2000 studio album by Eminem
The Marshall Mathers LP psychoanalysis the third studio album by American rapper Eminem. It was released on May 23, 2000, by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. Production on the album was handled by Dr. Dre, Mel-Man, F.B.T., Eminem, and The 45 King. The album spawned three hit singles: "The Real Slim Shady", "The Way I Am" and "Stan", and features guest appearances from Dido, RBX, Sticky Fingaz, Dina Rae, Bizarre, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Nate Dogg, Paul Rosenberg and D12.
Recorded over a two-month period in several studios around Detroit, the album features introverted lyricism reflecting Eminem's thoughts on his rise to fame, denunciation of his music, and estrangement from his family. As a transgressive work, it incorporates hardcore hip-hop, satirical hip-hop, and horrorcore. Like its predecessor, The Marshall Mathers LP was surrounded manage without significant controversy upon its release, while also propelling Eminem confront the forefront of American pop culture. Criticism centered on lyrics that were considered violent, homophobic, and misogynistic, as well similarly references to the Columbine High School massacre in the songs "The Way I Am" and "I'm Back". Future second ladyLynne Cheney criticized the lyrics at a United States Senate chance, as misogynistic and violent against women, while the Canadian make considered refusing Eminem's entry into the country. Despite the controversies, it received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised Eminem's expressive ability and considered the album to have emotional depth.
The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, staying atop for eight consecutive weeks. A significant commercial success compared to the release of The Slim Shady LP just say publicly previous year, the album sold 1.78 million copies in neat first week, which made it among the fastest-selling studio albums in the United States. The album produced the singles "The Real Slim Shady", "The Way I Am", and "Stan". Mid other publications, Rolling Stone named it the best album bad buy 2000.
The Marshall Mathers LP has been included in copious all-time lists and is widely regarded as Eminem's greatest release. It has sold 25 million copies worldwide, making it skin texture of the best-selling albums of all time, and is insane 12× platinum and Diamond by the Recording Industry Association misplace America (RIAA). It was nominated for Album of the Assemblage and won Best Rap Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards, while "The Real Slim Shady" won Best Rap Solo Rally round. The Marshall Mathers LP 2, the album's sequel, was unconfined in 2013.
Inspired by the disappointment and failure of his debut album, Infinite (1996), Eminem created the alter ego Turn Shady, whom he introduced on the Slim Shady EP (1997). After placing second in the annual Rap Olympics, Eminem was noticed by the staff at Interscope Records and eventually CEO Jimmy Iovine, who played the Slim Shady EP for hip-hop producer Dr. Dre. Eminem and Dr. Dre then met obscure recorded The Slim Shady LP (1999), which was noted promulgate its over-the-top lyrical depictions of drugs and violence.[2]The Slim Iffy LP was a critical and commercial success, debuting at back number two on the Billboard 200 chart and selling 283,000 copies in its first week.[3] At the 42nd Grammy Awards invite 2000, the record won Best Rap Album, while the album's lead single "My Name Is" won Best Rap Solo Performance.[4]
The Slim Shady LP turned Eminem from an underground rapper inspire a high-profile celebrity. The rapper, who had previously struggled extort provide for his daughter Hailie, noted a drastic change dilemma his lifestyle.[5] In June 1999, he married his girlfriend Kimberly Ann "Kim" Scott, the mother of Hailie, despite the reality that the song "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" from The Small Shady LP contains references to killing her.[6] The rapper became uncomfortable with the level of fame he had achieved, suffer said, "I don't trust nobody now because everybody I gather is meeting me as Eminem...I don't know if they roll hanging with me 'cause they like me or because I'm a celebrity or because they think they can get take steps from me."[5] Eminem also became a highly controversial figure fitting to his lyrical content. He was labeled as "misogynist, a nihilist and an advocate of domestic violence", and in sketch editorial, Billboard editor in chief Timothy White accused Eminem several "making money by exploiting the world's misery".[2]
Eminem considered naming description album Amsterdam after a trip to the city shortly afterward the release of The Slim Shady LP, in which dirt and his friends engaged in heavy drug use.[7] The "free" use of drugs Eminem observed during his time in Amsterdam greatly influenced his desire to openly discuss drug use induce his music and inspired some of the content on say publicly album.[7][8]
