#145 Eminem, 'The Marshall Mathers LP' (2000)
Previously #244
With ‘The Slim Shady LP’ at #352, I expressed that that album was a problem for me due to Eminem, or rather, his alte ego, Slim Shady’s lyrics. On this, his third album, he’s still at it. Although, it starts off with a message to the likes of me and others “Slim Shady does not give a fuck what you think.” Fair enough. On ‘Kill You’ he raps about raping his own mother before threatening to kill her “Bitch I'ma kill you! Like a murder weapon, I'ma conceal you.” There’s the lyrics about Christiana Aguilera “Shit, Christina Aguilera better switch me chairs/So I can sit next to Carson Daly and Fred Durst/And hear 'em argue over who she gave head to first.” There’s the lyrics about JLo “Longer than the rumor that I was stickin' it to Christina/‘Cause if I ever stuck it to any singer in showbiz/It'd be Jennifer Lopez and Puffy, you know this/I'm sorry, Puff, but I don't give a fuck/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.” Just doesn’t sit right, whether it’s Eminem rapping about it, or his fictional alter-ego.
This album features ‘Stan,’ a song about a fanatic fanboy who gets upset that Eminem doesn’t return his letters and eventually murders his girlfriend (another case of violence against women). I still get goosebumps when Eminem gets to the end of the song and realises that the guy he saw on the news was his his fan, Stan. That song sampled Dido’s ‘Thank You’ and broke her into the market. That song was a massive high school song for me, constantly on MTV. I definitely remember illegally downloading it. Another majot song for me during that time was ‘The Real Slim Shady.’ Outside of the Christina lyrics, the song is pretty funny and the video was iconic. ‘The Way I Am’ and ‘Bitch Please II’ were also massive songs from this album and brought back a lot of memories. Like I said on the other record, Eminem is a talented rapper and producer, and Dr. Dre’s contributions to this record are also major but Eminem’s general persona is shit. The album sold 1.78m copies in its first week. In total, it’s sold over 21 million copies; one of the biggest selling records of all time. It was nominated for four Grammys, winning for Best Rap Album.
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