Eminem may ‘Feel like a Rap God,’ but he isn’t sounding like one on MMLP2. That happened ten long years ago, and if you’d asked the 41 year old from Detroit in his prime if he’d wanted to sound like Kid Rock in 2013 he’d have probably said something witty, something noticeably lacking on Marshall Mathers LP2. Doubly sadly, he does sound like Kid Rock. Replacing Dr Dre with Rick Rubin behind the controls on half a dozen tracks looked like a smart move on paper, but for all Rubin’s sleeping and beard stroking the production sounds weak and Eminem hasn’t really bothered to stay down with the kids.
This begs the question, why should the kids bother to stay down with him? He isn’t really offering anything new, and a lot seems to be re-hashed ideas. What he is offering is ‘SOO much anger aimed in no particular direction, just sprays and sprays, and straight through your radio it plays and plays till it stays stuck in your head for days and days.’ They’re actually lyrics from 2002’s The Eminem Show, note how they rhyme. But the formula remains the same and frankly it’s become a tired one. He has money, fame and the world at his feet. When you’re a rapper, maybe the hardest battle to fight is when there are no battles left?
*** Editor- please note this is Matthew’s opinion. – I actually quite like it! =] ***