The Marshall Mathers LP

2000年は今年はフジロックにて大トリを務め、遂にその姿を日本のファンの前に現したエミネムの2ndアルバムが登場！泣く子も黙る毒舌アウトロー・ウラッパーのイメージとは逆に、初来襲ライヴはサービス過剰、ザッツ･エンタテイメントなパフォーマンスで会場を沸かせたエミネムのセカンドが新世紀も堂々のトップ。ドレ師匠のキレの良いサウンドに、Ｄ-12としてのチームワーク、ダイドとのキャスティングの妙、そして過激なほどにリアリズムを極めたリリック。あげればきりない傑作モンスターアルバム上等!!! また先行でリークしたDidoの「Thank You」をサンプした「Stan」は空前の大ヒット！個人的にはこの曲をプロデュースしたDJ マーク・ザ・45キング氏に天晴れ！

Rolling Stone (1/4/01, p.106) - Ranked #1 in Rolling Stone's Top 10 Albums of 2000 - "...His tortured conscience gives the album its complex emotional kick..." Rolling Stone (7/20/00, pp.135-6) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...He's more funny and much more scary....A car-crash record: loud, wild, dangerous, out of control, grotesque, unsettling. It's also impossible to pull your ears awat from." Spin (1/01, p.73) - Ranked #3 in Spin's "Top 20 Albums of the Year [2000]" - "...What 'going too far' means: really, finally brought that psycho rude s*** home to the 'burbs....leaving more things unsettled than when he started." Entertainment Weekly (6/2/00, pp.76-7) - "...Indefensible and critic-proof, hypocritical and heartbreaking, unlistenable and undeniable; it's a disposable shock-rap session, and the first great pop record of the 21st century..." - Rating: A- Q (1/01, p.90) - Included in Q's "50 Best Albums of 2000". Q (8/00, p.98) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...[His] disaffection sucks you in and the wholesale nihilism can still provoke shivers..." Uncut (8/00, p.90) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...You might not like where he's dragging you, but there's no denying the style with which he does it..." CMJ (1/08/01, p.10) - Included in CMJ's "Best of the Year" for 2000. CMJ (6/12/00, p.3) - "...Musically, the album is a triumph....You can't deny [the lyrics'] searing honesty, and that's what makes [him] one of pop's compelling artists." Vibe (8/00, p.162) - "...Should forever erase the notion that [he] is the Elvis Presley of hardcore hip hop. If anything, he's rap's Eric Clapton: a white boy who can hang with the best black talent based on sheer skill - enhancing the art form instead of stealing from it." The Source (8/00, pp.225-6) - 4 mics out of 5 - "...You wanna peep [this LP], if not for the intense lyrics and witty punch lines, at least for the chance of witnessing one of the craziest MCs grow up right before ya ears." Melody Maker (6/6/00, p.54) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...It has an answer to everything, filling every parking-spot in the towering multi-storey of ego with a triple-bluffmobile....No one else puts such a rocket under rap's self-consciousness or makes it so shocking..." Rap Pages (7/00, p.45) - "...Even more abrasive and offensive....proving again that his imagery and storytelling abilities stand tall over most other rappers..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.57) - Ranked #78 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "The results were brutal, politically insane, loaded with pop hooks, and hysterically funny." NME (Magazine) (12/30/00, p.77) - Ranked #7 in NME's "Top 50 Albums Of The Year". NME (Magazine) (6/3/00, p.39) - 9 out of 10 - "...Real twisted...one long, disillusioned whine....[It] may be the white noise of America's Most Unwanted, but it also the product of a talent supremely Untouchable." Pitchfork (Website) - "The virtuosity of 'The Way I Am' gained Eminem access to an audience that believed that the better you were at your instrument, the better music you made."