Eminem (The Marshall Mathers LP)

[Slim Zaddy]

Studio album by Eminem
Released May 23, 2000
Recorded 1999–2000 at The Mix House, Encore Studios, Larrabee Sound Studio, The Record Plant, 54 Sound
Genre Hip hop
Length 72:05
Label Aftermath, Interscope, Goliath, Web
Producer Dr. Dre, Mel-Man, F.B.T., Eminem, The 45 King

Overview:
The Marshall Mathers LP is the Grammy Award-winning second studio album by American rapper Eminem, released in 2000. Widely seen as his magnum opus, the album sold over 1.76 million copies in its first week, earning a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest-selling rap album ever.[2] It has gone on to be certified nine times platinum by the RIAA in the United States[3][4], and has sold over 19 million units worldwide.[5]The album earned considerable critical acclaim, and is often regarded as one of the best Hip-hop albums ever made, being ranked so by magazines such as Rolling Stone[6],TIME[7], and XXL[1]. The album was also surrounded with much controversy, being protested by groups such as GLAAD for its homophobic and violent lyrics.[8]

Background

Concept
As evidenced by Eminem's decision to include his real name, Marshall Mathers, in the album's title, The Marshall Mathers LP is a more serious and personal album than his major-label debut, The Slim Shady LP, which predominantly featured his exaggerated Slim Shady persona. Much of the album is spent addressing his rise to fame and attacking those who criticized his first album. Other themes include his relationship with his family, most notably his mother and Kim Mathers, his former wife.


Lyrical content
The Marshall Mathers LP was released in both clean and explicit versions. However, some lyrics of the album are censored even on its explicit version. These include the lines "I take seven [kids] from [Columbine], stand 'em all in line" from "I'm Back", "Which is it bitch, Mrs. Briggs or Ms. Mathers? It doesn't matter [your attorney Fred Gibson's a] faggot!" from "Marshall Mathers", "There's a [four] year old little [boy] layin dead with a slit throat" from "Kim".

The clean version of the album is only slightly censored, as it leaves profanities like "shit", "ass", "bitch", and "Goddamn" uncensored. The only censored profanity is "fuck", which is normally either backmasked or blanked. However the line from "The Real Slim Shady", "fuck him and fuck you too" was bleeped out as a reference/joke on television censorship. The only content significantly edited were offensive and violent parts that were aimed at police, prostitutes, pop groups, women, gays, and schools such as Columbine, and even the names of guns were censored out, along with the sound effects of guns firing bullets is completely cut. Explicit drug content and alcohol references are also removed. On many copies, the 25-second "Public Service Announcement" is shortened to just two seconds of silence. On other copies though, the track is still left fully intact. On the clean version, the song "Kim" was removed because of the violent messages aimed at his wife and was replaced with "The Kids".

The album contains various lyric samples and references. It features a number of lines mimicking songs from Eric B. & Rakim's album Paid in Full. The chorus to "The Way I Am" resembles lines from the song "As the Rhyme Goes On", and the first two lines from the third verse of "I'm Back" are based on lines from "My Melody".

The Marshall Mathers LP contains two references to Eminem's feud with Insane Clown Posse. A skit entitled "Ken Kaniff" parodies the group members Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J performing fellatio on the recurring homosexual character (Ken Kaniff), and in the song "Marshall Mathers" Eminem states "I was put here to put fear in faggots who spray Faygo Root Beer and call themselves "clowns" cause they look queer. Faggot 2 Dope and Silent Gay claiming Detroit, when y'all live twenty miles away...".


Production
Much of the first half of the album is produced by Dr. Dre and Mel-Man, who typically employ sparse, stripped-down beats, allowing Eminem's rapping to take center-stage. F.B.T. Productions and Eminem produced most of the second half, which ranges from the laid-back guitars of "Marshall Mathers" to the gritty atmosphere of "Amityville." The only outside producer on the album is The 45 King, who provides a haunting beat for the famous "Stan" single that samples Dido's "Thank You" with the addition of a slow bass line.

