The Marshall Mathers LP
With a Grammy Award, 19 million copies sold worldwide and record for the most albums sold in its first week of sales, "The Marshall Mathers LP" is Eminem's most commercially successful album to date. His 2000 release, following his mainstream debut, "The Slim Shady LP," presents Eminem on a personal level, largely stripped of the fantasy of his previous album. Compared to his commercial debut there is more brutal violence, less sex and roughly equal drug references.
He comes off surly on the F.B.T. and Eminem-produced "Marshall Mathers." Eminem vituperates several pop superstars with lines such as "I'm anti-Backstreet and Ricky Martin/With instincts to kill 'N Sync, don't get me started/These f**kin' brats can't sing and Britney's garbage." He dismisses his mother's $10 million lawsuit against him for defamation of character by saying "my f**kin' bitch mom wanna sue me." He viciously uses the word "f**got" as an insult, although he denied being homophobic to the media.
He is more disgruntled than sarcastic on the F.B.T. and Eminem-produced "Criminal." Clearly angered by those who blame his lyrics for violence in society, he shoots a bank teller, robs the establishment and fires at authorities (not to mention shoots Dr. Dre). He shows defiance when he nasally yells, "S**t half the s**t I say I just make it up/To make you bad, to kiss my white naked ass."
Eminem reaches a boiling point on the self-produced "The Way I Am." Unable to cope with his rise to fame, he says the media "points a finger at me/So I point one back at 'em/But not the index or pinky or the ring or the thumb" for being accused of corrupting America's youth. He even yells, "I'm so sick and tired of being admired/That I wish I would just die or get fired."
He writes to an obsessed fan (voiced by himself) on "Stan," featuring Dido and produced by The 45 King and himself. Dido's calm voice and pen scribbles in the background balance out the fan's frustration. With desperation in his voice he raps to Eminem, "I can relate to what you saying in your songs/So when I have a s**tty day, I drift away and put 'em on/'Cause I don't really got s**t else so that s**t helps when I'm depressed/I even got a tattoo of your name across the chest."
Slim Shady comically rapped about tossing his wife in a lake on The Slim Shady LP's "97' Bonnie and Clyde," while he belligerently screams at his wife on the F.B.T.-produced "Kim." Eminem yells at the top of his lungs over a roaring and chilling beat with violins in the background, as well as the panicked voice of a woman playing Kim, the mother of his daughter. He goes berserk and condemns her for having an affair. His genuine anger brings an authenticity to the record that makes the listener sympathize with Eminem, not his wife's dead body in the bushes.
Eminem didn't kill his wife, heist a bank or rape his own mother, but he fearlessly voices his inner thoughts without fear of backlash. He is unapologetic for, as the media claimed, encouraging violence amongst teenagers in America. Eminem uses the First Amendment to his full advantage, letting the world know that nothing will silence him. Very few are brave enough to vent out their aggression like Eminem, but millions are intrigued enough to hear what it sounds like.