Eminem is definitely my all-time favorite rapper. He’s viewed as a living legend, has sold more records than any other rapper breathing, and has some classic songs and albums in his catalog. The only rapper who I believe is a superior lyricist is Nas, who’s one of his biggest influences. With the Marshall Mathers LP 2 dropping in a couple months. I decided to make the next “Worst-to-Best” post about Em.
6th Place: Relapse
You know an album is bad when whoever made it said it doesn’t count. This album just pisses me off. Em came out of “retirement” in 2009 to bring the world his 1st album in 5 years. While something great was expected, that sure as hell wasn’t what the fans got. Instead we have the hip-hop abortion that is Relapse. I have no idea how this won the Grammy for Best Rap album. I didn’t like any song on this thing (except ‘Beautiful’, that shit was awesome. ‘Deja Vu’ was cool too.) For the most part, his lyrics were trash compared to his earlier albums, and he kept using those stupid accents.
5th Place: Encore
2004’s Encore wins 2nd worst Em album. He disowned this one too, and it’s not hard to see why. This album caught me off guard, because he dropped such a good album before it. Eminem’s drug problems were starting to get the best of him around this time, and it was definitely affecting his work. His lyrics showed a noticeable decline, and his song construction just wasn’t good. I used to love “Just Lose It” when I was a kid, (fuck Steve Harvey), and I still like “Mockingbird” and “Like Toy Soldiers” alot, but none of the other songs on here get my stamp of approval.
4th Place: Recovery
Recovery is when Eminem went back to being a good rapper. The start of the return was his standout verse on “Forever”, and it’s been good shit ever since. This was a very mature album, and he talked about his personal struggles and his road to recovery, hence the title. This was a good album, but not one that I’m particularly crazy about. It was an improvement over the two albums before it, but this still isn’t Em at his best.
3rd Place: The Slim Shady LP
The winner of the bronze medal is the album that made Shady a star. This album cover is still cool as hell to me. (That’s his wife in the trunk.) Eminem made a name for himself in 1999 as the ignorant, shit-talker that could lyrically out-rap anybody in the game. The hit “My Name Is” is still one of his most memorable songs. His wordplay, flow, and overall lyricism was unarguably dope. “Role Model”, “97 Bonnie & Clyde”, “Brain Damage”, and “Still Don’t Give a Fuck” just showed how talented he was, but he still had some growing to do as an MC.
2nd Place: The Eminem Show
’02 was a fantastic year for Em. He starred in 8 Mile, dropped the classic, Oscar-winning song “Lose Yourself”, and dropped this gem of an album. This album started off with a bang with “White America”, and kept the fire going straight through it. He talks about more social issues in this one (“White America”, “Square Dance”), and had the very personal “Cleaning Out My Closet” where he took shots at his mother. This was the last great album Eminem’s put out.
1st Place: The Marshall Mathers LP
No surprises here, right? This isn’t just my favorite Eminem album, it’s also my all-time favorite rap album. He showed the growth from the preceding Slim Shady LP, out-doing himself by a mile. This was the best he has ever been on a lyrical level, and the emotion he shows on these tracks is epic. “Kim” still creeps me out when I hear it, and he made “Stan” such a believable song, making it appear like those events caused by an obsessed Em fan really happened. I actually don’t want him to make a sequel to this, because I don’t think it’ll be better than the first.
EXPhits 