The Eminem Show Review

By the third act he had run out of people to shock and started explaining himself, which turned out to be the more durable move. He handled the bulk of the production here and it shows in how physical the record is, live sounding drums and looping guitar figures that let him rap over something with a pulse instead of a mood. Without Me is a novelty and a great one. Cleanin Out My Closet is the record's spine, a song about his mother that refuses the comfort of a resolution.

Sing for the Moment and Til I Collapse do the arena thing without embarrassment. White America says the quiet part about who was buying, out loud, in the first five minutes. It runs long and the skits are dead weight, but the sequencing keeps finding the right gear change. This is the album of his that gets put on most often around here, and the vibe grade is doing honest work.