The Marshall Mathers 2 Standard EX

DefinitelyBuy, it's very worth it and it came Very fast

Eminem,sometimes misunderstood,often troubled,usually controversial,but always damn honest sincere and never shy about his emotions. My life at times felt and was very similar to Marshal,so at times his music has helped me say a lot of what I wish I could. Sometimes he said things I didnt want to hear but needed. I am no Stan,and I dont have a troubled relationship with an ex,I often got along exceptionally well with all my past loves,but Eminem has been an identifiable figure since I first heard that first rap bout the Real Slim Shady. It opened me up to listen to more. I have owned every cd he has put out,have had my faves and my songs I could do without but he alwys had enough solid raps to make every cd a great buy. Version 2 of the MM LP continues his same proven and reliable track record of making a buy very worth every penny since there are plenty that will see high rotation in your playlist.Make sure you buy the Deluxe version,there are a few songs that are amazing that are not on the cheaper version and you will regret not having them. My absolute favorite song is Desperation. While it has the standard Eminem rap,it puts one hell of a twist to it that makes it something we have never heard from him and damn I love it. I have always been good in the past of listening to a cd right away and picking the songs that will be hits,this is one he could have never put out to promote the cd,but I gaurantee this will be one we hear a lot in the near future. The sound,the beat,the lyrics,I urge everybody to give this a listen and request it on your fave station,I really wanna see what kinda video this song will have so we all gotta rave about it so mtv or bet will get a video of this rap. Seriously...Desperation,if you dont know or dont give it a chance you might be taken by suprise.I of course am always excited bout new Eminem,after getting Berserk a few weeks back and its scattered and bizare lyrics I was a little worried,even tho I loved the beat I was a bit confused by the words. Now that I have the whole cd on my hard drive I gotta say those little worries have been put to ease. I also read the rolling stone story a bit ago,how naming this version 2 was not just a stunt,but that he wanted to put that same energy into this,he wanted that same quality that we got from the first one. It wasnt just done to sell a cd,he did it because he put that same love sweat and tears into it,he did it to really let the fans know this was gonna be the best he could do,that we could expect the same energy and effort,that we would get another cd full of amazing songs destined to be hits. Along with another reliable pairing with Rihanna for one track he put together a couple others to an amazing level along with plenty of his own solo stuff to make this cd everything he hoped it would be. Eminem,you did it again. I am impressed,and proud of ya. Mabye I am getting too old for this music,but I sure am not ready to give it up,and if Eminem keeps putting out this high quality stuff I aint gonna give it up till I am dead.

“I count my blessings, but I suck at math,” Eminem announces midway though a smartly-lifted Joe Walsh riff on “So Far...” It’s a great, pithy line that epitomizes the new Eminem. He’s cutting-edge without being cutting; he hasn’t lost his edginess or his edge. He’s still angry, even though he at least knows now that he has every reason not to be.It’s always tempting to repeat past triumphs, and even beyond the title, this album clearly references "The Marshall Mathers LP," which was a black hole of an album, so bleak and dark and massive that it warped the cultural space-time of 2000. You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing it, or hearing people argue about it; it was the perfect soundtrack for drunk-driving to the nudie bar with your lowbrow friends, and the perfect topic of conversation for arguing with your highbrow friends about whether he was a genius or an evil genius or simply evil. And it was a genuinely awesome listen, but truly uncomfortable at times—not because he lacked talent, but because he was so clearly focused on using his talents for ill.The good news is he’s mellowed a bit--but in the right ways. He’s still himself, America’s class clown, the misfit kid who dropped out of 9th grade and followed the exact opposite trajectory from what society expected, somehow turning stupid dick jokes into clever rhymes, and clever rhymes into super-stardom. And he’s getting away with things even he couldn’t get away with back then, rapping Columbine-related lyrics that were deleted from the first album just to see if he can get away with it. Only here, instead of an omnipresent Slim Shady lurking at Burger King and spitting on our onion rings, he’s the ultimate victim of his own misdeeds, hounded by fans and besieged in bathrooms, having his onion rings spat on because, hey, that’s how karma works in our flawed understanding.But the only thing that really matters is the songs. And I can’t stop listening to the songs. I’ve probably listened to this album every other day since I got it, and I’m still hearing new and amazing lines. Eminem’s chief virtue, besides being a devoted father, is that he’s incredibly hard-working. Society’s gotten stratified enough that it seems like rap stars and athletes are the only people truly able to raise their station in life through sheer hard work, and Em may have slacked off for a few years of addiction and sickness, but he’s working as hard as anybody else in the business, and, most importantly, far harder than his critics, who are lazily taking potshots at the Eminem that used to be, rather than recognizing he’s beyond all that. They’re still confessional stories (except for the character sketch in track 1, which has Stan’s brother hunting him down to kill him), but they’re self-aware, very meta, featuring criticism of criticism, and an awareness of the irony inherent in his situation. If "Relapse" was an outlandish cartoon of an album, and "Recovery" a clear-eyed and intermittently amazing attempt to be something he’s not, this all Eminem, honest and reflective and true, the "Eminem Show" of his later period, embracing self in an attempt to transcend self, and making what might be the best album of his career.