I have chosen five albums for every year starting with 2000 and will work my way up to where we are now..possibly followed by a series that explores the 90's and furthermore the 80's/70's. For those of you that desire to become a master in this genre or are just looking to get educated and/or find some great rap/hip hop to listen to then stay tuned for our journey begins here...and the 2nd most influential album of the year 2000 is...
Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP
The millenium marked the second surge of a southern takeover.
No Limit had been on the rise in the 90's even snatching up Snoop Dogg
to add to it's gigantic roster of talent...but...the light was dimming and Cash Money
had began to make a name for themselves...the era of Bad Boy and shiny suits was fading..
and as we already established Atlanta based Outkast had the strongest album of the year.
2000 also saw big breaks for Nelly(though technically repping midwest def brought a southern appeal with his countrified accent) Luda, Lil Jon and The Ying Yang Twins,
while Outkast brought eccentricity and otherworldyness to the rap game.
An angry blonde haired white boy from Detroit was deadset on bursting everyones bubble and sending them hurtling back into the harsh realities of life..at first updating the listeners on all that had happend up to this point(The Slim Shady LP) and the madness that he found himself in being raps one man Beatles...(otherwise a song like the real slim shady wouldn't have worked). All of the albums singles dealt with his massive popularity and influence over society(The Real Slim Shady,The Way I Am, Stan). I remember where I was the first time I heard The Real Slim Shady, and while other new hip hop was great and I adored it, Eminem was the only one that struck a chord as a Superhero. He rapped to the kids...who shouldn't be listening to him...about why they shouldn't be and how, if they are...the parents are failing. Either.. A. you believed in his cartoony over the top lyrics and tried to act like an ass or B. Understood the ironic,scathing social commentary, and depending on how young you were, you soon developed a pretty bleak outlook on just what was going on all around you. I was the latter type of fan. What alot of us younger kids didn't realize is not only was Eminem teaching us all the truth about the world around us and the lifestyle he now found himself in, he was doing this while being one of the most technically gifted lyrical rappers of all time. We weren't only being wowed with information and hilarious shocking lyrics..we were being wowed with the techincally best rhyming lyrcist to have ever had the amount of influence and success Eminem had/has
With that success has come much scrutiny. Eminem has penned most of his raps for this album and later albums dealing with the stress that all began here. After the hilarious P.S.A. intro, Kill You kicks off the pivotal moment..of rags to riches for "Eminem the broke, underrated naughty rotten rhymer." into "Eminem the highly praised and successful mastermind lyricist set out to take over the world". With the opening rhymes of "They said i can't rap about being broke no more....they ain't say I can't rap about doin coke no more! SLUT! you think I won't choke no whore till her vocal chords don't work in her throat no more!?" From that line everyone knew it wasn't play time and Eminem was back and better than ever.
Gaining influence by being impressively intelligent and casting light on all the dark unspoken parts of everyday life and now pointing the finger at "Hollywood" aswell. Taking each and every major celebrity to task that had any amount of ill will against him..or were just the focus of his societal commentary at the time. Boy bands were near extinct after the verbal ass whooping of eminem "New kids on the block suck a lot of dick, boy girl groups make me sick and I can't wait till I catch all you faggots in public..I'ma love it" he says on Marshall Mathers while mocking the cadence of a previously popular LFO(boyband) song. Eminem would catch much controversy for his use of Homophobic lyrics. As well as psychotic threats towards enemies, friends and family a-like whether it be I.C.P.(I don't need help from D-12 to beat up 2 females) to Dr. Dre (Dr. Dre's dead he's locked in my basement), his mother Debbie Mathers or wife Kim.
This was the second season into Eminem's life, and it definitely played out like a T.V. show in front of our very eyes. He set himself up as a character for the world so he could joke and get away with bringing up important issues without being sensitive and sugar coating. Making himself an Anti-Hero that ironically did have a message.
You are going to see alot in life. Their are good and bad influences. It's up to you what you act on though...don't do what Eminem says even if he's pretending to be your friend. And don't do what the T.V. tells you...but don't ban it either. It's obvious you're not supposed to rape people, abuse drugs, cuss out your teachers in school etc. etc. To make a long story long....The Marshall Mathers LP is one of the rawest and raunchiest and real hip hop albums to ever cross over into the mainstream it's not only one of the best albums of the year 2000 it's one of the best albums of all time and can be argued to be THE best rap album on a techincal level...it also happend to sell over ten million copies at a time where album sells definitley mattered. No one, until Drakes recent run of the rap world has ever seemed this unstopable...
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