Hello, with over 170 million records sold globally, Marshall Bruce Mathers III is among the best-selling music artists of all time. He was the best-selling music artist in the United States in the 2000s, sigh..such a confused country. Trash sells in America !, but what about all that plastic ?
Today's Artist is another case of rags to riches the US always drools over."At the dawn of the 21st Century, Slim Shady had the biggest mouth in the music biz. And man oh man were people upset about the words coming out of it. Drugs, murder, rape, and attacks on pop culture icons were casual topics; and no matter how ridiculous his stories were he made sure you believed every. single. word. However, his praise was just as large as the controversy, not to mention sales. Clever wording coupled with vicious delivery made him perhaps the most technically skilled MC ever within the mainstream. . ....... N Joy
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To call Eminem hip-hop's Elvis is correct to a degree, but it's largely inaccurate. Certainly, Eminem was the first white rapper since the Beastie Boys to garner both sales and critical respect, but his impact exceeded this confining distinction. On sheer verbal skills, Eminem was one of the greatest MCs of his generation -- rapid, fluid, dexterous, and unpredictable, as capable of pulling off long-form narratives as he was delivering a withering aside -- and thanks to his mentor Dr. Dre, he had music to match: thick, muscular loops that evoked the terror and paranoia Em's music conjured. And, to be certain, a great deal of the controversy Eminem courted -- and during the turn of the millennium, there was no greater pop cultural bogeyman than Marshall Mathers -- came through in how his violent fantasias, often directed at his mother or his wife, intertwined with flights of absurdity that appealed to listeners too young to absorb the psychodramas Eminem explored on his hit albums, The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. With hits "My Name Is" and "The Real Slim Shady," he ruled the airwaves, but it wasn't long before some detractors acknowledged his depth, helped in part by singles like the mournful "Stan," written from the perspective of an obsessed fan. Eminem capitalized on this forward momentum by crossing over onto the big screen with 8 Mile, earning acclaim for his performance and an Oscar for the film's anthem "Lose Yourself," but a number of demons led him to shut down for the second half of the decade, an absence that proved life was indeed empty without Em, before he returned in 2009 with Relapse.
Born Marshall Mathers in the Kansas City, Missouri suburb of St. Joseph, Eminem spent his childhood between Missouri and Michigan, settling in Detroit by his teens. At the age of 14, he began rapping with a high-school friend, the two adopting the names "Manix" and "M&M," which soon morphed into Eminem. Under this name, Mathers entered battle rapping, a struggle dramatized in the fictionalized 8 Mile. Initially, the predominantly African-American audience didn't embrace Eminem, but soon his skills gained him a reputation, and he was recruited to join several rap groups. The first of these was the New Jacks, and after they disbanded, he joined Soul Intent, who released a single in 1995. This single also featured Proof, and the two rappers broke off on their own to form D-12, a six-member crew that functioned more as a Wu-Tang-styled collective than a regularly performing group. As he was struggling to establish his career, he and his girlfriend Kim had a daughter, Hailey, forcing him to spend less time rapping and more time providing for his family. During this time, he assembled his first album, Infinite, which received some underground attention in 1996, not all of it positive. After its release, Eminem developed his Slim Shady alter ego, a persona that freed him to dig deep into his dark id, something he needed as he faced a number of personal upheavals, beginning with a bad split with Kim, which led him to move in with his mother and increase his use of drugs and alcohol, capped off with an unsuccessful suicide attempt. All this Sturm und Drang was channeled into The Slim Shady EP, which is where he first demonstrated many of the quirks that became his trademark, including his twitchy, nasal rhyming and disturbingly violent imagery.
The Slim Shady EP opened many doors, the most notable of them being a contract with Interscope Records. After Eminem came in second at the 1997 Rap Olympics MC Battle in Los Angeles, Interscope head Jimmy Iovine sought out the rapper, giving the EP to Dr. Dre, who proved eager to work with Eminem. They quickly cut Em's Interscope debut in the fall of 1998 -- during which time Marshall reconciled with Kim and married her -- and The Slim Shady LP appeared early in 1999, preceded by the single "My Name Is." Both were instant blockbusters and Eminem turned into a lightning rod for attention, earning praise and disdain for his violent, satirical fantasias. Eminem quickly followed The Slim Shady LP with The Marshall Mathers LP in the summer of 2000. By this point, there was little doubt that Eminem was one of the biggest stars in pop music: the album sold by the truckload, selling almost two million copies within the first two weeks of release, but Mathers felt compelled to tweak other celebrities, provoking pop stars in his lyrics, and Insane Clown Posse's entourage in person, providing endless fodder for tabloids. This gossip blended with growing criticism about his violent and homophobic lyrics, and under this fire, he reunited his old crew, D-12, releasing an album in 2001, then touring with the group.
