Anyone else not completely in love with MMLP2?

[Tomer666]

I don't like the beats in the album.. the beats are all too "mainstream".
I like the old school MMLP type of beats a lot better.

[EminemBase]

But you're generalizing saying MMLP2 is all tracks people relate to.......only a few really are.

No I'm not?, did you not read my last paragraph where I actually address that:

I'm not saying MMLP2 is that by the way. I'm glad that he at least realized that was one of the core aspects of MMLP - taking his life and fictionalizing and exaggerating it, blending reality with fiction in a way that constantly blurrs that line. That's when he's at his best.

I wasn't even talking about MMLP2.

[Hopsinshadie]

I don't even consider this album real hip hop. Eninem sold out.

[Hopsinshadie]

I love it too and I sort of agree to an extent. I can't listen to his old shit right now.

In complete denial

[Corpse_Welder]

I love it too and I sort of agree to an extent. I can't listen to his old shit right now.

and that's cool too. I'm not trying to make people not like it. just kind of discuss the other side

[Hopsinshadie]

I can't listen to MMLP because MMLP 2 killed it. It's over for em.

[EminemBase]

"Em is at his best not when he's
looking inward and documenting his
life for you to 'relate to', but when
he's provoking and creating"
....
Lose Yourself
The Way I Am
Marshall Mathers
Sing For The Moment
Cleaning Out My Closet
'Till I Collapse
Are some of his best work, all examples of "looking inward and documenting his life..." equal to and even exceeding the brilliance of his flights of fancy.
Personal songs are what made Eminem the musical icon he is today, they're what he's known for.

"Lose Yourself" is in-character, and has an emotional concept that looks outward, that speaks to the listener with a purpose - it is not Eminem saying 'hey I went through this', it's Eminem using his talents for the purpose of inspiring, storytelling... this is him creating.

"The Way I Am" is introspective, but it was still new - and was a reactionary response to pressure, it came out of him as a burst of energy in response to stress happening RIGHT THEN, and it's far more than Eminem looking inward and saying 'hey, you feel this too?' - there's political points in there, social commentary, and it serves as the leading conceptual line and bridge for the entire album - "I am whatever you say I am" - becoming the misconceptions for an entire record.

"Marshall Mathers" - you call that true introspection? Like most of MMLP, that's him taking his life and exaggerating it, ficationalizing it, and provoking and poking fun. He's isn't just saying 'hey I went through this, you did too? cool, relate plz x'. It's part-fiction, part-conceptual.

"Sing for the Moment" is more socio-political than it is personal. That's him looking outward more-so than inward. It includes some personal elements of his life, some personal views (as all of his work does), but he captures what he does as an entertainer, he raps about it through a political lense and his potential benefit on youth... this is far from an introspective document.

"Cleaning Out My Closet" is an all-out attack... these tracks you're mentioning are part-conceptual because he has an aim other than the listener just relating to them unlike something like "Beautiful" where he's just reaching for that reach back. On this track, he's attacking his mother... he's using his talent as a means of settling a score... again, that's not really what I mean.

"Till I Collapse" is Em rapping about rapping; rapping about his place in the game. Using his passion and his view of himself as fuel for a little pump-up concept...

Eminem using his life as FUEL for concepts is not what I am saying is bad or shit or simplistic. He does that even in "Kill You" or something which on the face of it may seem purely provocational or 'insane' artistically. None of these examples are really that...

Eminem is at his best when using his life to fuel concepts or semi-conceptual rap, songs with a reason to exist outside of purely telling us 'hey, I went through this' - all of the songs you've listed have a reason... and aren't really that at all. Most are in-character, political or conceptual.

Plus, when he was new and fresh and none of his life stories were known... these topics were new topics even to him, which is why he could rap about them so passionately or angrily. But at this point, probing his personal life or trying to reach in to that limited well always results in what feel like total retreads. And he's much more talented than just 'hey, I had a bad day', which is what his core fans seem to want OVER, and OVER, and OVER...

Seriously, how many times do you need to relate? How many times do you need to know he goes through shit too? Don't you want something a little bit more ambitious than transparent documenting? Isn't he capable of a LOT fucking more than that.

PERSONAL is not the problem. You're listing songs with personal elements... all of his songs have personal elements or stories or views from his life. That is not what I mean. I mean, when a song is nothing more than 'I went through this'... it's a lame use of his talents.

God, that's so unimaginative and boring @ just wanting him to do that all the time.

[cryonseris]

I don't even consider this album real hip hop. Eninem sold out.

Damnit, I was looking through the pages wondering why you hadn't posted. There you are.

[walend]

with every album he makes.... he must try to make new fans, and keep the old fans happy...
thats some serious difficult job, and i think he kinda succeed in that with MMLP2.

btw, like it or not, it's a personal choice, for a long long time, i didn't even like SSLP, but i kept growing (and still is)

i even enjoyed listening to 'we made you' a few days ago...

and for people who don't like a whole album, they invented something like iTunes (and other), where you can buy only the tracks you like, so i don't think there can be a problem?

[EminemBase]

with every album he makes.... he must try to make new fans, and keep the old fans happy...
thats some serious difficult job, and i think he kinda succeed in that with MMLP2.

btw, like it or not, it's a personal choice, for a long long time, i didn't even like SSLP, but i kept growing (and still is)

i even enjoyed listening to 'we made you' a few days ago...

and for people who don't like a whole album, they invented something like iTunes (and other), where you can buy only the tracks you like, so i don't think there can be a problem?

No... he shouldn't.

Since when did Eminem become Apple?

He's not a company answering to share holders, he's an artist.

Eminem should not 'try' for any kind of fan and should not try to make some faceless, endlessly moving imaginary demographic of 'old/current' fans happy...

He should make whatever he feels is great art, every time. And not even think about the opinions of other people. He is the artist and it is his art... and whoever likes it - will like it, and whoever does not like it - will not like it. He shouldn't aim to please anybody but himself.

[Corpse_Welder]

and for people who don't like a whole album, they invented something like iTunes (and other), where you can buy only the tracks you like, so i don't think there can be a problem?

Because albums were created to listen as a larger work than a song; a collection of ideas with a general goal or theme in mind. So we judge based on albums instead of songs because otherwise you have 20 random songs released on the same day. And nobody's saying there are no good tracks on mmlp2, just as a whole, more and more people are seeing it as a little less godly than a week ago. It's definitely #4 or 5 for me, no higher, no lower but we'll see in time

[xYnDart]

I'm just sad Em didn't reference the Hailie line on Drug Ballad

[Mathers]

People are starting to dislike this album already? that was faster than Recovery.

[Corpse_Welder]

People are starting to dislike this album already? that was faster than Recovery.

Not dislike, but a lot of people I've spoken to in person were crazy in love with it first day or two then started to come back down to earth since. I think some people are off in the stratosphere with this one

[Hamza1972]

People are starting to dislike this album already? that was faster than Recovery.

Yeah I dont know what it is. MMLP2 is so far better than Recovery