The Marshall Mathers LP2 (Deluxe)

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is the eighth studio album by American rapper Eminem. It was released on November 5, 2013, by Aftermath Entertainment, Shady Records, and Interscope Records. It serves as a sequel to his third album The Marshall Mathers LP (2000). Recorded from 2012 to 2013 with several producers, Dr. Dre and Rick Rubin served as executive producers for The Marshall Mathers LP 2. It features guest appearances from Skylar Grey, Rihanna, Nate Ruess, and rapper Kendrick Lamar, among others.

The idea of a sequel to The Marshall Mathers LP came about after Eminem recorded a handful of songs in the early stages of the creation of the album that reminded him of his earlier music, though Eminem wanted to experiment with "retro, vintage" sounds from turntablism for the sequel. The album draws influences from arena rock and old-school hip hop, mainly inspired by the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill era and LL Cool J's Radio era, while the production is more minimalist than Eminem's previous records.

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 was regarded as one of the most anticipated albums of 2013. The album was revealed during the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards in August 2013, alongside a preview of its lead single "Berzerk". It was followed by two more singles: "Survival" and "Rap God". "The Monster", featuring Rihanna, was released as the album's fourth single and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's fifth single "Headlights", featuring Ruess, was released in 2014.

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling more than 792,000 copies in its first week. In March 2017, it was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was met with positive reviews by critics, with praise directed at Eminem's technical rapping abilities and production choices. The album marked an improvement in a reception over Eminem's previous three albums, and was named on multiple best album year-end lists. It won Eminem a record sixth Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 2015 Grammy Awards.

On May 24, 2012, Eminem revealed that he was working on his next album, during an interview on Hot 97's morning show with Peter Rosenberg. On June 30, 2012, Eminem talked about the album with DJ Whoo Kid, on his own radio station, Shade 45. He stated that the material was taking shape, and that Dr. Dre would be involved in some way. Eminem explained: "I usually get going and kind of start going a certain direction and just record what I'm feeling. Then I'll go see Dre and fill in some of those pieces."

On August 1, 2012, Nick Craig interviewed Eminem on Channel 95.5, where he explained that he was working on the album, but was focused on finishing Slaughterhouse's Shady Records debut Welcome to: Our House, On August 10 however, Eminem appeared on Shade 45 and told Sway Calloway: "We actually just finished the album last week … Now I've got time to be able to start doing things for my own project." Royce da 5'9" appeared on MTV's RapFix, hosted by Calloway, with his group Slaughterhouse, on August 30, 2012, and talked about Eminem's album. Royce confessed: "Marshall is the studio right now, laying the most awesome lyrics in the world. I'm not so sure how the world is going to respond from some of the things that I've heard from him."

On February 8, 2013, Shady Records president and Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg told Billboard that Eminem's eighth studio album would be released after Memorial Day, 2013 (May 27). "We fully expect to be releasing a new Eminem album in 2013. He's been working on it for some time," said Rosenberg. "It's safe to say that it will be post-Memorial Day at some point, but we're not exactly sure when. We've got some dates locked in for him to perform live in Europe in August, so we're trying to see what else lines up." On March 22, 2013, during an interview with Power 106, Dr. Dre said that he was working with Eminem, and that Eminem was "finishing up his project."

On June 17, 2013, Shady Records producer The Alchemist appeared on RapFix Live, and tweeted to shadygodz (One of the Stan fans aka Sanket Kale Mathers) about Eminem's upcoming album: "That's my boss. I DJ for him and I'm not at liberty to speak on much, but you know his caliber and what he does. Clearly going to further territories. I think what you would expect, especially after the last go-round. He was just getting his feet back on Relapse and then Recovery just came with the smash hits and everything and I think now — he's Eminem." Prior to the announcement of the album's name, it was named to multiple "Most Anticipated Albums of 2013" lists; including MTV, Complex where it was listed in sixth position (and later on in second); and XXL, where it was listed in fifth.

On June 17, 2013, producer S1 told Hip Hop Weekly: "I've been working on Eminem's new album and I'm very excited about that." The track list reveal showed "Bad Guy" as the opening track, and S1 confirmed that he and vocalist Sarah Jaffe, one half of S1's duo The Dividends, are featured on the song. He also credited Aussie M-Phazes and Streetrunner as co-producers. M-Phazes himself confirmed this in an October 2013 interview.