During this furor, he had his biggest hit in the form of the moody ballad "Stan." Performed at the Grammys as a duet with Elton John, thereby undercutting some accusations of homophobia, the song helped Eminem to cross over to a middlebrow audience, setting the stage for the ultimate crossover of 2001's 8 Mile. Directed by Curtis Hanson, best known as the Oscar-nominated director of L.A. Confidential, the gritty drama fictionalized Eminem's pre-fame Detroit days and earned considerable praise, culminating in one of his biggest hits with the theme "Lose Yourself," which won Mathers an Oscar. After all this, he retreated from the spotlight to record his third album, The Eminem Show. Preceded by the single "Without Me," the album turned into another huge hit, albeit not quite as strong as its predecessor, and there were some criticisms suggesting that Eminem wasn't expanding his horizons much. Encore, released late in 2004, did reach into more mature territory, notably on the anti-George W. Bush "Mosh," but most of the controversy generated by the album was for behind-the-scenes events: a bus crash followed by canceled dates and a stint in rehab. Rumors of retirement flew, and the 2005 appearance of Curtain Call: The Hits did nothing to dampen them, nor did the turmoil of 2006, a year that saw Mathers remarrying and divorcing Kim within a matter of four months, as well as the shooting death of Proof at a Detroit club.
During all this, Em did some minor studio work, but soon he dropped off the radar completely, retreating to his Detroit home. He popped up here and there, most notably debuting the hip-hop channel Shade 45 for Sirius Satellite Radio in September 2008, but it wasn't until early 2009 that he mounted a comeback with Relapse, an album whose very title alluded to some of Mathers' struggles with prescription drugs, but it also announced that after an extended absence, Slim Shady was back. While not quite a blockbuster, the album went platinum, and Eminem followed it at the end of the year with an expanded version of Relapse (dubbed Relapse: Refill) that added outtakes and new recordings. Recovery, initially titled Relapse 2, was issued in June 2010. The album debuted on top of the Billboard 200 chart, where it remained for five consecutive weeks, while its leadoff single, "Not Afraid," debuted on top of the magazine's Hot 100 singles chart.
The year 2010 also brought Eminem back together with Royce da 5'9" under the Bad Meets Evil moniker. In turn, June 2011's Hell: The Sequel marked the release of their first EP as a duo and -- barring the previous month's release of key EP track "Fastlane" as a single -- was their first batch of new material since a 1999 double A-side. After an intense period of recording, Eminem announced in August 2013 that his next solo album would be a nostalgically themed set of new material entitled The Marshall Mathers LP 2, which landed in early November. The album featured the singles "Berzerk," "Rap God," and "Survival," plus the chart-topping hit "The Monster" with Rihanna. In 2014, new tracks landed on the double-disc set Shady XV, which celebrated the Shady label's 15th birthday. The singles "Phenomenal" and "Kings Never Die" featuring Gwen Stefani arrived a year later, both taken from the Southpaw soundtrack.
Eminem resurfaced in October 2017 with a freestyle anti-Trump rap. The track didn't appear on Revival, the December 2017 album that was filled with cameos, including appearances by Beyoncé ("Walk on Water"), Ed Sheeran ("River"), and P!nk ("Need Me"). His seventh straight chart-topper, it ultimately failed to match the sales heights of past efforts, despite the international success of the "River" single. The next year, without warning, Eminem issued his surprise tenth album, Kamikaze. The set featured appearances by Joyner Lucas, Royce da 5'9", and Jessie Reyez, as well as "Venom," from the film of the same name.
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It's all about the title. First time around, Eminem established his alter ego, Slim Shady -- the character who deliberately shocked and offended millions, turning Eminem into a star. Second time at bat, he turned out The Marshall Mathers LP, delving deeper into his past while revealing complexity as an artist and a personality that helped bring him an even greater audience and much, much more controversy. Third time around, it's The Eminem Show -- a title that signals that Eminem's public persona is front and center, for the very first time. And it is, as he spends much of the album commenting on the media circus that dominated on his life ever since the release of Marshall Mathers. This, of course, encompasses many, many familiar subjects -- his troubled childhood; his hatred of his parents; his turbulent relationship with his ex-wife, Kim (including the notorious incident when he assaulted a guy who allegedly kissed her -- the event that led to their divorce); his love of his daughter, Hailie; and, of course, all the controversy he generated, notably the furor over his alleged homophobia and his scolding from Lynne Cheney, which leads to furious criticism about the hypocrisy of America and its government. All this is married to a production very similar to that of its predecessor -- spare, funky, fluid, and vibrant, punctuated with a couple of ballads along the way. So, that means The Eminem Show is essentially a holding pattern, but it's a glorious one -- one that proves Eminem is the gold standard in pop music in 2002, delivering stylish, catchy, dense, funny, political music that rarely panders (apart from a power ballad "Dream On" rewrite on "Sing for the Moment" and maybe the sex rap "Drips," that is). Even if there is little new ground broken, the presentation is exceptional -- Dre never sounds better as a producer than when Eminem pushes him forward (witness the stunning oddity "Square Dance," a left-field classic with an ominous waltz beat) and, with three albums under his belt, Eminem has proven himself to be one of the all-time classic MCs, surprising as much with his delivery as with what he says. Plus, the undercurrent of political anger -- not just attacking Lynne Cheney, but raising questions about the Bush administration -- gives depth to his typical topics, adding a new, spirited dimension to his shock tactics as notable as the deep sentimental streak he reveals on his odes to his daughter. Perhaps the album runs a little too long at 20 songs and 80 minutes and would have flowed better if trimmed by 25 minutes, but that's a typical complaint about modern hip-hop records. Fact is, it still delivers more great music than most of its peers in rock or rap, and is further proof that Eminem is an artist of considerable range and dimension.
