The Marshall Mathers LP 2
The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is the eighth studio album by rapper Eminem, released on November 5, 2013, by Aftermath Entertainment, Shady Records, and Interscope Records. It is a sequel to 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP.
The album won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 57th Grammy Awards.
The artwork was revealed on September 20, 2013 on Eminem's Twitter account. The cover features a picture of the house Eminem lived in during his teenage years, although now the house is in a dilapidated state. It is very similar in design to the cover of the artwork from The Marshall Mathers LP; which also features a picture of the house, but with Eminem sitting on the porch, the windows uncovered and the door replaced by a screen door. In November 2013, the house went up in flames for unknown reasons, damaging the upper portion of the home. As of 2014, the house had been demolished and plans to rebuild are in progress.
The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is the eighth studio album by rapper Eminem, released on November 5, 2013, by Aftermath Entertainment, Shady Records, and Interscope Records. It is a sequel to 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP.
The album won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 57th Grammy Awards.
The artwork was revealed on September 20, 2013 on Eminem's Twitter account. The cover features a picture of the house Eminem lived in during his teenage years, although now the house is in a dilapidated state. It is very similar in design to the cover of the artwork from The Marshall Mathers LP; which also features a picture of the house, but with Eminem sitting on the porch, the windows uncovered and the door replaced by a screen door. In November 2013, the house went up in flames for unknown reasons, damaging the upper portion of the home. As of 2014, the house had been demolished and plans to rebuild are in progress.
Tracks:
1.Bad Guy:
This is a sequel to Eminem’s song, “Stan,” which was released as a single from The Marshall Mathers LP. “Stan” is about a crazed fan who kills himself, his girlfriend and their unborn child because of the “lack of attention” Eminem paid to him as a fan. “Bad Guy” is about Stan’s little brother, Matthew, who loved his brother more than anything. Matthew Mitchell is all grown-up now, and is seeking revenge for Stan’s death. This song makes a reference to the “starter cap” that Eminem says he is autographing and sending to Stan’s brother. Matthew says he have the Broncos hat back. (It’s a Broncos hat because Stan meets Eminem in Denver).
2.Parking Lot (skit):
This skit picks up where the last song- “Criminal” on The Marshall Mathers LP leaves off- with a bank robbery. Eminem ends his own life to avoid arrest—the second time Em has died in as many songs thus far on the album. But then again, he’s known to write songs “where he dies at the end,” as he stated in his song “Cum On Everybody”.
3.Rhyme or Reason:
This song contains samples from this classic rock song — The Zombies 1969 classic “Time of the Season”. He says he back with the “Yoda of rap”. In this case the “Yoda of rap” refers to production legend Rick Rubin, who helped work on the album. Eminem considers himself a “Jedi in training” and Rick Ruben is Yoda, teaching him to perfect his craft. He refers to his house as a “K-mart mansion” because he bought a $4.8 million dollar mansion off of former K-Mart CEO Chuck Conaway.
4.So Much Better:
The beat on this song is a modified version of the one used on “Criminal” from the first Marshall Mathers LP. It seems to be a sort of throwback song to 2004’s “Puke,” featuring a similar topic. He starts out by asking somebody where they were Tuesday and then he catches them in a lie. This could be a reference to his ex-wife, Kim. In his book: “Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem” Em recounts a time when he got off an early flight home and couldn’t find Kim. In response to him asking, Kim claimed she was at home, even though Eminem was there but she wasn’t. So, Kim is known for lying about her whereabouts.
5.Survival:
This song was debuted exclusively by “Call of Duty” for their latest game’s multiplayer trailer. He says he’s “back with another anthem” Shady is famous for his classic “hip hop anthems”, most notably ‘Till I Collapse. These anthems are about the typical hip hop struggle from nothing to something, a story he himself encapsulates.
6.Legacy:
This song is about his childhood of being bullied and misunderstood and how hip hop saved him from “all the wars inside his world”. The bridge is Eminem speaking to his fans, as it becomes clearer that is what his legacy refers to at the end of the song. He is urging his fans to have faith in his words and music to aid in any personal battles that we may have. The line “why don’t I just blast a little something like Onyx” to give him confidence. This is referring to both a comic book character, which he was a big fan of as a kid, but also a rap group by the same name.