Piracy
Early bootlegs of the album started to sprout up in early 2000. The bootlegs came with 14 songs with songs "Remember Me", "Marshall Mathers", "I'm Back" and "Ken Kaniff" deleted from the album. There was also a hidden track at the end of "Criminal" named "Quitter". The only difference on "Quitter" is that the "Hit 'Em Up" freestyle is deleted

Reception and controversy
During the first week of sales, the album sold 1,760,049 copies, becoming the fastest-selling rap album in history, more than doubling the previous record held by Snoop Dogg's 1993 debut Doggystyle, and topping Britney Spears' record for highest one-week sales by any solo artist.[2] The Marshall Mathers LP is still Eminem's best-selling album. It finished out the year 2000 as the second highest selling album of the year with over 7.9 million sold.[9] To date, the album has been estimated to have sold more than 10 million copies in the U.S.[10]

Protests against the album's content reached a climax when it was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2001 including Album of the Year, marking the first time a hardcore rap album was ever nominated in this category.[8] At the ceremony, Eminem performed "Stan" in a duet with the famous homosexual artist Elton John playing piano and singing the chorus, in an attempt to silence GLAAD and others who claimed his lyrics were homophobic, though GLAAD did not change its position and spoke out against Elton John's decision.[11] Despite significant protests and debate, The Marshall Mathers LP went on to win Best Rap Album, but lost to Steely Dan's comeback album Two Against Nature for Album of the Year.

Despite the overwhelming controversy surrounding the album and its commercial success, it received a great deal of praise from music critics. A writer from Village Voice applauded the album and declared it "a work of art whose immense entertainment value in no way compromises its intimations of a pathology that's both personal and political". The writer also acknowledged Eminem as exceptionally witty, musical, discernibly thoughtful, and good-hearted.[12] Allmusic called the album fairly brilliant and noted its production for its liquid basslines, slight sound effects, and spacious soundscapes.[13] New Musical Express gave the album a perfect rating and described it as a "Gruelling assault course of lyrical genius".[14] Entertainment Weekly commended the album for its diversity, calling it "indefensible and critic-proof, hypocritical and heartbreaking, unlistenable and undeniable" and "the first great pop record of the 21st century".[15]

In 2002 French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier filed a $10 million lawsuit against Eminem, claiming the beat for "Kill You" was stolen from his song "Pulsion".[16] He unsuccessfully demanded that all sales of the album be halted and any remaining copies destroyed

Singles

The Real Slim Shady
Main article: The Real Slim Shady
"The Real Slim Shady" was the first single released from The Marshall Mathers LP. It was also his first #1 single on the UK Singles Chart. The song is a critique of manufactured pop songs that were being churned out at the time. It parodies these songs by including features of a typical pop song, a repetitive chorus etc.

The song was a hit single, becoming Eminem's first chart topper in some countries, and garnering much attention for insulting various celebrities. The chorus is about the sudden fashion changes and other changes in the media and pop culture caused by Eminem's success: "I'm Slim Shady, yes I'm the real Shady/All you other Slim Shadys are just imitating/So won't the real Slim Shady please stand up, please stand up, please stand up?". The chorus echoes the tagline of the classic TV quiz show To Tell the Truth. (The TV show's signature phrase is "Will the real ___________ please stand up?")


The Way I Am
Main article: The Way I Am (Eminem song)
"The Way I Am" was released as the second single from The Marshall Mathers LP. "The Way I Am" features a much darker sound and much deeper subject matter than the album's lead single, "The Real Slim Shady."

It features the first beat Eminem produced on his own, featuring an ominous bassline, a piano loop, and chimes. In the song, Eminem lashes out at people he feels are putting too much pressure on him, including overzealous fans and record executives expecting him to top the success of his hit single "My Name Is". He also shares thoughts on the Columbine school shooting. Marilyn Manson is mentioned in the song in the lines: "And they blame it on Marilyn/And the heroin/Where were the parents at?/And look where it's at/Middle America, now it's a tragedy/Now it's so sad to see/An upper-class city/having this happening." The video features Marilyn Manson with the word "WAR" scrawled on his stomach. The two later toured together performing the song at their own concerts, and often making appearances on stage even when not singing the song.

During the chorus, Eminem questions his identity in the face of massive amounts of attention from millions of strangers. While his previous album, The Slim Shady LP, was somewhat more cartoonish than this album, and he rapped therein as a distinct character who goes by Slim Shady, his critics believed that Eminem, Marshall Mathers, and Slim Shady were identical. Similar to other musicians and artists who lost their identity in some fictional construct (David Bowie, Alice Cooper), Eminem expresses his doubts about who he has become.

The chorus is similar to a rhyme used by rapper Rakim in the song "As The Rhyme Goes On" from his debut album with DJ Eric B..

I’m the R the A to the K-I-M
If I wasn’t, then why would I say I am?

