album on Spotify to finish my sentence. But - something's wrong. I notice the playing time is a little less than what I was playing in the car. It was a 78 min album in the car and a 72 min album at home. I'm confused. The unfortunate explanation for my confusion is that there is another Eminem  album called  The Marshall Mathers LP 2 and I mistakenly  listened to 30 minutes of the wrong Marshall Mathers album. The horror! If you thought 72 minutes of this shit was heavy lifting, try 102 minutes. The glass half full guy I was until today might say: "Hey I could have listened to the full Marshall Mathers 2 album before finding out," but no, I can't be that person today. Those extra 30 minutes were too painful. My glass is half empty. 

I tried on this one, I really did. Of the 400 albums I've listened to this is the first I gave up on. This is easily the most sophomoric shit I think I've ever heard. It's just shit. There's not even any peanuts or corn to be found. It's just more of someone with the fucking mentality of a 13-year-old, rhyming dictionary in hand, talking about his dick and raping, assaulting, and murdering all those "worthless bitches". The frightening thing is this "man" wields influence on impressionable children. 13-year-old boys listened to this and think this is how women are meant to be treated. We call them "incels" now. This has no inherent value. It's not parody. It's not trying to shine a light on some difficult to understand social construct. It's just a asinine little boy talking about his dick for an hour. This album is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in his rambling, incoherent "music" was he even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Full on. Loved it, hated it. The shock factor it holds is one of a kind.The opening skit was ridiculous, Kim was proper unsettling, Stan is an eternal classic, the hooks on Bitch Please II and Drug Ballad are sick. But the blatant and repeated homophobia and misogyny is pretty hard to get passed, even the product-of-its-time defense doesn't cut it on this one. Even so it still hits high on Albums of All Time lists (eg. 145 on Rolling Stone's 2020 top 500 of all time list). I'll stand by my rating system though, I can't deny that this album was a (at times hellish) thought provoking rollercoaster.

i) Words, harmless and powerful ii) The Stan—Kim paradox iii) Heavy metal rap iv) Don’t forget the jokes v) PHSE i) Consider the line, “If this chick was my own mother / I’d still fuck her with no rubber / And cum inside her and have a son and a new brother at the same time / And just say that it ain't mine”. It’s spill your popcorn, last round of ‘Would you rather’, criminally taboo toilet humour. Every teenager in the year 2000 or 2020 gets its dual offensiveness and senselessness. Eminem is faking you out. The people in the line—J-Lo, Eminem, his mum—are real, but the scenario is so detached it’s cartoonish. So far, so Slim Shady LP. But what if it became less detached? What if he said the Columbine shooters got their trench coats and weaponry from his house? Or worse, that given the chance he’d copy them? That’s a very real and raw scenario, not to mention one in which Eminem was implicated as a cultural influence. And yet both our 13 and 33-year-old selves know that just saying those things doesn’t make them true. Then consider the political climate in 2000—and not just the president getting his dick sucked. I’m talking about the ongoing fallout from the failure of the Bretton Woods arrangement. Clinton coming into office promising Big Government/tighter regulation then realising that not even he can control the bankers. Realising all he’s got left to convince people that can is his words. Cue the age of spin. I did not inhale. I did not have sexual relations with that woman. Etc. The age of controlling the story, controlling the headline, controlling the truth. In this context, Eminem saying he’d commit Columbine, or have a child with his mum, becomes as “real” as what you’re asked to believe on a daily basis. ii) After ‘Kill You’, ‘Stan’ is almost an apology. Breathtakingly brutal, honest, and empathic. It’s a three-dimensional portrait of not-Eminem--the guy he could be if he hadn’t made it, if he didn’t have a way of containing the Slim Shady in all of us. After ‘Stan’, almost anything is tolerable, impregnated mums included. After ‘Stan’, you understand Slim, understand the Stan-Sim lineage. So you chuckle at the jokes, abide the fag-baiting, bite your lip in faux-disapproval at the rabble-rousing. And then, when you’re almost at the end, he gives you ‘Kim’. And it ruins everything. He employs all the same devices that made you empathise with Stan—relentlessly linear first-person narrative, direct address, multiple characters, and so much diegetic sound it’s as much radio play as song—and uses them to not only shock you beyond anything that’s come before, but to betray your trust in his humanity, his sanity, his redemption. What’s so brilliant is not only that ‘Stan’ and ‘Kim’ are both Marshall Mathers songs (that is, if you go in for attributing each Eminem song to one of his three personas) but that the Marshall who kills Kim is basically Stan, the guy he made you empathise with earlier. But now there’s no distance, no epistolary framing device to make the murder seem journalistic. It’s just you and a woman-hating murderer. This is the bit that interests me most. Why are we okay with what was essentially the same story in ‘Stan’, but so appalled by it in ‘Kim’? iii) If I was writing the 2000s update to Chuck Eddy’s ‘500 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe’, I’d be tempted to include MMLP. A quick comparison with Stankonia (same year of release) tells me that Outkast’s album is probably speedier and louder. But metal’s also about spirit, and MMLP has a heart full of revenge. It also has barkier rapping, actual screaming, and uses its somewhat basic beats like riffs. While it may lack guitars (except on ‘Kim’, the most metallic of all its songs), it’s still clearly built on the blueprint of Licensed to Ill. iv) “If I ever gave a fuck, I'd shave my nuts / Tuck my dick in between my legs and cluck.” v) I learnt more from ‘Drug Ballad’ and ‘Kids’ than I ever did in PHSE. The former is a too-rarely mentioned Eminem masterpiece (“What’s a little spinal fluid between you and a friend?”), the latter the most scandalising of all his provocations: a genuine PSA. The verse about Zack, with his back "like the McDonald's arches", his shoulders "hunched up like he's practicin' yoga", and his friends "laughing at basically nothing except maybe wasting their money" will always haunt me.