Eminem - The Eminem Show (flac 478mb)
01 Curtains Up (Skit) 0:31
02 White America 5:26
03 Business 4:13
04 Cleanin Out My Closet 4:59
05 Square Dance 5:25
06 The Kiss (Skit) 1:17
07 Soldier 3:48
08 Say Goodbye Hollywood 4:34
09 Drips feat. Obie Trice 4:47
10 Without Me 4:52
11 Paul Rosenberg (Skit) 0:24
12 Sing for the Moment 5:41
13 Superman feat. Dina Rae 5:51
14 Hailie's Song 5:20
15 Steve Berman (Skit) 0:33
16 When the Music Stops feat. D-12 4:29
17 Say What You Say feat. Dr. Dre 5:09
18 'Till I Collapse feat. Nate Dogg 4:57
19 My Dad's Gone Crazy feat. Hailie Jade 4:27
20 Curtains Close (Skit) 1:01
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This may be the soundtrack for Eminem's movie debut, but don't think of 8 Mile of as an Eminem album, because it's not. It's a soundtrack and plays like a soundtrack, with many cuts from current stars and new artists (several associated with Eminem's fledgling Shady imprint), plus a couple of previously released tracks, most of it very high quality, whether it's a hard-hitting Jay-Z, a sultry Macy Gray, or Taryn Manning's Boomkat's sexy slow burn "Wasting My Time." Sure, there's a couple of tracks that fall flat -- Young Zee and Obie Trice feel strained -- but it all flows well, and it's all strong. But it's also all overshadowed by four blindingly great new songs from Eminem (four and a half, if you count his show-stealing appearance on D-12's "Rap Game"), all illustrating a step forward from The Eminem Show, even if they work a familiar pseudo-biographical ground. What impresses is not just the wordplay and delivery, but the music itself -- fuller, richer than anything on his previous records, appropriately cinematic in scope and pushing Eminem toward new heights. The opening track and first single "Lose Yourself" is easily equaled by the title song with its layered pianos, while "Rabbit Run" is nearly as good. Hearing these, it's hard not to greedily hunger for a full album of this, but the soundtrack is excellent as is and these new Eminem cuts make it a necessary purchase.
Eminem - 8 Mile (OST) (flac 419mb)
01 Eminem - Lose Yourself 5:20
02 Eminem / Obie Trice / 50 Cent - Love Me 4:30
03 Eminem - 8 Mile 6:00
04 Obie Trice - Adrenaline Rush 3:48
05 50 Cent - Places To Go 4:15
06 D12 - Rap Game 5:53
07 Jay-Z Featuring Freeway - 8 Miles And Runnin' 4:08
08 Xzibit - Spit Shine 3:39
09 Macy Gray - Time Of My Life 4:21
10 Nas - U Wanna Be Me 3:50
11 50 Cent - Wanksta 3:38
12 Boomkat - Wasting My Time 3:37
13 Rakim - R.A.K.I.M. 4:23
14 Young Zee - That's My Nigga Fo' Real 4:45
15 Gang Starr - Battle 2:56
16 Eminem - Rabbit Run 3:10
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Eminem took a hiatus after the release of his first motion picture, 8 Mile, in late 2002, but it never seemed like he went away. Part of that is the nature of celebrity culture, where every star cycles through gossip columns regardless of whether they have a project in the stores or theaters, and part of it is that Marshall Mathers kept busy, producing records by his protégés D12, Obie Trice, and 50 Cent -- all hit albums -- with the latter turning into the biggest new hip-hop star of 2003. All this activity tended to obscure the fact that Eminem hadn't released a full-length album of new material since The Eminem Show in early summer 2002, and that two and a half years separated that album and its highly anticipated sequel, Encore. As the title suggests, Encore is a companion piece to The Eminem Show the way that The Marshall Mathers LP mirrored The Slim Shady LP, offering a different spin on familiar subjects. Where his first two records dealt primarily with personas and characters, his second two records deal with what those personas have wrought, which tends to be intrinsically less interesting than the characters themselves, since it's dissecting the aftermath instead of causing the drama. On The Eminem Show that kind of self-analysis was perfectly acceptable, since Eminem was on the top of his game as both a lyricist and rapper; his insights were vibrant and his music was urgent. Unfortunately, Encore is not the flipside of The Eminem Show as much as it is its negative image, where everything that was a strength has been turned into a handicap this time around. Musically, Show didn't innovate, but it didn't need to: Eminem and his mentor, Dr. Dre, had achieved cruising altitude, and even if they weren't offering much that was new, the music sounded fresh and alive. Here, the music is staid and spartan, built on simple unadorned beats and keyboard loops. While some songs use this sound to its advantage and a few others break free -- "Yellow Brick Road" is a tense, cinematic production -- the overall effect of these stark, black-and-white productions it to make Encore seem hermetically sealed, to make Eminem sound isolated from the outside world. This impression is only enhanced by Em's choice of lyrical subjects throughout the album. Instead of documenting his life, or the shifts in his psyche, he's decided to chronicle what's happened to him over the past the two years and refute every charge that's made it into the papers. This is quite a bit different than his earlier albums, when he embellished and exaggerated his life, when his relationship with his estranged wife, Kim, turned into an outlaw ballad, when his frenetic insults, cheap shots, and celeb baiting had a surreal, hilarious impact. Here, Eminem is plainspoken and literal, intent on refuting every critic from Benzino at The Source to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, who gets an entire song ("Ass Like That") devoted to him. It's a bizarre move that seems all the more humorless when you realize that the loosest, funniest song -- the first single, "Just Lose It" -- is a sideswipe at Michael Jackson, the easiest target Em has yet hit. And that's the major problem with Encore: it sounds as if Eminem is coasting, resting on his laurels, and never pushing himself into interesting territory. Since he's a talented artist, there are moments scattered across the record that do work, whether it's full songs or flights of phrase in otherwise limp tracks, and that's enough to make it worth a spin, but Encore never resonates the way his first three endlessly fascinating albums do.