Stan
Main article: Stan (song)
"Stan" was the third single released from The Marshall Mathers LP. It peaked at number one in the United Kingdom and Australia. The song is perhaps Eminem's most critically acclaimed song and has been called a 'cultural milestone'.[17] "Stan" is a haunting story of a fan who is obsessed with Eminem and writes to him but doesn't receive a reply. Unhinged already, the fan (Stan) drives his car off a bridge with his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk. The first three verses are delivered by Stan, the first two in letter form and the third being spoken as he is about to drive off a bridge and is recording a cassette with the intent (but, he realized too late, not the means) to send it to Eminem. The song makes heavy use of sound effects, with rain and thunder heard in the background, as well as pencil scratchings during the first two verses, and then as Stan drives off the bridge, listeners hear tires screeching and a crashing sound, followed by a splash of water, in a style similar to the 1964 songs Dead Man's Curve and Leader of the Pack. The fourth verse is Eminem responding to Stan, only realizing at the last second that he has heard about Stan's death on the news as he was writing to him.

The song can also be interpreted as a reply at Eminem's critics, who accuse him of promoting drugs and violence, because it creates a scenario that clearly shows that his rap lyrics are not meant to be taken seriously, "what's this shit you said about you like to cut your wrists too? I say that shit just clownin dogg, c'mon - how fucked up is you?" This theme is repeated throughout his music.

The song was produced by The 45 King and samples the first couple of lines of "Thank You" by Dido as the chorus.

"Stan" has been listed by many as one of the greatest hip-hop songs of all time. It was ranked #3 on a list of the greatest rap songs in history by Q magazine,[18] and came in 10th in a similar survey conducted by Top40-Charts.com.[19] Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time ranked it #290. It also ranked #45 on the 100 Greatest Rap Songs in addition to being declared the 222nd best song of all time by Acclaimedmusic.net.[20]

Track listing
1. "Public Service Announcement 2000" (feat. Jeff Bass) 0:27
2. "Kill You" Dr. Dre, Mel-Man 4:24
3. "Stan" (feat. Dido) The 45 King, Eminem (co) 6:44
4. "Paul (Skit)" 0:10
5. "Who Knew" Dr. Dre, Mel-Man 3:47
6. "Steve Berman" 0:53
7. "The Way I Am" Eminem 4:50
8. "The Real Slim Shady" Dr. Dre, Mel-Man 4:44
9. "Remember Me?" (feat. RBX, Sticky Fingaz) Dr. Dre, Mel-Man 3:38
10. "I'm Back" Dr. Dre, Mel-Man 5:09
11. "Marshall Mathers" F.B.T., Eminem 5:21
12. "Ken Kaniff (Skit)" 1:01
13. "Drug Ballad" (feat. Dina Rae) F.B.T., Eminem 5:00
14. "Amityville" (feat. Bizarre) F.B.T. 4:14
15. "Bitch Please II" (feat. Dr. Dre, Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit) Dr. Dre, Mel-Man 4:48
16. "Kim" F.B.T. 6:17
17. "Under the Influence" (feat. D12) F.B.T., Eminem 5:21
18. "Criminal" F.B.T., Eminem 5:19

Import version bonus
19. "The Kids" F.B.T., Eminem 5:03

Limited Edition version –– Enhanced Disc
1. "The Real Slim Shady" (instrumental) Dr. Dre, Mel-Man 4:46
2. "The Way I Am" (instrumental) Eminem 4:52
3. "Stan" (instrumental) The 45 King, Eminem (co) 6:45
4. "The Kids" (explicit version) F.B.T., Eminem 5:06
5. "The Way I Am" (Danny Lohner remix feat. Marilyn Manson) Eminem 4:53
6. "The Real Slim Shady" (Video – Director's cut) Dr. Dre, Mel-Man 4:32
7. "The Way I Am" (Video – LP version) Eminem 5:06
8. "Stan" (Video – Director's version) The 45 King, Eminem (co) 8:16

Charts & Awards:
Billboard 200 1
Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums 1
Billboard Top Internet Albums 1
Top Canadian Albums 1
Australian ARIA Albums Chart 1

Chart certifications
US - Diamond(11 million [21])[3][4]
Mexico - Platinum (150,000+)
Australia 4x Platinum[22] (280,000+[4])
Norway - 2x Platinum[23] (20,000+[4])
Canada - 8x Platinum[24] (800,000+[4])
Austria - 2x Platinum (70,000+)
Sweden - 2x Platinum[25] (80,000+[4])
Brazil - Platinum (60,000+[4]) *International Artists certification
Hungary - Gold
Germany - 2x Platinum[26] (400,000+[4])
Europe - 6x Platinum IFPI[27] (6 Million+)
Switzerland - 4x Platinum
New Zealand - 6x Platinum[28] (90,000+[4])
Netherlands - 2x Platinum[29] (140,000+[4])
France - 2x platinum[30] (400,000+[4])
UK - 5x platinum[31] (1.5 Million+[4])
Finland -Platinum
Belgium - 2x Platinum
Japan - Gold (100,000+)
Korea - 3x Platinum

