Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP 2

There isn’t a poor track on MMLP2 and it seems like Eminem has finally recovered from his poor albums during his drug- riddled days. Highlights include the very first epic track Bad Guy where Em continues on from Stan as Stan’s little brother planning a diabolical revenge against his former hero. Em screams I’m here on this track and he’s back to his best. Rap God is one of the best tracks, it matches his superb lyrical wordplay with trap beats produced by DVLP, even if it is slightly homophobic. But who else could rhyme

“so you be Thor, and I’ll be Odin, you rodent, I’m omnipotent
Let off then I’m reloading immediately with these bombs I’m ‘toting
And I should not be be woken, I’m the walking dead, but I’m just a walking zombie floating
But I got your mom deep throating”.

Like, seriously who else could write that. His flow is outstanding on this track and his lyrical acrobatics throughout, including the 100 words in 16 seconds, prove he deserves to be considered as one of the G.O.A.T

MMLP2 sounds slightly different as Dre takes a backseat and producer of the year Rick Rubin brilliantly brings Em into the next stage of his career. Together they create music that combines old with the new. Rubin seems to have learnt from his experience on Yeezus as he takes many risks and samples tracks that people would’t associate with rap music on MMLP2. It works though and satisfies on a nostalgic level taking us back to old times.

However, this nostalgia sometimes saturates MMLP2 as Eminem revisits themes that he has gone over time and time again. How many times can you rap about Kim being dead ? Monster just feels like Love the way you lie pt 9. And honestly, I’m back again fuck you haters is basically every Em album. He is the anti-hero that everyone loved to hate. But after 17 years in the game and 8 albums it would be nice for a little diversion

Eminem suffers from his own success, because this isn’t a bad album it’s very good, but its nowhere near as good as the 1st MMLP. None of these songs would be in Eminem’s top 10. The problem about this album is essentially that it was a sequel. The hype on this album was massive because it suggested that he would reach the heights of past times. But, ultimately it significantly underwhelms. It feels like something is missing and unfortunately doesn’t reach the levels were accustomed to. It seems like Eminem doesn’t haven’t the tribulations he had when he was younger that fuelled his rap game and because of that the fire isn’t there

Lyrically, Eminem is an absolute beast and could destroy anyone who would even consider that that were better than him. He firmly establishes himself in the upper echelons of hip hop with a solid album. He is the only rapper to come out above Kendrick after Control as he raps “why be a King if you can be a God”
However, it isn’t as good as good as it could be. The marketing of the album was perfect and the fact that it was a sequel was brilliant without hindsight. But The Album doesn’t live up to expectations unfortunately and even though its a good album I expect better from Em.