my current feelings: Slim Shady LP > Eminem Show >> Marshall Mathers LP > Recovery >> Encore >>>> Infinite >>>> Relapse... as awesome as the rhymes are on Infinite, you can say the same thing about Relapse but it wouldn't matter, because substance is substance and neither of them have much of it. Encore gets put over them because of Mosh/YBR/LTS. those top four are classics though.

Encore has Mockingbird, one of most honest songs he's ever written and one of my very faves. Just saying, I know it's weaker than his classic albums as a whole.
My fave songs from Recovery:
1. You're Never Over
2. Not Afraid
3. No Love
4. Takin' To Myself
5. Love The Way You Lie
6. 25 To Life
7. Going Through Changes
8. Space Bound
9. Seduction

These are the ones I really like

Pave, you heard the EP with Royce yet? Worth getting?

i listened to some tracks on youtube and got excited but i havent listened to the whole thing yet.

their track on Slim Shady LP is one of my ten favorite songs of his (and Royce is probably the only person who ever actually outshined Em on his own track), so i imagine its gotta be worth downloading or sampling it on youtube before actually buying it. my only hesitation on shelling out the cash money for it is the best part of their work 10 years ago was the imaginative storytelling and both seem to be more interested in wordplay that in narratives anymore (although maybe that will change now that they are working together again). plus, paying Eminem any more money just seems like overkill at this point, i'd say downloadsteal it and use the money to go to a local show (and if you feel guilty about it, send him a $5 bill in the mail so that shit will be tax-free for both of you)

Maybe I'm a fanboy, but no other rapper can really compete with Em.

The second verse may be the highlight of his career. Touching stuff.

I know his delivery wasn't fully developed when he recorded Infinite, but his rhyming skills on that album are on par with anything he did from 99 onward.

Imitator, Intimidator, Stimulator, Simulator of data, Eliminator
There's never been a greater, since the burial of Jesus
Fuck around and catch all of the venereal diseases
My thesis will smash a stereo to pieces
My accapella releases classic masterpieces through telekinesis
And eases you mentally, gently, sentimentally, instrumentally
With entity, dementedly meant to be
Infinite

yeps, pretty cool right there.

That shit is sick, you should hear the whole album.

Honestly, I know I'll get bombarded for this, but it's my favorite Eminem album overall. I can't help it, I just love that more laid-back and focused Eminem.
Obviously I love the FUCK out of his "famous" period as well, but there's just something about Infinite...I can't explain it.

Oh ye of little faith.

Are you...serious?
Slim Shady LP is cool but waaaaay too inconsistent. Too much filler. And I dont care what anyone tries to tell me, My Name Is fucking sucks.
How you can put this over The Marshall Mathers LP is beyond my realm of understanding. Nearly every song on that album is a killer and it's definitely his most acclaimed album overall.

Also I think you underrate Infinite. If we're talking strictly about rhyming skill/ability, that album is probably his best overall, imo.
A lot of people criticize it because Slim didn't have that trademark 'attitude' yet, but I couldn't give a shit. The songs are tight and the rhymes are mind-blowing...

Why?

It seriously blows your mind that people can have opinions different from yours and critics? Seriously?

Slim Shady LP is my favorite too. I like almost every song on there

Because it's corny, the lyrics are stupid and juvenile (I know that was his intention, and I dont care), the beat is unremarkable in every way......what more do you need?
The only reason it was so popular is because a bunch of impressionable teenyboppers thought it was cool.
Imo of course.



In this particular case, it DOES blow my mind, because the album has way too much filler.
Now I love Role Model and a few tunes here and there, but overall in terms of consistency and quality...I dont see how anyone could put it above Marshall Mathers LP. Everything was better on that album - the rhymes, beats, songs themselves (Stan and The Way I Am alone are better than the whole Slim Shady LP, imo), etc.