This is music for dorks who think they're tough. Eminem is an uber dork.

Nope

Damn, love Shady and I forgot how violent this album is. And anti gay. And misogynistic. I can never figure out if satire, a joke, or real. Ground, even if maybe we leave that ground alone. Ultimately have to rate the art on what it says.

This isn't so much a review as it is an introspective look at why I'm a goddamn hypocrite, so buckle up. This album is crazy homophobic and misogynist. I gave another album on this list a 1 because of one anti-semitic line, so what's wrong with me? I guess I'm more willing to excuse it when every track bangs and I listened to the album everyday in high school. Eminem lampshades his shitty attitude at every turn - "I don't really hate (slur), I'm just using this to sell records" he basically says, allowing us to excuse ourselves for enjoying it without ever having to consider why such perspectives sold so well in the first place. In a world where video games and Marilyn Manson were being blamed for Columbine, it was easy - natural, even - to slip into a "This doesn't affect me, it's not who I am" attitude concerning whatever you listened to, and if you didn't really have a problem with homophobia in the first place, it made it even easier. This album is hard to listen to today, but I can still do every word of about half of these songs and there's a part of me that doesn't want to let go of it. So, I've landed on a 4. Is it right? I don't know. Best track: The Real Slim Shady. P.S. If you don't think representation matters, take a look at how many white kids my age were suddenly into rap when Em came onto the scene

An album that sounds like it was made by every 14yr old shithead degenerate sitting in the back of the lunchroom throwing crackers at all the "nerds" and girls while calling them sluts. What a fkng tool. Too much great hip-hop in the world to put up with this bullshit. Hardest pass possible. 1/10 1 star

No thanks. I’ve been to the early 2000s

Slim Shady does not give a shit. So edgy. Is it supposed to be funny? If it is, then maybe it’s not just my kind of jokes. If it’s real then it’s super cringy for an adult to stick with the same character for a second record and keep up with the same childish, angry verses. The beats sound pretty childish too. This is a time capsule of the MTV TRL era and it sucks.

I haven't stopped thinking about this album since I listened to it. His talent is absolutely unquestionable but the content is quite confronting. I remember hearing this album when it came out and while I realise all the bigotry and homophobia is part of the act, it is hard to digest at points, Kim being the biggest challenge. I can't even imagine what it would've been like recording that song. The music is amazing tho and when he gets on a roll you can't help but be amazed. The tracks featuring other artists really show how good he is as his verses wipe the floor with the others. I was gonna give this 4 stars but the fact it hasn't left my mind for 3 days means it's probably worth top marks.