Eminem - Encore (flac 554mb)
01 Curtains Up (Skit) 0:46
02 Evil Deeds 4:19
03 Never Enough 2:39
04 Yellow Brick Road 5:46
05 Like Toy Soldiers 4:56
06 Mosh 5:17
07 Puke 4:07
08 My 1st Single 5:02
09 Paul (Skit) 0:31
10 Rain Man 5:13
11 Big Weenie 4:26
12 Em Calls Paul (Skit) 1:11
13 Just Lose It 4:08
14 Ass Like That 4:25
15 Spend Some Time 5:10
16 Mockingbird 4:10
17 Crazy In Love 4:02
18 One Shot 2 Shot 4:26
19 Final Thought (Skit) 0:30
20 Encore (Curtains) 5:48
bonus
21 We As Americans 4:38
22 Love You More 4:46
23 Ricky Ticky Toc 2:49
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Wherever rapper Eminem goes, controversy and headlines are sure to follow. With so many people unsure about whether to love him or hate him, five young rappers have decided to join him on his latest project, D12. Also known as the Dirty Dozen, D12 is a sextet of Detroit-based rappers -- all between the ages of 23 and 25. Members Bizarre, Swift, Kon Artis, Proof, and Kuniva claim they are "here to bring the sick, the obscene, the disgusting." With this agenda in tow, D12 could prove to be the sequel to the controversial parade that Eminem started with the explicit lyrics on his solo album Slim Shady (Interscope, 1999) and the in-your-face single "Way I Am" (2000, Interscope).
"My Band," the debut single from D12's sophomore album, D12 World, is the group's greatest moment and a great introduction to the way they work. Very little else on D12 World is as exciting as "My Band," the catchy explanation of what this group (or band, or whatever you want to call it) is, and one of the best productions to ever come out of Shadyville. It's also the tamest track on D12 World, an album that's proudly sick in the head. D12 are B-list players in the world of Shadyville (addressed on "My Band" when a fan asks, "Where's Obie and Dre?"), but they're the Three Stooges meets Andrew Dice Clay with that Detroit horror-show edge, which makes them like nothing else in the rap world. ICP might trade in the same sickness as the group, but D12 have better skills and more street cred, and they also have Bizarre. He's Kool Keith on earth, smoking Newports, carrying a blowup doll, and owning every track he appears on. His grotesque masterpiece is "Just Like U," a horrific exchange between parent and child that's so disgusting the edited version of the album totally drops it. Bizarre declares, "When Mos Def hear dis/He probably suffocate me," but it's hardly the only track that would make a humanist's stomach churn. "Get My Gun" and "Bitch" are just as irresponsible, but the group must not be sick enough to repel the socially conscious hero of the moment, Kanye West. His production work on the title track gives the album another highlight, while Dr. Dre is at the helm for the quirky and dark "American Psycho II," killer track number three. Eminem rules the first two songs, and sporadically pops up throughout the album, but don't expect any of the usual reflection. His raps are concerned with his relationship to D12 and hip-hop in total or they focus on his numerous beefs, most prominent being his one with Benzino. That's hard to relate to unless you have a beef with Benzino yourself, but fans who look at D12 albums as updates on the soap opera that is Eminem's career should eat it up. The album feels more slapped together than their debut -- and there's a dry spell in the middle -- but since Eminem spends a lot of time in the background it does do a better job of developing the careers of Swift, Proof, and mostly Bizarre. Check it for his raps and the excellent "My Band," but leave your taste and morality at home.
