The Eminem Show

两张专辑过千万的销量，Eminem已经在创造历史。在2002年，他的第三张专辑《The Eminem Show》再次成为了历史上的“第一次”，只是这个“第一次”未免有些无奈——说唱历史上第一张因为盗版泄露严重不得不提前在非常规时间发片的专辑，5月28日是星期二，并不是常规发片的日子，星期天。 在前两张专辑里，Eminem已经向所有人展示了他桀骜不驯的态度和愤怒的情绪，并以此受到了无数乐迷的拥戴。已经功成名就的他似乎没有必要也没有“资格”继续谈这些了，但Eminem作为一个天才级别的Hip-Hop音乐人，岂能用常理来形容，《The Eminem Show》恰恰将这种愤怒和反叛发挥到了极致，随着流畅的音乐的陪衬，我们可以听着Eminem肆无忌惮的嬉笑怒骂，怎么说都能找到点乐子。 可以说《The Eminem Show》是Eminem职业生涯迄今为止最愤怒的一张专辑。一开篇他就用精妙的歌词来评述对美国的复杂感情，最后还要加上一句“别当真，我爱你美国”，这首“White America”虽然不能说超越了之前他的作品，但也证明了他依然拥有才华。后面的“Square Dance”则更激进，Eminem在歌里挖苦了小布什政府上任后的诸多愚蠢措施，在今天听起来实在是很有预见性，结尾还顺带损了一下和他有夙怨的Canibus。 尽管已经成为商业大明星，Eminem依然愿意保留着自己的 源根。“Say Goodbye To Hollywood”表达着对高度商业化娱乐圈的不屑，“Soldier”和“Till I Collapse”更像是对街头的誓言，Eminem的根依然在贫民区。另外“Without Me”中他也攻击了一些他心目中的“烂艺人”比如男孩团体N'Sync的成员Chris Kirkpatrick、电子艺人Moby、新金属团Limp Bizkit等，只是这些攻击更倾向于衬托Eminem对自己的自夸。 此外Eminem还在专辑中谈到了很多成为明星之后的心境变化，比如单曲“Cleanin Out The Closet”就是这一话题的代表。这首歌也是整张专辑中最诚恳的一首，Eminem提到了成名之后受到的嫉恨和针对，提到了自己不幸的童年生活，语调也不再张扬。作为Eminem生命中最重要的人，他的女儿Hallie也在专辑中再次成为重要的组成部分，一首大部分时间都在唱的“Hallie's Song”体现了Eminem对女儿的爱，不管唱得好不好听，真挚的心意是到了。另一首则是借Hallie与Eminem对话方式进行的“My Dad's Gone Crazy”。 至于情色意味浓郁的“Superman”，只能看做是Eminem的一次玩票顺便对不自重的骨肉皮们的贬损，歌里这些三词的简单押韵对于Eminem的能力来说实在是太简单了。但专辑中有些部分就不太能为所有人欣赏，比如吵闹的几个过门，比如“Drips”这样的作品，比如数次出现的过门处Eminem自己亲自演唱——铁杆粉丝们自然激动不已，而中立的乐迷们可能会觉得过门毁掉了整首歌。 同时值得注意的是，这张专辑的制作基本由Eminem自己和Dr. Dre包办了，Eminem的制作功力明显有了提升，浓郁的摇滚式的音色运用和独特的编排让这张专辑的声音独具“白人味儿”，如果说前两张的Eminem只是一个牙尖齿利的说唱歌手，那么这张《The Eminem Show》之后我们可以放心地多给他一个“优秀的制作人”的称号了。 也正是《The Eminem Show》这个标题所想表达的，这张专辑展示了Eminem的综合Hip-Hop创作能力，也展现了他在功成名就之后的一切生活状态，也许除了制作方面，没有明显体现出他的进步在哪儿，也不是那么写实（毕竟，作为一个商业说唱明星需要一定的夸大来促进唱片的销量，事实上这张专辑的销量也非常惊人，美国国内就达到了九百万），但相比那些死硬的地下份子，Eminem当然更适合在全世界范围内代表Hip-Hop。 这张专辑在滚石杂志选出的500张历代最强专辑中排名第317位。 by Stephen Thomas Erlewine It's all about the title. First time around, Eminem established his alter ego, Slim Shady -- the character who deliberately shocked and offended millions, turning Eminem into a star. Second time at bat, he turned out The Marshall Mathers LP, delving deeper into his past while revealing complexity as an artist and a personality that helped bring him an even greater audience and much, much more controversy. Third time around, it's The Eminem Show -- a title that signals that Eminem's public persona is front and center, for the very first time. And it is, as he spends much of the album commenting on the media circus that dominated on his life ever since the release of Marshall Mathers. This, of course, encompasses many, many familiar subjects -- his troubled childhood; his hatred of his parents; his turbulent relationship with his ex-wife, Kim (including the notorious incident when he assaulted a guy who allegedly kissed her -- the event that led to their divorce); his love of his daughter, Hailie; and, of course, all the controversy he generated, notably the furor over his alleged homophobia and his scolding from Lynne Cheney, which leads to furious criticism about the hypocrisy of America and its government. All this is married to a production very similar to that of its predecessor -- spare, funky, fluid, and vibrant, punctuated with a couple of ballads along the way. So, that means The Eminem Show is essentially a holding pattern, but it's a glorious one -- one that proves Eminem is the gold standard in pop music in 2002, delivering stylish, catchy, dense, funny, political music that rarely panders (apart from a power ballad "Dream On" rewrite on "Sing for the Moment" and maybe the sex rap "Drips," that is). Even if there is little new ground broken, the presentation is exceptional -- Dre never sounds better as a producer than when Eminem pushes him forward (witness the stunning oddity "Square Dance," a left-field classic with an ominous waltz beat) and, with three albums under his belt, Eminem has proven himself to be one of the all-time classic MCs, surprising as much with his delivery as with what he says. Plus, the undercurrent of political anger -- not just attacking Lynne Cheney, but raising questions about the Bush administration -- gives depth to his typical topics, adding a new, spirited dimension to his shock tactics as notable as the deep sentimental streak he reveals on his odes to his daughter. Perhaps the album runs a little too long at 20 songs and 80 minutes and would have flowed better if trimmed by 25 minutes, but that's a typical complaint about modern hip-hop records. Fact is, it still delivers more great music than most of its peers in rock or rap, and is further proof that Eminem is an artist of considerable range and dimension.