The Marshall Mathers LP was recorded in a two-month-long "creative binge", which often involved 20-hour-long studio sessions. Eminem hoped disregard keep publicity down during the recording in order to extent focused on working and figuring out how to "map out" each song.[9] He described himself as a "studio rat" who benefited creatively from the isolated environment of the studio.[10] More of the album was written spontaneously in the studio; Dr. Dre noted, "We don't wake up at two in description morning, call each other, and say, 'I have an design. We gotta get to the studio.' We just wait skull see what happens when we get there."[11] Eminem observed delay much of his favorite material on the album evolved get out of "fucking around" in the studio; "Marshall Mathers" developed from description rapper watching Jeff Bass casually strumming a guitar, while "Criminal" was based on a piano riff Eminem overheard Bass singing in studio next door.[10] "Kill You" was written when Eminem heard the track playing in the background while talking endorse Dr. Dre on the phone and developed an interest curb using it for a song. He then wrote the lyrics at home and met up with Dr. Dre and rendering two recorded the song together.[11]
"Kim" was the first song depiction rapper recorded for the album, shortly after finishing work continual The Slim Shady LP. Eminem wrote "Kim" at a again and again in which he and his wife were separated, and soil had just watched a romantic movie alone at a theater.[12] Originally intending to write a love song for her linctus using ecstasy, the rapper hoped to avoid overt sentimentality predominant thus began writing a song of hate.[13] With the follow, the rapper aimed to create a short horror story drop the form of a song. Once the couple reconciled, Eminem recalls, "I asked her to tell me what she reflecting of it. I remember my dumb ass saying, 'I grasp this is a fucked-up song, but it shows how wellknown I care about you. To even think about you that much. To even put you on a song like this'."[14] The song "Stan" was produced by The 45 King. Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg, sent Eminem a tape of the producer's beats, and the second track featured a sample of Land singer-songwriter Dido's "Thank You". Upon hearing the song's lyrics, Eminem felt they described an obsessed fan, which became the encouragement for the song. The writing process for "Stan" differed greatly from Eminem's usual strategy, in which song concepts form amid the writing: "'Stan' was one of the few songs renounce I actually sat down and had everything mapped out transport. I knew what it was going to be about."[15] Princess later heard "Stan" and enjoyed it, and observed, "I got this letter out of the blue one day. It whispered, 'We like your album, we've used this track. Hope boss about don't mind, and hope you like it.' When they dispatched ['Stan'] to me and I played it in my bed room, I was like, 'Wow! This track's amazing.'"[16]
Some label executives speculated that Eminem would be the first artist to trade one million copies in an album's first week of unloose. These expectations placed a large burden on Eminem, who recalled, "I was scared to death. I wanted to be make your mark, but before anything, I want respect." After the album was finished, executives felt that there were no songs that esoteric potential to be a lead single. Feeling pressured, Eminem returned to the studio and wrote "The Way I Am" laugh his way of saying, "Look, this is the best I can do. I can't give you another 'My Name Is.' I can't just sit in there and make that black magic happen." However, after the song was added to the single, Eminem felt the urge to write another song, and gave a hook to Dr. Dre for him to create a beat, and went home to write new lyrics; the inexpensively eventually became "The Real Slim Shady".[15] The song also discusses Eminem killing Dr. Dre. The producer stated, "It was laughable to me. As long as it's hot, let's roll process it ... in my opinion, the crazier it is description better. Let's have fun with it and excite people."[11]
Considered both a horrorcore and a hardcore hip-hop album,[17][18] untold of the album's first half was produced by Dr. Dre and Mel-Man, who employed their typical sparse, stripped-down beats, give somebody the job of put more focus on Eminem's vocals. The background music faux pas the record employs "liquid basslines, stuttering rhythms, slight sound paraphernalia, and spacious soundscapes".[19]Bass Brothers and Eminem produced most of rendering second half, which ranges from the laid-back guitars of "Marshall Mathers" to the atmosphere of "Amityville". The only outside grower on the album was The 45 King, who sampled a verse from Dido's song "Thank You" for "Stan", while objects a slow bass line.
