Its influence spread because it was a brilliant record that people identified with whether they were black, white, hip-hop-heads or pop fans. The main reason that the media and authority figures paid so much attention to the record was that its influence was reaching so quickly through playgrounds, bedrooms and the charts. And whisper it quietly it’s actually pretty hilarious at times (the “ how am I supposed to send this shit out?” bit from Stan still makes me laugh out loud – there was humour even in the darkest places). ‘Bitches Please’ is a brilliant tag-team rap where Dre, Snoop and Xzibit line ‘em up before Marshall brilliantly knocks it down. He built a good story too: ‘Stan’ is expertly paced. Listen, for example, to the second verse of ‘Marshall Mathers’ where he obliterates Insane Clown Posse with such snap, venom and dexterity that your jaw genuinely falls open. In full flow and flight, he was almost untouchable. Even more so than in guitar circles, hip-hop fans are reluctant to credit commercially successful rappers but you’ll find few people who refuse to acknowledge Eminem’s skills. None of the screaming headlines and general outrage however, would have existed or mattered (it’s not like these issues were anything new in hip-hop) if it wasn’t for the fact that Eminem’s rhymes were delivered with an astonishing skill, flow and wickedly dark humour that few could compete with. My love of hip-hop grew from hearing this album. Within weeks I was buying Public Enemy and A Tribe Called Quest.
There was honesty, a style and above all, a kinetic energy that was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. But there was something in there that grabbed me from the first moment I was woken at 4am by my flatmates playing ‘Stan’ at top volume on repeat in my first year flat at Birmingham University (we’ve since become lifelong friends…I wanted to kill them at the time). As if that’s not enough, ‘Kim’ - a horrific 5 minutes in which Eminem kidnaps, murders and then buries his wife remains close to unlistenable. There is incest (‘I’m Back’) there is rape (‘Criminal’) misogyny and homophobia (‘Kill You’, ‘Marshall Mathers’) and within pretty much every single song, someone is beaten, flipped off or labelled a “ faggot’, ‘ slut’ or ‘ whore’. And even now, The Marshall Mathers LP is at times a profoundly difficult and unsettling listen. And he knew exactly what he was doing.Īt the time of release, I didn’t know hip-hop, wasn’t wise to hip-hop and frankly, the whole concept of the record seemed ugly to my bland, Britpop-honed sensibilities. The ultimate suburban parent’s nightmare, as so many others had been before. As for Eminem? He opened his UK tour in the winter of that year wielding a hockey mask and chainsaw. The great and the good shook their heads, expressing disgust in neat soundbites. The tabloids pleaded the Home Office to ban him from entry. The pious wrung their hands in exasperation. In a world subsequently traumatised by 9/11, desensitised by viral video and gradually acclimatised to real-life brutality and sorrow on our screens, it’s hard to recall the sweeping tirade of outrage and horror that accompanied the release of Eminem’s second album back in May 2000. Eminem & EPMD - EPMD 2 / Eminem Ft."Slim Shady does not give a fuck what you think…" Eminem, Polo G & Mozzy - Last One Standing / GRIP Ft. Eminem - Parables (Remix) / Skylar Grey Ft. Eminem | Events Worth checking out: Cordae Ft. Song of the Week #458: Big Weenie - Past SotW | New: Music To Be Murdered By - Side B (Deluxe Edition) | Other: Friday Night Cypher / The Adventures Of Moon Man And Slim Shady - Kid Cudi Ft.
Governors Ball Music Festival, New York, NY Obos Oslo Sommertime Festival, Oslo, Norway Rapture 2019 Tour - New Zealand, Wellington Past Events Dateĭu Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
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