The Marshall Mathers LP is the third studio album by American rapper Eminem. Released on May 23, 2000, the album sold more than 1.76 million copies in the US in the first week alone.^[4] In 2001, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and was nominated for Album of the Year. The album was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America in the United States with shipments over 10 million.^[5][6] As of May 13, 2012, the record had sold 10,598,000 million copies in the US.^[7] As of 2005 the album had sold over 19 million units worldwide.^[8]

The Marshall Mathers LP has been ranked as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all-time by Rolling Stone,^[9] Time,^[10] and XXL.^[11][12] Rolling Stone placed the album at number 7 on its list of the best albums of the 2000s.^[13] The album was ranked number 302 by Rolling Stone on their list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[14] In 2010, Rhapsody ranked it number 1 on their "The 10 Best Albums by White Rappers" list.^[15]

Music[link]

Concept[link]

Lyrical content[link]

Much of the album is spent addressing his rise to fame and attacking those who criticized his previous album. Other themes include his relationship with his family, most notably his mother and Kim Mathers, his former wife.^[16] 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. Some songs are censored because of events surrounding the album's release. Unlike Eminem's debut, The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP is more introspective in its lyrics and less of the Slim Shady persona. Its lyrical style has been described as horrorcore,^[2][3] with Stephen Thomas Erlewine writing that the album's lyrics "[blur] the distinction between reality and fiction, humor and horror, satire and documentary".^[17]

Most songs cover Eminem's childhood struggles and family issues, involving his mother ("Kill You"),^[18] the relationship struggles with his wife ("Kim"),^[18] his struggles with his superstardom and expectations ("Stan","I'm Back", & "Marshall Mathers"),^[18] his return and effect on the music industry ("Remember Me?", "Bitch Please II"),^[18] his drug use ("Drug Ballad"),^[18] his effect on the American youth and society ("The Way I Am", "Who Knew"),^[18] and reactionary barbs to critical response of his vulgarity and dark themes ("Criminal").^[18] Throughout the entire album, the listener is presented with a mix of dark themes, controversy, and life stories, with Eminem intentionally blurring the lines between fact and fiction. Despite the large amount of controversy regarding the lyrics, the lyrics on the album were overwhelmingly well received among critics and the hip hop community, many praising Eminem's verbal energy and dense rhyme patterns.^[19][20]

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",^[21] and the first two lines from the third verse of "I'm Back" are based on lines from "My Melody".^[22] Two lines in "Marshall Mathers" parody the song "Summer Girls" by LFO.

Clean version[link]

The clean version of the album is only slightly censored, as it leaves words like "ass", "shit", "bitch", "goddamn" and sometimes "faggot" and "nigga" (the latter of which is always used strictly by the guest artists) were uncensored. The only censored profanities are "fuck" and a few other words which were deemed inappropriate which are 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, women, homosexuals, 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 (in response to the 1999 Columbine massacre). Explicit drug content was 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 completely removed because of the intense violent messages aimed at his then wife and was replaced with the South Park-inspired song "The Kids", which was about not doing drugs.^[20]

Production[link]

Much of the first half of the album is produced by Dr. Dre and Mel-Man,^[23] who typically employ sparse, stripped-down beats, allowing Eminem's rapping to take center stage. Bass Brothers and Eminem produced most of the second half,^[23] 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 sampled a verse from Dido's song "Thank You" for "Stan", while adding a slow bass line.^[23]

Singles[link]

"The Real Slim Shady" was the first single released from The Marshall Mathers LP. The song was a hit, becoming Eminem's first chart topper in some countries, and garnering much attention for insulting various celebrities. The chorus is: "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 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 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.^[24] Marilyn Manson is mentioned in the song in the lines: "When a dude's getting bullied and shoots up his school/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."^[24] 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.

"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'.^[25] "Stan" is a story of a fan who is obsessed with Eminem and writes to him but doesn't receive a reply. 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 realizes too late, not the means) to send it to Eminem. The song makes heavy use of sound effects, with rain, thunder and windscreen wipers 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 was produced by The 45 King and samples the first couple of lines of "Thank You" by Dido as the chorus. "Stan" was ranked number 3 on a list of the greatest rap songs in history by Q,^[26] and came in tenth in a similar survey conducted by Top40-Charts.com.^[27] Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time ranked it number 290. It was also ranked the 270th best song of all time in November 2008 by Acclaimedmusic.net.^[28]

Reception[link]

Commercial performance[link]

During the first week of sales, the album sold 1.76 million 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.^[4] The album sold 800,000 in its second week, 598,000 in its third week, and 519,000 in its fourth week for a four week total of 3.65 million, and became one of few albums to sell over half a million copies for four consecutive weeks. It finished out the year 2000 as the second highest selling album of the year with over 7.9 million sold.^[29] In 2010, the Nielsen Company reported that up until November 2009, the album had sold 10,216,000 units in the US, making it the fourth-best selling album of the decade.^[30] As of July 17, 2011, it was the best selling rap album ever in the USA with 10,465,000 copies sold.^[31]

Critical response[link]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(78/100)[32]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[17]
Robert Christgau	(A)[33]
Entertainment Weekly	(A−)[34]
NME	(9/10)[35]
PopMatters	(favorable)[36]
Rolling Stone (2000)	[19]
Rolling Stone (2004)	[37]
Slant Magazine	[38]
Sputnikmusic	[39]
The Village Voice	(favorable)[40]

