It's been quite a year for hip hop, Kanye and Kendrick Lamar have grabbed the headlines, Tyler, the Creator released the most underrated (and one of the best) records of 2013, A$AP Rocky and Joey Bada$$ proved to be than just about the $$$'s whilst Jay Z became the Coldplay of the genre with the mediocre Magna Carta Holy Grail. I've only just got over how insane Yeezus is and The Marshall Mathers LP 2 lands and I'm like 'wow'. I've always loved Eminem, from the moment of hearing My Name Is as a young teen, I've grown up with this rapper who changed music.Before you can understand The Marshall Mathers LP 2, the rappers eighth album but the follow up to his second release from 2000 you have to remember what Eminem has been through. It was 1999 when the white rapper broke into the mainstream from a genre with black culture and things have never the same. The bleached haired American acted like a bratty teen who was actually twenty seven, fueled by hate for his mother, absent father and wife but love for his daughter, late-Uncle, friends and the guy responsible for his career, Dr Dre showed that this potty mouthed and controversial artist wasn't completely cold-hearted.
His debut, The Slim Shady LP was groundbreaking but its followup was great. The Marshall Mathers LP included the stunning Stan. Eminem firmly put his foot into being something more than just a headline grabber with the perfect album, The Eminem Show (one of my favorite albums ever) but since then his releases have been good rather than great. The death of friends, fame and addictions to drugs including codeine have all hindered the rappers output and although non of the records, Encore, Relapse and Recovery were bad, they never hit the heavy heights of his early releases, well, no more addictions, a level head and he is back to his best.
On the records lead single, Bezerk the rapper announced he was taking hip hop back to the start and he certainly has done that. Although there is no Dr Dre on this LP production duties have comes from by himself and the legendary Rick Rubin on Shady's most diverse LP to date. Samples come from some unexpected places whilst lyrically he has never been so potent, clever and honest as he reflects on his own mistakes, both personal and musically with regret. He samples his own back-catalogue as the album takes so many twists and turns it is hard to keep up, I tried mapping all the references points in my head but the web get tangled as he criss-crosses through cultures.This is a very mature Marshall Mathers, you forget that he is forty one! Not only is he on top form with word play but the language he uses is almost child friendly! While Kanye and Jay Z still feel the need to be offensive with their vocab Eminem has metaphors that hit the mark so much harder. He hasn't given up at poking fun at figures in popular culture but that is all it is, a bit of fun, and those on the wrong end of the many punchlines are his contemporaries. There's no escaping his personal life stories either, Marshall's estranged father is the target on Rhyme Or Reason which samples The Zombies Time Of The Season whilst his mother receives an apology on the brutally honest Headlights, featuring Fun's Nate Ruess but the rapper takes constant digs at himself and his previous faults on Bad Guy and Legacy. An ex-girlfriend/wife (is it still Kim he lusts for?) gets a ribbing on So Much Better then there's the soppy ballad, Stronger Than I Was where Em has seen the light at the end of the tunnel that was formally blurred by sleeping pills and unhappiness. So Far is classic Eminem where he flips between light and shade on the top of Joe Walsh's Life's Been Good, it is tongue and cheek with sarcasm and humor fighting to be the main focal point.
Eminem might lack the hunger that he had on The Marshall Mathers LP but the creative freedom and a well-connected phonebook have allowed him to spread his wings, the pressure was off this time around. The collaborations have pushed the rappers boundaries, reconnecting with Rihanna (on the dark side of fame, Monster) and Skylar Grey (Hole) show that he can still cut it as a pop icon, man-of-the-year, Kendrick Lamar shines on Love Game whilst plucking Hackney's soulful Jamie N Commons out for country-tinged bonus track Desperation is a brilliant move but the most important inclusion on the rappers best album in years is Rick Rubin. It reads like the perfect wish list of collaborators.
The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is like an autobiography he digs up dirt from the years of as a troubled star with hunting out sympathy. Eminem has never been so sharp with lyrics, his flow has never felt so sick and the production so bold. If there will ever be a ninth LP it will have to be something special!
The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is out now.
