Eminem - Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)

For artists, sequel albums are a double-edged sword.  On one hand, billing an album as a sequel to a critical or fan favorite generates more hype for a release than it otherwise would have gotten.  On the other hand, you're basically challenging your listeners to compare it to the previous release.  If the album holds up to those comparisons, it can be a huge boon for the artists career.  Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. 2, and Nas's Stillmatic both stand out as cases where sequel albums gave a much needed bump to their respective artist's faltering careers.  However, if a sequel isn't well received, it only functions as a shining example of how far an artist has fallen since their peak.  It can be a death sentence for a career.  Warren G, and Twista come to mind as artists who have fallen into irrelevance following a poorly executed sequel album.  Eminem decided to throw his hat into the sequel ring with 2013's Marshall Mathers LP 2 (MMLP2).

One of the hardest parts of creating a good sequel album is managing to capture the tone and sound of the original without coming across as a just a knock-off, there's a relatively narrow sweet spot that needs to be hit in order to be successful.  Stray too far from the original, and fans will accuse you of just using the name as a cash grab and resent you for it.  Stick too close to the formula and your album will be regarded as just a worse version of the original and panned by fans, if not necessarily critics.  Em treads dangerously close to the former issue with MMLP2.

Were it not for the track "Bad Guy" and the album being named Marshall Mathers LP 2, I may have never caught on that it was supposed to be a sequel.  There's a few nods to the original scattered throughout, but the overall sound doesn't come across as being any more influenced by the original than Em's previous couple of albums.  It uses the same garbage rock influenced beats that plagued Recovery and, once again,  inexplicably features a healthy serving of Eminem trying to sing.  The presence of someone like Rihanna as a featured artist also strikes me as something that the Eminem of 2000 wouldn't have done.

The one saving grace to MMLP2 in the "hitting the sweet spot" department is that it's a noticeable throw-back to the original Marshall Mathers LP (MMLP) as far as subject matter, when compared to his previous few releases.  He finally moves on past the mopey recovering drug addict narrative, and goes back to the topics that made him famous in the first place: self-depreciation, ridiculing of the entertainment industry, and his shitty childhood.  After having his last album be primarily about how much he's changed and how hes trying to be a better person, reverting back to his old subject matter comes across as somewhat insincere, though.  What used to come across as exorcising personal demons or just venting frustrations now feels more like shock value for shock value's sake.  That being said, Em's rhymes are on point from a technical standpoint.  The fact that he is still able to impress with his verses this far into his career, is really a testament to his credentials as one of the greatest to ever pick up the mic.  Even if his flow is awkward, even clumsy at times, his wordplay is as good as it's ever been... even if he does get shown up by Kendrick Lamar on "Love Game".

The thing that weighs this album down isn't Eminem, it's everything around him.  MMLP2 is an album that is desperately trying to adhere to the current pop culture conventions while pretending to resent them.  For whatever reason they decided it would be a good idea to bring in Rick Rubin, who apparently thought that the best way to capture the sound of the original MMLP was to use a bunch of very recognizable samples from thirty to fifty year old rock songs, despite MMLP featuring nothing of the sort.  Whoever keeps telling Eminem that he's a good singer needs to go away.  Songs like "Stronger Than I Was" are borderline unlistenable.  Even the tracks where he just sings the hooks become instantly worse for it.

In short, Marshall Mathers LP 2 still has many of the same issues that held back his previous couple releases.  Looking back at the Recovery review I wrote a few years ago, most of those same criticisms are still very valid. Em is still a horrible singer.  The presence of major pop artists still feels like a betrayal (even if his Rihanna collabs are pretty good).  His pop culture references are still outdated.  His choice of samples is still questionable.  He's still showing flashes of greatness with his verses, though and it still gives me hope that Em has another great album in him, if he can ever manage to get the right people around him.  MMLP2 just isn't that album.

Best Tracks: Rap God, Monster, Bad Guy

Overall: 70/100

Eminem - Recovery (2010)

After a depressed and drug addicted Eminem released the lukewarm Encore in 2004, he went on hiatus for almost five years before returning with 2009′s Relapse.  Once again, the reception was less than stellar.  Recovery is Eminem’s attempt to put Encore and Relapse behind him and rekindle what it was that made him great from 1999-2002.

It’s hard for me to consider Recovery a successful album.  It definitely sounds more like Em’s older releases than did Encore or Relapse, but it does so in many of the wrong ways.  He doesn't seem to have updated his list of pop culture references since The Eminem Show, making references to Austin Powers and Mariah Carey (go figure).  The primary theme of the album seems to be apologizing for his last couple releases.

To Em’s credit, the rapping on this album is actually very good from a technical standpoint.  The rhyme schemes are extremely intricate.  The problem is what he’s saying.  All the cleverness and wit of his early releases is long gone; he doesn't even have shock value anymore.  The whole album is painfully lacking in catchy, singalong, tracks.  Unfortunately, most of the memorable lines are notable for being bad.  It’s practically devoid of any hooks whatsoever.  Eminem sings most of the ones that are present and… well, let’s just say that there is a reason Em doesn't have a singing career.

For an attempt to return to his 1999-2002 form, there was an incredible shortage of Dr. Dre and self produced tracks on Recovery.  Dre ended up with only one credit, with Em himself not being the primary producer of a single track.  Em’s Rolodex must’ve gotten a workout contacting all the producers on this album.  Marquee producers, DJ Khalil and Just Blaze got the most production credits, with four and three, respectively.  If you’re a fan of lots of soft rock samples in your hip-hop, the production on Recovery will be a treat for you.  For the other 95% of us, listening to Recovery is a long 77 minutes of dreary keyboards and awkward samples that don’t fit together in any sort of cohesive manner.

Of course, as a hip-hop snob, I would be remissed if I failed to mention the presence of Lil Wayne, Pink and Rihanna on the album.  How could any fan of 1999-2002 Eminem not feel at least a little betrayed by their presence?  Em told us that he was going to try and return back to the sound that we all know and love, and instead we get him collaborating with exactly the kind of people that he built his career making fun of.  That’s the definition of selling out; becoming what you would have once mocked.

Despite all my criticisms, Recovery is worth a spin or two.  Yeah, it falls way short of what he wanted it to be, but there is reason to be optimistic about Eminem’s future.  Unlike on Encore, Eminem shows that he is still a very technically skilled rapper.  A few more quotable hooks would’ve really served this album well, if for no other reason than to distract from the occasional painfully bad lines that end up being the most memorable.  Really, what brought this album down was the production, though.  How, as a producer, you can not provide top shelf beats for an Eminem album is beyond me, but it just seemed like the beats were phoned in.  Remember when Just Blaze used to be good?

Best Tracks: Talkin 2 Myself, Love the Way You Lie, Cinderella Man, Going Through Changes

Overall: 55/100