Tim Riley, vice president of music affairs at Activision Blizzard, explained to Billboard in August 2013 that he was contacted by Eminem's manager Rosenberg in March to partner Eminem with Call of Duty: Ghosts. In June, Riley and members of his team flew to Detroit to meet Eminem and Rosenberg. The team was showcased a "handful" of songs, while Eminem was shown early concept art and gameplay footage of Ghosts. "Survival" was picked as the best-fitting song, but the final version differed vastly from the earliest version of the track. Over the next couple of months, Eminem turned in five successive versions of the song, each one "bigger and more anthemic sounding than the last." – The final version was turned in only a day before its reveal on August 14.

In a behind the scenes video for "Berzerk", released in October 2013, Rubin explained that he met Rosenberg a few years back and that they had discussed the possibility of him and Eminem working together. He stated that the idea of "throwback" song to earlier hip hop recordings was an idea conceived later in the creative process of the album. He noted that initial sample the song was built around ended up not being used, and that the final product differs greatly from the original. In an October 2013 interview with MTV, DVLP said that the instrumental for "Rap God" had been in the making two years prior to the track's release. While the instrumental had been offered to rappers such as T.I. and Fabolous, the producer didn't feel the record fit their music. He estimated that Shady Records got hold of the instrumental around Fall 2012, and DVLP himself did not hear "Rap God" until Eminem phoned him after its release.

The idea of a sequel to The Marshall Mathers LP came about after Eminem recorded a handful of songs in the early stages of the creation of the album that reminded him and his friends, namely Rosenberg, of Eminem's earlier recordings; " The more I listened to it, the more it made sense to call it that," said Eminem. Eminem also wanted to experiment with "retro, vintage" sounds such as beatbreaks and scratches, and he felt that Rubin could help him "take that to another level."

Rihanna, with whom Eminem previously collaborated on "Love the Way You Lie" from Eminem's previous studio effort, Recovery (2010), was featured on the song "The Monster". On September 11, 2013, she hinted at the collaboration on Twitter: "Just left the studio … Recorded a #monster hook for one of my favorite artists! And that's all I can give you … #NavyShit". Upon the track list announcement, Staten Island singer Bebe Rexha revealed on Twitter that she had co-written the Rihanna collaboration featured on the album. Rexha recorded "The Monster" in November 2012 in Harlem's Stadium Red studio while working on her debut album. The producer of the track, Frequency, auditioned records for Shady Records VP of A&R Riggs Morales, who "freaked out" upon hearing "The Monster", instantly requesting for the verses to be stripped and Pro Tools sessions sent to Eminem. Eminem added his own verses and tweaked the instrumental, while keeping Rexha's backing vocals. The song was revealed to be a part of the album with the reveal of the track listing. In an October 2013 interview, Rexha claimed that she said "This is an Eminem record, y'all" while standing in the booth after she recorded the chorus, and that she "know when heard it, it spoke to him."

Rapper and fellow Aftermath Entertainment artist Kendrick Lamar, who toured with Eminem in 2013, was featured on "Love Game", while indie pop band Fun. frontman Nate Ruess was featured on "Headlights".

Skylar Grey, a frequent Eminem collaborator since Recovery was featured on the song "Asshole". In an October 2013 interview with American Songwriter, "Love the Way You Lie" producer Alex da Kid revealed that he has submitted further beats for Eminem, but said "you never know what they're going to use or not going to use." He would later be confirmed as the producer of "Asshole" and two of the deluxe edition bonus tracks. "Asshole" was initially created during a studio session with Alex and Eminem in Detroit in 2012. Grey was writing songs for her Eminem-executive-produced album Don't Look Down in Detroit, and visited Eminem to exchange song ideas and hooks. She wrote the hook for "Asshole" during the trip, while in her hotel room.