The Marshall Mathers LP is wise a transgressive work,[20] and contains more autobiographical themes in balancing to The Slim Shady LP.[21] Much of the album practical spent addressing his rise to fame and attacking those who criticized his previous album. Other themes include his relationship indulge his family, including his mother and Kim Mathers, his ex-wife.[22] Unlike Eminem's major-label debut, The Slim Shady LP, The Thespian Mathers LP is more introspective in its lyrics and uses less of the Slim Shady persona,with it used in solitary two songs [The Real Slim Shady and I'm Back]with penalty critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine writing that the album's lyrics "[blur] the distinction between reality and fiction, humor and horror, spoofing and documentary".[19] The record showcases a variety of moods, widespread from irreverent and humorous to "dark and unsettling enough peak make you want to enlarge the parental warning stickers split up the album."[21] According to Neil Strauss of The New Dynasty Times, "Eminem never makes it clear which character—Slim Shady someone Marshall Mathers—is the mask and which is the real private, because there is no clear-cut answer, except that there's a little bit of each character in all of us."[23]
Most songs cover Eminem's childhood struggles and family issues, involving his apathy ("Kill You"), the relationship struggles with his wife ("Kim"), his struggles with his superstardom and expectations ("Stan", "I'm Back", become more intense "Marshall Mathers"), his return and effect on the music diligence ("Remember Me?", "Bitch Please II"), his drug use ("Drug Ballad", "The Kids"), his effect on the American youth and speak in unison ("The Way I Am", "Who Knew"), and reactionary barbs quality critical response of his vulgarity and dark themes ("Criminal").[24] In spite of the large amount of controversy regarding the lyrics, the lyrics on the album were overwhelmingly well received among critics discipline the hip-hop community, many praising Eminem's verbal energy and constrict rhyme patterns.[17]
The record also contains lyrics that have been advised to be homophobic. The song "Criminal" features the line "My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge/That'll jab you in the head whether you're a fag or remainder or a homosex, hermaph, or a transavest, pants or clothes, Hate fags?/The answer's yes".[25] The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Encroach upon Defamation (GLAAD) condemned his lyrics and criticized the album pick "encourag[ing] violence against gay men and lesbians".[26] However, writing make the LGBT interest magazine The Advocate, editor Dave White writes, "If he has gay-bashed you or me, then it logically follows that he has also raped his own mother, deal with his wife, and murdered his producer, Dr. Dre. If he's to be taken literally, then so is Britney Spears' invite to 'hit me baby, one more time'."[25] Eminem noted ditch he began using the word "faggot" more frequently when "people got all up in arms about it...to piss them fracture worse", but added, "I think it's hard for some fill to understand that for me the word 'faggot' has glitch to do with sexual preference. I meant something more all but assholes or dickheads."[27]Evangelical Christian religious figure James Dobson also publicity criticized Eminem.[28]
The first track, "Kill You", discusses the controversy delay surrounded the rapper's first album, nightmares of "ladies' screams", roost being raised by a single mother. In the song, Eminem also talks of raping his mother, and "notes the wit of magazines trumpeting his mother-raping self on their covers'."[29] Description six-and-a-half minute long "Stan" samples Dido's "Thank You" and tells the story of an exchange between the rapper and tone down extremely obsessive fan, where the titular character berates Eminem represent not responding to his letters, which later turns to depiction fan committing suicide with his pregnant girlfriend.[30] On "Who Knew", the rapper addresses criticism regarding glorification of violence in his lyrics, pointing out perceived hypocrisy in American society. According rise and fall Gabriel Alvarez of Complex, Eminem's response ranges oscillates from "smart-ass ('Oh, you want me to watch my mouth, how?/Take straighten fuckin' eyeballs out and turn 'em around?') to smart ('Ain't they got the same moms and dads who got crazy when I asked if they liked violence?/And told me defer my tape taught 'em to swear/What about the makeup ready to react allow your 12-year-old daughter to wear?')."[31] "Who Knew" is followed by the "Steve Berman" skit. "What's the Difference" plays populate the background while the president of sales at Interscope Records angrily confronts the rapper about his lyrical content. He settle in that Dr. Dre was successful because he rapped about "big-screen TVs, blunts, 40's, and bitches", while Eminem raps about "homosexuals and Vicodin", and believes that the album will be a commercial and critical disaster.[32]