Billboard Awards:

Billboard Albums
2000 The Marshall Mathers LP The Billboard 200 1
2000 The Marshall Mathers LP The Billboard 200 1
2000 The Marshall Mathers LP Top Canadian Albums 1
2000 The Marshall Mathers LP Top Internet Albums 1
2000 The Marshall Mathers LP Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 1

Billboard Singles:
2000 B**** Please II Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 61
2000 Stan Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 36
2000 Stan Rhythmic Top 40 9
2000 Stan The Billboard Hot 100 51
2000 Stan Top 40 Mainstream 33
2000 Stan Top 40 Tracks 34
2000 The Real Slim Shady Hot Rap Singles 7
2000 The Way I Am Hot Rap Singles 24
2000 The Real Slim Shady Canadian Singles Chart 15
2000 The Real Slim Shady Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 11
2000 The Real Slim Shady Latin Pop Airplay 28
2000 The Real Slim Shady Latin Tropical/Salsa Airplay 23
2000 The Real Slim Shady Modern Rock Tracks 19
2000 The Real Slim Shady Rhythmic Top 40 1
2000 The Real Slim Shady The Billboard Hot 100 4
2000 The Real Slim Shady Top 40 Mainstream 13
2000 The Real Slim Shady Top 40 Tracks 9
2000 The Way I Am Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 26
2000 The Way I Am Rhythmic Top 40 5
2000 The Way I Am The Billboard Hot 100 58
2000 The Way I Am Top 40 Tracks 36

Grammy's Awards:
2000 A The Marshall Mathers LP Best Rap Album Dr. Dre
2000 S The Real Slim Shady Best Rap Solo Performance Eminem

Credits:
Jeff Bass Producer, Performer
Mark Bass Producer
Rick Behrens Engineer, Mixing
Steve Berman Performer
John Bigham Guitar
Mike Butler Engineer, Mixing
Larry Chatman Project Coordinator
Chris Conway Engineer, Mixing
Tom Coster, Jr. Keyboards
Dr. Dre Producer
Rob Ebeling Engineer, Mixing
Mike Elizondo Bass, Guitar, Keyboards
Eminem Vocals, Producer, Mixing
Michelle Lynn Forbes Engineer, Mixing
The 45 King & Louie Producer
Richard Huredia Engineer, Mixing
Camara Kambon Keyboards
Steven King Engineer
Aaron Lepley Engineer
Joe Martin Production Coordination
James McCrone Engineer
Mel-Man Producer
Akane Nakamura Engineer, Mixing
Joe-Mama Nitzberg Photography, Art Coordinator
Jason Noto Art Direction, Design
Lance Pierre Engineer
Les Scurry Production Coordination
Snoop Dogg Performer
Sticky Fingaz Performer
Kirdis Tucker Project Coordinator
Xzibit Performer

My Review:
to be updated .

[BlaqReaper]

One of the first albums I ever bought and my first Eminem album. Definitely a great purchase too with such classics like Stan, Way I Am, Real Slim Shady, etc. I mean the album may be a bit long, but almost every track is enjoyable. Great review.

[Slim Zaddy]

One of the first albums I ever bought and my first Eminem album. Definitely a great purchase too with such classics like Stan, Way I Am, Real Slim Shady, etc. I mean the album may be a bit long, but almost every track is enjoyable. Great review.

yup ,, for me this is the best album i have ever heard ,, really sick album ,, i love all of its songs,, and thanks ,, glad you like the review ..

[Slim Zaddy]

Rayhzel wrote a great review

ya he's good , ,,,,,,,,,,, man it's hard to write a full review , if you're in my position ,, i'm workin and studying at the same time ,, so i was forced to do so , and i'm working alone here,, so music section is all on me ,, that's why i'm forced to do so , in some of them ,, not all of them chet ,, i wrote what i can ,, ,,,,,, but good find ,, F.B.I

[Slim Zaddy]

Then just don't reviews man, no one's forcing you. I believe you volunteered yourself

YES i did ,, if i have more members it would be better . cuz i will just focus on what i have ,, and write full reviews ..

[Slim Zaddy]

:unsure: don't quite understand

but yeah, write the reviews yourself man or just don't write them

then my post's will be less.. but if that's okay ,, then i will be writing my full reviews........dont worry about that ,,

[Robbie G]

Classic. I just bought this.

[shadysully22]

Dopest album ever made....hands down!!!!

[Ivy]

This and the Eminem Show were the best albums in my opinion...

[Element.]

I like all the songs in this album