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Last Updated: Friday 18-May-2001 16:54
CMJ MMLP REVIEW
Eminem's sophomore album
is one vicious prank; anyone rushing to pick it up on the strength of
its cartoonish, ubiquitous first single, "The Real Slim Shady,"
is hardly expecting a venomous bomb like this. The Marshall Mathers LP's
protagonist is 100% Slim Shady, Em's "dark" and, quite frankly,
severely fucked-up alter-ego. Musically, the album is a triumph, featuring
the unmistakable production skills of his mentor Dr. Dre and liberal doses
of Eminem's trademark nasal, rattling delivery and ingenious rhyme skills.
Lyrically, Slim Shady's misogynist, psychotically violent hip-hop persona
hits shocking new extremes, but perhaps Em's most astounding skill is
hidden within the fury. Take this passage from "Kim," a song
where Slim snaps and takes his girlfriend to a secluded area and kills
her: "Bullshit, you bitch/ Don't fuckin' lie to me!" he hollers
over her screams in the midst of a murderous jealous tirade, then immediately
whips into comic relief with some run-of-the-mill road rage before he
reveals the broken-hearted kid at the core of the entire miserable tale:
"Kim? Kim?/Why don't you like me?" Are these lyrics "wrong"?
Are they art? No matter which side you're on, you can't deny their searing
honesty, and that's what makes Eminem one of pop music's most compelling
artists.
---- http://www.shadyfactory.cjb.net -- |
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