Shady’s done it again. After a few years of albums seen as having deviated from his classic style, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 has debuted at number one on the charts, selling 792,000 copies in its first week.
Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2 album cover
MTV reports that Shady debuted at number one, and indeed set a record this year for a hip-hop album, beating out Drake’s “Nothing Was The Same” by over 100,000 copies. Since then VIBE has reported that MMLP2 has earned its platinum certification – AND that Em’s graced the cover of Rolling Stone as a result.
The album’s primary single, the fast-spitting, trash-talking “Rap God”, generated controversy – with some critical of the single and others praising it, and the video’s “Max Headroom”-inspired style gaining wide coverage from MTV to Rolling Stone to Pitchfork to Rap Genius. It garnered over 6,000,000 views on YouTube.
Eminem – Rap God music video
Another single from the album, “Monster” with Rihanna featured on a beautiful vocal cameo chorus, has started to get wide radio play as well, and has been widely praised – though it doesn’t have a video yet. Its YouTube upload has over 47,000,000 views, dwarfing “Rap God”.
Eminem ft. Rihanna – Monster
What do you think, readers? Is Shady back on top again? Will MMLP2 provide a much-needed shot in the arm to hip hop? Register your thoughts in the comments below!
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