Eminem Battles Himself and His Demons on Masterful New LP

International fame and millions of dollars have done nothing to change the harsh reality of the once poverty stricken Marshall Mathers. He is 15 years deep into a critically acclaimed career and yet he is still just as emotionally fragile, self-loathing and insecure as he was when he was just an aspiring rapper living in a Detroit-area trailer park.

And he lets it all hang out on his new LP.

Mathers, the now 41-year old hip-hop artist popularly known as Eminem released his first album in three years yesterday; The Marshall Mathers LP 2 to an assortment of conflicting reviews. The album features several thematic elements derived from its classic predecessor, 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP but is quite a departure from his usual work. Even still, it’s easily his best record in 11 years, back when Em's career hit its pinnacle in the summer of 2002 with the release of The Eminem Show.

Eminem does what he has always done best on this LP; expose his inner demons with a shocking combination of hubris and self-deprecation. One minute he is extolling his own brilliance and historic legacy, the next minute he is hurling insults at himself while putting his shortcomings on full display. He even takes his phenomenal skills to another level as he (surprisingly) delivers numerous verses rapid fire with impossible rhyme patterns and pitch perfect dexterity. He is without a doubt a student of vocabulary and line structure as he so intricately explained in an interview on 60 minutes last year.

Jay Z has the more formidable catalog and consistency, Kendrick Lamar is the up-and-coming superstar of the moment. But Eminem is unequivocally the purest lyricist on the planet right now and one of the greatest in history. He is tactical and scientific with the way he constructs rhyme patterns, interlocking several similar words and abstract ideas into mind-bending lyrics. On MMLP2, he does this time and time again.

This album showcases the evolution of his mind as he ventures into new areas with a decidedly rock-styled production, none of his usual rap guest features and even an entire song dedicated to apologizing to his estranged mother. But the more things change, the more they stay the same; Eminem revisits tons of familiar territory on the album as he angrily hurls numerous vitriolic lines at homosexuals, women and celebrities. And oh yeah, he still hates his absentee father with a passion.

As a whole, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is an excellent album and easily outpaces 2004’s Encore, 2009’s Relapse and 2010’s Recovery. It doesn’t eclipse the original, which would be a near impossibility. But it does remind the world of exactly why we fell in love with him in the first place. One of the wonderful things about MMLP2 is the fact that Eminem seems acutely aware that his own phenomenal track record is his only true competition, as he so eloquently states on a track entitled, “Evil Twin.”

Finally, even though the quality of his songs have been heavily criticized for the past decade, this new offering is a tremendous return-to-form for a masterful artist who, despite his insecurities, is still a legend in the game and still delivers the goods.