The song is ironic as hell, but it also captures the warmth of the heartsick ’70s Americana it mimics. Yet, and I’m almost ashamed to say this: it works. Kendrick is quite possibly the hottest rapper in the game, and his country hook might be the single least fashionable form Em could have put on his record. Later, “Love Game” (featuring Kendrick Lamar) plays like a prank. “Rap God” is a head-spinning showcase of Em’s technique - he absolutely hops, skips, and jumps all over the EDM-influenced beat. homage “Berzerk”, are serviceable, but the two that followed are MMLP2’s real highlights. MMLP2’s first singles, the explosive jock jam “Survival” and the Beastie Boys/Run-D.M.C. ( WATCH: Eminem’s Awkward Appearance on ESPN) What makes MMLP2 a success is that it sounds like Em is having a ton of fun with his craft, with no particular chip or devil on his shoulder. But, 2004’s Encore, some of it more standup comedy than rap music, preceded years of prescription drug abuse, and would be his last album until 2009′s Relapse, followed by the next year’s Recovery. Dre’s heavy piano figures with just as potent productions he handled himself. He extended his status as rap’s biggest star with 2002’s The Eminem Show, swapping Dr. The decade following MMLP was mostly downhill for the 41-year-old. II, Em has done with The Marshall Mathers LP 2 - namely, taken the tenets of the earlier outing for nostalgia’s sake, while correcting its flaws. As Raekwon did in 2009 with Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. Nothing here is so intense, but, for the most part, Em hits his targets. There’s that stretch of “Stan”, for one, when the title character remembers waiting with his six-year-old brother outside an Em show for a promised meeting, ultimately devastated when the asshole superstar never shows. Dre beats and Sandlerian humor, developing an array of merciless narratives. Well, what else would have sufficed? MMLP, now the third fastest-selling album in history, was dark and irreverent in equal measure, with Em, on top of the unimpeachable Dr. Accordingly, he holed up in his Detroit studio and, as he told Rolling Stone, worked harder than he did at any period in the past decade. Follow post is in partnership with Consequence of Sound, an online music publication devoted to the ever growing and always thriving worldwide music scene.įor his eighth solo album, Eminem revisits 2000’s The Marshall Mathers LP having decided (rightly) that a sequel should be treated with utmost care.