Was Stan Premature?

[EvryOnesACrtc]

I've said this for fucking years...that song was amazing but premature in the sense that, he was that genius to have the foresight for such a concept. this is the type of shit that blows my mind. this type of song, to me, should have not have happened until at the least after the mmlp, but would make even more sense after tes. this is what makes him great. he had a concept like that after one album. i've said it for many years, shit like this is what makes him THAT great.

He was great, no doubt, but I don't think it was genius foresight, predicting, or anything like that. He's said in interviews that he would get creepy letters from fans, so it inspired him to write Stan to set the record straight and put the cult-like fanaticism to an end. Ironically, though, it spawned what we now know as "Stans"--Em's super fans.

[ganjakush56]

i find it ironic how niggas like to deny eminem's obvious talent and skillz but at the same time throw around the term 'stan' which has become almost a ubiquitous term meaning 'an obsessive fan' - 'stan' is even used in many genres outside of hip-hop. This has only happened because of Eminem's sheer dominance over hip-hop and the music industry in general from a popularity standpoint and his popularity was attainable to the accessibility of his music and the level of skill at which he is capable of.

To me, the song stan reveals the level of complexity and depth Eminem is capable of which only makes me frustrated when he releases a song like 'drug ballad' or 'under the influence' or 'remember me' - all of these songs, while very good, do not even compare to Eminem's highest potential as an artist. I feel like today, he is approaching his highest potential as a rapper but as an artist, generally speaking, most can agree that his early material shames his newer material in more ways than one. SFTM, Stimulate, I'm Back, Stan, TWIA, TIC, 8 Mile, early unreleased or rare material like 3hree6ix5ive, we shine, biterphobia, Chauvanist pig freestyle, demon inside, etc. - all of these songs/verses are flawless in their own way. They have this timeless sound similar to other legendary work like the album f#a#(infinity) by godspeed you, a genre defining album of post-rock, or like much of the early 1990s old skool rave/jungle/hardcore tracks and mixes. All undeniably classic material has this timeless aesthetic to it and Eminem's newer material most often lacks this. What I enjoyed about the mmlp2 was that little aspects and sections of the album had this aesthetic, like parts of RoR, groundhog day, bad guy, brainless, love game, etc.

Its not that 'stan' came too early or too late; the issue with 'stan' for me is that it sort of had the illmatic effect on eminem (as did the entire mmlp). This nigga eminem puts out classic material from 1999 to 2002 and then drops encore which was a dramatic decrease in quality for the most part (bar yellow brick road and few other tracks depending on your outlook). Encore appears to be a shitty album because that which came before it.

[OutlawƎ]

i find it ironic how niggas like to deny eminem's obvious talent and skillz but at the same time throw around the term 'stan' which has become almost a ubiquitous term meaning 'an obsessive fan' - 'stan' is even used in many genres outside of hip-hop. This has only happened because of Eminem's sheer dominance over hip-hop and the music industry in general from a popularity standpoint and his popularity was attainable to the accessibility of his music and the level of skill at which he is capable of.

To me, the song stan reveals the level of complexity and depth Eminem is capable of which only makes me frustrated when he releases a song like 'drug ballad' or 'under the influence' or 'remember me' - all of these songs, while very good, do not even compare to Eminem's highest potential as an artist. I feel like today, he is approaching his highest potential as a rapper but as an artist, generally speaking, most can agree that his early material shames his newer material in more ways than one. SFTM, Stimulate, I'm Back, Stan, TWIA, TIC, 8 Mile, early unreleased or rare material like 3hree6ix5ive, we shine, biterphobia, Chauvanist pig freestyle, demon inside, etc. - all of these songs/verses are flawless in their own way. They have this timeless sound similar to other legendary work like the album f#a#(infinity) by godspeed you, a genre defining album of post-rock, or like much of the early 1990s old skool rave/jungle/hardcore tracks and mixes. All undeniably classic material has this timeless aesthetic to it and Eminem's newer material most often lacks this. What I enjoyed about the mmlp2 was that little aspects and sections of the album had this aesthetic, like parts of RoR, groundhog day, bad guy, brainless, love game, etc.