Already convinced it’s a total classic, I figured I’d better do my duty and listen through again so my review can be informed by a recent listen rather than the nitrous of nostalgia. As with The Slim Shady LP, Eminem plays with sounds like few others, but where in that former album he is a little too caught up in his agent-provocateurness and in later years he seems more preoccupied with hitting those densely packed rhymes with machine-like precision, here is Eminem’s perfect marriage of form and content. In each song he revels in playing characters - endless characters: particularly circling back around to the Slim Shady (offensive, gleefully so), Eminem (hostile, back up against the wall, firing back) and Marshall Mathers (introspective, self-effacing) but playing many more cameos in between. Hopping in and out of these roles lends a clarity and sharpness to a still quite long album. It allows playful juxtaposition of track listings (The Way I Am [Eminem, hostile, I won’t be who you want me to] to The Real Slim Shady [Slim Shady, here I am, you want Slim Shady, well here is ALL OF HIM] being a particular highlight). The album only drags when anyone other than Eminem guest stars, perhaps because Em is in such a creative place that he is essentially guest MCing his whole album, but also because the guests take it as licence to do the schtick of obscene and offensive stuff, only without the subtext Em provides of the whole thing being performance. That subtext only works in the context of the whole thing which constantly flips between provocation, meta-awareness of all of this as a show, showing off, gratuitous swearing, comedy skits, world-weary agents, and at the centre of it the question “who is Eminem?”. The album is so effective because it’s essentially a dare to the listener to try and pin it down: a virtuosic catch-me-if-you-can.

This sucks, it’s offensive for the sake of being offensive. I get it, you hate women, you hate gay people, you hate everything, you’re so tough. Shut up Marshall, you fuck, Interlude skits are lame fillers for dorks, no humour whatsoever, blow job skit with insane clown posse was gross. It’s so damn annoying, I guess he’s clever enough and Stan was actually the only redeemable track on this but fuck that nasally delivery. I forgot how ridiculous the early 2000’s were and this reminded about the worst bits of it. If you want to listen to aggressive, violent rap that doesn’t suck, listen to Clipping instead. I don’t know how I got thru it all. 1 star

Heard enough of this crap in high school when it was on everyone like a bad rash. Not supporting this misogynistic prick.

The Slim Shady LP blowing up so fast and Eminem becoming an overnight celebrity created an opportunity for Eminem on his follow-up album to write an excoriating commentary on society in the guise of a deeply unpleasant cartoonish villain who still managed to make people laugh, daring to ask the question - Who is listening to this violent, mysoginistic filth? And why is it so funny? What the hell is wrong with us? This is Em's masterpiece - the verbal dexterity is phenomenal, the choice of beats almost all perfect, the sample choices brilliant (turning Dido's Thank You into a dark reflection on the dangers of hero workship on Stan is a master stroke), even the guests (mostly) don't disappoint. Not all of it is easy to listen to - Kim is really hardgoing (but if this were a film, the actor would be nominated for an Oscar) - and a couple of tracks fall a little short - Drug Ballad and Amityville are the weakest - but the Kill You / Stan / Who Knew / The Way I Am / The Real Slim Shady sequence shows a rapper at the top of his game with something important - and horrible and hateful and funny - to say.

Second hand embarrassment from some of the themes and lyrics

I tried so hard to listen to the whole thing but the language and crude references just got to me. There are a few Eminem songs that I love but the whole album was just too much.

gross and immature

Not for me.

"I don't make white or black music, I make fight music for highschoolers."

"I murder a rhyme one word at a time / you never heard of a mind as perverted as mine" was pretty much the manifesto for this album. Fantastic production, unbelievable rhyming and delivery. Scary, very offensive lyrics which are very hard to stomach at times, but that was the point. To be this offensive and still be a classic in these times is quite a feat.

god this album is dark. Its Em processing his fame and celebrity while still digging into his own desperate childhood. Bitch Please II is iconic gangster rap song. Kim is graphic and disturbing and i never want to hear it again in my life

Super offensive but there's really not much else like it out there. It's a weird feeling to be so repulsed and so impressed at the same time. Some of the tracks are just great.

This one took me back. I listened to it a bunch on a road trip to Florida 20 years ago. I'm not huge on rap but I've always said Eminem is a brilliant lyricist. Here is living proof. The Steve Berman interlude is one I still paraphrase when talking about differences in rap styles. I'd rate the album a 5 if the back half didn't drag a bit. Still, it's a wonder to me how someone like lil Nas X ever came out as gay in the rap world with so much homophobia and false male bravado. Some of the lyrics are instant cringe material. I appreciate how he puts his words and thoughts together even if I disagree with the message.

This would have been a 5 maybe ten years ago but the violence and misogyny is a bit too much for me these days.

Nope. I didn't make it two minutes into this. I had some trepidation, because I really don't like Eminem's obsession with violence and especially misogynistic violence. But the opening announcement alone was enough proof that he intended to be as offensive as possible, and that I could suck his dick. I feel disrespected by the artist. Interestingly, Eminem won't use the n-word (out of respect for black people?) but is happy to malign women in disturbing detail. I swear, he uses the word "slut" at least three times in the first 60 seconds of the first song. Eminem is an adolescent edgelord who confuses provocation with value. There's nothing to recommend here, other than his linguistic dexterity. But I don't care how good your flow is, if the words that come out are so noxious. Did not enjoy, will not listen.

