Finally, part 2 of this series is here as I've finally got round to doing this. Been wanting to do this one for ages. Back in October 2019 I ranked all of Kanye West's albums from worst to best, and now I'm doing the same with my favourite MC of all time, Eminem...
Just before we get into the list, just to confirm, the only albums eligible for the list are his main 10 studio LP's, so no Infinite, mixtapes, EP's, compilations, soundtracks or collaborative projects. There wasn't really any reason for doing this now, I just wanted to continue the series and I am going to continue it afterwards, potentially with an OutKast ranking, but for now, here's how I rank the discography of Mr. Mathers.
Worst: Revival (2017)
Probably not a big surprise at this album's position on the list. By this point the rock/rap collabs with Rick Rubin had really ran their cause. This album was filled with horrendous bars. He tried to please everyone with this album and inturn pleased nobody. It felt like he had nothing to say, and any attempt at being conscious or having thought-provoking content just didn't hit at all. This was sad because the couple years prior to this album he was actually making good music, with the ShadyXV and Southpaw projects. What a sad time it was to be an Em fan, oh well, maybe he'll make an album the year after to make up for it.
Star Track - Believe
4.5/10
"the crowd's are gone, and it's time to wash out the blonde, sales decline, the curtain's drawn"
9th: Music To Be Murdered By (2020)
The most recent project on this list and it finds itself in 9th. The reason it's so low on the list is probably because it is the most forgettable Eminem project to date. For the hooks he was doing bits on the album, his flow was pretty good and the theme was consistent. However, was some of it rushed? Yeah. Were some of the bars corny? Yeah. When I did this review I said it'd be good for him to move past this "pissed off" stage in his career because he doesn't need it. It was good to see him spitting with some Venom, but overall this album wasn't as concentrated as Kamikaze, or any other album of his, but the production and rapping were a big step-up from Revival.
Star Track - You Gon' Learn
6.5/10
"all the hate can't tell exactly where it stems from, but it's happening again..."
8th: Kamikaze (2018)
To this day I have never been as gassed or excited from an album drop in my life. I can remember everything about this day. Waking up and seeing Eminem has put the industry on blast in such a sick way. Rapping like a demon, he was back on his GOAT shit. The Ringer is a 5 minute onslaught and a great introduction to the album. Features felt so fresh and new, even the fact he had a Royce Da 5'9 feature was amazing, considering that is very rare for an Eminem album. This was the first time he had an album full of trap production which he sounded great on. He needed this album, he didn't need Music To Be Murdered By, which is one of the reasons it ranks higher. If Revival was a bad time to be an Eminem fan, this near enough made up for it.
Star Track - Lucky You
7.5/10
"how the fuck's sourpuss gonna get mad just cos his album sucks, now he wants to take it out on us?"
7th: Recovery (2010)
Without Relapse this album would not be possible. Another reason to love Relapse, but more on that later. This is a commercial classic and quite possibly one of the biggest albums of the 2010-19 decade. This album has 2 diamond singles, Love the way you lie and Not Afraid. I didn't want to mention numbers in this article because it's Eminem so there's no point because his numbers are stupid big, but both them singles have over 1 billion views on YouTube, just to demonstrate the cultural impact of this album. This was the first real taste of "sober Eminem", and I didn't mind it. There are a few too many duds in the tracklist, but if you love Eminem being mature, vulgure with his flows, and not rapping with bare accents, then you'll probably like Recovery. As much as this is not my favourite Eminem album, this album is ESSENTIAL in his discography.
Star Track - W.T.P (fucking hell that was hard to pick)
7.5/10
"if Proof could see me now, I know he'd be proud"
6th: Encore (2004)
The first bad album from Eminem? Nahh, just the first Eminem album where the drugs took over. The first Eminem project to not get a Grammy, which is probably fair enough, it lost out to The College Dropout by Mr West. Encore contains some of the most classic Eminem songs to date. How can an album be bad that contains the following; Mockingbird, Like Toy Soldiers, Yellow Brick Road, Mosh, and One Shot 2 Shot? It's not possible. This album is so sick. It's funny, it's controversial, it's serious at times and the beats and hooks are fire throughout. People hate on some of these songs too much, like Rain Man, for example, I think it's quality, listen to that beat and tell me it's not perfect. Yeah, My First Single might be the worst Em track ever, but who cares? I really like this album, there's a few sub-par tracks on this album, but other amazing songs more than make up for it. It's a shame the leaked songs like Bully (my favourite diss track ever) got taken off the album last minute, because that would've made it even better.
