May 24, 2015 Ed. Note: This review originally ran in the January/February 2001 issue of XXL Magazine. In honor of the 15th anniversary of Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP, we are re-running our classic review here. LOVE Let’s put all the personal sh*t aside, we can admit it. We’re not stupid. Eminem is one of the best MCs in the world today and the MM LP is slammin’ from beginning to end. Ooops the little b------ did it again. He looked right in the eyes of that sophomore jinx and spit in her eye. No question, Em stepped his game up. His flow got tighter, his lyrics sharper, his concepts refined. Our favorite: not “Stan” but “The Way I Am,” the big fu*k-off to pen pushers like us. On this brilliant self-production, the cracker rhymes to the cadence of the crackling baseline instead of the drums. Both verses are so quotable they don’t do justice on paper. And mere adjectives can’t do justice to the sonic punch this LP packs. Clearly the best produced album of the year, overseen by you know who. And if you don’t know, besides being a sharp verse writer, Em packs more hooks than Joe Frazier. Choose your weapon. How ’bout “Who Knew”: “I never knew I would get this big/I never knew I would affect this kid.” Or the lovely title track: “I’m just Marshall Mathers/I’m just a regular guy, I don’t know why all the fuss about me/Come and see me in the streets alone if you as*holes doubt me.” And of course the single. Hey herbs sing along, I’m sure even Em’s sick of this joint by now. It goes: “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?” HATE OK, sit down. There’s no such thing as a perfect album like we said earlier so for all you doubters there are a few weaknesses that MM possesses. First, the first two bangers “k--- You” and “Stan” are one verse too long. The latter is most glaring. What seems to elude most critics who praise “Stan” for its genius fan-artist exploration, is that “Hollywood-ending”-last verse that seems so out of place. Do you think Em would really write back some obsessed male fan with homos3xual tendencies who wanted to fu*k him? Be serious. And is that Insane Clown Posse blow job skit (“Ken Kaniff”) really necessary? Yeah they dissed him first but just like Em’s other favorite targets (N Sync, Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears) nobody in hip-hop gives a flying fu*k about ICP. What else? “Criminal ” is a tad cheesy. “Kim” is a little extreme. And there is some filler. “Remember Me,” a bizarre collabo with RBX and Stick Fingaz sticks out like a sore thumb and his cuts with his crew D-12 are like the great sonic moments when Busta Rhymes and his Flipmode Squad come together. OK, we’re hating a little too much. Em’s album is still great. Really. http://www.xxlmag.com/rap... lassic-review/
May 24, 2015 I understand where he's coming from with Stan. I always thought the song may have been better had he just cut out the 4th verse and ended the track with Stan crashing & Dying. Like the entire song though, the 4th verse is written and executed so well it really doesn't derail the song at all. As for Remember Me being filler, lmao.
May 24, 2015 The time when incredible tracks like "Remember Me" were considered filler. Can't even imagine what would happen if it was a MMLP2 review. Really crazy.
May 24, 2015 "the first two bangers “k--- You” and “Stan” are one verse too long." & "What else? “Criminal ” is a tad cheesy. “Kim” is a little extreme." HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA
May 24, 2015 well at first stan was sent to interscope without the 4th verse, they sent back the track and asked for a 4th verse to make a closure on the song.
May 24, 2015 Stan originally closed with a different part of the thank you sample instead of the 4th verse
