The Marshall Mathers LP

1	Public Service Announcement 2000 0:25
2	Kill You 4:24
3	Stan 6:43
4	Paul (Skit) 0:10
5	Who Knew 3:47
6	Steve Berman 0:53
7	The Way I Am 4:44
8	The Real Slim Shady 4:50
9	Remember Me? 3:38
10	I'm Back 5:10
11	Marshall Mathers 5:20
12	Ken Kaniff (Skit) 1:01
13	Drug Ballad 5:00
14	Amityville 4:14
15	B**** Please II 4:48
16	Kim 6:17
17	Under the Influence 5:22
18	Criminal 5:19

Barnes & Noble

Teetering on the line between sadistic and brilliant, Eminem (a.k.a. Marshall Mathers III, a.k.a Slim Shady) once again establishes himself as rap's baddest boy -- no mean feat in a world where Ol' Dirty Bastard, Kool Keith, and Luther Campbell freak on the mic. On this supreme follow-up to his breakthrough THE SLIM SHADY LP, Eminem displays ever greater doses of creativity, ambition, and rhyme sensibility. When he's not taking venomous, hysterically funny pot-shots at his critics, squeaky-clean teen idols Christina Aguilera and 'N Sync, or his estranged mommy dearest, this mischevious MC is an ingenious storyteller, delivering cinematic masterpieces such as "Kim" (about his baby's much-maligned mother) and "Stan" (about a suicidal, obsessed fan). And while Slim Shady proves he can battle any MC rhyme for rhyme, as on the lyrical sparring session "B**** Please II," featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, and Xzibit, the album's real highlights occur when Em riffs on celebrity -- his own and others. On the abrasive "Who Knew" and the acoustic-guitar driven "Marshall Mathers" -- which give equal weight to his concerns about playing the twisted role model and his off-color cracks about paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve and slain fashion designer Gianni Versace -- Em comes across as the homo-phobic and chauvinist regular guy next door who merely wants to entertain his fans. Like Redd Foxx and Schoolly D before him, Eminem revels in pushing our politically correct buttons. With each insanely rude crack, you'll find yourself asking, Did he really say that? He did - and love him or hate him, that's exactly where his brilliance lies. Big Sexy

All Music Guide

It's hard to know what to make of Eminem, even if you know that half of what he says is sincere and half is a put-on; the trick is realizing that there's truth in the joke, and vice versa. Many dismissed his considerable skills as a rapper and social satirist because the vulgarity and gross-out humor on The Slim Shady LP were too detailed for some to believe that it was anything but real. To Eminem's credit, he decided to exploit that confusion on his masterful second record, The Marshall Mathers LP. Eminem is all about blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, humor and horror, satire and documentary, so it makes perfect sense that The Marshall Mathers LP is no more or no less "real" than The Slim Shady LP. It is, however, a fairly brilliant expansion of his debut, turning his spare, menacing hip-hop into a hyper-surreal, wittily disturbing thrill ride. It's both funnier and darker than his debut, and Eminem's writing is so sharp and clever that the jokes cut as deeply as the explorations of his ruptured psyche. The production is nearly as evocative as the raps, with liquid basslines, stuttering rhythms, slight sound effects, and spacious soundscapes. There may not be overpowering hooks on every track, but the album works as a whole, always drawing the listener in. But, once you're in, Eminem doesn't care if you understand exactly where he's at, and he doesn't offer any apologies if you can't sort the fact from the fiction. As an artist, he's supposed to create his own world, and with this terrific second effort, he certainly has. It may be a world that is as infuriating as it is intriguing, but it is without question his own, which is far more than most of his peers are able to accomplish at the dawn of a new millennium. Stephen Thomas Erlewine