EminemInsider wrote:1998-mid-1999: Excitenem. Couldn't contain his excitement. Went in with the attitude, "blow Dre away." Re-recorded songs from the EP and others he'd done with the Bass brothers underground to form the core of the album, then made the singles with Dre, largely using verses he'd already written a while back. Dre offered Eminem some ecstasy in the booth and they wrote some throwaway tracks about bouncing off walls and shit. That's when Eminem learned that ecstasy is fun, but you can't write worth a shit on it. But when he went on tour, he decided to enjoy the shit out of it and try some of the drugs he talked about in his songs.
Mid-1999-mid-2000: Angrynem. Now he realizes how full of shit the media is. This gives him an idea now that he can't rap about bein broke no more. He'll become a target who shoots back. His goal is to make the media look stupid, and he knows all eyes are on him so his message will get out there. Ready to dedicate virtually his entire album to that goal.
Yep. Nailed it.
Don't you think 1998-1999 was utter relief, too?
"Wow...all those rhymes I wrote and all the work I did in the last three years is going to pay off. I'll just ride these lyric sheets out for at least two albums. The first album is basically written and recorded already, and half of the second album is written. Now that the hard part is done, all I need to do is the recording/voice acting part and start yelling more on the mic like Dre says. Meanwhile I'll just party and do drugs. Time to enjoy the fruits of my labor."
Then when he lost the famous Britney Spears notebook that featured all his golden material from 1996-2000, he thought, "uh oh. Now I actually have to stop this partying shit and write some rhymes again. But since I'm rich and no longer write rhymes in my head while I'm mopping floors (to no beat in particular), I can write lyrics to beats that producers send me."
Enter the "beat-riding" phase of Eminem's flow. Enter all the shit about his previous two albums being "behind the beat."
