With a rainy background effect, this track has much more of a soft feel to it, but does not lack hard-hitting emotional lyrics in each verse. This was the song that turned me on to Marshall Mathers LP 2 and it still gets a fair amount of plays to this day.Īs the track following “Survival”, “Legacy” has quite a different tone. I’m not much of a fan of the yelling Eminem has done on his tracks the past few years, but on “Survival” it seems necessary. The song is basically just Eminem saying, “the king is back”, dismissing any notion that he is anything close to being washed up.
It was later released as the second single off the album. Originally, “Survival” was revealed to promote a trailer for the video game “Call of Duty: Ghosts”. Though, while the song is comical and catchy, its beat and lyrics pale in comparison to the rest of the album. Upon learning this, “So Much Better” definitely gained a couple points in my book, as I was not much of a fan of it at first. Both of these songs use a woman as a metaphor and are actually about the rap industry. Instead, “So Much Better” draws similarities to “25 to Life”, which was on Eminem’s 2010 album “Recovery”. Altogether, another one of my favorites.Īdmittedly, I thought this song was about a woman until I listened to it again two seconds ago. As expected from Eminem, the wordplay is insane and the song is just another one of his lyrical masterpieces. This is a theme throughout the album as several other tracks include hateful lyrics toward his dad. In this song, which heavily samples the 1969 song “Time Of the Season” by The Zombies, Eminem vents about his hatred toward his father, who abandoned him and his family at just six months old. Even as the intro track, “Bad Guy” is one of the best songs the album has to offer. This was until the beat switched five minutes and ten seconds into the track, and my opinion completely changed for the better. My first impression of this song was that it was decent, but nothing special. “Bad Guy” is about Stan’s brother wanting revenge for Stan’s death. In case you live under a rock, “Stan” is about a crazed fan who kills himself, his girlfriend and their unborn child because of Eminem’s lack of attention paid to him as a fan. Eminem demonstrates his outstanding storytelling ability in the point of view of Stan’s brother. While the sequel obviously doesn’t match up to the all-time greatness of “Stan”, it does not disappoint. The album begins on a strong note, with “Bad Guy” being the sequel to “Stan”, the critically acclaimed single from the first Marshall Mathers LP. The songs range from sentimental to hilarious and include everything in between. The deluxe edition contains 20 songs, not including the “Parking Lot” skit that takes place after the intro track. Released on November 5th, 2013, the Marshall Mathers LP 2 is Eminem’s eighth studio album.