EMINEM - MMLP2 |OT| They Call Me Slim Shady (I'm Back?)

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I objectively recognize SSLP as a better album, but it never actually grew on me, while Encore did, for whatever reason.
 
I wish they switched "Stronger than I was" with "Beautiful Pain" and "The Monster" with "Wicked Ways" for the Bonus CD. They're simply better tracks (I hate switching discs in my shitty car's cd player lol). I still like listening to them both...guilty pleasure :P

...And whoever said Sia sounds like Skylar Grey...I cut you now!!!!!!lolwut?!!!
 
The more I listen to the album, the more it grows on me. If I had to rate the albums for me personally, I'd say:

TES
MMLP2
MMLP
Recovery
SSLP
Encore
Relapse

The only thing that pushes MMLP2 over the original to me is that the album feels more personal than MMLP did.
 
I wish they switched "Stronger than I was" with "Beautiful Pain" and "The Monster" with "Wicked Ways" for the Bonus CD. They're simply better tracks (I hate switching discs in my shitty car's cd player lol). I still like listening to them both...guilty pleasure :P

...And whoever said Sia sounds like Skylar Grey...I cut you now!!!!!!lolwut?!!!

Skylar sounded better than Rihanna on LTWYL and I wouldn't have minded having her sing the hook instead of Sia.

No idea what happened to her during the Survival performance on SNL though, that was horrid.
 
I kind of only like angry Eminem. I really don't enjoy most of this album. Love Game is literally just him reading words. Nothing rhymes, flows or sounds good. I don't get how people like it.

I like Bad Guy when it gets to 5:32 mark.

I like Legacy when it gets to 3:30.

The flow, voice, tone, raps he uses at these time marks is the Eminem that I have just always been used to. It is clearly different than the rest of the album. I can't listen to the majority of it. It is just plain shit sounding to me.
 
Skylar sounded better than Rihanna on LTWYL and I wouldn't have minded having her sing the hook instead of Sia.

No idea what happened to her during the Survival performance on SNL though, that was horrid.

I dont mind Skylar Grey but I read that comment before I heard "Beautiful Pain" so I was disappointed that Sia didnt really have a presence...tbh, it kinda seems like she doesnt, in this track, but there's enough to be good...I like her little verse at the end.
 
So here's a question: are there more songs on the album like Berzerk, or is it more of a stylized single choice? Because I really like Berzerk and will definitely get the album if the majority of the album is close to it in style.
 
So here's a question: are there more songs on the album like Berzerk, or is it more of a stylized single choice? Because I really like Berzerk and will definitely get the album if the majority of the album is close to it in style.

There isn't really anything else resembling it on the album.
 
Listened to it again today and outside of two or three tracks, it's pretty forgettable. There is much more interesting stuff happening in hip hop right now. Oh well.
 
Listening to it for the first time...

Bad Guy is nice, but not nearly my top 15 or even top 20 Eminem song.
Now I'm listening to the second song (Rhyme or Reason) and I'm loving it.

Edit. As someone said, the third song ('So Much Better') feels straight off "The Eminem Show". Liking it.
 
During that facebook Q&A he also said he wanted Dido on Bad Guy but it would have been too obvious before release what the song was about.

I do think an Elton John collabo on Headlights would have been huge/great.

He also said his only regret about how the album turned out was that Don't Front couldn't have been added to the album (the bonus disk). He said they ran out of time and it didn't meet the deadline.
 
For those interested Complex has done some really cool interviews about the making of mmlp2 and some other rappers impressions and opinions of em.

First up is the interview with Rick Rubin which is super interesting. Just the process of recording, what ended up in the final product, and how everything went down:

http://www.complex.com/music/2013/10/rick-rubin-eminem-marshall-mathers-2-interview

Cool tidbits about how Kendrick thought he was only brought in to write a hook for Love Game. Em left him alone and when he came back he found the hook. He wanted a verse. Kendrick then recorded his verse. Em ended up using both the hook and verse.

Berserk initially had a different sample but it never cleared. It wouldn't have worked as a single the way it was composed before. Would love to hear what it was before but Rubin doesn't reveal.

2nd article is 30 rappers talking about their favorite em moments, songs, and albums:

http://www.complex.com/music/2013/10/rappers-talk-about-their-favorite-eminem-song-album-and-moment/

I hope to god Redman is kidding when he says "My First Single" is his favorite Em song.
 
So i never listened to relapse, what are considered some of the best songs on it? Not including Refill.

Deja Vu, Hello, Stay Wide Awake (some of the craziest rhyme schemes I've heard on a song), Medicine Ball (dat Dre beat), Crack A Bottle

But if you don't like the pseudo serial killer accent that he puts on for Relapse, you're going to hate every song on there except for Underground.
 
So i never listened to relapse, what are considered some of the best songs on it? Not including Refill.

Not a lot of people like relapse, but lucky for you I do. I like Hello, Stay Wide Awake, Deja Vu.

Edit -- before I saw Grover Cleveland's post.
 
That made me go back and listen to Relapse a little.

Some of the bars and flows on that CD are
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Might be Em's most impressive album technique wise ever. Just in terms of MCing, he was on some next level shit.

Now in terms of actual song-writing
200x200px-ZC-a476814c_nah.gif
 
That made me go back and listen to Relapse a little.

Some of the bars and flows on that CD are
http://replygif.net/i/668.gif/img]

Might be Em's most impressive album technique wise ever. Just in terms of MCing, he was on some next level shit.

Now in terms of actual song-writing
[img]http://cdn.niketalk.com/a/a4/200x200px-ZC-a476814c_nah.gif/img][/QUOTE]

Agree. Some of the lyrics are *wtf*. I think what I like about it is the mood and Eminem just ripping. Sit down beside her like a spider.. now I have to go listen to the album.
 
Agree. Some of the lyrics are *wtf*. I think what I like about it is the mood and Eminem just ripping. Sit down beside her like spider.. now I have to go listen to the album.

That track made me play the album again today. With a couple stinkers, I loved the way Em put together Relapse and think the back half of the album is ranked just below TES for sheer enjoyment.
 
That made me go back and listen to Relapse a little.

Some of the bars and flows on that CD are
http://replygif.net/i/668.gif

Might be Em's most impressive album technique wise ever. Just in terms of MCing, he was on some next level shit.

Now in terms of actual song-writing
http://cdn.niketalk.com/a/a4/200x200px-ZC-a476814c_nah.gif

The best parts of Relapse are the production and the fact that Em could still flow without throwing a million words per bar at the beat. I can see the horrorcore theme getting tiring for some, but the production is so good it makes up for it. Unfortunately, on top of the repetitive content, he's rapping in that accent for a majority of the album (though the accent really works on "Buffalo Bill"). If "The Eminem Show" Eminem got his hands on those beats, he'd have a 4th great album.

Also, Deja Vu is the last great serious Eminem track IMO, so Relapse has that much going for it at least.

If Em has another album in him, he needs to get back to his own production + Dre again. I'm really not a fan of most of the beats he's been using post-Relapse.
 
Yea I went back and listened to Relapse yesterday.

Lyrical game is on fire, but the actual songs are scust.

Favourite songs from Relapse: 3AM, Deja Vu, Same Song and Dance, Stay Wide Awake, Beautiful, Underground, My Darling, Be careful what you wish for.


Also listened to the whole Slim Shady LP. Found it more listenable than Relapse lol.
 
Finished the album (haven't listened to the bonus CD yet)

All in all I thought it was decent. Headlighs, Rap God, Evil twin, Brainless, and Love Game(this one grew on me) are the only songs I can say I really, really enjoyed. As for everything else... man, a lot of these songs sounded way too similar or at least had a far too familiar feel to them. I'm having a hard time even remembering how a lot of these songs went because they blend in to each other so well. I swear to god the same woman was singing the chorus to 60% of these songs... the fuck.

Em really took the "Hip-Pop" shit too far. Too much Survival/Monster not enough Brainless/Rap God. Really is a damn shame too because I would have been able to put this album in the same league as MMLP, SSLP, and TES if he had gone that route instead. And this album also made me really appreciate the beats in his first three albums. They all absolutely shit on this one. It's not even close.

I have to face facts after this album though; the Eminem I grew up on is dead. That man is buried. Gone. Deceased. He will never be that vicious, vile, venomous, demented, cunt ever again no matter how much I would love to see it. This is the new Eminem for a different generation and I have to just let it go.

Songs like headlights, Brainless, Evil twin, and Rap God I feel he made just for old school fans like me. As for pretty much everything else? It's all clearly for a new generation of Eminem fans. It kind of sucks... but fuck it, I'll always have his old shit. And current Em isn't "bad' to me, just not what I really want from him as an artist.

SSLP: 8.8/10
MMLP: 10/10
TES: 9/10
MMLP2 6.5/10

Maybe the bonus CD can bump this up to a solid 7 for me and I can officially call this thing "good" instead of just better than average.
 
Favourite songs from Relapse: 3AM, Deja Vu, Same Song and Dance, Stay Wide Awake, Beautiful, Underground, My Darling, Be careful what you wish for.
.

Only two songs I cared about on that album. I remember hearing "Careful What You Wish For" thinking why on earth it had only 2 verses, why that intro took up most of the song, why it felt incomplete and why was it relegated to being a bonus track (I think I already answered this question). Beautiful took a LONG time for me to appreciate. It wasn't until a good 5 months before it grew on me. Hated it the first time I heard it.
 
Bad Guy really should've been the last song on the album.

It's awkward when the first track leaves you at such a high for the rest of the songs to drag you down. If Bad Guy was the last track I don't know where I'd place Evil Twin :/
 
The last verse in Bad Guy is chill-inducing, its tremendous

Its completely self-aware, confronting his mortality as an artist. He says more from the heart in that verse than he has in the last 5 years.
 
Relapse is underrated. Which makes the line about him giving into the bitching and saying it's meh even funnier.

I think Em confused the bitching about the accent to mean people didn't like the production, subject matter, or his technical ability. Because everything since the Forever verse has been angrier (yelling), double time, and stop and go flow. He also has said that yes while he was sober while making Relapse he was re learning how to rap so much that he didn't feel like it was his best effort post addiction to highlight what he went through.

I swear though if only he recorded Relapse/Refill in his normal voice I'd love the two projects. Horrorcore didn't work on every song but more than the subject, the fucking accent kills a lot of the songs for me.

One of the things I really enjoy with MMLP2 is that he goes in and out of that flow where as Recovery was all yelling all the time. The bonus songs Baby, Groundhog Day, and Wicked Ways really bring back that 02-04 Em feel bad where he is just going 4 min straight at it with his most normal voice.

The best parts of Relapse are the production and the fact that Em could still flow without throwing a million words per bar at the beat. I can see the horrorcore theme getting tiring for some, but the production is so good it makes up for it. Unfortunately, on top of the repetitive content, he's rapping in that accent for a majority of the album (though the accent really works on "Buffalo Bill"). If "The Eminem Show" Eminem got his hands on those beats, he'd have a 4th great album.

Also, Deja Vu is the last great serious Eminem track IMO, so Relapse has that much going for it at least.

If Em has another album in him, he needs to get back to his own production + Dre again. I'm really not a fan of most of the beats he's been using post-Relapse.

I really like Changes from Recovery because it covered the drug addiction ordeal real well, but yeah Deja Vu is perfect production, hook, and personal/serious content.

If he does make another album, and I think he will in 3-4 years, he needs to reunite with the Bass brothers. Work only with them, get Dre to make beats and not just mix, let Em himself produce (the better tracks on the album are by him), and maybe Alchemist who for some reason is his dj but never makes the album cuts. The beats on Bad Guy and Evil Twin also fit Em like a glove. So even if he ventures out the camp again he still needs to keep to his sound. I think whereas some artists can maybe rap to a different sound, Em is at his best when he is in his own lane rapping over goofy beats or dark beats.

Oh and also stop fucking singing on songs. You are a rapper. Only stick to rapping.

I also think a full album of Rubin beats would have worked. Reading the interview with Rubin it def sounds like they made tons more songs out of which only 4 made the album. I wonder if we ever hear those tracks which didn't make the cut.


Great thoughts. I agree that seeing songs like Monster and Survival make a project called MMLP2 makes no sense. And its sad. Recovery 2 could have those songs and no one would question it.

Stronger Than I Was sucks but its not like we haven't heard him try sing before. So Far might be too poppy also but again it has this comical sound that was on previous albums. Same with Love Game. Though I think those 2 songs back to back make no sense.

I do feel that Asshole and Legacy also fit the mold of old EM. Yeah female hooks, but Asshole is pretty funny at times and self aware. I wish he expanded on the whole point he was making about fucked up the world is and how you have to wear a vest to just go see Batman. Because when he came out a lot of the tragedies were blamed on him (The Way I Am).

Legacy, again female hook, is really well done. From the same rhyme throughout all three verses to the slow build up in confidence, learning to rap, to becoming a giant. I think that fits his usual flare too.

Bad Guy really should've been the last song on the album.

It's awkward when the first track leaves you at such a high for the rest of the songs to drag you down. If Bad Guy was the last track I don't know where I'd place Evil Twin :/

I thought that originally too but the end of Bad Guy works as the intro "so for one last time I'm back".

In reality Bad Guy, Evil Twin, and Wicked Ways could all work as the last song. Especially Wicked Ways.
 
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