Issue #58-A: Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP

Released:  May 23rd, 2000

Recorded:  August 1999 – April 2000

Genre:  Hip-Hop, Hardcore Hip-Hop

Record Label:  Aftermath / Interscope / Shady

Duration:  72:14

Producers:  The 45 King, Bass Brothers, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mel-Man

Personnel

Track Listing

Singles

Why The Marshall Mathers LP is One of My Favorites

I have been practically foaming at the mouth to get to The Marshall Mathers LP.  I didn’t listen to a whole lot of rap, but this album was right up there with my very favorites, right there with the ranks of Korn, Antichrist Superstar, Mellon Collie, The Downward Spiral…this was absolutely unbelievable when I first heard it and it’s still a damn awesome listen 15 years later.

I don’t exactly remember what prompted me to buy this CD.  I got it while it was still fairly new, meaning I was about 15, which was right about the age where I put Manson above all else.  I suspect that the reference to Manson (“and they blame it on Marilyn” from “The Way I Am”) was enough to push me over the edge, admit that this was some rap I thought was cool, and openly embrace it.  A few issues back I covered The Slim Shady LP – it’s a strong album on its own, but nobody could’ve predicted Em’s maturation and refinement over the next.  To put it succinctly, The Marshall Mathers LP is everything that’s good about rap, and nothing that isn’t.

The songs here are still outlandish and extreme, but they’re not as goofy and cartoony as those on the previous album.  Marshall Mathers carries much more gravity, primarily focusing on his rising fame post-“My Name Is,” issues with his mom and wife/ex-wife/whatever, and fatherhood, touching much less on issues of poverty and growing up in the trailer park.  And again, he continually reiterates that he says offensive stuff for shock value, specifically to make people mad, and again, he’s accused of being damn near psychotic.  His flow is at its peak, and no matter what anyone else says about Biggie, Pac, Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, or anyone else, Eminem is light years beyond any of them with his use of wordplay and complex rhyming schemes.  Like Slim Shady, what I find remarkable is how easily it seems to come forth; a lot of rappers do what they do and it’s all fine and well, but Eminem truly displays a talent for the art, and nowhere is it more evident than right here on this album.

The beats on Slim Shady were serviceable, if not slightly antiquated.  Marshall Mathers has a much more updated sound, and the more mature beats reflect his growth as an artist and performer.  Many of them still have a playfulness, and they’re also better tailored to Em’s rapping style than those on the previous record.  Guest appearances are kept to a minimum (as they should be) and allow Em to really shine.  Even at over 70 minutes, there are no overwhelmingly weak tracks here.

What I love most about The Marshall Mathers LP is that it demonstrates rap as an art and a craft, not as a cultural phenomenon.  It’s an unbelievably amazing portrayal of how far rap can be taken as an artform.  I don’t know if Eminem intended it is such, but his rapping isn’t as simple as an expression or catharsis, they’re a near-perfect condensation of the technical elements that make rap what it is.

I’m not going to go through every single track, but I have a few favorites that I really want to touch on individually; there’s so much to say, and so much I can’t put into words.

“Kill You,” the album’s first proper track, takes on a spartan beat in order to give us a full does of Em’s capabilities.  He starts, stops, rolls, and flies straight through this song, like the toppling of an intricately designed set of dominoes.  The way that he bounces through imaginary conversations and lays on the braggadocio with his eloquent use of vulgarity is jaw dropping.  The entire song is dripping with some of his most clever rhymes to date: “Oh now he’s raping his own mother / abusin’ a whore / snortin’ coke / and we gave him the Rolling Stone cover!”  I don’t know how he puts all this together in his head but it is fucking brilliant.

“Stan” got played to death, but it’s still another of the album’s highlights.  It’s obvious that Eminem is being about as genuine as it gets here.  He’s had to have read thousands of not just fan letters, but crazy fan letters to nail down these lyrics so well.  It’s a great topic for a song, especially during this period where Em is obviously uncomfortable with his popularity and how others now see him.  My favorite sort of rap songs are the type that tell a story, and “Stan” does so flawlessly.

“The Way I Am” contains one of the strongest beats on the record.  It’s a little dark; the chimes and/or bells add just the right amount of texture to it, and there’s a little offbeat shuffle with the “shh shh” noises that work really well with Em’s flow on this one.  He hits on an almost hypnotic rhythm during the verses, landing each and every word exactly where it needs to be, executing all manner of alliteration, consonance, and assonance to build something that sounds so much simpler than it really is, yet wouldn’t be the same if any one thing was missing.

“Marshall Mathers” can be a little jarring at first, but I like how Em decided to outside the lines a bit and create what amounts to a “hip-hop ballad” in the chorus.  Humor is laced throughout, though ultimately this is his angsty rant against the status quo, against the typical squeaky clean image, against the superficiality of mainstream culture.  His music might be rap, yet it’s songs like this that touch on Eminem’s rock ‘n’ roll spirit.  At various points on the album he lashes out against “the system,” which is something that I think really spoke to a whole demographic of listeners who were uninterested in life on the streets and 4 minute ego trips.  For hip-hop’s general ethos surrounding “being real,” it’s shocking how shallow and fake it looks against the cut and dry topics that Eminem brings to the table.