D12 - D12 World (flac 478mb)
01 Git Up 4:03
02 Loyalty 5:54
03 Just Like U 3:31
04 I'll Be Damned 4:21
05 Dude (Skit) 1:14
06 My Band 4:58
07 U R The One 4:19
08 6 In The Morning 4:38
09 How Come 4:09
10 Leave Dat Boy Alone 5:23
11 Get My Gun 4:34
12 Bizarre (Skit) 1:21
13 Bitch 4:56
14 Steve's Coffee House (Skit) 0:51
15 D-12 World 3:10
16 40 Oz. 4:02
17 Commercial Break 1:12
18 American Psycho II 3:44
19 Bugz '97 (Skit) 1:05
20 Good Die Young 5:56
21 Keep Talkin' 4:28
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Today's Artist is another case of rags to riches the US always drools over."At the dawn of the 21st Century, Slim Shady had the biggest mouth in the music biz. And man oh man were people upset about the words coming out of it. Drugs, murder, rape, and attacks on pop culture icons were casual topics; and no matter how ridiculous his stories were he made sure you believed every. single. word. However, his praise was just as large as the controversy, not to mention sales. Clever wording coupled with vicious delivery made him perhaps the most technically skilled MC ever within the mainstream. . ....... N Joy
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To call Eminem hip-hop's Elvis is correct to a degree, but it's largely inaccurate. Certainly, Eminem was the first white rapper since the Beastie Boys to garner both sales and critical respect, but his impact exceeded this confining distinction. On sheer verbal skills, Eminem was one of the greatest MCs of his generation -- rapid, fluid, dexterous, and unpredictable, as capable of pulling off long-form narratives as he was delivering a withering aside -- and thanks to his mentor Dr. Dre, he had music to match: thick, muscular loops that evoked the terror and paranoia Em's music conjured. And, to be certain, a great deal of the controversy Eminem courted -- and during the turn of the millennium, there was no greater pop cultural bogeyman than Marshall Mathers -- came through in how his violent fantasias, often directed at his mother or his wife, intertwined with flights of absurdity that appealed to listeners too young to absorb the psychodramas Eminem explored on his hit albums, The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. With hits "My Name Is" and "The Real Slim Shady," he ruled the airwaves, but it wasn't long before some detractors acknowledged his depth, helped in part by singles like the mournful "Stan," written from the perspective of an obsessed fan. Eminem capitalized on this forward momentum by crossing over onto the big screen with 8 Mile, earning acclaim for his performance and an Oscar for the film's anthem "Lose Yourself," but a number of demons led him to shut down for the second half of the decade, an absence that proved life was indeed empty without Em, before he returned in 2009 with Relapse.
Born Marshall Mathers in the Kansas City, Missouri suburb of St. Joseph, Eminem spent his childhood between Missouri and Michigan, settling in Detroit by his teens. At the age of 14, he began rapping with a high-school friend, the two adopting the names "Manix" and "M&M," which soon morphed into Eminem. Under this name, Mathers entered battle rapping, a struggle dramatized in the fictionalized 8 Mile. Initially, the predominantly African-American audience didn't embrace Eminem, but soon his skills gained him a reputation, and he was recruited to join several rap groups. The first of these was the New Jacks, and after they disbanded, he joined Soul Intent, who released a single in 1995. This single also featured Proof, and the two rappers broke off on their own to form D-12, a six-member crew that functioned more as a Wu-Tang-styled collective than a regularly performing group. As he was struggling to establish his career, he and his girlfriend Kim had a daughter, Hailey, forcing him to spend less time rapping and more time providing for his family. During this time, he assembled his first album, Infinite, which received some underground attention in 1996, not all of it positive. After its release, Eminem developed his Slim Shady alter ego, a persona that freed him to dig deep into his dark id, something he needed as he faced a number of personal upheavals, beginning with a bad split with Kim, which led him to move in with his mother and increase his use of drugs and alcohol, capped off with an unsuccessful suicide attempt. All this Sturm und Drang was channeled into The Slim Shady EP, which is where he first demonstrated many of the quirks that became his trademark, including his twitchy, nasal rhyming and disturbingly violent imagery.
The Slim Shady EP opened many doors, the most notable of them being a contract with Interscope Records. After Eminem came in second at the 1997 Rap Olympics MC Battle in Los Angeles, Interscope head Jimmy Iovine sought out the rapper, giving the EP to Dr. Dre, who proved eager to work with Eminem. They quickly cut Em's Interscope debut in the fall of 1998 -- during which time Marshall reconciled with Kim and married her -- and The Slim Shady LP appeared early in 1999, preceded by the single "My Name Is." Both were instant blockbusters and Eminem turned into a lightning rod for attention, earning praise and disdain for his violent, satirical fantasias. Eminem quickly followed The Slim Shady LP with The Marshall Mathers LP in the summer of 2000. By this point, there was little doubt that Eminem was one of the biggest stars in pop music: the album sold by the truckload, selling almost two million copies within the first two weeks of release, but Mathers felt compelled to tweak other celebrities, provoking pop stars in his lyrics, and Insane Clown Posse's entourage in person, providing endless fodder for tabloids. This gossip blended with growing criticism about his violent and homophobic lyrics, and under this fire, he reunited his old crew, D-12, releasing an album in 2001, then touring with the group.
During this furor, he had his biggest hit in the form of the moody ballad "Stan." Performed at the Grammys as a duet with Elton John, thereby undercutting some accusations of homophobia, the song helped Eminem to cross over to a middlebrow audience, setting the stage for the ultimate crossover of 2001's 8 Mile. Directed by Curtis Hanson, best known as the Oscar-nominated director of L.A. Confidential, the gritty drama fictionalized Eminem's pre-fame Detroit days and earned considerable praise, culminating in one of his biggest hits with the theme "Lose Yourself," which won Mathers an Oscar. After all this, he retreated from the spotlight to record his third album, The Eminem Show. Preceded by the single "Without Me," the album turned into another huge hit, albeit not quite as strong as its predecessor, and there were some criticisms suggesting that Eminem wasn't expanding his horizons much. Encore, released late in 2004, did reach into more mature territory, notably on the anti-George W. Bush "Mosh," but most of the controversy generated by the album was for behind-the-scenes events: a bus crash followed by canceled dates and a stint in rehab. Rumors of retirement flew, and the 2005 appearance of Curtain Call: The Hits did nothing to dampen them, nor did the turmoil of 2006, a year that saw Mathers remarrying and divorcing Kim within a matter of four months, as well as the shooting death of Proof at a Detroit club.
