That's hard to hold onto with age, but I really think he could have a lot of fun if he just dialed the performative anger back 30%. I stumbled over this bit I wrote about him after MMLP2 and it really resonated with me:

"For the rest of the LP, in attempting to return to the dark, sarcastic tone of Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem approaches it through the humorless affect of a 12-step addict who always found being an asshole the perfect escape from his own insecurities. In doing so, Eminem reveals once and for all that his success owes as much to timeliness as talent."

Eminem without the Bass Brothers and Dre just feels like self-parody too often.


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"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz