So why is Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
My wife and I moved from the Bay Area to Southern California shortly after we got married. This was back in the early 2000s, and right around the same time I had gained access to a combination of technologies that, when pieced together, were revelatory:
- Access to a galaxy of music via peer-to-peer music sharing services like Napster… and for free
- The further ability to take that music, via the MP3 format, and burn it to compact discs
- Then, the real magic: among other things, I could listen to curated music playlists on my portable CD player
So it was that I recall listening to one of the first mix CDs I had ever created while walking around S. Lake St. in Pasadena right after I moved to the neighborhood – an apartment squeezed between a fun shopping district, the gorgeous Caltech campus, and the ultra-wealthy neighborhood of San Marino.
One of the songs on that playlist was “Bitch Please II,” which is credited to Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, and Nate Dogg.
Putting the somewhat unfortunate name of the song aside, I still have deep affection for its laid back hip hop groove and its stellar collection of rap artists.
And if this track does it for you, also check out the slightly more aggressive “original” version, simply titled “Bitch Please,” off of Snoop Dogg’s No Limit Top Dogg LP.
Casual Eminem fans will be more familiar with two other tunes – “The Real Slim Shady” and “Stan” – that are both tremendous while being completely different from one another.
“The Real Slim Shady” has two billion-plus plays on Spotify as of this writing (which even so is “only” his fifth-most popular track overall!). It’s a jaunty, playful, snarky, and really fun track that features an incredible harpsichord sample that has the earmark of Dr. Dre as producer all over it (he shares co-producer credits with Mel-Man on this one).
It also shows off Eminem’s rap skills at their most nimble and agile, while his writing messes around with the notion of celebrity while also playing the traditional game of putting down those wannabe comers.
He could be working at Burger King, spittin’ on your onion rings
Or in the parking lot, circling, screaming, “I don’t give a f—“
With his windows down and his system up
So will the real Shady please stand up
And put one of those fingers on each hand up?
“Stan” samples a really good song from Dido called “Thank You,” and transforms it into an astonishing narrative about a troubled fan. Told in epistolary fashion – how many songs, let alone rap songs, can boast that!? – we hear Eminem in the voice of Stan writing a series of letters to his rap idol (Marshall Mathers himself).
Hey, Slim, I drank a fifth of vodka, you dare me to drive?
You know the song by Phil Collins, “In the Air of the Night”
About that guy who coulda saved that other guy from drownin’
But didn’t, then Phil saw it all, then at a show he found him?
That’s kinda how this is: You coulda rescued me from drownin’
Now it’s too late, I’m on a thousand downers now, I’m drowsy
By the time Eminem responds to Stan in his own narrative voice, his “biggest fan” has spiraled out of control. It’s an astonishing, compelling, and chilling bit of musical storytelling.
I don’t use this term lightly: “Stan” is a masterpiece.
So it’s no surprise that because of “Stan,” the word “stan” has come to take on a new meaning in popular culture, though it’s typically used to convey that someone is a big fan of something (though not necessarily a psychotic one).
“The Way I Am” is a forceful hip hop statement that demands your attention.
“Criminal,” the album closer, reverts back to Slim Shady’s super fun, highly playful mode. The group of characters he dreams up in this one is both highly engaging and pretty hilarious.
Some stats & info about Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Hip Hop, Rap, Hardcore Rap, Dance Music
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #145
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was The Marshall Mathers LP released? 2000
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #120 out of 1,000
Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
So won’t the real Slim Shady please stand up?
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.