The Slim Shady LP
The Marshall Mathers LP
The Eminem Show
Are bonafide classics to both Hip-Hop and popular culture. I get he's white so niggas on here don't wanna give him just due but objectively and keeping it 100, Marshall is crazy talented and he has classics. Love him or hate him you can't take that away from him.
I remember when those albums dropped and what the climate was like. Nobody was denying that he had skills. The problem was the total package of the music itself, and the songs he (or his label) chose as singles didn't help.
Close your eyes and listen to NWA, A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, Snoop, Nas, Jay, 2Pac, 36 Mafia, UGK, Outkast, Wu Tang. Then listen to those three Eminem albums you called classic. One of these things is not like the other.
In all seriousness, lyrics aren't enough to make an album a classic. It's not just the beats, its the way it all comes together.
In my opinion Em has individual songs that are classics, but I don't like his overall sound.
When I say, "overall sound" I mean like the way Public Enemy, Snoop, or Wu Tang have a distinct sound.
Eminem's music has a distinct sound that just doesn't fit in with the style of Hip Hop I'm accustomed to.
I hope that doesn't make me a hater.
