Eminem’s Show biggest of the year

If there is a recording artist around who wants the honor of having the top selling album of the year, then he or she must be able to sell more than 2.4 million units in just two weeks in North America alone. That is how much The Eminem Show sold after it went into retail last May 28. The date turned out to be doubly important because the album’s international release was moved a week earlier due to the unprecedented level of Internet piracy, illegal copying and market demand for the latest album by rap artist Eminem. This is the first time in pop music history that the market release of an album was advanced due to digital piracy.

Why this amazing sales performance by one of the most controversial artists of recent times? The only reason I can think of is that there must be so much anger and frustration permeating this world of ours that listeners are able to easily relate to the music of Eminem. Parents are justifiably fearful about the effect that his albums have on their children. They feel that like the legendary Pied Piper of Hamelin, who led the children of an entire town to what many interpret as certain death, Eminem can also lead kids into the dark places he likes to explore.

What makes this so easy is that Eminem rants and raps with such sure-footed grace that it is impossible not to marvel at the sort of artist he has become. Eminem has taken hip hop to a new, sophisticated level with The Eminem Show. The transformation is not unlike that of Madonna going from Material Girl to Vogue or the way Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon lifted the kung fu film to the level of opera. Eminem here is more knowledgeable about his craft than ever before. He is confident, focused and he has sure learned a lot of new music skills and polished up on the technology. Never has his music sounded as melodic. Never has the rap been as personal. Never has the blend of rap and rock been presented with so much integrity.

Laid against a skillfully executed backbeat of tense, crazy, gospel-inspired and other kinds of music forms are the most disturbing rap sounds ever heard. You bout to witness hip hop/ in its most purest/ more rawest form/flow almost flawless/most hardest/most honest known artist . . . he warns in Business. Have you ever been hated or discriminated against? he asks in Cleaning Out My Closet. I’ve created a monster/cuz no one wants to hear Marshall no more, he laments in the single Without Me. Eminem is also Marshall Mathers.

He explodes with rage in every cut. These lines from White America are most typical. So to the parents of America/ I am the derringer aimed at little Erica/to attack the character/ the singleader of this circus of worthless pawns sent to lead the march right up to the steps of Congress/ and piss on the lawns of the White House/and to burn the replace it with a Parental Advisory sticker/to spit liquor in the face in this democracy of hypocrisy/f – you Ms. Cheney/f - - - you Tippee Gore! F– you with the freest of speech this divided states of embarrassment will allow me to have. . . Then he turns on the charm, I’m just kiddin America, you know I love you.

This album is a surprise. This is something I find difficult to believe. Eminem, whom many detractors and concerned parents were hoping would self-destruct, has produced what is probably the greatest rap album in pop music history. Irony of ironies, the guy is white. He is a throwback to Vanilla Ice, not M.C. Hammer. Yet his Show is now the standard by which all other rap albums, black or white-produced, will be measured.

So is Eminem for real? Maybe this is all just the result of marketing savvy or the simple process of learning. People if they put their hearts to it, do get better with time. Maybe it is all the anger that has been bottled up since The Real Slim Shady came out two years ago. But how on earth can you question where genius comes from? Whatever this guy has boiling inside, he has released energy of incredible strength that fuels his trip to great heights. I now shudder to think what he has in store for us in his next album.