Review Summary: And the whole world watched as the Real Slim Shady stood up...
"So will the real Slim Shady please stand up? Please stand up, please stand up." And stand up he did. The Slim Shady LP was such a damn good album, so good it thrust Eminem into the public spotlight and never really took him out of it. It was daring, it was brave, it was bold, it was witty and clever, and it's everything great about the Marshall Mathers LP, which might be the best followup to a great album in hip-hop history, maybe even in music history. It took everything that worked about the Slim Shady LP and brought it to new, unforeseen, boundary-breaking heights practically unreached by other rappers. It's one of the most influential records ever made, if not one of the most intelligent.
1. Kill You - Right off the bat, Slim's not messing around. "B-tch, imma kill you, you don't wanna f-ck with me! B-itch, imma kill you! You don't wanna f-ck with Shadyyyy!" I can already hear all the terrified moms around the world squealing for little Timmy to turn off the radio... and all he does it turn it up. Slim's rapping to shock, to scare the masses, and he does so beautifully. The misogynic attitude against women is kind of uncomfortable, but I can totally respect Eminem for daring to scare the public. It's a hell of a good start, 4/5.
2. Stan - A literal masterpiece. Do I really need to describe why Stan works? It's a seven-minute epic and a Hamilton-like testament to rap as an art form, critics be damned. 6/5.
3. The Way I Am - This is Em's darkest song yet, and it shows: it's angsty, it's edgy, it's blunt, it feels like he's baring his soul for all of us to see, and the hardcore hip-hop beat in the background highlights this perfectly. It has maybe the best line in the entire record: "Since birth I've been cursed with this curse to just curse". You can feel the weight of fame and success start to weigh him down, and it's such a cool glimpse into what he's really like behind all the bravado. 5/5.
4. The Real Slim Shady - Please stand up! Everyone knows this song, and when it started recently trending on Tiktok, I was reminded of just how fun and bouncy the song is. The synth beat in the background is silly, simple, and fun, and the hook just makes you wanna rap along. It's the perfect mix of silly, edgy, and sly, and it's easy to see why this was the biggest hit of the whole LP. 5/5.
5. Marshall Mathers - Slim Shady LP's "If I Had" was dark and reflective, a weird dip from the usual tone of the LP, but it's one that I respected tremendously. "Marshall Mathers" is basically the sadder, more atmospheric sequel to "If I Had", with an acoustic guitar featured throughout the song before launching into an unexpected, awesome guitar solo at the end that just kinda brings it all home. It's confessional and vulnerable like "The Way I Am", but it's a lot less aggressive, more held-back and philosophical. I really like whenever Eminem shows us this side of him. 5/5.
6. Amityville - I really like the old-school hip-hop beat on this song (fun fact: it samples a classic 70's drum beat by The Power of Zeus) and Eminem's verse is fun, but I feel like the pointless guest verse kinda drags the song down. I feel like Bizarre was only put on this track because he's friends with Eminem and because of his comparative rapping skills. His mumbling doesn't drag the song down, but it's a shame that it kinda wastes one of the best beats on the album on this guy half of the time. 3.5/5.
7. Kim - Holy sh-t, this song is INTENSE. I actually feel like describing why it works and what makes it so hard-hitting would spoil the surprise if you haven't listened to it. If you haven't - do so now. There is nothing like the stories in songs like 'Kim' and 'Stan', and just goes to show how Eminem was out to send a message, not just make another typical album. 5/5.
8. Criminal - I *love* the beat on this song, and the third verse in Criminal f-cking SLAPS. You could not have ended this album on a better possible note than Eminem rapid-fire rapping about a botched robbery that results in him shaving his balls, clucking like a chicken, and murdering a puppy. It's the peak of delusional, Slim Shady-induced sanity, and it's five minutes of gleeful, twisted delight full of clever internal rhymes and a sick beat. (Fun fact: Ed Sheeran 'rapped' - translated: pathetically choked out - the third verse of this song on an interview, making an ass of his ginger self in the process). 5/5.
Now, one thing I will say about the MMLP is that I tend to skip more songs on here than I do the SSLP. I don't care much about songs like "Drug Ballad", "Who Knew", and "I'm Back" even if there's at least one good verse in each of these songs - which is way more than you can claim for your average, modern Soundcloud rapper - but the songs with guest artists just don't really do anything for me. I don't even *know* who the other two dudes present on "Remember Me?" even
are, which kinda defeats the purpose of the song - like, dude, I don't remember who you are at all! And as cool of a lineup as Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit and Nate Dogg sounds (literally sounds like an award-winning mix), I just sorta tune out and skip it around the midpoint. "Under the Influence" is probably the best guest song on this record, featuring Eminem's rap band D12 - but even then, I feel like Em just obliterates everyone else with his lyrical prowess and his sick, multisyllabic flow.
But in spite of this, I'm confident in saying that MMLP is distinctly better. Why? Because the best tracks on this record are *actually* that good. This entire record is an emotional rainbow - it goes from silly to dark to sociological to downright vulnerable in the span of 72 banger minutes, and only someone with a prodigious mind like Marshall Mathers could pull it off so well. In "Marshall Mathers", Em raps: "You see I'm just Marshall Mathers. I'm just a regular guy, I don't know why all the fuss about me." An honest, surprisingly vulnerable statement to make... but let's be honest. He knew, and we still know, exactly what all the fuss was about him... and the MMLP is the greatest symbol of exactly why he became a household name in such a short amount of time.
FAVORITE SONGS:
Stan
Criminal
The Real Slim Shady
Marshall Mathers
