Cleanin Out His Closet
In The Slim Shady LP, we were introduced to Eminem as a phenom with unbelievable skills that was hungry as hell. His delivery, especially in concert, was absolutely electric. His lyrics were often gruesome, fantastic tales about drugs, sex and violence, but also were occasionally brutally honest and revealed the hard life that he had led. Production was handled almost entirely by Dr. Dre. Just over a year later, he released The Marshall Mathers LP and let us feel his rage toward both the sordid world that fame and money had drawn him into and the pent-up anger from his personal life. Dre remained in control of most production but Eminem asserted more production influence. His delivery remained tight but the lyrics became even more shocking, focusing even more on violence.
This brings us to present day and the release of Em's third album, The Eminem Show. I believe that this is by far his most honest and personal album, which is also part of the problem. Everyone knows that Eminem's got a few problems. In the Slim Shady LP, he was lashing out against them and fantasizing to get away from them. With the Marshall Mathers LP, the problems were multiplied under the pressure and scrutiny of fame and the result was almost pure rage. Now he's finally dealing with his problems the only way he knows how, through his music. Artistic expression always has elements of this but generally personal problems are abstracted into more general themes that the audience can relate to. On this album though, it simply doesn't happen. A good portion of the lyrics are Eminem talking directly to his demons (mother, critics, Kim) or his daughter. The only reason this is interesting to people is because his entire life has been dragged into the spotlight and America has followed him through his personal struggles. Without that though, it grows tiring to hear someone's music that is deliberately not addressing the listener.
Now for the other aspects of the album. Dr. Dre's production is almost nowhere to be found (only 3 tracks?) and it is sorely missed. While Eminem is occasionally a good producer, his beats cannot carry an entire album and this is probably the worst of his three efforts, production-wise. However, Eminem is such an incredible and infectious rapper that he can make the weakest beat sound tight, so the result is a bit deceiving. Lyrically, Em is better than ever. Without the overbearing presence of rage, his ideas are more coherent and his rhymes more effective. It seems that no matter what else happens, nothing can stop him from improving his flow. The subjects of these lyrics is what needs improvement. First, he needs to drop the beef with every person that's not worthy of his time (insert name of pop star here). Second, he needs to turn his personal turmoil into less personal material and address his audience (see "White America"). I feel like he's on the verge of this but not quite there. One improvement in the content of his songs is the decreased focus on violence and shocking material. This was tiresome and it's nice to see him move away from it. Oh, and one more piece of advice: stop making pop songs.
Bottom line: This is definitely personal progress for Em but he hasn't peaked yet and this isn't his best effort. I expect (more) great things from him.