“Drug Ballad” is track 13, and it borrows the beat from The Slim Shady LP’s “Cum on Everybody,” also track 13.  Well, “Drug Ballad” does sound a little different, but the beats are pretty damn close as I’m sure was the intention.  This track is purely for fun; I would say it’s got some of Em’s best rapping but by saying one thing is the best, I’m implying that “the rest” isn’t quite as good.  Anyway, “Drug Ballad” is another example of his calculated flow and expert wordplay, not to mention a lot of it is really funny: “Back when Mark Wahlberg was ‘Markie Mark'” and “…but you’re on it too / so you tell me you love me too / wake up in the mornin’ like / ‘yo, what the fuck we do?'” and “In 3rd grade all I used to do / was sniff glue through a tube / and play Rubik’s CUBE /” are just a few of my favorite moments.

“Kim” is pretty much guaranteed to offend any female within ear shot, and several males as well during this era of increasing hypersensitivity.  Regardless, this is a fucking amazing track, and more credit to Eminem for having the balls to go ahead and stick it on the album.  Anyone taking it seriously is an idiot; clearly if he had plans to pull of something like this he wouldn’t put it on a record available for millions, tens of millions of people to buy.  It’s cathartic, it’s him working out his frustration through art, same as everyone else does, it just happens to be a little extreme.  And not only that, but he’s extremely convincing, which is what makes the track both disturbing and mind-blowing at the same time.

“Criminal” closes The Marshall Mathers LP and addresses his detractors about his offensive and confrontational lyrics.  Again, this is a testament to Eminem’s lyrical mastery.  As politically incorrect as it may be, he pretty much lays it all out right at the beginning, starting with, “my words are like a dagger with a jagged edge…”  Naturally people point to the word “fag” or “homo” being thrown around, even mere seconds after he explained away his apparently tasteless humor.  People only hear what they want I suppose.  Bottom line?  That entire opening line is brilliant.

Unfortunately, those of us who got the actual, uncensored version of the album missed out on “The Kids,” which I really wish was somehow included on the the release.  (I do think it’s on the bonus CD on the reissue at least.)  South Park was at its apex at the time, and Em largely uses an imitation of these characters’ voices to tell the story.  Dated South Park stuff aside, it’s one of the funniest pieces he’s ever put out.  “And that’s the story of Zack, the ecstasy maniac…” gives me a laugh every time, as does the rest of the song.

One of the great things about Marshall Mathers is that it’s funny without becoming novelty.  It’s the kind of stuff I can laugh at over and over again.  “Who Knew” and “Amityville” stand out as particularly funny as well.  Naturally the pop culture references will fall by the wayside eventually, but they’ll hold up for a while.  It’s also the kind of record to have fun with, or to really pay attention to, or to get a little crazy with in the car.  It entertains on base levels with vulgarity and directness, but also on more creative and artistic fronts with its complex rhyming schemes.  And it’s Eminem’s indisputable talent that makes it all possible.

It’d be easy for a record like this to fall flat; it goes outside of what’s normally expected of rap, and a clever record with different subject matter from gangs and bitches and money might’ve had trouble finding an audience.  But the fact is that Em’s skills could make anything sound good – not only were we to have the pleasure of enjoying these skills, but we also get the musical stylings of rap in a whole new package and ultimately it was both of these that made this record such a sweeping success.

I may not connect with The Marshall Mathers LP on an emotional or even philosophical level like some of my other favorites, but it is one of the most purely entertaining pieces of music I’ve ever delved into.  We’ve all heard great guitar players and we’ve all heard beautiful singers, but every now and then something really surprises us.  Something is so much better than what came before it that it changes the way everything else looks.  This is what happened with me, Eminem, and rap.  It became such an experience to hear music like this simply because I’d never heard anything like it before.  Too many people are scared to say that the best rapper ever is white; I’d really love to know how the world would’ve perceived his abilities had he been black or even another minority, all else being equal.

I stick with Eminem’s music pretty closely after getting hooked on Marshall Mathers.  Slim Shady was my next stop, and while it’s also a pretty significant display of talent, there was no way to fathom what would come next.  As time ebbed on I made sure to get The Eminem Show, and the later Encore, but neither of them quite hit what this record did.  I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but there’s a spark missing from these works, a magic that was not to be recaptured.  These albums weren’t bad, but they weren’t Marshall Mathers.  After that I sort of lost touch with what Eminem was up to, but seeing that there’s a Marshall Mathers LP 2 definite piques my interest…

Written by The Cubist

Other albums from Eminem in this series:

• 1999 – The Slim Shady LP – Issue #53

Back to The Cubist’s 90’s Albums

Written by The Cubist

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