It has sold 21 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time and certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The Marshall Mathers LP has been included in several lists of the greatest albums of all time and is widely regarded as Eminem's best album. Among other publications, Rolling Stone named it the best album of 2000. The album produced the singles " The Real Slim Shady", " The Way I Am", " Stan", "I'm Back" and " Bitch Please II". A significant commercial success compared to the release of The Slim Shady LP just the previous year, the album sold 1.78 million copies in its first week, which made it among the fastest-selling studio albums in the United States. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, staying atop for eight consecutive weeks. Despite the controversy of the album, it received acclaim from critics, who praised Eminem's lyrical ability and considered the album to have emotional depth. Lynne Cheney criticized the lyrics at a United States Senate hearing, while the Canadian government considered refusing Eminem's entry into the country. Criticism centered on lyrics that were considered violent, homophobic, misogynistic, as well as the reference to the Columbine High School massacre. Like its predecessor, The Marshall Mathers LP was surrounded by significant controversy upon its release, while also propelling Eminem to the forefront of American pop culture. Featured appearances include Dido, RBX, Sticky Fingaz, Bizarre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Nate Dogg, and D12. A transgressive work, it incorporates horrorcore and hardcore hip hop, while also featuring satirical songs. Recorded over a two-month period in several studios around Detroit, the album features more introspective lyricism, including Eminem's thoughts on his rise from rags to riches, the criticism of his music, and his estrangement from his family and wife. Dre and Eminem, along with The 45 King, the Bass Brothers, and Mel-Man. Still, however tough he's been on the world, Em has also tended to reserve his harshest words for himself, refracting his insecurities-about his family, his music, his cultural relevance-into verses that have only made him seem more human.The Marshall Mathers LP is the third studio album by American rapper Eminem, released on May 23, 2000, by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. Even as he's matured-fame, stability, sobriety, an Oscar (for the 8 Mile centerpiece, “Lose Yourself”)-he's retained his edge, taking shots at politics and society (2017’s Revival) with a frustration that's bordered on relentless. The result was a sound that reached beyond hip-hop into the heart of suburban America: rap not as social reportage but as primal-scream therapy punk for a generation addled by reality TV. Dark, funny, and frequently violent, his breakthrough albums (1999’s The Slim Shady LP and 2000’s The Marshall Mathers LP) established him as pop culture’s premier bogeyman, a bleach-blond devil traumatized by circumstance who rapped about killing everyone from his mentor to his mother with such ferocity and wit that you’d almost forget he had the wrong idea. Dre only months before, he had been fired from his job as a line cook, where he worked nearly 60 hours a week to support his infant daughter-an origin story that set the tone for his career.
Raised in working-class Detroit, the artist born Marshall Mathers in 1972 got his start as a battle rapper, reaching the ears of then-Interscope Records CEO Jimmy Iovine and future mentor Dr.
On 1999's “My Name Is,” Eminem entered the public imagination with a mandate: “God sent me to piss the world off.” From his provocative early work to the redemption narratives of 8 Mile and beyond, he’s more or less stayed true to form, holding a mirror to the American psyche-and his own-with an incisiveness rarely matched before or since.