Thought 1: I remember when "Stan" came out, and how I liked the sound of it. Then the radio started playing Dido's "Thank You" without Eminem and I said "thank you" to the radio stations. What I liked was Dido. Thought 2: I found it interesting, especially after listening to his backstory in The Slim Shady LP fairly recently, to hear the follow up stories about what it's like to go suddenly from a challenging life in invisible survival mode to being a spotlighted celebrity with expectations to behave in an educated, courteous, and social manner. This being after becoming famous for being the opposite, and then suddenly being held responsible for those ill folk who would take him as a role model. It makes sense that this was stressful and I thought this was a story worth telling. Thought 3: Fuck this poisonous, horrifying hour-and-a-quarter of soul-destroying, anger-filled, hateful, violent vileness. He can complain about what people say, and certainly states at the same time that he doesn't give a fuck, but shit like this makes the world so much worse, and I think Eminem is fully guilty in making it so, intentional or not.

Great production, skilled lyricism, and catchy hooks! Despite all the controversy it is hard to argue that this album doesn't sound great. Brings me back to middle school.

These are the worst lyrics I’ve ever heard. I actively cringed while listening to this.

Classic, masterpiece, and one of the best rap albums of all time. Yes, the homophobia can be painful to listen to at times and it's easy to understand why that puts so many people off from this album. If this album was any less good, any less influential, any less *anything*, it could be written off as a product of an era destined to remain there forever as a forgotten time capsule. But this is so much of everything that it's impossible to look away. This is the album that sold 21 million copies and turned Eminem into a global superstar. It's a pure demonstration of Em's lyrical abilities, technical skill, and - yes - his humor. If you can get past its transgressive attitude and offensive content, it's truly a gift to put on the MMLP and be able to experience the master at work.

An extremely in-depth, personal record on Marshall's thoughts about his sudden fame, the pop landscape; all told through the scope of his classic horrorcore rap style. Nuts, and at certain points still fucking terrifying. Still making waves today, too. Favorite tracks: "Kill You", "Remember Me?" "Stan"

It’s raunchy it’s crude. It’s vulgar. It’s violent. It’s amazing. This album solidified Eminem as one of the best rappers. He’s doesn’t hold back and his rhymes are fantastic. The beats are well done by Dre. This is a classic rap album. 9.0/10

Always polarizing, always enthralling, always relevant. Startlingly precise on one hand (Stan, That's What I Am, Drug Ballad) and horribly dated on the other (I'm Back, Marshall Mathers, the skits), The Marshall Mathers LP is the quintessential Eminem album with cultural touchstones and an insight into the life and times of the soon to be Rap God. An essential listen. P.S., Kim is not for the fainthearted. Favorites: Stan, That's What I Am, The Real Slim Shady, Remember Me?, Drug Ballad, Amityville, Bitch Please II.

Violent and disturbing, but at the same time, great lyrics, hooks, and flow. A classic album that caused a lot of controversy.

Sigh, tough one to rate. I'm not a big rap fan, but he has a unique style that I can appreciate. The issue becomes when you start to pay attention to the lyrics. It helps to know the underlying idea - there's "Slim Shady" who is everything that people criticize Eminem for - misogyny, homophobia, violence, etc. But then there's the suggestion that this is all an act. "Stan" is a good example of how people shouldn't take him so seriously (and a real catchy tune). The video is disturbing and really well done (and got me watching Dido's Thank You video, which is also a good video and a catchy tune). This Genesis fan liked the Phil Collins shout-out. But then there's a track like "Who Knew" where he's like who would ever think people would take me seriously and I'd get this big? And isn't the problem with the kids other people's fault, not mine? Still, does that make it any better? The rest of the album proceeds similarly - it's not my fault that y'all can't get the joke and it's only because of my upbringing and you're all terrible too. I'm giving it a 3 because I appreciate the style and wittiness, but I can't give it more because I can't rate an album I'd be embarrassed to be seen listening to anything higher than a 3.

It’s well made but it’s not for me. There are some good singles but a whole album of angst is a lot to take in one sitting.