During all this, Em did some minor studio work, but soon he dropped off the radar completely, retreating to his Detroit home. He popped up here and there, most notably debuting the hip-hop channel Shade 45 for Sirius Satellite Radio in September 2008, but it wasn't until early 2009 that he mounted a comeback with Relapse, an album whose very title alluded to some of Mathers' struggles with prescription drugs, but it also announced that after an extended absence, Slim Shady was back. While not quite a blockbuster, the album went platinum, and Eminem followed it at the end of the year with an expanded version of Relapse (dubbed Relapse: Refill) that added outtakes and new recordings. Recovery, initially titled Relapse 2, was issued in June 2010. The album debuted on top of the Billboard 200 chart, where it remained for five consecutive weeks, while its leadoff single, "Not Afraid," debuted on top of the magazine's Hot 100 singles chart.
The year 2010 also brought Eminem back together with Royce da 5'9" under the Bad Meets Evil moniker. In turn, June 2011's Hell: The Sequel marked the release of their first EP as a duo and -- barring the previous month's release of key EP track "Fastlane" as a single -- was their first batch of new material since a 1999 double A-side. After an intense period of recording, Eminem announced in August 2013 that his next solo album would be a nostalgically themed set of new material entitled The Marshall Mathers LP 2, which landed in early November. The album featured the singles "Berzerk," "Rap God," and "Survival," plus the chart-topping hit "The Monster" with Rihanna. In 2014, new tracks landed on the double-disc set Shady XV, which celebrated the Shady label's 15th birthday. The singles "Phenomenal" and "Kings Never Die" featuring Gwen Stefani arrived a year later, both taken from the Southpaw soundtrack.
Eminem mural in Shanghai
Eminem resurfaced in October 2017 with a freestyle anti-Trump rap. The track didn't appear on Revival, the December 2017 album that was filled with cameos, including appearances by Beyoncé ("Walk on Water"), Ed Sheeran ("River"), and P!nk ("Need Me"). His seventh straight chart-topper, it ultimately failed to match the sales heights of past efforts, despite the international success of the "River" single. The next year, without warning, Eminem issued his surprise tenth album, Kamikaze. The set featured appearances by Joyner Lucas, Royce da 5'9", and Jessie Reyez, as well as "Venom," from the film of the same name.
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It's all about the title. First time around, Eminem established his alter ego, Slim Shady -- the character who deliberately shocked and offended millions, turning Eminem into a star. Second time at bat, he turned out The Marshall Mathers LP, delving deeper into his past while revealing complexity as an artist and a personality that helped bring him an even greater audience and much, much more controversy. Third time around, it's The Eminem Show -- a title that signals that Eminem's public persona is front and center, for the very first time. And it is, as he spends much of the album commenting on the media circus that dominated on his life ever since the release of Marshall Mathers. This, of course, encompasses many, many familiar subjects -- his troubled childhood; his hatred of his parents; his turbulent relationship with his ex-wife, Kim (including the notorious incident when he assaulted a guy who allegedly kissed her -- the event that led to their divorce); his love of his daughter, Hailie; and, of course, all the controversy he generated, notably the furor over his alleged homophobia and his scolding from Lynne Cheney, which leads to furious criticism about the hypocrisy of America and its government. All this is married to a production very similar to that of its predecessor -- spare, funky, fluid, and vibrant, punctuated with a couple of ballads along the way. So, that means The Eminem Show is essentially a holding pattern, but it's a glorious one -- one that proves Eminem is the gold standard in pop music in 2002, delivering stylish, catchy, dense, funny, political music that rarely panders (apart from a power ballad "Dream On" rewrite on "Sing for the Moment" and maybe the sex rap "Drips," that is). Even if there is little new ground broken, the presentation is exceptional -- Dre never sounds better as a producer than when Eminem pushes him forward (witness the stunning oddity "Square Dance," a left-field classic with an ominous waltz beat) and, with three albums under his belt, Eminem has proven himself to be one of the all-time classic MCs, surprising as much with his delivery as with what he says. Plus, the undercurrent of political anger -- not just attacking Lynne Cheney, but raising questions about the Bush administration -- gives depth to his typical topics, adding a new, spirited dimension to his shock tactics as notable as the deep sentimental streak he reveals on his odes to his daughter. Perhaps the album runs a little too long at 20 songs and 80 minutes and would have flowed better if trimmed by 25 minutes, but that's a typical complaint about modern hip-hop records. Fact is, it still delivers more great music than most of its peers in rock or rap, and is further proof that Eminem is an artist of considerable range and dimension.
