The Marshall Mathers LP Is a very strong album. This albub was put out before eminem went mainstream pop. Not that i blame him, how much money does he have, i would have done it. With that being said, this Cd covers all fellings, Hate with a passion on "Kill You" to "Who Knew" where he talks about how every one wants to be done with him know that he's a popular rap icon. Then you have "Stan", a song about a crazed fan that takes everyone Em says to seriously, and wants to be just like him, to the point of almost stalking. Then you have "Marshall Mathers" where em tries to tell everyone hes human just like the rest of his. Btch please II is a classic, as is my favorite song on the album, Criminal, the beats are awesome, his lyrics are deep and meaningful, this is easily eminems best album to date, i would reccomend this CDE to anyone.

I wanted to write this review in all of the Eminem CD's to express my feelings regarding Eminem. I hope people won't laugh at my honesty, since I'm opening my heart to all. Notice that not once I'm judging Eminem (who am I to judge anybody, anyway?) My desire to write this review is to hopefully give some guidance, especially to the younger kids.

I first listened to Eminem back in the year 2000 - I was dancing at a nightclub with my husband in Cancun. Because I'm so much into rhythm, I first was fascinated by the sound of his music, and since back then I didn't speak as much English as I do now, the lyrics of his songs were almost not distinguished by me. In other words, I liked the beat, but I wasn't much aware of the message of his songs. Anyway, when I realized that Eminems songs were very bad, with lots of violence and filthy language, it was too late, I was an "addict" by then. However, since the position of my church is very clear about listening bad music (my church leaders had always warned us about bad music and rated R movies.) Even though I then DID like Eminem so much, I did not indulged in it. For years (from 2000 to 2004) I did not purchased a single CD of his, nor I listened to it on the radio. But then it happened. I was watching MTV once with my little brother (this is in Mexico again) and they had this video of Eminem that was so intriguing, and my brother wanted me to translate the lyrics for him because he couldn't understand what was the video about. I was - oh my gosh- so hooked up with his music that it almost became an obsession. For a little while I had this fight within me of what I wanted to do, and what I knew I shouldn't do. Eventually I gave in and I became one of Eminems #1's fan.

I bought all of his CD's (about 5 of them); I went to see his movie , I was just so infatuated with him it was ridiculous. I tried to reason that he had a hard life and that was why he was such a jerk, plus I really liked some of the points he made in some of his songs, and he does have a good heart, in spite of what people might think (he's a great father, and he absolutely adores his wife Kim.) So like I said, I was just trying to justify him and my listening to him. Little by little I started to feel a withdraw of the spirit of the Lord in my life. I didn't used to swear, but then I started. I didn't used to wear provocative clothes (even when Scott would make fun of my modest clothes, calling me "geek" because I was the only one at the dance clubs that wasn't half naked, did I change my style.) But Eminem's influence did it. A little bit here and a little bit there I became a less spiritual, more mundane Rosie.


Well, it's almost been a year since then. I started to alternate country music with some hip-hop, and rap. The more I listened to country though, the less I wanted to listen to Eminem. Finally, just not long ago, I realized the powerful way that music affects me. I noticed that whenever I played filthy songs, I felt very unspiritual, and when I listened only to good music, I had a more fervent desire to do what's right. Back in November I decided that I was not going to listen to bad music at all, for the whole month. It was kind of like dieting, you know, with the misery feeling of restriction. But then you are not going to believe what happened! The other day I was like, all right already, come on, I'm an adult, I can listen to whatever I want. So I played some Eminem, and I couldn't believe what had happened to me! I didn't even enjoy it anymore - in fact, I was like, "ew, how can anyone listen to this!" I'm not kidding you, I still don't get. I am happy to say that I don't listen to Eminem not because I can't or shouldn't, but because I don't want to. I feel much happier now.

No matter whether you like him or not, Eminem is still one of the best new rappers alive today (and, honestly, I can understand if you don't like him). This is because of several things - A: he has great delivery (as good as if-not-better-than Nas), B: his voice is really really good (he's very unique and identifiable whereas most other rappers (Ice Cube, Jeru The Damaja, Dr. Dre, etc) are relatively similar - he definitely stands out) and C: he's not afraid to offend you. Now this last one might raise some eyebrows, but hear me out - if everyone is afraid to offend you an extremely disturbing and offensive way ("Kim" is the most disturbing song I've ever heard in my entire life), then we are limiting ourselves, yes? Artists want to make you think in ways you never had before, and Eminem helps do that. He's not that great of a lyricist (i.e. he doesn't really have anything to say), but he sure can paint an extremely detailed picture with his rap-stories. He's also pretty funny in a lot of the songs, and occasionally pretty deep and meaningful (see "Stan" for an example of that one). Every track here is good-if-not-great, and the production is just fabulous - practically every track is fun and catchy. It's not for everybody, but if you're a rap fan and you haven't heard Eminem yet then you are truly living under a rock. Rap fans will LOVE this! Highly recommended!

Highlights include:
the entire album!