u/Alexik15

I sometimes see hate for MMLP2 on this sub so i wanted to tell everyone why this album is so special to me

1. It's new and refreshing

Most people when they hear that Eminem made an album called mmlp2, they would think it would be something like him going back to how he sounded earlier, bringing back everything he used to do back then, from the lyrics to the beats etc. But mmlp2 is an album that shows change.

He is not the same person he used to be almost a decade and a half earlier, he has gone through 2 divorces, drug abuse and overdose, loss of his best friend, depression, rehab etc. He can't possibly go back to how he sounded like without it feeling like a nostalgia bait and without it showing the people that he has no idea where to go next lyrically and which sound to explore next.

Many people say it's an unworthy sequel because it doesn't sound exactly like mmlp sounded, but i'd say that mmlp2 perfectly does what Eminem intended it to do, a sequel doesn't necessary need to feel the same as the original, especially when so much time has passed and the artist has changed as much as he did, Eminem himself said mmlp2 is more of a "revisitation" of the themes and topics he talked about on mmlp, rather than literally going back and being the exact same as he was on mmlp.

2. It keeps the qualities that made mmlp good, but expands on them

Mmlp was notorious for its agressiveness, in your face lyricism and similar stuff, mmlp2 brings back the agressiveness and expands on the lyricisim even more, to the point where he can't even finish a rhyme without thinking of a 100 more rhymes to go with it, plus you can see that he is literally playing around with his lyrical abilities, on songs like legacy and groundhog day where he keeps rhyming the same set of syllables for as long as he can.

In his own words, as the time goes on, the rhyming gets easier but the rapping gets harder. On this album he showed us how easy it has become to him to rhyme and construct clever punchlines since he has been in the rap game for so long.

Overall he made sure that the rapping qualities that were present on mmlp stayed there for mmlp2 and he even tried to outdo himself in some particular aspects, such as, in this case, lyricism for example.

3. It has so much substance

How does an artist keep getting new stuff to talk about when they are making a sequel to their older album?

Eminem perfectly showcases that with mmlp2. Every song, and i mean every song, has lyrical substance in it, no matter how many songs you personally like to skip, each song adds onto the narrative of an older artist showing us how much he has changed over the years.

The point of the concept of mmlp2 is to take subjects he has talked about on mmlp and make songs about them, expanding on the particular subject and tying up all of the loose ends that mmlp left us with.

Songs on the album perfectly showcase this, whether it be songs like bad guy, literal sequel to stan which right of the bat along with the parking lot skit shows us how karma from the things he used to say and do in the past caught up to him.

He has changed so much now that some of the stuff he used to do haunt him till this day. That isn't to say that he has completely changed since the first mmlp, and songs like so much better and asshole, as well as the hard hitting closer evil twin, show us that he is still the same old guy he always was, even tho there's a clear impact that time had on him.

4. Might be controversial, but the production suits the album perfectly

In defense of mmlp2, i would answer to the criticisms about why having Rick Rubin as a producer or Rihanna as a feature on a sequel to one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time, with the fact that it just goes along with the whole concept of the album.

Since he has changed in some aspects, he might as well change some stuff about the music too, to show us that he can make it iconic (rap god) and nostalgic (berzerk) without the need to use all the same elements every time.

He is a well known rapper now, so he can experiment with the sound and make it sound good (imo the production sounded perfect, although on revival it got a bit too much). Also in his own words, he used all of the old samples to subliminally remind the listeners of the time when mmlp dropped.

He didn't want to throw the "in your face" nostalgia, he wanted to make it sonically new and like what everyone was doing at the time (for example Kanye also worked with Rick that same year), but at the same time with those sounds that he makes, give all of us listeners the subliminal nostalgia, and a feeling like you're listening to an older new album (if that makes sense).

5. It's a concept album and many people don't realise it (just a theory tho)

The album starts off with Eminem dying and his past karma catching up to him. In his own words, when he got the idea for bad guy, he knew exactly which direction to take mmlp2 in. That basically explains the concept.

Eminem dies at the beginning and at the end of bad guy he says "as we pick up where the last Mathers left off", and after that the album literally picks up where mmlp left off, at the criminal skit, where we again see the karma catching up to him for what he did during mmlp. Also he says "we pick up" implying that there's Eminem and Slim Shady both picking up where mmlp left off and we see their final standoff at the end of the album on evil twin.

The album is constructed so that the songs at the beginning are more of the things that haven't changed since mmlp, like rhyme or reason, hatred for his dad, so much better hatred for women, asshole him being seen as an asshole, etc. While the end of the album is more of the stuff where he changed his opinions a lot like stronger than i was relationship with Kim, so far him living life as a famous person, headlights thoughts on his mom etc. The first and last songs also feel like they mirror eachother (BAD guy-EVIL twin, rhyme or reason (dad)-headlights (mom), so much better (hatred towards women)-love game (being playful with women))

Also the concept of the monster music video is very similar to what i think the concept of the whole mmlp2 is like and it's basically Eminem falling unconscious and then going through an elevator which represents his mind and he goes to all different floors where he sees all different memories from his earlier days and at the end, the last stop is Slim Shady caged and he confronts him; "i feel like i'm caged in these chains and restraints".

So the overall story of the album is his karma from the past catching up to him and he revisits the stuff he talked about on mmlp and while revisiting he slowly realises why his karma caught up to him and talks about all of the things he changed his mind on, and masterfully finishes the album admitting that the stuff he blamed on shady for saying was actually him the whole time because they are the same.

I would conclude this "essay" by saying that we couldn't have asked for a better crafted sequel from Eminem at that day and age that he made it, since it literally ties up all of the loose ends of his career and showcases the fact that even tho many people think he fell off, he might have changed, but he's still got it. In my opinion this album should be as highly regarded in the community as the "big three" are, and i just handed out the reasons why i think so.

TL;DR: Mmlp2 is a refreshing sequel which doesn't only rely on older elements of his music, but creatively showcases the change he has gone through while talking about how he feels about the topics he used to talk about in his earlier music. Plus it's a concept album.