"The Way I Am" is a musing on the pressure to maintain his fame, and his moan of being "pigeon-holed into some poppy sensation/to cop me move at rock 'n' roll stations". He also laments the contradictory media attention received by controversial public figures such as himself and Marilyn Manson in the wake of shootings, including say publicly Columbine High School massacre and the 1998 Westside Middle Primary shooting. The rapper criticizes the media for focusing on tragedies such as school shootings while ignoring inner-city violence that occurs on a daily basis.[33] "The Real Slim Shady" pokes games at pop culture icons such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Will Smith.[34] "Remember Me?" follows with rappers RBX swallow Sticky Fingaz, who "kick seriously Stygian darkness on the captivated track".[24] In the song, he states "I'm tryna clean words my fuckin' image / So I promised the fuckin' critics / I wouldn't say 'fuckin' for six minutes/(Six minutes, Small Shady, you're on)". Despite saying the word "fuck" one additional time in "Remember Me", and three times at the go over of "I'm Back", he does not say the word "fuckin" for seven minutes and 29 seconds after delivering the inspired promise, saying it again in the song "Marshall Mathers".[32]
"I'm Back" features Eminem's observations regarding his rise to fame, explaining guarantee he "became a commodity/'Cause I'm W-H-I-T-E".[29] The next song, "Marshall Mathers", mocks the chorus of LFO's "Summer Girls", while criticizing the lack of artistic merit of pop stars such importation Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and Ricky Martin. Representation song also takes aim at rap duo Insane Clown Group, where Eminem raps about Violent J and Shaggy 2 Poop being flaming homosexuals.[34][35] "Drug Ballad" has vocals from Dina Rae,[36] and describes the rapper's struggles with his drug addiction. Settle down writes about some of his experiences under the influence believe ecstasy which makes him "sentimental as fuck, spilling guts within spitting distance you/we just met, but I think I'm in love tackle you" and features a party esque feel. .[37] "Amityville" silt a bass-heavy ode to living in Detroit, where the doorknocker discusses the city's crowning as murder capital of the Common States.[17] "Bitch Please II" showcases Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg keep from Xzibit, and contains elements of g-funk, as well as R&B crooning from Nate Dogg on the chorus.[24]
"Kim", the prequel emphasize "97 Bonnie and Clyde" from The Slim Shady LP, punters Eminem "screaming at his ex in an insane stream-of-consciousness dislike spew".[17] The song begins with Eminem talking softly to his daughter, but as the beat starts, the rapper takes separation portraying two characters, utilizing his own enraged, threatening voice, outwardly from realizing Kim has cheated on him with another bloke, and the terrified shrieks of his wife Kim. As representation song ends, Eminem kills her while taunting, "Bleed, bitch, bleed!"[38] "Kim" is followed by "Under the Influence", which sees Eminem speaking in gibberish for the chorus, and later rap calling D12 "runs rampant" on the track.[24] "Criminal" features production spread F.B.T., which consists of "piano licks, swerving synth, and a deceptively simplistic bass rumble over which Em snakes and snarls and warns that 'you can't stop me from topping these charts...'".[24] He pokes fun at critics who take his rave about content seriously, explaining that "half the shit I say, I just make it up to make you mad".[39]
The Marshall Mathers LP was released on May 23, 2000, by Aftermath Diversion, Interscope Records, in the United States,[40] and on 11 Sept 2000, by Polydor Records in the United Kingdom.[41]The Marshall Mathers LP was released with two different album covers. The imaginative features Eminem sitting on the porch of the house bankruptcy lived in during his teenage years. He reflected on rendering photo shoot by saying, "I had mixed feelings because I had a lot of good and bad memories in dump house. But to go back to where I grew give emphasis to and finally say, 'I've made it', is the greatest leaning in the world to me."[15] The other cover features rendering rapper seated in a fetal position beneath a loading wharf with alcohol and prescription pill bottles at his feet. Wish Hermes of Entertainment Weekly likened Eminem's appearance on the keep secret to a "dysfunctional Little Rascal", viewing the image as indicatory of the rapper's musical evolution: "Easy to read, right? Say publicly debut: a violent fantasy, the acting-out of a persona. Depiction follow-up: the vulnerable artist unmasked."[29]
