Review by LarryG
3 stars out of 4
The Marshall Mathers LP is an often disturbing but compelling work.
Dr. Dre and others create great beats and musical settings for
Eminem's raps. Eminem is a skilled, distinctive rapper, fluid and
melodic and often breathtakingly fast. He's an interesting
personality. He certainly gets your attention and his violent, angry
tales seem to allow a peek at a complicated, troubled mind,
Eminem wouldn't be worth listening to if he wasn't a technically
good rapper with good, original rhymes and strong musical backing.
Still, his paranoid, provocative persona is fascinating. From the
start of Marshall Mathers, Eminem looks for a fight. On PSA 2000, an
announcer relays Slim Shady's(Eminem/Mathers' other alter ego) curses.
He doesn't care what people think and is "fed up with your shit."
Then, on Kill You, he calls his girl a slut and threatens to choke
then shoot her. He predicts his death, says he'll kill his enemies and
asks us to pity him for his troubled dreams. He raps about using
cocaine and raping his mother then imagines his critics taking him to
task for it. On Kill You, Eminem is troubling though sometimes he's
just talk, finishing, "I'm just playin' ladies." No matter how
seriously you take him, Eminem creates a vivid character and his fast
rap, over Dr. Dre's spare, dramatic backing, is undeniably adroit. Who
Knew apparently concedes that Eminem's raps could lead to youth
violence then gives a list of reasons why he's not to blame: our
President's immoral, movies are also violent, kids will find violent
entertainment no matter what, parents aren't watching their kids, he's
just kidding, he's the way he is because of a tough childhood and he
didn't realize he'd be so popular(though his raps are just as violent
now he's aware of his popularity). Who Knew has another good Dr. Dre
rhythm track that's typicaly both light and sinister. The Way I Am is
prefaced by a hypocritical record exec complaining about Eminem's
lyrics, asking(in a playful jab at his mentor) why he can't make
records like Dr. Dre about "big screen tv's, blunts, 40's and
bitches." The Way I Am is about how hard it is to be Eminem. His self
pity is absorbing. Over a stark beat and occasional chimes, Eminem
tells about the stress of his personal demons. He complains about fans
who won't leave him alone("I'm not Mr. N Sync) and media that blame
him and Marilyn Manson for youth violence then strangely complains
that he doesn't get enough radio play. The Real Slim Shady is also
self pitying but has a refreshingly lighter tone with Dr. Dre's fun
nursery rhyme backing and some good jokes. Eminem is excited about
guys "who could be workin' at Burger King, spittin' on your onion
rings" who want to be like him yet so worried about the possibility of
a white rap usurper that he needs to tell us he's the real thing. He
rightly mocks those who say "Will Smith don't gotta cuss" to sell
records but whines about an unfair world where Tom Green can be dirty
and he can't. He takes fun, cheap shots at Britney and Christina,
refusing to admit that he also owes part of his success to image and
MTV.
The Marshall Mathers CD deserves attention for its quality, not
just for Eminem's misanthropy. Stan is one of the most interesting
singles to recently hit the airwaves. Dido's easy vocals, from her
song Thank You, and an unhurried groove, with Mike Elizondo's smooth
bass line, provide a great contrast with Eminem's edgy, fluid rap that
becomes more agitated along with his character's troubled mind. The
lyrics are both fascinating and irritating. Admitting that he effects
his fans, Eminem raises real issues about a society encouraged to
believe celebrities are just like them. Stan is a frightening,
obsessive character, "a biggest fan" who bases his life on Eminem. He
menacingly suggests "we should be together" and is infuriated when his
idol doesn't respond to letters, writing that Eminem will be like the
guy in Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight "who coulda saved that other
guy from drowning." I'd prefer Stan without its self serving final
verse. Eminem suddenly beomes caring, writing that Stan shouldn't take
his self destructive lyrics seriously and should get counseling and
treat his girl better. In a silly ending, Eminem warns Stan not to end
up like a guy he saw on TV who killed himself and his pregnant
girlfriend. Only at that moment, Eminem realizes, "it was you." Of
the songs on Marshall Mathers, Drug Ballad sounds the most like a
standard hip hop hit. Eminem and the Bass Brothers' sound is sleek and
good with catchy whoa-oos. A less overpowering rap lets the groove
work. Eminem actually sounds rational, admitting that "in the long run
these drugs are gonna catch up" with him and specifying their negative
effects.
Eminem, while often grippingly vivid, challenges how much
misanthropy you can handle. The song Marshall Mathers starts as a joke
with Eminem singing seriously over an acoustic guitar "I'm just a
regular guy I don't know why there's all the fuss about me" then
becomes an edgy rap that gets stupider and stupider, bouncing from
grievance to grievance, each causing the same fury, no matter how
serious or petty. Eminem is as angry about teen pop successes and
people who falsely claim to be from Detroit as he is about Biggie
Smalls getting killed. When Eminem really gets upset, he slips into
pointless homophobia, turning LFO's Summer Girls into an anti-gay
anthem and saying he wants to knock out and "put fear in faggots." He
then shifts to complaining about a family alternating between suing
him and wanting to be his best friend. A pointless skit about gay men
doing oral sex precedes Criminal. On Criminal, Eminem ridicules those
who think that "what I talk about on a record, I actually do in real
life" then he promises to stab "a fag or lez" and jokes about
Versace's killing. Kim is a disturbing tale of domestic violence but
it's so broad, with melodramatic backing and Eminem's tongue in cheek
singing, that his tale of killing the man his wife slept with then
planning a murder suicide is mostly just bizarre. Eminem dramatically
mixes self pity, narcissism and self hatred. The Marshall Mathers LP
has obligatory guest shots by other rap stars but they rarely match up
to Eminem, either as a fluid rapper or a compelling personality. Bitch
Please II, with Dr. Dre, Nate Dogg and an appealingly quirky Snoop
Dog, is pointlessly violent but has a nice, easy mood.
Eminem is an interesting psychological subject. He's an idiot
savant with a good, inventive command of language that he often uses
to express ridiculous thoughts. He's paranoid about people hating him
but a lot of his problems are self imposed. Still, his raps are
skilled and filled with personality. The musical setting is almost
always good. If you're easily offended, stay away from the Marshall
Mathers LP. But if you can deal with its foolishness, the raps and
larger than life character are probably worth exploring.
|