7.Asshole: featuring Skylar Grey
This track plays on all the backlash of the original MMLP‘s musical content as support, Em throws back to “My Name Is” sampling “Thanks for the support, asshole”. Dr. Dre wrote that line on a CD for the Slim Shady LP back in 1999, as a thank-you note to Marshall after all the success they accomplished together. When Eminem talks about how the world was in “need of a villain”, he is talking about the need for a scapegoat. He was an easy target because of his profane lyrical verses.
8.Berzerk:
Eminem’s first single off MMLP2. The beat is sample from “The Stroke”, by Billy Squier. Eminem wanted it to sound like a Beastie Boys’ song, because they were a major influence on him when he was growing up. The song gives off a golden-age vibe, as it is laced with Beastie Boys-esque production courtesy of Rick Rubin and allusions to 1990’s pop culture. There are a few subtle jabs at new school rappers in the song as well.
9.Rap God:
This song also landed Eminem a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records: Most words in a hit single: The single “Rap God” packed a mouth-filling 1,560 words into its 6 min 4 sec runtime. When Eminem was asked whether he felt like a rap god or an underdog he said: “I think everything switches back and forth from hour to hour, day by day with me. That whole “Rap God” record pretty much from top to bottom is tongue in cheek. So I mean, do I want to feel like that? Maybe sometimes. Again, it goes back to everybody who competitive raps and does this for just purely the sport of it wants to be the best. Again, that’s why Kendrick’s verse worked so well because he only said what every rapper’s already thinking, if you don’t want to be the best, then why are you rapping?”
10.Brainless:
In this song, Eminem revisits the haunting memories of being bullied in school. He then shoots to the present, where he boasts about how a single white MC has had so much influence on the Hip-Hop/Rap industry. Eminem previously discussed his problems with school bullies on The Slim Shady LP track, “Brain Damage”. The song starts off with snippets of the media talking about him and criticizing everything he does. It also features a line from the movie Superbad, which Eminem has said is his favorite movie. Also, the lines about the lobotomy are taken from Batman & Robin, when he is talking about the joker.
11.Stronger Than I Was:
This is a song about Eminem and his ex-wife Kim’s relationship. It’s a mixture of Kim’s and his perspectives. He thanks Kim for making him a stronger person than he was before. The line “it was November 31st today” could have been written to show that it was a fictional event, since November only has 30 days. At the end of the song, Eminem says that is was not his fault they broke up.
12.The Monster: featuring Rihanna
This track has Eminem considering his Slim Shady alter-ego a monster. The monster could also be the fame which has taken so much from him, or perhaps it is his mind and the demons that plague it. The song received the award for Best Rap/Song Collaboration at the 2015 Grammys.
13.So Far…:
This song Samples Joe Walsh’s “Life’s Been Good”. In this song, Eminem is saying that no matter how big and famous he gets, he will always be the same person he always was: “got it all but I still won’t change”. He talks about sleeping on his couch, wearing Hanes t-shirts, not being able to use new technology, buying Hamburger Helper, and still shopping at CostCo. In this song, Em talks about how he is not good at using technology. Paul Rosenberg usually updates his social media pages (Instagram, Facebook, etc). He doesn’t know how to use computers or smartphones — he still uses his cellular clipped to the belt. He once stated he doesn’t know how to use computers AT ALL. That is why he always writes his lyrics.
The line “went to Burger King, they spit on my onion rings” is a reference to the song “The Real Slim Shady” in which he had a similar line. The beat here also switches to the original beat from his song.
14.Love Game: featuring Kendrick Lamar
Eminem and Kendrick used this track as a way of expressing their love for women. Kendrick mentions a girl named Sherane, a notorious girl that Lamar used to be with and introduced us to in the intro to his major label debut, good kid, m.A.A.d. city. In this song, he explains that Sherane is just using him for his money.
15.Headlights: featuring Nate Ruess
Eminem’s father left him shortly after birth and Eminem and his mother have never really gotten along well, as documented in throughout numerous old Eminem songs, most notably in “Cleanin' Out my Closet” and “My Mom” This song represents a stark contrast to Em’s previous expressed attitude toward his mother, as Em now raps with a more mature perspective. He also mentions his half-brother, Nathan Mathers, who was taking away from his mother by the state at 10. Towards the end of the song he talks about writing this song to his mother while he’s on a jet, and he hopes he doesn’t crash before he gets to record it. This could either be a real plane he is on, going down, or a metaphorical high that he’s coming down from. Either way he wants his mom to know he loves her.
