The devil on Em’s shoulder begs him to regress to his old days and skewer Lady Gaga, Beiber or some other helpless target. The album’s best track, “Evil Twin,” best depicts that story. It’s a perfect reflection of the creator itself – flawed but bursting with talent. MMLP2 is great but not the instant classic some are proclaiming. “Berzerk” is a nice throwback to The Beastie Boys but the shouty lyrics get old REAL fast, as does Rih-Rih’s cat-strangling hook on “Monster.” “Love Game,” featuring Kendrick Lamar, almost suffers the same fate – the “Game of Love” sample really clashes with the track – but in this case K-Dot and Em’s mind-bending verses win out. Why else would Em reference a six-year-old one-hit-wonder like “Lookin’ Boy?” It makes me wonder if this was originally planned for Dr. “Rap God” has been heralded as one of the year’s best tracks – and lyrically it’s in a class of its own. Too bad the production can’t always keep up. Lyrically, you won’t find a better album this year. He wishes death on his lady friends on “So Much Better,” starts randomly rapping like Yoda on “Rhyme or Reason” and outright calls himself a hypocrite on “A**hole”: “Sometimes I rhyme and it sounds/Like I forget I’m a father, and I push it farther/So father forgive me if I forget to draw the line.” Promising, to “love her from afar,” it’s shows that our Em has FINALLY grown up.Įminem also returns to the hilarious, and often self-deprecating rhymes that made him a cultural icon. What about those rhymes I’ve been jottin’Īnd on “Headlights,” Eminem even professes love for the greatest nemesis in his decades-long career, his mom. “Why bother even trying to put up a fight, it’s nonsenseīut I think a lightbulb just lit up in my conscience Here, he finally realizes that their sins against him lead to his success: As Em says, it’s a “Tragic portrait of an artist tortured/Trapped in his own drawings.” The evils of Em’s past have come back to haunt him, a realization he only came to with adulthood.Įm has more key epiphanies in “Legacy.” In past rhymes, Em has always been extremely bitter about his childhood, lashing out against those who hurt him. The album opens with “Bad Guy,” the continuation of Eminem’s phenomenal “Stan.” This time, Stan’s younger brother is out for revenge against Em, who unwittingly destroyed Stan’s family when he killed himself. Lyrics and concepts are where MMLP2 really shines. MMLP2 Em is stuck in a mid-life crisis, enjoying the fast life his talent got him but wise enough not to get completely sucked into fame.Īnd no matter which Em you’re discussing, one thing’s never been questioned – he’s one of the greatest lyricists of all time. He didn’t think he deserved the riches and fast cars. Think of it this way: MMLP1 Em was the self-loathing kid who was showered with praise but too self-conscious to accept it. But he’s still Em, still ridiculously immature. But 2013 Eminem is conflicted in a different way – anger has been replaced with confidence, wisdom and hindsight replace confusion and frustration. He was the personification of his core audience. In 2000, Eminem was angry, immature, confused and frustrated. The Eminem of 2013 is a completely different artist.Īnd that’s what makes MMLP2 such a satisfying sequel. But the Eminem who recorded the original MMLP – the guy who killed his girlfriend on wax and was stalked by a psycho fan – is merely a memory at this point. It’s been well over a decade since Em dropped arguably his strongest work – the album that truly made him a critical and commercial titan. I figured The Marshall Mathers LP 2 would be no different. In those cases, they have nothing in common with their predecessor, just leeching off the success of a superior work.
But most times in hip hop, sequel albums are sequels in name only. Hate them with a passion.īy definition, a sequel is a continuation of a previous story. The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (to be released Nov.