One of the most overrated albums ever. People who say this is one of the best hip hop albums ever are either A - Racist or B - Haven't listened to rap outside of Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Macklemre in which case calling this the best rap album would be reasonable. Obviously some great songs on here but some of the lyrical material and production have just aged horribly. Barely anything Eminem speaks about here is relevant today and most of it is just super edgy, offensive or weirdly sexual 7/10 just because this album has high highs and influenced a lot of mainstream hip hop at the time

Eminem entered into an arena invented and owned by Black artists. Despite his white privilege, this is one area where he truly had to work to stand out, as white rappers were historically not successful and/or were not taken seriously. By this point, Eminem had already found his celebrity status, but this is the album where Eminem became fully realized, showing that he wasn't just copying Black artists, and leaving his official mark on hip hop music. He combines catchy riffs, well written lyrics, and dexterity masterfully. The talents, styles, and quirks that are sharpened on this album changed the face of hip hop and set into motion his immense career with albums following these formulas. Eminem has an obvious snarkiness and stupidity about him that he really hones on this album, making it easy to see the irony and sarcasm in his work. These are an important component to his work; as he works through his incredibly stormy upbringing, this album is a sort of proverbial mirror held up to white people, showing said white people the ugly sides of themselves and their culture that they don't want to acknowledge or admit to. Using his newly found platform of huge success, Eminem does all of this to make a statement and commentary on white culture, on what is arguably his most provocative album. White people want to like and be a part of hip hop music? Well, be careful what you wish for, because like it or not, now the bad and ugly of white culture is in the spotlight. The price to pay for being white and wanting to enjoy an incredibly successful white rapper is acknowledging, consciously or unconsciously, that this album isn't about a third party, such as Black people in Compton -- it's about white people and the fucked up things they do right in your own town...it's about white people you know and associate with, and it's maybe even about you. From a music enjoyment perspective, I like this album okay, a couple of the songs I like quite a bit. But Eminem has always been hit or miss for me, as has a lot of hip hop music; it's a fine line to draw between commentary and glorification of the troubled things many hip hop artists rap about, and Eminem is not immune from that. But it is undeniable that, for many reasons, the cultural impact of this album is significant.

I really can't believe I've hit the point where Eminem's music primarily makes me cringe. The "aged poorly" line about music is way, way overused, but it fits particularly well for, well, pretty much all his albums. His actual rapping ability is obviously great, but the music is just so hard to listen to now. Favorite track: Under the Influence

Given how I've placed other albums so far, with 3 as mid and 1 as irredeemable this is a solid 2. Juvenile in the extreme, cringey at the time, cringier now. The singles are obvious standouts. The rest is just bleh to me, like most popular albums of the era.

I thought I'd like this more, but much of Eminem's lyrics have not aged well. There are some really thoughtful, well structured tracks here (Stan in particular), but his trashing of gay men, of how he talks about women, are not only inappropriate, but in poor taste - even if what Eminem is going for is that shock factor. Obviously there are some standout tracks here, it was a 'breakout' album, but today it's so easy to read as teenage, toilet humor. Sure there's this absurdity to it, you aren't supposed to take it seriously, but words have an impact, and Eminem does a disservice to his fans by ignoring that.

Eminem aged like milk and whoever disagrees should be banned from any music debate

Besides one or two songs, this was pretty boring. It's like hearing an hour long rant. They might have valid points but it gets lost in the mess.

I HATE EMINEM! I LOVE HIPHOP AND EVERYHTING ASSOCIATED WITH IT! BUT THIS GUY FUCKING SUCKS! FUCKING EDGELORD WHO CARES!!!!!! FUCK YOU EMINEM!!!!! I HATE BEING WHITE BECAUSE OF YOU!!!!

I hate Eminem: he just comes off like a bit of a cunt in this album. The samples are basic, repetitive and mind-numbingly shit. His voice is jarring and whingy with him being so unnecessarily aggressive over nothing. I don't want to listen to this immature man shout for over an hour about the most meaningless of topics. This album is for those who think they're cool, live in the gym 24/7 bc they're "hard" and deny they're an incel bc they get "mad bitches". Shit

This was way worse than I expected. Just unbearably bad. Had to skip many tracks throughout its bloated CD-era runtime. I'd never listened to a whole Eminem album before so I didn't really know what to expect but yikes... I'm not a huge Dr Dre fan, but I'm not sure why Dre chose to align himself with this guy. The psychopath act gets old really fast, and the whole thing is riddled with so many embarrassingly puerile moments it's hard to keep track. His constant attempts to shock are simply exhausting. He's like a kid who's trying too hard to impress his friends. He rips on Insane Clown Posse but I don't see much difference in their general approach besides the face paint.

