8 "MMLP" References On Eminem's "MMLP2"

VIA: So maybe you heard that Eminem's newest album Marshall Mathers LP 2 dropped leaked yesterday. Yup, a batch of wma files of the album's 16 main tracks (the five bonus songs from the deluxe edition are yet to leak) are out and being consumed by fans everywhere. Although some people were angry that the songs leaked in wma format (and not the typical mp3 format—this is all computer nerd stuff) we were too busy jamming to the new tunes to care. Going into the album, there were a lot of expectations. Not just because it's an Eminem album and every Eminem album comes with a lot of expectations, but because this is an official sequel to his all time classic, 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP.

We kept wondering, how would Eminem incorporate the essence of his magnum opus into his latest work? We weren't the only ones wondering either. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Eminem had this to say about the new album, "Calling it The Marshall Mathers LP 2, obviously I knew that there might be certain expectations. I wouldn't want to call it that just for the sake of calling it that...There's not gonna be, like, continuations of every old song on there or anything like that. To me, it's more about the vibe, and it's more about the nostalgia." So how did he recapture the spirit of the album? Well, there's a number of lyrical references that will be obvious to Eminem Stans but might sail over the heads of casual listeners. So here's 8 MMLP Reference On Eminem's MMLP2...

"It's just me, you, and the music now Slim, I hope you hear it/We're in the car right now..."
Song: "Bad Guy"

Original Song: "Stan"

Original Lyric: "So this is my cassette I'm sending you, I hope you hear it/I'm in the car right now, I'm doing 90 on the freeway."

The best part about "Bad Guy" is when Eminem flips the script in the middle of the song and reveals himself to be Matthew Mitchell, the brother of Stan, but he's rapping at himself. Matthew kidnaps Em and uses one of Stan's most memorable lines while he's doing it.

"Wait, here comes my favorite lyric/I'm the bad guy who makes fun of people that die/And hey here's a sequel to my Mathers LP just to get people to buy."
Song: "Bad Guy"

Original Song: "Criminal"

Original Lyric: "I'm the bad guy who makes fun of people that die/In plane crashes and laughs as long as it ain't happened to him."

Following his line from "Stan," he reuses a line from "Criminal" to poke fun at himself for once saying he took pleasure in other people dying. However, the following line about the album title being a marketing ploy suggests an even deeper cynicism than the shock rap of laughing at dead people.

"Parking Lot"

Song: "Parking Lot"

Original Song: "Criminal"

Original Lyric: N/A

One of the intriguing things about Eminem's "Criminal"—one of his best album cuts ever—is that it actually features a skit in the middle of the song wherein Em robs a bank, promises not to shoot the teller but does so anyway, and then runs off as the song comes back on. On this track, he actually picks up where the skit left off to reveal his getaway driver, Mel Man, had actually ditched him. (Which, understandable: Em did break his promise to not kill anyone.) So Em is forced to flee on foot.

"I still am a criminal/10-year-old degenerate grabbing on my genitals."

Song: "Rhyme Or Reason"

Original Song: "Criminal"

Original Lyric: "I'm a criminal!"

For the third reference in a row, Em invokes "Criminal." (He must like that song as much as we do.) This time, he returns to the original vocal pattern he used to burst out the title "CRI-MIN-AL." Hearing it this time around, we're just surprised it took him this long to rhyme the word with "genital."

"I'm just playing bitch, you know I love you."

Song: "So Much Better"

Original Song: "Kill You"

Original Lyric: "Haha, I'm just playing, ladies, you know I love you."

Rather than return to a sound or a lyric, here Em invokes a phrase he's used twice before: once on "Kill You" and again on The Eminem Show's "White America" (at the end of the latter he says, "Haha, I'm just playing, America, you know I love you.") Today, like on "Kill You" and so many of his other songs, "So Much Better" finds Em venting his disturbing issues with the fairer sex.

"Like that one line I said on 'I'm Back' from the Mathers LP1/Where I tried to say I take seven kids from Columbine/Put 'em all in a line, add an AK-47, a revolver and a nine."

Song: "Rap God"

Original Song: "I'm Back"

Original Lyric: "I take seven kids from Columbine, stand 'em all in line/Add an AK-47, a revolver, a nine/A MAC-11 and it oughta solve the problem of mine/And that's a whole school of bullies shot up all at one time."

Possibly the boldest line on the new album, Eminem revisits a line from MMLP so controversial that it was even edited out on the albums "unedited" version.* His line from "I'm Back" touched on a fresh wound on America's conscious, April 1999's Columbine High School massacre. This time around, more than a decade removed from the shooting, the incident is a distant memory (depressingly, we've had so many other tragedies to divert our attention) and the line isn't bleeped. However, on another new song "Asshole," he offhandedly refers to the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting. "This whole world is a mess," he rhymes. "Gotta have a goddamn vest on your chest, and a Glock/Just to go out watch Batman."

*There's another line on the "unedited" version of the original album that's edited out: On the title track he raps, "It doesn't matter your attorney Fred Gibson's a faggot." (Probably because it's not wise to tempt a lawyer to sue you.)

"The other day somebody got all elaborate/And stuck a head from a fucking dead cat in my mailbox."

Song: "So Far"

Original Song: "I'm Back"

Original Lyric: "I used to, get punked and bullied on my block/Till I cut a kitten's head off, and stuck it in this kid's mailbox."

There's a big difference between the way Em used this line on "I'm Back" and the way he uses it on "So Far." Previously, he rapped about him being the demented kid that would cut a kitten's head off. (Animal cruelty is often seen by psychologists as a indicator of future violent behavoir, and something children of abuse often do.) This time around, he's not describing himself but rather one of his fans who went a lot further than taking a camera phone picture.

"Went to Burger King, they spit on my onion rings/I think my karma is catching up with me."

Song: "So Far"

Original Song: "The Real Slim Shady"

Original Lyric: "And every single person is a Slim Shady lurking/He could be working at Burger King, spitting on your onion rings."

This reference is pretty easy to spot. Not just because it's from one of his bigger hits, but because "The Real Slim Shady" beat comes on for a second. It's nice to see Em incorporating the wisdom of the Upanishads into his work.