16.Evil Twin:
This track samples Royce Da 5'9"’s lyrics from the Bad Meets Evil track “The Reunion”. This song also samples “Eyeless Dreams” by Wolfgang Düren. His “evil twin” is Slim Shady. The song has a similar purpose to “Criminal”, the closing song of MMLP. On Criminal, Eminem states that he doesn’t mean what he says in his lyrics, then proceeds to be offensive. On this song, Eminem stops blaming those lyrics on “Slim Shady” and takes responsibility for those them. He ends the album by saying Marshall Mathers and Slim Shady are one and the same.
1.Bad Guy:
This is a sequel to Eminem’s song, “Stan,” which was released as a single from The Marshall Mathers LP. “Stan” is about a crazed fan who kills himself, his girlfriend and their unborn child because of the “lack of attention” Eminem paid to him as a fan. “Bad Guy” is about Stan’s little brother, Matthew, who loved his brother more than anything. Matthew Mitchell is all grown-up now, and is seeking revenge for Stan’s death. This song makes a reference to the “starter cap” that Eminem says he is autographing and sending to Stan’s brother. Matthew says he have the Broncos hat back. (It’s a Broncos hat because Stan meets Eminem in Denver).
2.Parking Lot (skit):
This skit picks up where the last song- “Criminal” on The Marshall Mathers LP leaves off- with a bank robbery. Eminem ends his own life to avoid arrest—the second time Em has died in as many songs thus far on the album. But then again, he’s known to write songs “where he dies at the end,” as he stated in his song “Cum On Everybody”.
3.Rhyme or Reason:
This song contains samples from this classic rock song — The Zombies 1969 classic “Time of the Season”. He says he back with the “Yoda of rap”. In this case the “Yoda of rap” refers to production legend Rick Rubin, who helped work on the album. Eminem considers himself a “Jedi in training” and Rick Ruben is Yoda, teaching him to perfect his craft. He refers to his house as a “K-mart mansion” because he bought a $4.8 million dollar mansion off of former K-Mart CEO Chuck Conaway.
4.So Much Better:
The beat on this song is a modified version of the one used on “Criminal” from the first Marshall Mathers LP. It seems to be a sort of throwback song to 2004’s “Puke,” featuring a similar topic. He starts out by asking somebody where they were Tuesday and then he catches them in a lie. This could be a reference to his ex-wife, Kim. In his book: “Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem” Em recounts a time when he got off an early flight home and couldn’t find Kim. In response to him asking, Kim claimed she was at home, even though Eminem was there but she wasn’t. So, Kim is known for lying about her whereabouts.
5.Survival:
This song was debuted exclusively by “Call of Duty” for their latest game’s multiplayer trailer. He says he’s “back with another anthem” Shady is famous for his classic “hip hop anthems”, most notably ‘Till I Collapse. These anthems are about the typical hip hop struggle from nothing to something, a story he himself encapsulates.
6.Legacy:
This song is about his childhood of being bullied and misunderstood and how hip hop saved him from “all the wars inside his world”. The bridge is Eminem speaking to his fans, as it becomes clearer that is what his legacy refers to at the end of the song. He is urging his fans to have faith in his words and music to aid in any personal battles that we may have. The line “why don’t I just blast a little something like Onyx” to give him confidence. This is referring to both a comic book character, which he was a big fan of as a kid, but also a rap group by the same name.
7.Asshole: featuring Skylar Grey
This track plays on all the backlash of the original MMLP‘s musical content as support, Em throws back to “My Name Is” sampling “Thanks for the support, asshole”. Dr. Dre wrote that line on a CD for the Slim Shady LP back in 1999, as a thank-you note to Marshall after all the success they accomplished together. When Eminem talks about how the world was in “need of a villain”, he is talking about the need for a scapegoat. He was an easy target because of his profane lyrical verses.
8.Berzerk:
Eminem’s first single off MMLP2. The beat is sample from “The Stroke”, by Billy Squier. Eminem wanted it to sound like a Beastie Boys’ song, because they were a major influence on him when he was growing up. The song gives off a golden-age vibe, as it is laced with Beastie Boys-esque production courtesy of Rick Rubin and allusions to 1990’s pop culture. There are a few subtle jabs at new school rappers in the song as well.
