WORDS Liam Maher

Eminem has held a strange position in the hip-hop world for the past decade or so. Coming from his confessional release Relapse to the renewed venom and vigour of Recovery and finally to his latest album, The Marshall Mathers LP II has been a tenuous trajectory. What is most noticeable about his latest release is of course its title, which calls to mind his seminal and most critically regarded work, The Marshall Mathers LP. Part II falls short of this classic on nearly every front but shows that Eminem can still rap to a phenomenally high degree, as evidenced by the first single, Rap God, which would make any hip-hop aficionado’s head spin. However, most of the album is sub-par production wise. While still lyrically relevant, Eminem has yet to produce a cohesive album this decade, and one can’t help but think that this may be due to his separation from Dre, the Bass Brothers and Mel-Man who were vital components to the Marshall Mathers and Slim Shady sound.