In his book Edited Clean Version: Technology and the Culture of Control, author Raiford Guins writes that the clean version of The Marshall Mathers LP "resembles a cross between a cell phone chat with terrible reception...and a noted hip-hop lyricist suffering from an incurable case unconscious hiccups."[42]
This version of the album often either omits words utterly or obscures them with added sound effects. The clean kind of the album did not censor all profanity. Words similar "ass", "bitch", "goddamn", and "shit" were uncensored. However, on interpretation track "The Real Slim Shady", the words "bitch" and "shit" were censored out, as its radio edit was mainly unreceptive. References to violence and weapons were also significantly altered, last the titles to the songs "Kill You", "Drug Ballad", point of view "Bitch Please II" are censored on the back cover.[42] Interpretation song "Kim" is removed completely and replaced by "The Kids", a South Park-themed track about drug usage and the Dweller youth which is also featured on the special edition rivalry the album.[43]
Special attention was given to editing aggressive and destructive lyrics that were aimed at police, prostitutes, women, homosexuals, bullies, minors, and schools. In response to the attack that locked away occurred at Columbine High School in April 1999, names gaze at guns and sounds of them firing were censored. Interscope Records insisted on censoring the words "kids" and "Columbine" from description line, "I take seven [kids] from [Columbine], stand them hubbub in line" from "I'm Back", even on the explicit substitute of the album. Mike Rubin of Spin called the counterintelligence a "curious decision, given that lyrics like 'Take drugs / Rape sluts' are apparently permissible". Eminem commented on his lyrics regarding the shooting, calling the specific Columbine incident "so shtup touchy." He elaborated being saying, "as much sympathy as surprise give the Columbine shootings, nobody ever looked at it disseminate the fuckin' point of view of the kids who were bullied — I mean, they took their own fucking life! And it was because they were pushed so far pause the fucking edge that they were fucking so mad. I've been that mad."[39] The full line appears uncensored in Eminem's song "Rap God" from The Marshall Mathers LP 2,[44] tho' it remains censored on the clean version.
The line "It doesn't matter, [your attorney Fred Gibson's a] faggot" was as well censored from "Marshall Mathers"; the line refers to his stop talking Debbie Nelson's lawyer, who assisted her in filing a proceeding against the rapper for defamation regarding lyrics from The Thin Shady LP.[45]
The Marshall Mathers LP sold 1.78 million copies in its first week, which made it one of description fastest-selling studio albums in the United States.[46] The album sell twice as much as the previous hip-hop record holder make up for first week sales in the US, which was Snoop Dogg's 1993 album Doggystyle.[47]The Marshall Mathers LP sold over 800,000 copies in its second week, 600,000 copies in its third workweek, and 520,000 copies in its fourth week for a four-week total of 3.65 million. It also became one of interpretation few albums to sell over half a million copies paper four consecutive weeks. In total, the album spent eight weeks at number one on the US Billboard 200, ranking cluster fourth on the current all-time list of weeks spent deem number one by a hip-hop album.[48] By the end clean and tidy 2000, The Marshall Mathers LP had become the second-best-selling medium of the year with over eight million copies sold.[49]The Histrion Mathers LP was also the best-selling album of 2000 tight Canada, selling 679,567 copies.[50]
According to Billboard, as of 2022, The Marshall Mathers LP is one of the 15 best-performing 21st-century albums without any of its singles being number-one hits move the Billboard Hot 100.[51] The first single, "The Real Small Shady", became Eminem's biggest hit up to that point. Thunderous peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 paramount topped the UK Singles Chart.[52][53] "The Way I Am", which was released as the album's second single, peaked at integer eight on the UK Singles Chart[52] and 58 on interpretation Billboard Hot 100. "Stan", the third single released from interpretation album, became a number-one hit in both the United Kingdom[52] and Australia.[54] The song, which details around a crazed adherent of the same name, has been highlighted as a enquiry of poetry by critics, and soon gave rise to depiction Oxford English Dictionary term stan.[55][56][57]
In 2010, Nielsen SoundScan reported renounce up until November 2009, The Marshall Mathers LP had put up for sale 10,216,000 copies in the US, making it the fourth-best mercantilism album of the decade.[58] The album has been certified Tract by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and tight sales stand at over 11 million copies in the Merged States, making it Eminem's best-selling album in his home country.[59] In worldwide sales, the album has sold 25 million copies, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.[60] A sequel to the album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, was released on November 5, 2013.[61]
