The Marshall Mathers

The release of The Marshall Mathers LP must have driven a whole bunch of Eminem-haters crazy because, with this second album, Eminem proved he was here to stay. In my opinion, this is the best of Eminem's first three albums, taking the rap and hip-hop up more than a few notches from the already lofty heights attained in The Slim Shady LP. This artist's unique personal flair really bursts forth here, giving us beats and rhymes much more complex and musically adept than what had come before. In addition, Eminem has by now thoroughly come into his own. He is intentionally courting controversy, daring his critics and those who would love to have him censored or simply locked away somewhere to step outside with everything they have. Those who will look underneath the violence and the swearing and the offensive remarks Eminem makes in his lyrics will find a deeply complex person with something important to say, a man who does, in his own special way, highlight the kind of real problems many young people face in the modern world, and the accusing fingers he points in all directions often serve to highlight the problems inherent in the individual and society itself. And, as he is wont to say, he is the only person brave enough to say these things. This album hits the floor running with Kill You, a track announcing to the world Eminem's confidence in himself and rejection of authority and criticism. This level of comfort and confidence proves a great boon to the next track Stan, a song in which he reverses roles and plays the innocent good guy who is too late to help a deeply troubled fan. Eminem marvels at his own stardom in Who Knew and Marshall Mathers, breaks the news to the Eminem-haters that I'm Back, and taunts them all, with a little help from RBX and Sticky Fingez, with the track Remember Me?. The Way I Am is an important song, as Eminem clearly understands that his public persona is not the real Marshall Mathers but is rather whatever the people think he is; to his critics, he will always be a subversive criminal corrupting the youth of America, but to his fans he is something much different. Songs like Amityville (featuring Bizarre from D-12) and ... Please II (with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit and Nate Dogg) raise the levels of violence and strong language up to a level that might not appeal to all Eminem fans, but the tracks are very well laid out. Criminal is the perfect ending to the album, a final statement about Eminem's nature and the interpretation of what he does by the public at large. However, the most important track on this second album, in many ways the song that made me a fan, is Kim. This track, a prequel to the first album's Bonnie and Clyde 97, is understandably controversial, seeing as how it is basically a fantasy about Eminem murdering his wife, but in a very, very strange way it is actually a love song of sorts. Few songs can rival it in terms of the immense power it communicates, especially toward the end when Eminem is basically shouting, letting go of all the betrayal and anger he feels inside. I am not really into rap and hip-hop in general, so it is difficult for me to review albums such as this. Beyond trying to communicate how incredible I think The Marshall Mathers LP is, the main point I would like to make is that no one should simply dismiss this music without listening to it for themselves. Many of those who objectively give Eminem a chance will still hate the guy, but it is much better to determine your own feelings first-hand as opposed to dissing the guy simply because you've heard he is violent and dangerous or because some group has labeled him a bad influence on young people.

Eminem is one cool white boy poet among rappers! Over the past few years, I've been avoiding these 'in your face','woman hater',nasty rapper boys and their songs. I'd heard the stock stuff that's been the popular rap fare on the radio, and saw my 'innocent' young boys (my sons, age 12 and 10) rocking to it, intoning the lyrics along with the nasty boy on the air at that moment: "shut up b...ch', 'I'm gonna slap you, h.!', etc. blah blah blah. I would inwardly frown, and try to keep my 'wet blanket' hostile attitude to myself! After all, I fancied myself a 'modern' Mom, who'd let her boys decide for themselves what music they like. I wasn't afraid it would 'turn them into' angry girl-haters or street thugs. I knew, and still believe, that, when they see a Mom who respects their freedom to hear whatever they like (ok, with a few lines in the sand, when they go totally overboard), and come to the best decison about women, violence, rebellion, and all! The key turning point, that made me decide to tune into Eminem, and see whether he actually has something good to offer with his stuff, that maybe, just maybe, has passion, soul, and POWER,(as any song that's heavy on sex and violence inevitably MUST also have, or else it becomes truly just angry junk food music), was my viewing of the movie "Scary Movie 3". Specifically, when I saw the white 'farm boy' rapper, who my boys told me was actually a parody of EMINEM, do his priceless 'rap' contest performance, then, I thought....This is totally cool! Let's buy an Eminem CD, and check out the boy! Well, it only took one spin of Tracks 1,2, and 3,(and one or two later tracks, with a twist on the same themes as the first 3 songs), with their amazing powerful tongue-in-cheek, SLAMMINGLY effective, simultaneous parody of self (Mr. Slim Shady),and the 'ladies' (girlfriend, husband-blaming, wallowing in victimhood, mother, who he wants to 'f..', or bossy ladies on the warpath, or music executives who want to 'silence' his music's soul, cause it's too full of anger at their greed and jaded materialism, and so tell him in bored, whiny voices to try to write stuff that 'sells'), to fall in love with this POET EXTRAORDINAIRE, and his lyrics, which do some heavy duty spittin' on ladies (and men), but also can end with a softly spoken, sweet "I'm just foolin' ladies! You know I love you". I knew at once that this young man moved me, and that he spoke to me as well as to the boys groovin' to his beat and his poetic honest, no b.s., lyrics! THIS IS ONE GENIUS THAT SHOWS WHAT RAP AT ITS BEST CAN BE, AND I AM HOOKED. I do laugh and shake my head, and cringe at times, when EMINEM spits out one or another line about his g.f. tied up in the trunk! But I also can't help but privately rock myself, and 'rap' with him, and say, keep on rocking Mr. Slim Shady...You got a soul, and you keep on sharing it with your generation, mine, and my kids' !!

Ik kreeg de plaat met 2 keer de zelfde plaat binnen. Dus 2x side A en B. Waardoor de album in kompleet was. Helaas terug gestuurd.

Super Schallplatte, gut verpackt und super Zustand

Entrega bem feito, disco bem embalado. Disco sensacional.

Cd arrived in a good condition. This is my favorite album of Eminem.

On the album cover and on the vinyl itself (Side B of the second vinyl) it lists the track "Kim" which is the album I grew up loving and the one I wanted. When I actually played it, it's a song called "The Kids", as Kim has been completely removed from the album. It doesn't state anywhere in the ad that it's the clean version, even has "explicit_lyrics" posted on the listing. So, extremely disappointed and feel deceived.