Eminem - The Eminem Show (flac 478mb)
01 Curtains Up (Skit) 0:31
02 White America 5:26
03 Business 4:13
04 Cleanin Out My Closet 4:59
05 Square Dance 5:25
06 The Kiss (Skit) 1:17
07 Soldier 3:48
08 Say Goodbye Hollywood 4:34
09 Drips feat. Obie Trice 4:47
10 Without Me 4:52
11 Paul Rosenberg (Skit) 0:24
12 Sing for the Moment 5:41
13 Superman feat. Dina Rae 5:51
14 Hailie's Song 5:20
15 Steve Berman (Skit) 0:33
16 When the Music Stops feat. D-12 4:29
17 Say What You Say feat. Dr. Dre 5:09
18 'Till I Collapse feat. Nate Dogg 4:57
19 My Dad's Gone Crazy feat. Hailie Jade 4:27
20 Curtains Close (Skit) 1:01
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This may be the soundtrack for Eminem's movie debut, but don't think of 8 Mile of as an Eminem album, because it's not. It's a soundtrack and plays like a soundtrack, with many cuts from current stars and new artists (several associated with Eminem's fledgling Shady imprint), plus a couple of previously released tracks, most of it very high quality, whether it's a hard-hitting Jay-Z, a sultry Macy Gray, or Taryn Manning's Boomkat's sexy slow burn "Wasting My Time." Sure, there's a couple of tracks that fall flat -- Young Zee and Obie Trice feel strained -- but it all flows well, and it's all strong. But it's also all overshadowed by four blindingly great new songs from Eminem (four and a half, if you count his show-stealing appearance on D-12's "Rap Game"), all illustrating a step forward from The Eminem Show, even if they work a familiar pseudo-biographical ground. What impresses is not just the wordplay and delivery, but the music itself -- fuller, richer than anything on his previous records, appropriately cinematic in scope and pushing Eminem toward new heights. The opening track and first single "Lose Yourself" is easily equaled by the title song with its layered pianos, while "Rabbit Run" is nearly as good. Hearing these, it's hard not to greedily hunger for a full album of this, but the soundtrack is excellent as is and these new Eminem cuts make it a necessary purchase.
Eminem - 8 Mile (OST) (flac 419mb)
01 Eminem - Lose Yourself 5:20
02 Eminem / Obie Trice / 50 Cent - Love Me 4:30
03 Eminem - 8 Mile 6:00
04 Obie Trice - Adrenaline Rush 3:48
05 50 Cent - Places To Go 4:15
06 D12 - Rap Game 5:53
07 Jay-Z Featuring Freeway - 8 Miles And Runnin' 4:08
08 Xzibit - Spit Shine 3:39
09 Macy Gray - Time Of My Life 4:21
10 Nas - U Wanna Be Me 3:50
11 50 Cent - Wanksta 3:38
12 Boomkat - Wasting My Time 3:37
13 Rakim - R.A.K.I.M. 4:23
14 Young Zee - That's My Nigga Fo' Real 4:45
15 Gang Starr - Battle 2:56
16 Eminem - Rabbit Run 3:10
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Eminem took a hiatus after the release of his first motion picture, 8 Mile, in late 2002, but it never seemed like he went away. Part of that is the nature of celebrity culture, where every star cycles through gossip columns regardless of whether they have a project in the stores or theaters, and part of it is that Marshall Mathers kept busy, producing records by his protégés D12, Obie Trice, and 50 Cent -- all hit albums -- with the latter turning into the biggest new hip-hop star of 2003. All this activity tended to obscure the fact that Eminem hadn't released a full-length album of new material since The Eminem Show in early summer 2002, and that two and a half years separated that album and its highly anticipated sequel, Encore. As the title suggests, Encore is a companion piece to The Eminem Show the way that The Marshall Mathers LP mirrored The Slim Shady LP, offering a different spin on familiar subjects. Where his first two records dealt primarily with personas and characters, his second two records deal with what those personas have wrought, which tends to be intrinsically less interesting than the characters themselves, since it's dissecting the aftermath instead of causing the drama. On The Eminem Show that kind of self-analysis was perfectly acceptable, since Eminem was on the top of his game as both a lyricist and rapper; his insights were vibrant and his music was urgent. Unfortunately, Encore is not the flipside of The Eminem Show as much as it is its negative image, where everything that was a strength has been turned into a handicap this time around. Musically, Show didn't innovate, but it didn't need to: Eminem and his mentor, Dr. Dre, had achieved cruising altitude, and even if they weren't offering much that was new, the music sounded fresh and alive. Here, the music is staid and spartan, built on simple unadorned beats and keyboard loops. While some songs use this sound to its advantage and a few others break free -- "Yellow Brick Road" is a tense, cinematic production -- the overall effect of these stark, black-and-white productions it to make Encore seem hermetically sealed, to make Eminem sound isolated from the outside world. This impression is only enhanced by Em's choice of lyrical subjects throughout the album. Instead of documenting his life, or the shifts in his psyche, he's decided to chronicle what's happened to him over the past the two years and refute every charge that's made it into the papers. This is quite a bit different than his earlier albums, when he embellished and exaggerated his life, when his relationship with his estranged wife, Kim, turned into an outlaw ballad, when his frenetic insults, cheap shots, and celeb baiting had a surreal, hilarious impact. Here, Eminem is plainspoken and literal, intent on refuting every critic from Benzino at The Source to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, who gets an entire song ("Ass Like That") devoted to him. It's a bizarre move that seems all the more humorless when you realize that the loosest, funniest song -- the first single, "Just Lose It" -- is a sideswipe at Michael Jackson, the easiest target Em has yet hit. And that's the major problem with Encore: it sounds as if Eminem is coasting, resting on his laurels, and never pushing himself into interesting territory. Since he's a talented artist, there are moments scattered across the record that do work, whether it's full songs or flights of phrase in otherwise limp tracks, and that's enough to make it worth a spin, but Encore never resonates the way his first three endlessly fascinating albums do.