Upon its release, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 78, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".^[41] Chuck Eddy of The Village Voice gave it a rave review and noted "a self-awareness and emotional complexity... that Eminem previously seemed incapable of".^[40] In his consumer guide for The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau gave the album an A rating,^[33] indicating "a record that rarely flags for more than two or three tracks."^[42] Christgau called Eminem "exceptionally witty and musical, discernibly thoughtful and good-hearted, indubitably dangerous and full of shit", while declaring the album "a work of art whose immense entertainment value in no way compromises its intimations of a pathology that's both personal and political".^[33]

Allmusic called the album "fairly brilliant" and noted its production's liquid basslines, slight sound effects, and spacious soundscapes.^[17] NME described it as a "[g]ruelling assault course of lyrical genius".^[35] Entertainment Weekly dubbed it "indefensible and critic-proof, hypocritical and heartbreaking, unlistenable and undeniable" and "the first great pop record of the 21st century".^[34] Vibe stated, "Eminem has crafted the best album of the year so far with The Marshall Mathers LP and it comes dangerously close to being a classic."^[41] Touré of Rolling Stone commended Dr. Dre's production and Eminem's varied rapping style, while calling the album "a car-crash record: loud, wild, dangerous, out of control, grotesque, unsettling. It's also impossible to pull your ears away from."^[19]

However, Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani found Eminem "repugnant" and panned his lyrics, stating "The only thing worse than Eminem's homophobia is the immaturity with which he displays it".^[38] Spin gave the album a mixed review and viewed his rhymes as "outstanding", but ultimately found its beats "mediocre" and called the album "musically, not all that noteworthy".^[41] Q gave it three out of five stars and stated, "True, even misdirected, Eminem's disaffection sucks you in and the wholesale nihilism can still provoke shivers. But it all used to be more fun."^[41] In a retrospective review, Sputnikmusic's Nick Butler found the album culturally significant to American popular music and stated, "Even if you ignore the album's importance, it remains a truly special album, unique in rap's canon, owing its spirit to rock and its heritage to rap, in a way I've rarely heard".^[39]

Accolades[link]

The album won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards.^[43] It also won Best Album at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards.^[44]

In 2003, The Marshall Mathers LP was ranked number 302 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In its book format, the album was moved up to number 298.^[9] Rolling Stone also placed the album at number seven on its list of the best albums of the 2000s.^[13] IGN placed the album at number 24 on their 2004 list of the greatest rap albums in history.^[45] In 2006, the album was chosen by Time as one of the 100 greatest albums of all time.^[10] In 2006, Q ranked the album number 85 on a list of the greatest albums of all time, the highest position held by any rap album on the list.^[46] It was named the fourth-greatest album of 2000's by Complex.^[47] Pitchfork Media ranked it at number 119 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.^[48] The Marshall Mathers LP was the highest ranked rap album on the National Association of Recording Merchandisers & the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the 200 greatest albums of all time at number 28.^[49] It is one of the few albums ever to receive the top ranking of "XXL" from XXL, and Eminem's first album to be rated by the magazine.^[11]

Controversy[link]

On October 26, 2000, Eminem was to perform at a concert in Toronto's Skydome.^[50] However, Ontario Attorney General Jim Flaherty argued that Canada should stop Eminem at the border. "I personally don't want anyone coming to Canada who will come here and advocate violence against women", he said.^[50] Flaherty claims to have been "disgusted" when reading transcriptions of Eminem's song "Kill You", which includes lines like "Slut, you think I won't choke no whore/till the vocal cords don't work in her throat no more?"^[50] Eminem's fans argued that this was a matter of free speech and that he was unfairly singled out.^[50] Michael Bryant suggested that the government let Eminem perform and then prosecute him for violating Canada's hate crime laws, despite the fact that Canada's hate-crime legislation does not include violence against women.^[51] In a Globe and Mail editorial, author Robert Everett-Green wrote, "Being offensive is Eminem's job description."^[52] Eminem was granted entry into Canada.^[53]

A 2001 and 2004 study by Edward Armstrong found that of the 14 songs on The Marshall Mathers LP eleven contain violent and misogynistic lyrics and nine depict killing women through choking, stabbing, drowning, shooting, head and throat splitting. According to the study, Eminem scores 78% for violent misogyny while gangsta rap music in general reaches 22%.^[54][55] Armstrong argues that violent misogyny characterizes most of Eminem's music and that the rapper "authenticates his self-presentations by outdoing other gangsta rappers in terms of his violent misogyny."^[55]

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.^[12] At the ceremony, Eminem performed "Stan" in a duet with openly gay artist Elton John playing piano and singing the chorus, as a response to claims by GLAAD and others who claimed his lyrics were homophobic. GLAAD did not change its position, however, and spoke out against Elton John's decision.^[56] Despite significant protests and debate, The Marshall Mathers LP went on to win Best Rap Album.

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.^[57]

Track listing[link]

Personnel[link]

Charts and certifications[link]

See also[link]

• List of best-selling albums in the United States
• List of best-selling albums worldwide

Chart precession and succession[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Marshall Mathers LP at Metacritic