"Legacy" was written approximately two years ago during a session between Russian singer-songwriter Polina and songwriter David Brook in New York. A few months later, Polina visited Interscope executive Neil Jacobson, who, upon hearing the song, commanded her: "Don't play this for anyone. It's an Eminem record." The following week, Polina and Brook joined Emile in the studio where he produced the song and then sent it to Eminem. Eminem added his own verses to the song, but left Polina's vocals untouched.

In July 2012, Eminem's close friend and label-mate 50 Cent stated that he was involved in the recording for Eminem's upcoming album and would probably appear on the lead or second single, but ended up not being featured on the album at all.

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 72, based on 33 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."

Paul MacInnes of The Guardian gave the album a perfect five star rating saying, "His flows are exceptional, the wordplay is dazzling. The jokes, in places offensive, are relentless. There is no apology; no concession; just a virtuoso application of talent." Jon Dolan of the Rolling Stone said, "Nostalgia is everywhere. … He's playing his best character, the demon spawn of Trailer Hell, America, hitting middle age with his middle finger up his nose while he cleans off the Kool-Aid his kids spilled on the couch". Christopher Weingarten of Spin stated, "If rapping were purely an athletic competition, Eminem would be Michael Phelps and Lou Retton combined: pure ability and flexibility, like a bullet with only white-hot hate in his wake". He would go on to add that "we get rhymes… more rhymes than some rappers manage in a whole career". Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times said, "Eminem sounds more alive – angrier yet fully present – than he has in years… Eminem burns with purpose on "MMLP2". And if you don't like what he (still) has to say, there's a chance he doesn't either".

Edna Gundersen of USA Today said, Eminem "recaptures the original release's wild, clever, emotional brilliance in a flurry of caustic, brazenly honest, rapid-fire rhymes and aggressive beats". Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe gave the album a positive review saying, "If anything, the sequel is more intense than the original, as the Detroit rapper explodes like an M-80….. many memorable ones to be heard here, as Eminem doubles down on his manic flow, bursting with analogies, jokes, illusions, and ingenious wordplay with dizzying speed and skill". Dan Rys of XXL gave the album a rating of XL saying, "the thing that carries Em through is the diversity of his flows, and his ability to rap over anything ….. you're getting one with more perspective, a version which has seen 13 more years and has a different outlook on some of the same topics that he first visited in 2000". Evan Rytlewski of The A.V. Club gave the album a B rating, saying "after years of stagnancy and tedious anger, he shows real growth on The Marshall Mathers LP. Eminem has always rapped with forceful determination out of compulsive drives to prove himself to doubters, cut down his enemies, and retain his commercial foothold. For the first time in far too long, he sounds like he's rapping because he enjoys it, too." Jon Carmanica of The New York Times gave the album a positive review saying, "His lyrics are best viewed under a microscope….. to see how he gets from one rhyme to the next in unexpected ways….. he'll dominate almost any sound….. but he still has some old habits, still heavy-handed with homophobic slurs….. Eminem is still rapping from deep inside his cave, as if he's had no new experiences to draw from." David Jeffries of AllMusic spoke of the album saying, it is a "vicious, infectious, hilarious triumph….. a super villain so familiar with hate and depression, he's powered by all shades of anger ….. most of the best moments on MMLP2 are just as angry and just as irresponsible….. Eminem at his very best." Luke Fox of Exclaim! gave the album an eight out ten rating praising the albums "astounding wordplay and creative beat choices".

In a mixed review, Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune gave the album two out of four stars saying, "it reaffirms his prodigious agility with rhymes. Eminem still crunches together syllables, silliness, and storytelling flights of ridiculousness with acrobatic skill" and "The sense that we've all been here before, twice, is exacerbated by tired samples and interpolations. Eminem tries to cover up his retreat by doing cartwheels and back-flips with his rhymes". Craig Jenkins of Pitchfork gave the album a mixed review saying, "Eminem is a titan with wordplay, but MMLP2 once again finds him at a loss for how to apply his talents." Nick Catucci of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a C+ criticizing Eminem's use of slurs on the album, saying "Eminem wouldn't be Eminem….. if he didn't allot some of his whizbang homophobic slurs and misogynistic fantasies….. rightly considered a rap great for his technical prowess, wicked humor, and tenacity….. which make his flashes of hatred for women and gay men all the more alarming."