This album is one that I have grown up with before and it remains one of the best rap albums out there. To start, in terms of instrumentation, they are beautifully crafted by Dre. Whether it is the infamous The Real Slim Shady or Criminal or any inbetween they are always enjoyable. In terms of rapping, Eminem delivers unique candence and flow throughout every track, with all of them sounding perfectly tailored for every track, such as the I sit back/ with this pack etc etc. His delivery is aggressive whether it is the way I am or Kim, you can feel the rage behind this album constantly and may even rally behind it. Subject matter and theming was unique for the time focusing on censorship and the media in reaction to his music on songs like drug ballad, who knew and marshall mathers. It also has the idea of fandom and standom in Stan showing the deep and various ideas this album contributed to the rap scene. I will conclude this with features, they do not miss, Dido adds a necessary chorus to complete Stan, sticky fingaz delivers a verse that arguably outclasses Eminem on Remember Me? and Snoop Dogg delivers his clean flow on Bitch Please II.

Bias Alert: This was a formative album in my life, having listened to it probably a hundred times when I was in high school, and numerous times in the years since. I simply cannot spin this album without thinking of how much I loved it 24 years ago when it came out, so an objective review is not in the cards. There's a lot to hate about this album if you're looking for it, especially if your'e approaching it with only 2024 ears. A lot of the content is overly provocative (to give all the benefit of the doubt to Em) or downright shitty (to give no benefit of the doubt to Em). The truth is that it's in the middle, having been made 24 years ago. The music hits almost exactly the same as it did for me in my Mazda B2000 Pickup truck in 2001, driving around town. Eminem's flow remains undefeated, and is one of the most unique artists in history, and this album is him doing his thing at the peak of his powers.

eminem is really corny now because he made the worst albums ever, but if he only released this and a few others he would be in the goat conversation

J'adore Eminem et noter l'un de mes albums préférés va être difficile tellement je prends du plaisir à chacune de ses écoutes. En 2000, quand "The Marshall Mathers LP" sort, ce fut l'effet d'une bombe. Comment un petit blanc sur 18 titres pouvez lancer des flows aussi dévastateurs ? Comment un blanc est arrivé si rapidement au même niveau que les pointures "black" du rap US ? Pour sortir du lot, le réponse est simple "I don’t do black music/I don’t do white music", comme il le précise sur le titre "Who Knews". "The Marshall Mathers LP" est avant tout un album de combat où tout le monde en prend pour son grade... "I make fight music, for high-school kids"... la presse, ses fans, ses collègues rappeurs, la musique pop en général, le gouvernement, sa mère, la télévision, sa petite amie, ses amis, sa maison de disques, la radio, d'autres membres de sa famille, Dieu, son propre moi. Eminem est provocateur, et pour la pousser à son paroxysme, il utilise et continuera à utiliser par la suite, son double "Slim Shady" dans des registres racistes, sexistes, misogynes, homophobes, narcissiques et xénophobes. Et même dans la pire des provocations, Eminem reste un artiste qui fait de la vulgarité une poésie. Reconnu pour avoir popularisé le hip-hop parmi les classes moyennes et supérieures des États-Unis, Eminem est considéré comme l'un des plus grands rappeurs de tous les temps. Sorti il y a plus de vingt ans, "The Marshall Mathers LP" n'a pas pris une ride, il est et reste un incontournable du rap américain et une pièce maîtresse dans la discographie d'Eminem (ex aequo pour moi avec "The Eminem Show"). Un gros 5/5 et si ma note vous déplaît... "So you can suck my dick if you don't like, my shit"

First, "Stan" is one of the greatest songs ever, both in it's storytelling and building emotion and ultimately tragic ending, and the story of crazy fans doing unthinkable things is common in 2023. Otherwise, this is my second Eminem album in the last few weeks, and it again was completely captivating, lyrically and musically, and an absolute turn off, at the same time. Like a car crash, it's hard to watch but you can't turn away. The horrorcore violence, homophobia and outright misogyny is too much at times, but I can't deny the originality or artistry of Eminem in the year 2000. In the Village Voice, Robert Christgau called him "exceptionally witty and musical, discernibly thoughtful and good-hearted, indubitably dangerous and full of shit", while declaring the album "a work of art whose immense entertainment value in no way compromises its intimations of a pathology that's both personal and political". Mike Elizondo, a former collaborator on Eminem's albums, said, “I felt like Marshall was part of this wave with Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. This next level of art with incredible graphic imagery that Marshall had the ability to paint. Love it or hate it he was obviously very skilled at the stories he was telling.” I couldn't agree more.

