But he did just that.
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the release of The Eminem Show, a 20-track masterpiece authored by a then 29-year old Marshall Mathers, the man behind the Eminem/Slim Shady monikers. The LP was the third solo effort of his career and it immediately began its dominance on the music charts, selling an unreal 1.8 million copies its first week, en route to a 2012 worldwide total of more than 10 million sold and diamond certification. And while it is true that the album benefited from a pre-iTunes world (and before pervasive bootlegging), it was and remains a tour-de-force in the genre's history.
Partially obscured in the greatness of the record is the status it afforded Eminem himself. At the time, he was largely considered to be on-par with the great Jay-Z lyrically, but in his own league in terms of sheer popularity and creativity. Due to his superb resume and artistic reputation (he had authored three consecutive LP's since 1999 that were massive hits both critically and commercially and praised for their content and inventiveness), this album was highly anticipated. Add in the fact that he turned in a masterful performance on the "Renegade" track the previous summer on Jay-Z's opus, The Blueprint, and it becomes clear why Em was such a phenomenon.
The Eminem Show built on the maniacal witticsms and deranged wordplay of the brilliant The Marshall Mathers LP and actually added more substance to Em's backstory and perspective. It was an undeniably heavyweight hip-hop record with the sheen and sensibilities of well crafted pop music. Artistically and intellectually, Eminem was never sharper than he was on this album. He delivered loads of self-deprecating introspection and even exposed his political side. All of this nuanced versatility was expertly packaged with his signature "rebel with a cause" rhetoric firmly in place. Much to my surprise, many 20-something black men, who usually listen to hardcore rap music, were blasting The Eminem Show on their car speakers constantly when it first debuted. What makes that surprising is Eminem's unique style of hip-hop. His signature subject matter eschews typical hip-hop themes in favor of trailer park-style tales of popping pills and murdering his child's mother in graphic detail in addition to bashing easy target pop stars and disparaging his own mother.
As it stands, the summer of 2002 ended up being the time when Eminem's popularity reached a fever pitch; he was at the apex of a career wrought with acclaim and controversy, but built on mind-bending talent and relentless dedication. No one knew it then, but nothing would ever be the same in both hip-hop and Em's career. Sure, he enjoyed great success several months later with the release of his first film, "8 Mile," and his Academy Award winning song "Lose Yourself." However, whispers began to surface about an incredible new talent on the horizon named 50 Cent. Ironically, Eminem and Dr. Dre served as 50's mentor and unleashed him upon the music world in early 2003, leading to a thorough genre domination with his first official album, Get Rich or Die Tryin. His popularity, coupled with Eminem's conscious decision to step away from the white hot spotlight, signaled a new phase in hip-hop.
Eminem stayed mostly invisible as a solo artist for the two and a half years after The Eminem Show, before deciding to resurface with his first artistic misstep; 2004's Encore. That album, though still a multi-platinum success, seemed like a half-hearted effort from the megastar. It would be almost five more years until he returned with Relapse, and by then, the world of rap music had undergone the equivalent of fifty years worth of changes. As for the man himself, his personal life descended into extreme turmoil and tragedy and nearly resulted in his own drug-induced death. Thankfully, he recovered from that extensive dark period and was a much changed man.
No matter what happened next, nothing can take away from what Eminem accomplished with that classic 2002 album, The Eminem Show. It represents a cultural flash point and remains a superlative effort from a seminal artist at the peak of his powers.
What a show!
