Tracks:
1. Curtain's Up (Skit): 8/10 Eminem's literal entrance (The skit is an audio clip of the curtain rising, applause and Eminem walking onto the stage) is an interesting start, and a break from previous intros where he just told us how he just wants to offend everyone when we already know that.
2. White America: 6/10 quite clever and shows admirable restraint, but it's not as entertaining or badass as many of Eminem's other songs.
3. Business: 8/10 formulaic, but it's pretty funny and is the perfect piece of evidence for why you never ever get into a feud with Eminem (Unless you love being insulted in the most biting, cruelly hilarious way imaginable).
4. Cleanin' Out My Closet: 9/10 sheer poetry.
5. Square Dance: 9/10 the Eminem formula has been refined. Previous tracks were hilarious yet lowed with fury and this does as well, but there's more restraint, maturity and emotional punch.
6. The Kiss (Skit): 8/10 not one of the funniest skits, but one of the most interesting and this one feels like it has a point since the story continues in later tracks.
7. Soldier: 9/10 brutal and breathless, this refuses to hold back or slow down the musical carnage. And that's a great thing.
8. Say Goodbye to Hollywood: 10/10 The Eminem Show continues to be possibly the coolest autobiography of all time.
9. Drips: 6/10 on one hand, the rhymes are clever and it has lots of attitude. On the other hand, it's very, very vulgar and bit on the ugly side.
10. Without Me: 9/10 yes there have been loads of tunes which seem to be the perfect musical representations of a middle finger sticking up from Eminem before, but few have been such a knockout. A classic.
11. Paul Rosenberg (Skit): 6/10 a bit pointless, but perfectly decent.
12. Sing For the Moment: 9/10 it covers familiar themes, but does so with a lot of heart. The sampling of Aerosmith's Dream On is particularly effective.
13. Superman: 6/10 well-written up to a point and audacious, but ugly.
14. Hailie's Song: 9/10 deeply touching and honesty reverberates through every single lyric. If Eminem didn't start randomly ranting about his ex-wife in the last verse it'd be a 10.
15. Steve Berman (Skit): 8/10 short and simplistic, but hilarious.
16. When the Music Stops: 8/10 a bit confusing at times, but it's lyrical art and guest rappers D12 do a great job.
17. Say What You Say: 8/10 it's been seen before, but a repeat of all this brilliance is never a bad thing.
18. 'Till I Collapse: 10/10 intense, ferocious, electrifying and masterful, this electric shocker of a song offers a listening experience akin to being shot with 8 different Tasers while standing in a torrential downpour.
19. My Dad's Gone Crazy: 8/10 there's a bit too much swearing here, but it's still an effective enough tune. Hailie has an entertaining guest appearance on this track.
20. Curtains Close (Skit): 5/10 slightly amusing but it's an anti-climax overall.
Best song: 'Till I Collapse
Worst song: Drips (Or Curtains Close, but that's a skit)
Summary: Eminem's best work. When he said "It'd be so empty without me" he was really onto something. His most lyrically compelling, powerful, artistic and fiendishly entertaining work yet, this truly is his masterpiece. It's less of an acquired taste this time and the tone is better judged. Brutal and brilliant, this contains some of the best songs Eminem has ever done and the skits are consistently good as well. A 5 star album. And I rarely give full marks.
Final rating: 10/10
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