Singles are great. Album a bit of a meal

A lot of this album is actually really good. It’s at its best when it’s reflective. Eminem wrestling with the his new found fame and how he has been received. A classic theme for a sophomore album. He lets you break down the fourth wall a bit and assures you he is mostly just talking shit. Stan is one of his crowning achievements. It’s extremely evocative and a master class in dark storytelling. Some of it definitely feels like the slim shady LP and that’s when I think it’s at its weakest. Kim is the perfect example of this. It’s an awful song with nightmarish subject matter and no redeeming moral or message. He may hurst be “talking shit” but if you’re going to shock the audience you should at least have something to say. 3.2

Ubiquitous during summer 2000, two decades later this is both embarrassingly dated and still hilariously offensive. With Dr Dre at the height of his powers and Eminem's cute rhyming schemes, phrasing and lyrical obsessions sounding fresh, there was a lot to like here despite the content (e.g. "Kill You", "Stan", "Marshall Mathers", "Kim"; love 'em or hate 'em, they're great compositions). Docked at least a point for the incessant dumb homophobia, which reduces this to a time capsule rather than another classic Dre production

Heard before but not for ages. Trails off in second half when the nastiness stops being offset by the wit and intelligence that characterise the first half, and is just… grim. The guest spots and skits add very little too.

stripping away the veneer of shock rap reveals... a self-pitying, self-absorbed look at the music industry and life as a musician through the lens of an "outsider" in rap. some good messages and critiques of being an artist here but mostly whining. also repeatedly stating that your music is for edgy white high schoolers is kinda weird

The cruelty is here to titillate rather than disquiet, domestic violence for jollies. Shame, as this is often funny, replete with bold and bright hooks and textures, and Eminem’s voice moves like an F1 car at Monaco.

I can look past juvenile lyricism, violence, crude language if done cleverly. Hopefully as he gets older he can get more creative and lean on innuendo when needed. As a teenager though this is a pretty impressive record- oh wait, he was 27 when this was released?

Eminem, for all his notoriety, was THE rapper for white dudes in the early 2000s. He was up there with 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, and Jay-Z, and he was WHITE. I can't understate the race thing; in a genre built and dominated by black guys, Marshall Bruce Mathers III was this hardcore white guy who seemingly gave no fucks. Even years later, he's left an imprint on internet culture with the song "Stan" taking on new meaning. Dr. Dre is on production here so you know it's gonna be good. Eminem's lyrics are pretty hardcore for the sake of being edgy. I think at this point he knew his audience wanted shocking so he gave them lyrics that would scare parents, the same thing that worked for N.W.A. Only two reservations are the album length and the extent that Eminem is trying to be edgy. So by the time you hit the 11th track he's spewing homophobic shit and it's not even cool or funny, it just sucks. That's not trying to hold him accountable or anything, I just don't care much for the content. It didn't age poorly or like fine wine. The Marshall Mathers LP aged okay.

"nobody is excluded from my poking fun at. Nobody. I don't discriminate, I don't exclude nobody...If I do something fucked up, I'll make fun of myself - I'm not excluded from this..." Eminem. With that said, this was a difficult listen for me. I was in my mid teens when this album came out. My younger sister (13 at the time) was a fan and after hearing her crank The Real Slim Shady to 11 on repeat, I listened to the album myself. I was mortified. How the hell can someone record misogynistic, violent and homophobic lyrics and get away with being released?? Because, controversy sells. Retrospectively, it's still terrifying to listen to. There is a lot of dated references and cliched hip hop tropes ("mic check 1-2", name dropping, skits on albums). Instead of crossing the line between satirical and offensive, he pissed on the line while flipping the bird. The lyrics are definitely (a) offensive, even though you know the tracks were deliberately created to offend you (and now you're mad that you reacted the way you did), (b) darkly comic, (I didn't find it funny but I bet a small audience will) and (c) are a sharp jab at everyone and everything. Listen "The Way I Am" first, decide if you're prepared to hear more, then make your own conclusions. I won't be listening to this again, too many bad memories. As for you, brace yourself. Overall: 3/10

I loved this as a teenager. It's actually not very good. The bangers still slap sure, but the rest of the album kinda sucks.

He’s such a good writer and rapper… but he’s so angry and crass.

Hay un par de canciones que más o menos. Pero el resto me ha parecido hasta desagradable. Canciones gamberras de niño de instituto. Prescindible.

This dude is fucking obnoxious, always has been.

Listening to this makes me wish I had never been born.

Packed with trailer rage and raps like never before seen. An early and incredible success of an album. A modern version could cut out like 3 or 4 tracks, but it still slaps.