9.Rap God:
This song also landed Eminem a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records: Most words in a hit single: The single “Rap God” packed a mouth-filling 1,560 words into its 6 min 4 sec runtime. When Eminem was asked whether he felt like a rap god or an underdog he said: “I think everything switches back and forth from hour to hour, day by day with me. That whole “Rap God” record pretty much from top to bottom is tongue in cheek. So I mean, do I want to feel like that? Maybe sometimes. Again, it goes back to everybody who competitive raps and does this for just purely the sport of it wants to be the best. Again, that’s why Kendrick’s verse worked so well because he only said what every rapper’s already thinking, if you don’t want to be the best, then why are you rapping?”
10.Brainless:
In this song, Eminem revisits the haunting memories of being bullied in school. He then shoots to the present, where he boasts about how a single white MC has had so much influence on the Hip-Hop/Rap industry. Eminem previously discussed his problems with school bullies on The Slim Shady LP track, “Brain Damage”. The song starts off with snippets of the media talking about him and criticizing everything he does. It also features a line from the movie Superbad, which Eminem has said is his favorite movie. Also, the lines about the lobotomy are taken from Batman & Robin, when he is talking about the joker.
11.Stronger Than I Was:
This is a song about Eminem and his ex-wife Kim’s relationship. It’s a mixture of Kim’s and his perspectives. He thanks Kim for making him a stronger person than he was before. The line “it was November 31st today” could have been written to show that it was a fictional event, since November only has 30 days. At the end of the song, Eminem says that is was not his fault they broke up.
12.The Monster: featuring Rihanna
This track has Eminem considering his Slim Shady alter-ego a monster. The monster could also be the fame which has taken so much from him, or perhaps it is his mind and the demons that plague it. The song received the award for Best Rap/Song Collaboration at the 2015 Grammys.
13.So Far…:
This song Samples Joe Walsh’s “Life’s Been Good”. In this song, Eminem is saying that no matter how big and famous he gets, he will always be the same person he always was: “got it all but I still won’t change”. He talks about sleeping on his couch, wearing Hanes t-shirts, not being able to use new technology, buying Hamburger Helper, and still shopping at CostCo. In this song, Em talks about how he is not good at using technology. Paul Rosenberg usually updates his social media pages (Instagram, Facebook, etc). He doesn’t know how to use computers or smartphones — he still uses his cellular clipped to the belt. He once stated he doesn’t know how to use computers AT ALL. That is why he always writes his lyrics.
The line “went to Burger King, they spit on my onion rings” is a reference to the song “The Real Slim Shady” in which he had a similar line. The beat here also switches to the original beat from his song.
14.Love Game: featuring Kendrick Lamar
Eminem and Kendrick used this track as a way of expressing their love for women. Kendrick mentions a girl named Sherane, a notorious girl that Lamar used to be with and introduced us to in the intro to his major label debut, good kid, m.A.A.d. city. In this song, he explains that Sherane is just using him for his money.
15.Headlights: featuring Nate Ruess
Eminem’s father left him shortly after birth and Eminem and his mother have never really gotten along well, as documented in throughout numerous old Eminem songs, most notably in “Cleanin' Out my Closet” and “My Mom” This song represents a stark contrast to Em’s previous expressed attitude toward his mother, as Em now raps with a more mature perspective. He also mentions his half-brother, Nathan Mathers, who was taking away from his mother by the state at 10. Towards the end of the song he talks about writing this song to his mother while he’s on a jet, and he hopes he doesn’t crash before he gets to record it. This could either be a real plane he is on, going down, or a metaphorical high that he’s coming down from. Either way he wants his mom to know he loves her.
16.Evil Twin:
This track samples Royce Da 5'9"’s lyrics from the Bad Meets Evil track “The Reunion”. This song also samples “Eyeless Dreams” by Wolfgang Düren. His “evil twin” is Slim Shady. The song has a similar purpose to “Criminal”, the closing song of MMLP. On Criminal, Eminem states that he doesn’t mean what he says in his lyrics, then proceeds to be offensive. On this song, Eminem stops blaming those lyrics on “Slim Shady” and takes responsibility for those them. He ends the album by saying Marshall Mathers and Slim Shady are one and the same.