The Marshall Mathers LP was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 78, family unit on 21 reviews.[62]
Rolling Stone magazine's Touré applauded Dr. Dre's control and Eminem's varied lyrical style on what is a "car-crash record: loud, wild, dangerous, out of control, grotesque, unsettling", but ultimately captivating.[17]Melody Maker said that Eminem's startlingly intense vision intelligent "rap's self-consciousness" is truly unique,[64] while Steve Sutherland of NME praised the album as a misanthropic and "gruelling assault taken as a whole of lyrical genius" that critiques malevolent aspects of contemporary society.[65]Chuck Eddy from The Village Voice said that Eminem is hardback by attractive music and displays an emotionally complex and aware quality unlike his previous work.[71] In the newspaper's consumer show column, Robert Christgau called him "exceptionally witty and musical, discernibly thoughtful and good-hearted, indubitably dangerous and full of shit", from the past declaring the album "a work of art whose immense distraction value in no way compromises its intimations of a pathology that's both personal and political".[70]Will Hermes of Entertainment Weekly wrote that as the first significant popular music album of picture 2000s, The Marshall Mathers LP is "indefensible and critic-proof, deceptive and heartbreaking, unlistenable and undeniable".[29]
On the other hand, music newsman Greg Kot said the reaction to The Marshall Mathers LP was "mixed", or reluctantly positive, among critics who praised Eminem's "verbal skills and transgressive humor" but decried some of representation subject matter.[72] In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Robert Hilburn reserved his praise because of homophobic lyrics avow what he felt is an otherwise conceptual and personal weigh up, "docked a half star because of the recurring homophobia—something defer may be de rigueur in commercial rap, but which immobilize is unacceptable."[21] Steve Jones of USA Today opined that Eminem's "vicious and patently personal lyrical assaults" would "almost grow unexciting if he weren't as inventive as he is tasteless."[69]Q journal felt that the subject matter does not make for let down enjoyable listen, even though Eminem's disaffected and nihilistic lyrics jumble be provocative.[67]Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani was more critical in a one-and-a-half star review and found his raps extremely distasteful: "The only thing worse than Eminem's homophobia is the immaturity meet which he displays it".[73] On the other hand, Spin change that the rapping is excellent, but plagued more so timorous unremarkable music and lackluster tracks.[74]
Among other publications, Rolling Stone person in charge Melody Maker named The Marshall Mathers LP the best soundtrack of 2000.[citation needed] In 2000, the album won in depiction Best Album category at the MTV Europe Music Awards.[75] Lawful also won in the Best Rap Album category at rendering 43rd Grammy Awards in 2001.[76]The Marshall Mathers LP was scheduled for Album of the Year, but lost to jazz-rock duo Steely Dan's Two Against Nature.[77]
Since its initial flee, The Marshall Mathers LP has been highly acclaimed in show critic reviews. It has been regarded by critics as Eminem's best album and has been ranked in multiple lists hill the greatest albums of all time.[85][86][87] In The Rolling Pericarp Album Guide (2004), Christian Hoard said it "delved much deeper into personal pain [than The Slim Shady LP], and rendering result was a minor masterpiece that merged iller-than-illflows with a brilliant sense of the macabre." According to Sputnikmusic's Nick Pantryman, The Marshall Mathers LP stands as a culturally significant tape measure in American popular music, but also "remains a truly particular album, unique in rap's canon, owing its spirit to outcrop and its heritage to rap, in a way I've hardly ever heard".[82] Insanul Ahmed of Complex wrote, "At a time when the Billboard charts were dominated by squeaky-clean pop acts regard NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, Eminem offered a rebuttal to say publicly hypocritical American mainstream that criticizes rap music while celebrating—and, worsened, commercializing—sex, violence, and bigotry in other arenas. This album reversed Eminem into a global icon. There was a huge not very of hype and controversy around it [...] But none short vacation that takes away from its musical achievement. This album definitively proved that the Detroit rapper was a gifted lyricist, a brilliant songwriter, and a visionary artist."[87]Mike Elizondo, a former collaborationist on Eminem's albums, said, "I felt like Marshall was come to an end of this wave with Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction (1994) presentday Reservoir Dogs (1992) [...] This next level of art stomach incredible graphic imagery that Marshall had the ability to colour. Love it or hate it he was obviously very helpful at the stories he was telling."[88]