Star Track - Yellow Brick Road
7.5/10
"and I could give a fuck what category you place me, long as when I'm pushing up daisies and gone, as long as you place me amongst one of them greats, when I hit the heavenly gates I'll be cool beside Jay Z"
5th: Relapse (2009)
Now we're talking. This is a cult classic. For hardcore Eminem fans you are either going to love it or hate it. This is the type of album that where there'll be people out there who don't like any Eminem album except this one. It is his most left-field album to date. I love it. Flows, delivery, the way he bends his words, the extended rhyme schemes lasting full verses, the content around being drug-addict serial killer, the horrorcore aesthetic, the deeply personal introspective honesty, this is a masterpiece. It's not the best because it's not the best, but for some reason, this is the album I'm always most inclined to recommend anyone who is unfamiliar with Eminem's music. What a crazy album. @Eminem please make Relapse 2, even if it is just a short EP, this is the music you were born to make.
Star Track - Deja Vu
9/10
"couple of weeks go by it ain't even like I'm gettin' high, now I need it just to not feel sick yeah I'm gettin' by, wouldn't even be taking this shit if DeShaun didn't die"
4th: The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)
This in my opinion is Eminem's 4th certified classic. The sequel to an album which we will talk about later. This was great, the singles were massive, Eminem was everywhere again. On this album Eminem walks the line between maturity and immaturity perfectly. On one side he has grown up, his lyricism is sharp and he's a veteran in the game. But on the other side, he is still a little shit, making music for little shits. The instrumentals were fairly understated, but his rapping was not. His flow was diverse, his wordplay was clever and his content was rich. It was a great update on his life at the time and the way it tied in with the first Marshall Mathers disc was class. Like Relapse, this is one of them albums that you'll revisit and just stick with for a week endlessly and then leave it for a little while.
Star Track - Evil Twin (incredibly hard to choose)
9/10
"fuck top 5 bitch I'm top 4, and that includes Biggie and Pac whore, and I've got an evil twin so who the fuck do you think that 3rd and that 4th spot's for?"
3rd: The Slim Shady LP (1999)
Debut album and what an introduction to the music industry and Hip Hop. Burst on the scene with the big single My Name Is, people thought he'd be a 1-hit wonder, little did they know. This is Eminem's most rugged studio LP. The beats are classic and sound very 90's. Stylistically it is cartoonish and horrorcore inspired with vivid stories laced through the record. An album that infiltrated middle America one multi-syllable rhyme scheme at a time. The way he was rhyming was epic, inspired by the greatest of the generation before him. You've got unique songs on here like If I Had and Rock Bottom that were made whilst Eminem was still in relative poverty which gave the album extra depth to it, and you get standout classics too from when Em and Dre first link up with songs like Role Model and Guilty Conscience.
Star Track - As The World Turns
9.75/10
"hi kids, do you like violence?"
Runner up: The Eminem Show (2002)
The height of his fame. Simultaneously, he had the number 1 film, number 1 song and number 1 album in the world. This is the first album where I'm not quite sure what to say about it, other than, listen to it if you haven't. This is filled with classics - at this point Eminem was basically shitting out hits. Like the top 5 on this entire list, this album has essentially no skippable songs. The best "3-track run" on any Eminem album is probably on this one at the beginning of the album, with White America, Business and Cleanin' Out My Closet. Outside of those 3 massive tunes, Without Me, Superman, Sing For The Moment and Till' I Collapse are all on this record. You'll be hard-pressed to find any hip hop album that has as many hit songs on it. Full of amazing content and quality lyricism. This is one of the highest selling hip hop albums ever and is certified diamond. One of my favourite albums ever. There are some sick rappers out there, but they don't got an album like this one.
Star Track - Without Me (hardest one yet)
10/10
"so this is a full-blown attack I'm launchin' at 'em, the track is on some battlin' raps, who wants some static? 'Cause I don't really think the fact that I'm Slim matters, a plaque and platinum status is whack if I'm not the baddest so..."
Best: The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
20 years old this year, one of the fastest and highest selling albums of all time, selling 1.7 million units in the first week - this is the album. My favourite album of all time. The controversy, the honesty, the beats, this album has so much. The way Eminem's voice goes through you when you listen to him is always pretty sick, but this album is the best demonstration of that. For any rapper who considers themselves a lyricist, it's more than vital that they listen to this record. A masterpiece of lyricism, pronunciation, multi-syllable rhyme schemes, flows, delivery, riding a beat, just everything to do with rapping, it's perfect. I love so many other rappers, but it's hard to get behind any other claims that any other rapper is the GOAT whilst this album is in existence, and that goes for Jay Z, Kanye West, Nas, Ice Cube, Andre 3000, Kendrick Lamer, J Cole and the list goes on. They're all 10/10 rappers, but none of them in their entire career have rapped as good as Eminem did on The Marshall Mathers LP.
Star Track - I'm Back
10/10
"and to think, 'it's just little old me', 'Mr. Don't Give A Fuck' still won't leave"
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