Some may say that real hip hop and lyricism is back. That statement may in fact be true. For the past year or so, rap seems like it has screeched it brakes on the lame, pointless lyricism it had previously manufactured, and is slowly making a U-turn back to when it had substance and meaning.
The music we’ve all grown to love and adore appears to be prepared for resurrection from the 6-foot grave it’s been buried in for what it seems to be a lifetime. Lyricism has definitely made its way back to the forefront with great albums from young metaphorical, storytelling geniuses like J-Cole and Kendrick Lamar, but it is now arguably the greatest emcee of all time to perhaps solidify the notion that hip hop is back. Eminem, Marshall Mathers, Slim Shady, which ever name you prefer, is back.
Fans all across the world have been eagerly waiting for the follow up to the Detroit natives diamond certified The Marshall Mathers LP since he made the announcement. The wait is over and Eminem fulfills his word with The Marshall Mathers LP 2.
There has been a restlessness with the unacceptable and mediocre albums that the rapper have been putting out as of late. Fan’s appetite has grown to desperate levels for something reminiscent to the 2000 classic LP.
MMLP2 is a great, compelling album in which fans can stop licking their chops and finally pull up a chair to the dinner table and feast off of greatness. This album is not a sequel and should not be measured up against the original MMLP. It is a revisitation to old stomping grounds and the closure of those chapters.
MMLP2 has the same recipe as the first LP, with content that takes you back to what made Eminem a household name. The misogynistic, boy band hating, self-depreciating, gay slur slinging, brash rapper is reoccurring through out this album. The LP’s opener “Bad Guy,” is a tell-tale narrative that showcases the brother of “Stan,” (crazed fan from the original MMLP) launching a detailed scheme of vengeance against the rapper. “I’m the nightmare you fell asleep in and woke up still in/ I’m your karma closing in with each stroke of a pen.” “Parking Lot,” mysteriously harks back to the robbery in MMLP “Criminal,” to brief us on what happened to the people involved.
In the blonde haired rapper’s third single “Rap God,” which is one of his best songs off the 18 track (deluxe edition with 21 tracks) album. Eminem petitions that he is not rap king but a rap god, and his impeccable dexterity of lyricism proves he just maybe super-human in hip hop. “You assuming I’m a human/ What i gotta do to get through to you that I’m superhuman/Innovative and I’m made of rubber/ So anything you say is ricocheting off of me and it’ll glue to you/ I’m devastating, more than ever demonstrating how to give an audience a feeling like it’s levitating.”
“Headlights” featuring Nate Ruess, Mathers surprises everyone with an apology to his Debbie, his mother, the victim of a great deal of hostility and hatred through his career.