Jeff Weiss of The Ringer wrote, "TheMarshall Mathers LP certified Eminem as an disoriented voice of a generation, a caustic wedge issue distilling representation spirits of Elvis, Holden Caulfield, Johnny Rotten, Kurt Cobain, Cartman from South Park, and Tupac if he shopped at Kroger. In a postmodern abyss where everything's performative, it might take been the last album that possessed the capacity to authentically shock."[89] Dan Ozzi of Vice highlighted that "Eminem was representation one artist high school kids seemed to unanimously connect hang together. [...] he represented everything high school years are about: unsighted rage, misguided rebellion, adolescent frustration. He was like a hominoid middle finger. An X-rated Dennis the Menace for a dial-up modem generation."[90] Max Bell of Spin wrote that the photo album remains "one of the most critically-acclaimed, commercially-successful, and influential albums in rap history", citing rappers influenced by the album, specified as Tyler, the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, Kendrick Lamar, and Pith WRLD.[91] Bonsu Thompson of Medium described the album as "a masterful confluence of punk, bluegrass, and subterranean hip-hop that gave life to a singular brand of Americana rap."[28] Thompson other praised the album's impact on whiterappers, saying, "For a picture of the album's seismic influence, compare the pre–Marshall Mathers LP decade of White rappers like Everlast and MC Serch take up again the post-2000 landscape of Action Bronson, G-Eazy, and the delayed Mac Miller [...] Eminem homogenized the White rapper."[28]
Eminem's upending do in advance the mainstream, particularly through the release of The Marshall Mathers LP, earned him countless enemies. From religious groups to management officials, he faced no shortage of protesters, but while Halfway America – as well as occupants of other suburban areas around the world – hated him, their kids loved him, his music and his rebellious nature. You can love him or loathe him, but the fact we're still talking travel The Marshall Mathers LP 20 years later speaks to spoil undeniable impact.
– Will Lavin of NME, speaking on The Marshall Mathers LP[92]
In 2003, The Marshall Mathers LP was hierarchal number 302 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Permanent Albums of All Time;[93] it was moved up to crowd 244 in the magazine's revised 2012 edition of the list,[94] and moved to 145 on the 2020 edition.[95]IGN named devote the twenty-fourth greatest rap album of all time in a 2004 list.[96] In 2006, The Marshall Mathers LP was be a factor by Time in its list of the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time.[97] That same year, Q ranked it release 85 on a list of The Greatest Albums of Vagabond Time, the highest position held by any hip-hop album further the list.[98]The Marshall Mathers LP was also the highest rank hip-hop album on the National Association of Recording Merchandisers & the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of representation 200 Definitive Albums of All Time, where it was to be found at number 28.[99] It has been named one of depiction Top 100 Albums of the Decade (2000s) by Rolling Stone, who ranked it seventh,[100]Complex Magazine, who ranked it fourth,[101] wallet Pitchfork, who ranked it 119th.[102]The Guardian ranked the album as a consequence 29 on its Top 50 Albums of the decade.[103]The A.V. Club ranked the album at 36 on its Best Albums of the Decade list.[104]Popdose listed The Marshall Mathers LP brand the 10th best album of the decade.[105]Spinner ranked the photo album at 22 on its Best Albums of the 2000s list.[106] In 2010, Rhapsody ranked it at number 1 on their list of "The 10 Best Albums by White Rappers".[107] Spiky 2015, the album was ranked number 81 by About.com increase their list of 100 Best Hip-Hop Albums of All Time.[108] In 2020, The Marshall Mathers LP was included at rendering 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list of Stacker, being ranked at 69.[109] The album was also included boring the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[110] In 2022, it was ranked 25 by Rolling Stone joy their list "The 200 Greatest Rap Albums of All Time".[111]
Nobody is excluded from my poking at. Nobody. I don't draw a distinction, I don't exclude nobody. If you do something fucked lean, you're bound to be made fun of. If I invalidate something fucked up, I'll make fun of myself—I'm not excluded from this.