I really love the music Eminem makes, and this is no exception. It’s not something I’d listen to casually, except for a couple tracks. It’s also SO angry as to seem facetious and silly at times. I can’t tell if that was intentional.

I wonder why a couple of the tracks are unavailable on Spotify. Outdated lyrics? I expected this to sound much more "of its time", but nah. Still absolutely love it. A great intro to hip hop for a 12 year old middle class white boy, but I reckon there's something for everyone in here. Ending to Kim is still too grim to listen to. I always skip over it

Gets a little hard to listen to after a while but that's more of a matter of taste. I love a lot of tracks on here and the skits mixed in are hilarious, eminem is one of the greats

Always liked this album. Own it on vinyl

One of the best rap albums ever. I am definitely biased here, but it’s so good.

The Eminem Show was the album that got me into rap as an impressionable pre-teen, so I may be biased, but I still think that's the more consistent, better album and it's crazy that it hasn't made this list. Anyway, this one is close behind. He switches between so many voices (literally and figuratively) so effortlessly - the biggest singles (Stan, The Real Slim Shady, The Way I Am) sum up Eminem's depth, humour and anger respectively, and they all work equally well. There are undoubtedly lyrics on here that are genuinely problematic, but there are also a lot that aren't - they're cartoonishly OTT or satirical or playful -and that's why he gets away with the whole package, in my opinion. Every topic is pushed to its limits, but it's not *just* designed to shock - there's a lot of truth spoken too. So the lines between sincerity and facetiousness are blurred, which just makes the whole schtick (or is it...?!) very compelling. 4.5

Gawt dammit I actually really love this album.

Eminem. I really loved Eminem as a teenager, the Eminem Show is absolute genius. This album shows him on the way to that and it is a fantastic album but I think his style got cleverer with subsequent albums. This album is in places difficult to listen to but I do get the reasoning behind it all and I think it's very good. The political edge of Slim Shady is very interesting and this album seems to be wholly about Eminem attracting mainstream attention at being a white man rapping when his black contemporaries had been doing the same thing for ages sparks very true and is evident in the fact I loved Eminem and he made it so big in the UK when no one I knew of was listening to Dr Dre or anything similar.

Masterpiece

Classic and a great intro into Eminem.

Great album, goosebumps...

Sindssyg storytelling, rhyme-schemes, grænseoverskridende

9.5/10

Best Eminem album. He is at his insane, creative best here. Good beats. Good features.

Been a long time since I've listened to this one. Still got instant chills when the bells toll at the start of 'The Way I Am'. Forgot just how violent this album is though!

“Stan” is a storytelling masterpiece

Imprescindible de Eminem

this album is fucked up. 5 stars.

The lyrics are a lot more messed up than I remember, but this album slaps as hard as it did back in middle school. Another 5 for nostalgia.

Timeless hip hop album

It's Eminem, pretty much every person's stepping stone to hip hop and rap. Everyone knows at least a few songs on MMLP, The Real Slim Shady and Stan to name a couple. There are gems all around too, with Criminal, The Way I Am, and I'm Back being the most memorable. The production and the beats on this is fantastic and makes a whole album of a genre I'm not a fan of really enjoyable. It might not be one of those albums that can be played anywhere anytime, but it's definitely an essential listen.

Fuck yeah finally.

amazing storytelling

Old Eminem best Eminem, 100% goated

absolute classic. eminem was completely in his bag w this one

brabo

Album koji ću pamtit do kraja svog života. Legendaran album koji me je uveo u svijet hip hopa zajedno sa 50 Centovim GRODT. Znam da više govori nostalgija, al znači mi ovaj album puno i nisam mu mogao dati ispod petice. Jedino Ken Keniff smeta na albumu i Kim je scary, ovo ostalo - klasik. Bitch Please II mi je najslušanija sa albuma, znam svakog odglumit i odrepat. Who Knew isto, ma i Real Slim Shady, ma sve jebote. Ako se osvrnem ovako, rekao bih da je ovo njegov najbolji album. Šteta stvarno što nema da se rejta do desetke, jer ne bi bila čista desetka, al bi bila jaka devetka. Luka's ranking = MMLP > TES > SSLP > Relapse > Recovery >> Encore >>> ostatak.

violently beautiful

chaotic over-the-top horror

Favorite album

Stan is haunting and The Real Slim Shady is a classic. The rest don't even matter - those make it lights out.

Front to back a great album. (Minus the Ken Kaniff sketch)

Dit gaat toch een dikke 5 zijn