Best of the 00s: Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP

If this isn't a top 10 contender for the best hip-hop album of the decade, I don't know what is. At the point this album was created, Eminem had everything balanced perfectly: the beats by Dre, his flow was up to par, and he wasn't quite as over-exposed, making his shtick seem less self-involved (even if it was). The trick here is that he never draws a line between what's real and fake. After a brief intro, "Kill You" opens the album on a clearly hypothetical perspective, but the second song, "Stan," sounds so plausible and self-reflective, it seems genuine. The Marshall Mathers LP slings back and forth like this, so that by the time the domestic violence-cum-murder fantasy "Kim" rolls around, you can't say for sure if he plans to murder his wife. His flow is unstoppable: he slows it, rapping through gritted teeth on "The Way I Am," turns it into both sides of a nearly-natural-sounding conversation on "Kim" and speeds it up on parts of "The Real Slim Shady."

In the time that's passed since, Eminem's two followups have been nearly nakedly self-reflective and autobiographical, exploring the effects of fame on his life. Was he clowning when he put out his actual autobiography awhile back? Haven't his albums covered his long past, recent past and present already? All over the album, he raps about his mom, drug abuse, is wife, his kid, the price of fame, and harasses pop stars of the day. The act would get worn over the course of the decade, eventually resulting in the too-literal Encore and over-corrective steering that was Relapse, but for one album, Slim Shady, Eminem and Marshall Mathers balanced delicately to make a masterpiece.