EMINEM

THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP 2 (Aftermath Entertainment / Shady Records / Interscope)

12/20

There are 22 tracks on this LP. Almost all are over four minutes long and there are  few collaborations. For a major label rap record coming from someone who has been relentlessly accused of commercialisation, it’s pretty fucking exciting. And there are moments where that excitement is justified. 

The second proper track Rhyme Or Reason is a really good sounding Eminem song. He does a Yoda impression, he has a go at his dad and talks about murder in that squirrelly, overwrought voice that’d concern your parents while you were glued to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. There’s an overtone of nostalgia to MMLP2 which gives ammo to his critics, but lifts the record with an undeniable sense of fun. On Brainless, the chainsaw-bearing bleach-blonde screwball from 1999 jitters and snaps off of a theatrical and hammy production. Yet a problem Eminem now faces is that his flow is so distinctive that it’s hard to place it in the modern day. Rap God sounds like some kind of mash-up where an old Eminem vocal recording is uncomfortably placed on top of a more contemporary beat, and he doesn’t help himself by referencing Monica Lewinsky.

In terms of collaborations, MMLP2 peaks with the Kendrick Lamar featuring highlight Love Game, and then it hits a low on Headlights, which features a hook from Nate Ruess, the lead singer of the unbearably cheesy indie pop outfit FUN. It’s a very strange dichotomy for Eminem – juggling radio-friendly collaborations and a reputation for the most risqué lyricism on the map. And here he finds himself in a bizarre, but not completely unentertaining halfway house.

Marshall Mathers LP2 doesn’t totally fail in resurrecting some of Eminem’s waining relevance. And in a way, it’s nicer to hear an established artist prove they’ve still got their original weapons than it is to hear them hop on 2013-By-Numbers stylings that came through on Magna Carta Holy Grail. The right things stick after listening to MMLP2 – Eminem’s flow is truly unmistakable, there is still a place for tongue-in-cheek irreverence from people not wearing t-shirts with cats on them and whatever Marshall Mathers had in the first place is still, at some level, here.

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Words: Duncan Harrison