Eminem's new album 'Marshall Mathers LP 2' gets a pass from critics

Eminem's latest release, the Marshall Mathers LP 2 is receiving mostly rave reviews that seem to be almost compulsory. The reviews proclaim that the album is incredible in one sentence and then mention how the entire 79-minute run time is devoid of emotion or any resonance in th next. One can't help but wonder how much the reviews are letting Shady rest on his laurels, willing an okay album to greatness simply because they want it to be. 

I've compiled some choice snippets below:

SPIN:

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is almost completely devoid of actual content or actual emotion beyond Bad Grandpa thinking he can beat Mike Tyson, but actually having the skills to back it up. Kendrick is maybe the only dude who can murk Em in a battle right now, and accordingly, he's the only guest star here allowed to rap. This is basically a 79-minute "Oh, yeah?" response to Kendrick's "Control" verse - and handily the best one yet.

Rolling Stone

MM LP 2 fits in well in the year of Yeezus and Magna Carta . . . Holy Grail, records by aging geniuses trying to figure out what the hell to do with their dad-ass selves. (It's like hip-hop is the new Wilco or something.) Since Em has always been a mess, he'll probably still be able to give us pause when he's rhyming about retirement ventures through dentures and cleaning out the colostomy bag he wears up inside his saggy drawers. MM LP 3, 2026. Let's do this.

Noisey

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Eminem stated: "I'm probably working harder than I've ever worked in my life". It's clear that he has, and it's paid off. The autobiographical backbone of the record may suggest that to truly appreciate it, you need to understand the backstory of Eminem, and the life of Marshall Mathers. We're never going to get another Slim Shady LP, another "My Name Is", or another "Kim", and once we get over that, theMarshall Mathers LP 2 is the best possible thing that Eminem could have put out. This is his legacy.  

HipHopDX

Eminem can rhyme with the best of them, and is peerless in his technique. Unfortunately, too often does Em focus on technique at the expense of actually making a good song. This technical hubris is on full display on MMLP 2. It's difficult to be too upset with "Rap God," which will have fans hitting the rewind button, but "Berzerk" and "Love Game," among other cuts have the distinction of having an absurd number of syllables mashed into a track that ends up saying absolutely nothing. The album would have been much better served by Em spending more time crafting song concepts than he did on his über-complex rhyme schemes.

Consequence Of Sound

The Marshall Mathers LP was a cultural wakeup call because of Em's willingness to shock and the virtuosic means by which he presented it. The guy was ubiquitous and usually doing something uncalled-for, plus he rapped his ass off and cranked out a million golden hooks. Eminem doesn't have that center-of-the-universe pull these days, nor could he or anyone else have expected MMLP2 to yield the results of its alpha. But, this one's nostalgic in all the right ways, a worthy look back at the LP that made him the world's most popular cult figure. And, since we still haven't found an inheritor to his madness, this version of Marshall Mathers is more than welcome. 

USA Today

So what's the problem? Once the bravest visionary in rap's underworld, Eminem spends much of MMLP2 gazing into the past, reworking early tricks and wading in nostalgia rather than forging a fresh path. 

Grantland

I don't know if it was due to my low expectations after the 12-step drudgery of 2010's Recovery or my soft spot for byzantine rhymes spit over post-Hotel California cocaine-and-caviar arena rock, but The Marshall Mathers LP 2 worked shockingly well for me for long stretches at a time. (With a running time topping 78 minutes, LP 2 is thick with long, intermittently effective stretches.) Perhaps I'm just relieved to hear Eminem attempting to be funny again, even if nearly every punch line on this album is terrible.

What do you think of MMLP2? 

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