The Eminem Show (full Fix Album) 2002
The Eminem Show is the fourth studio album by American rapper Eminem. After it had originally scheduled for release on June 4, 2002, the album was released nine days earlier on May 26, 2002, through Aftermath Entertainment, Shady Records, and Interscope Records due to pirating and bootlegging of it. The album saw Eminem take a substantially more predominant production role; most of it was self-produced, with his longtime collaborator Jeff Bass. It features guest appearances from Obie Trice, D12, Dr. Dre, Nate Dogg, Dina Rae and Eminem's daughter Hailie Jade Scott-Mathers.
The Eminem Show (Full Album) 2002
Widely considered the most anticipated album of 2002, The Eminem Show debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and stood there for six non-consecutive weeks. It sold over 1.3 million copies in its second week in the US, where it registered a full week of sales. It also topped the UK Albums Chart for five consecutive weeks. It produced four commercially successful singles, "Without Me", "Cleanin' Out My Closet", "Superman", and "Sing for the Moment", and it features one of his most popular songs, "'Till I Collapse". The album was met with positive critical reviews, with praise directed at Eminem's mature, introspective lyricism and the album's experimental production.
Eminem cited that the inspiration for the album was taken from the Peter Weir-directed 1998 science fiction comedy-drama film The Truman Show. Jim Carrey starred in the film as the lead character Truman Burbank, a man who unwittingly lives inside a TV show, where his life is broadcast to viewers around the world.[2] Eminem spoke on the film's influence, saying, "My life felt like it was becoming a circus around that time, and I felt like I was always being watched [...] Basically, Jim Carrey wrote my album."[2]
Stylistically, The Eminem Show has a lighter tone than The Marshall Mathers LP[4] and incorporates a heavier use of rap rock than Eminem's previous albums,[5] featuring mixed guitar-driven melodies with hip-hop rhythms. In an interview with British magazine The Face in April 2002, Eminem said that he treated the album like it was a rock record. He continued that he "tried to get the best of both worlds" on the album.[6] Eminem spoke on specific rock influences, saying, "I listened to a lot of '70s rock growing up, when I was real little. When I go back and listen to them songs, like Led Zeppelin or Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix...'70s rock had this incredible feel to it."[7] Notably, "Sing For The Moment" contains a sample of Aerosmith's "Dream On" as well as a reinterpretation of its guitar solo. Another rock sample on the album is the kick-clap beat of "'Till I Collapse", which is an interpolation of the intro from Queen's "We Will Rock You".[8]
Lyrically, the album displays a dramatic shift from the misogynistic and homophobic lyrics presented on The Marshall Mathers LP.[14] Eminem told Spin, "One of the frustrating things was people saying, 'He's got to cuss to sell records,' [...] That's why with this album, I toned it down a bit as far as shock value. I wanted to show that I'm a solid artist, and I'm here to stay."[15] Due to its less satirical and shock factor lyrical approach, The Eminem Show was regarded as a departure from Eminem's previous albums[4] with it being more personal and reflective and a step back of the Slim Shady alter ego.[16] Eminem said during an interview with MTV that he felt that The Eminem Show was his "best record so far".[17] In 2006, Q said that Eminem's first two albums "aired dirty laundry, then the world's most celebrated rapper [Eminem] examined life in the hall of mirrors he'd built for himself."[4]
Blender, Muzik and LAUNCH named The Eminem Show the best album of 2002.[35] The album became Eminem's third to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, while "Without Me" won Eminem his first Best Music Video award.[36] The album swept the MTV Music Video Awards, winning four awards for Best Male Video, Video of the Year, Best Direction, and Best Rap Video. The album also won Best Album at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards,[37] both Album of the Year and Top R&B/Hip Hop Album at the 2002 Billboard Music Awards,[38] both Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album and Favorite Pop/Rock Album at the 2003 American Music Awards, Best International Album at the 2003 Brit Awards, and International Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2003.[39]
The Eminem Show was originally scheduled for release on June 4, 2002; however, pirated and bootlegged copies appeared online via peer-to-peer networks and began surfacing on the streets. It was provided by Rabid Neurosis (RNS), an MP3 warez release organisation who pirated the album twenty-five days prior to release.[48] Radio show Opie and Anthony broadcast the entire album on May 17, 2002.[49] Interscope decided to release the album earlier than planned, on May 28 to prevent bootlegging. However, many stores in the United States began selling it even earlier than the new release date on Sunday, May 26, and some put the album out as early as Friday.[50] Promotional posters in stores read, "America Couldn't Wait". Due to the premature release by many retailers on a Sunday, the album had only one day of official sales for the chart week and was unavailable in Walmart stores during that period.[50][51] The Eminem Show was Eminem's first album to include lyrics to all its songs inside the CD booklet.[52] Additionally, the first 2,000,000 copies of the album shipped in the United States included a bonus DVD with an exclusive interview and live footage.[51] A week before the album's release, it was the second-most played CD on computers, the highest ranking ever for an unreleased title.[53] It was considered the most anticipated album of 2002.[53]
15 years later Eminem expanded further on this, explaining how inspiration for the album also came from the 1998 film The Truman Show, the premise of which being a man unaware that he is living his life on a fictional television show.
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.
ryan loves it and he likes mmlp too so he's all sonning me now with this 'well ethan yes perhaps i'd allow you to give the marshall mathers lp a 10.0, i mean that particular record was perfect, but not this one' yeah well you were busy talking about at the motherfucking drive in back then so let me redeem your godawful site now. jeez unless he went back on his dumb-ass 'policy' theres a nine dot one up there but i promise you 'the eminem show' is really a ten, know that
18 years ago, Eminem welcomed us to the real world of Marshall Mathers with his fourth studio album, The Eminem Show. The hip-hop with rap-rock flavor album was released on May 26, 2002, through Eminem's Shady Records imprint and Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. Supported by signature hits like Without Me, Cleanin' Out My Closet, Sing for the Moment, and Superman, the most anticipated album of 2002 debuted atop and spent five weeks on the Billboard 200 chart. Not only did it cement Eminem's place in the rap game for releasing three back-to-back classic records, but it also solidified his work as a producer. 041b061a72