Eminem - Encore (flac 554mb)
01 Curtains Up (Skit) 0:46
02 Evil Deeds 4:19
03 Never Enough 2:39
04 Yellow Brick Road 5:46
05 Like Toy Soldiers 4:56
06 Mosh 5:17
07 Puke 4:07
08 My 1st Single 5:02
09 Paul (Skit) 0:31
10 Rain Man 5:13
11 Big Weenie 4:26
12 Em Calls Paul (Skit) 1:11
13 Just Lose It 4:08
14 Ass Like That 4:25
15 Spend Some Time 5:10
16 Mockingbird 4:10
17 Crazy In Love 4:02
18 One Shot 2 Shot 4:26
19 Final Thought (Skit) 0:30
20 Encore (Curtains) 5:48
bonus
21 We As Americans 4:38
22 Love You More 4:46
23 Ricky Ticky Toc 2:49
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Wherever rapper Eminem goes, controversy and headlines are sure to follow. With so many people unsure about whether to love him or hate him, five young rappers have decided to join him on his latest project, D12. Also known as the Dirty Dozen, D12 is a sextet of Detroit-based rappers -- all between the ages of 23 and 25. Members Bizarre, Swift, Kon Artis, Proof, and Kuniva claim they are "here to bring the sick, the obscene, the disgusting." With this agenda in tow, D12 could prove to be the sequel to the controversial parade that Eminem started with the explicit lyrics on his solo album Slim Shady (Interscope, 1999) and the in-your-face single "Way I Am" (2000, Interscope).
"My Band," the debut single from D12's sophomore album, D12 World, is the group's greatest moment and a great introduction to the way they work. Very little else on D12 World is as exciting as "My Band," the catchy explanation of what this group (or band, or whatever you want to call it) is, and one of the best productions to ever come out of Shadyville. It's also the tamest track on D12 World, an album that's proudly sick in the head. D12 are B-list players in the world of Shadyville (addressed on "My Band" when a fan asks, "Where's Obie and Dre?"), but they're the Three Stooges meets Andrew Dice Clay with that Detroit horror-show edge, which makes them like nothing else in the rap world. ICP might trade in the same sickness as the group, but D12 have better skills and more street cred, and they also have Bizarre. He's Kool Keith on earth, smoking Newports, carrying a blowup doll, and owning every track he appears on. His grotesque masterpiece is "Just Like U," a horrific exchange between parent and child that's so disgusting the edited version of the album totally drops it. Bizarre declares, "When Mos Def hear dis/He probably suffocate me," but it's hardly the only track that would make a humanist's stomach churn. "Get My Gun" and "Bitch" are just as irresponsible, but the group must not be sick enough to repel the socially conscious hero of the moment, Kanye West. His production work on the title track gives the album another highlight, while Dr. Dre is at the helm for the quirky and dark "American Psycho II," killer track number three. Eminem rules the first two songs, and sporadically pops up throughout the album, but don't expect any of the usual reflection. His raps are concerned with his relationship to D12 and hip-hop in total or they focus on his numerous beefs, most prominent being his one with Benzino. That's hard to relate to unless you have a beef with Benzino yourself, but fans who look at D12 albums as updates on the soap opera that is Eminem's career should eat it up. The album feels more slapped together than their debut -- and there's a dry spell in the middle -- but since Eminem spends a lot of time in the background it does do a better job of developing the careers of Swift, Proof, and mostly Bizarre. Check it for his raps and the excellent "My Band," but leave your taste and morality at home.
D12 - D12 World (flac 478mb)
01 Git Up 4:03
02 Loyalty 5:54
03 Just Like U 3:31
04 I'll Be Damned 4:21
05 Dude (Skit) 1:14
06 My Band 4:58
07 U R The One 4:19
08 6 In The Morning 4:38
09 How Come 4:09
10 Leave Dat Boy Alone 5:23
11 Get My Gun 4:34
12 Bizarre (Skit) 1:21
13 Bitch 4:56
14 Steve's Coffee House (Skit) 0:51
15 D-12 World 3:10
16 40 Oz. 4:02
17 Commercial Break 1:12
18 American Psycho II 3:44
19 Bugz '97 (Skit) 1:05
20 Good Die Young 5:56
21 Keep Talkin' 4:28
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3 comments:
Thanks for The Show, Rho
The tribute to Eminem is really very good (encyclopedically speaking, since he actually is only a "fire-cracker") but this album has no actual links. Can you correct it, please? Thanks.
Hello, problem solved
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