Its not that 'stan' came too early or too late; the issue with 'stan' for me is that it sort of had the illmatic effect on eminem (as did the entire mmlp). This nigga eminem puts out classic material from 1999 to 2002 and then drops encore which was a dramatic decrease in quality for the most part (bar yellow brick road and few other tracks depending on your outlook). Encore appears to be a shitty album because that which came before it.

10/10 name

[ganjakush56]

10/10 name

fuck yeah my nigga

[Dirrt]

Its not that 'stan' came too early or too late; the issue with 'stan' for me is that it sort of had the illmatic effect on eminem (as did the entire mmlp). This nigga eminem puts out classic material from 1999 to 2002 and then drops encore which was a dramatic decrease in quality for the most part (bar yellow brick road and few other tracks depending on your outlook). Encore appears to be a shitty album because that which came before it.

This.
Good post!

[Emadyville]

I've said this for fucking years...that song was amazing but premature in the sense that, he was that genius to have the foresight for such a concept. this is the type of shit that blows my mind. this type of song, to me, should have not have happened until at the least after the mmlp, but would make even more sense after tes. this is what makes him great. he had a concept like that after one album. i've said it for many years, shit like this is what makes him THAT great.

He was great, no doubt, but I don't think it was genius foresight, predicting, or anything like that. He's said in interviews that he would get creepy letters from fans, so it inspired him to write Stan to set the record straight and put the cult-like fanaticism to an end. Ironically, though, it spawned what we now know as "Stans"--Em's super fans.

no, it was premature from a fans perspective. you have one album out and the next involves such a serious song. creepy letters or not there are fucked up people out there. for a second album to have such a song, its premature in regards to the fact that most artists do not stay popular after their first album at the very least.

[Jaba]

Perfect release time IMO. Released RIGHT when Em gained TONS of popularity.

[mdemaz]

No, I feel like the song blew up at a pretty relevant time. The single was released in late 2000, so, it got exposed to the public a while after it was actually recorded. Eminem sort of had a crazy fan base after TSSLP, but I think he knew he was gonna strike gold with his next project, so he decided to record Stan in November 1999.

TMMLP ironically ended up being one of the best selling rap albums of all time.

[em9386]

No but Stan probably came prematurely. OH!

[csw621]

Stan was perfect.

[Cube23]

Fantastic thread. I've always thought about this. It just seems out of place to me and would almost make more sense as a 2002 Eminem song.

I think the answer is "yes". However, it's almost like the purpose was to predict what would happen once he released The Marshall Mathers LP.

[Cube23]

2002 would have been a bit late, people started loving Eminem at that point.

I think that's why it fits well. 2001 was his Renegade verse and Sing For The Moment was in 2002. I think Stan fits in perfectly in that time period and has similar subject matter. If he had released The Eminem Show in 2001, that would have been perfect timing imo.

[Amadeo]

Em was confident enough in knowing just how big MMLP was going to be. That's one of the most amazing things about MMLP, how he basically foresaw the popularity and backlash that would eventually come from releasing the album.

This. He wrote the album with a huge audience in mind because he knew the album was going to have a huge audience.

He always kind of exaggerated his level of popularity, even back on songs like My Name Is, which he wrote when he was only popular in the underground. "You know you blew up when the women rush your stands/And try to touch your hands like some screaming Usher fans." You can just tell that when he was writing that song he was thinking, "I got signed by Dre. This song is catchy. I'm brilliant. Yeah, this'll blow up."

If you market yourself as larger than life, people are going to eventually start believing it. And by the time 2001/2002 rolled around, Eminem was no longer exaggerating because he was indeed huge.

I find myself feeling the same about the whole homophobia thing. I mean, I think his constant jabs at people who got offended for his use of the word faggot should have come after MMLP. It's like he wrote Criminal foreshadowing the reactions of the public to the previous songs in the album

He wasn't really taking jabs at people for his use of the word "faggot" because up until the MMLP era he had barely even used the word. He didn't use it once on SSLP, and he only had one homosexual reference on SSLP. And yet he was still accused of homophobia.

He was only using the word "faggot" all the time because he knew by introducing that word into the mix, the Timothy Whites of the world who called SSLP homophobic would get even angrier.

[DetroitSkills]

No but Stan probably came prematurely. OH!

[InsaneShady]

Stan is a brilliant song