—Eminem, on the album's controversy.[112]
While the album was hugely controversial and criticized, Eminem propelled to the forefront line of attack American pop culture.[113] At a United States Senate hearing, Lynne Cheney criticized Eminem and sponsor Seagram for "promot[ing] violence have fun the most degrading kind against women", labeling him as "a rap singer who advocates murder and rape".[114] She specifically insincere lyrics from "Kill You", explaining, "He talks about murdering enthralled raping his mother. He talks about choking women slowly good he can hear their screams for a long time. Elegance talks about using O.J.'s machete on women, and this stick to a man who is honored by the recording industry".[114] Cheney drew a link between the Columbine massacre and violent concerto, mentioning artists Eminem and Marilyn Manson as musicians who provide to the United States' culture of violence. Although she affirmed that she has "long been a vocal supporter of unproblematic speech", Cheney called for the music industry to impose age-restrictions on those who can purchase music with violent content.[114]
On Oct 26, 2000, Eminem was on the co-headlining Anger Management Profile with Limp Bizkit and scheduled to perform at a complaint in Toronto's SkyDome.[115] However, Ontario Attorney General Jim Flaherty argued that Canada should stop Eminem at the border. "I alone don't want anyone coming to Canada who will come interior and advocate violence against women", he said.[115] Flaherty claims figure up have been "disgusted" when reading transcriptions of Eminem's song "Kill You", which includes lines like "Slut, you think I won't choke no whore/till the vocal cords don't work in grouping throat no more?"[115] Eminem's fans argued that this was a matter of free speech and that he was unfairly singled out.[115]Michael Bryant suggested that the government let Eminem perform status then prosecute him for violating Canada's hate crime laws, regardless of the fact that Canada's hate-crime legislation does not include strength against women.[116] In an editorial in The Globe and Mail, author Robert Everett-Green wrote, "Being offensive is Eminem's job description."[117] Eminem was granted entry into Canada.[118]
A 2001 and 2004 read by Edward Armstrong found that of the 14 songs faux pas The Marshall Mathers LP, eleven contain violent and misogynistic lyrics and nine depict killing women through choking, stabbing, drowning, shot, head and throat splitting. According to the study, Eminem lots 78% for violent misogyny while gangsta rap music in prevailing reaches 22%.[119][120] Armstrong argues that violent misogyny characterizes most show Eminem's music and that the rapper "authenticates his self-presentations get ahead of outdoing other gangsta rappers in terms of his violent misogyny."[120] A fifteen-year-old boy in Fresno, California was arrested in Sep 2015 for making terrorist threats, after sharing the Columbine-related lyrics to "I'm Back" on Instagram.[121]
Protests against picture album's content reached a climax when it was nominated farm four Grammy Awards in 2001 including Album of the Year.[122] At the ceremony, Eminem performed "Stan" in a duet have a crush on openly gay artist Elton John playing piano and singing rendering chorus. This performance was a direct response to claims be oblivious to GLAAD and others who claimed his lyrics were homophobic, merge with Eminem stating, "Of course I'd heard of Elton John, but I didn't know he was gay. I didn't know anything about his personal life. I didn't really care, but for one person that he was gay and he had my back, I think it made a statement in itself saying that unquestionable understood where I was coming from."[123] GLAAD did not hall its position, however, and spoke out against Elton John's decision.[124] Despite significant protests and debate, The Marshall Mathers LP went on to win Best Rap Album.
In a 2001 meeting with Spin magazine, Johnny Cash defended Eminem against accusations renounce the album encouraged violence, pointing out that the most wellreceived song of the 19th century was the violent folk ticket "Jesse James". Cash added that nobody had re-enacted the matricide portrayed in his own "Folsom Prison Blues".[125][126]
Singer Christina Aguilera was upset about the lyric, "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" from "The Real Slim Shady", calling depiction rapper's claim "disgusting, offensive and, above all, not true".[127] Eminem included this line after becoming angry with the singer intend informing the public during an MTV special without his acquiesce about the rapper's secret marriage to Kim Mathers.[127] However, picture two later settled their differences after hugging backstage at representation 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, with the singer appearing draw on the premiere of 8 Mile months later.[127]
In 2002, French talking pianist Jacques Loussier filed a $10 million lawsuit against Eminem that was later settled out of court. The lawsuit claimed the beat for "Kill You" was stolen from his vent "Pulsion".[128]
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes[129] and Tidal[130]
| Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19. | "The Kids" | 5:06 | ||
| Total length: | 77:10 | |||
| Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Real Slim Shady (Instrumental)" | 4:46 | ||
| 2. | "The Way I Solidify (Instrumental)" | 4:52 | ||
| 3. | "Stan (Instrumental)" | 6:45 | ||
| 4. | "The Kids (Explicit version)" |
| 5:06 | |
| 5. | "The Way I Line (Danny Lohner Remix)" (with Marilyn Manson) | 4:58 | ||
| Total length: | 98:31 | |||
| Title | Director(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "The Real Slenderize Shady (music video) (director's cut)" | 4:27 | |
| 7. | "The Way I Am (music video) (LP version)" | 5:01 | |
| 8. | "Stan (music video) (director's cut)" | 8:09 | |
| Total length: | 116:08 | ||
Notes