Seventeen years since the release of Curtain Call, the original volume of Eminem’s greatest hits culled from his first much acclaimed fourth studio albums, is still charting in the Billboard 200.
The legendary album still enjoys brisk playtime thanks to firm all-time fan favourites like “Stan”, “The Real Slim Shady” and “When I’m Gone”.
The ‘rap god’ has returned with the second installment Curtain Call 2, which comprises a mixed bag of Em’s most loved records stretching back from his comeback album Relapse (2009) to Music to Be Murdered By (2020).
To be honest, when the release of CC2 was announced – I found out by way of some random Facebook post suggested by Meta’s weird algorithm for populating feeds. I promptly rolled my eyes.
With the first volume having sold diamond in the US, ranked at cult status, I worried that this would stain the legacy of the 2005 version. However, upon several more listens, I began appreciating the relatively mellow side of Em and the overall thoughtfulness of the album. The compilation worked to show Em’s evolution into a lyrical artisan capable of opening himself up and turning himself into a portal worth delving into from a human perspective.
Much like standard archetypal Slim Shady music, the double-disc release is a rocky aggregate of braggadocio, hardcore hip-hop, horrorcore, and rap rock, seasoned with pop and R&B. The multi-Grammy-winner’s songs expertly deliver mind-spinning poly-syllabic rhymes, quirky flows, colourful accents, outlandish wordplay, well-timed punchlines, and Marshall’s trademark “supersonic speed” rapping.
While I flag its overly long playback time (running for over two, tedious hours), CC2 still stunned me with its balance of devil-may-care Slim Shady and his polar opposite persona, the oh-so-fallible Marshall. The contrast achieves a sonic chiaroscuro that brings the Detroit native’s mid-career albums together. So instead of it sounding like a muddled mixture, it stands as an ambitious tapestry that illustrates the artist’s face in all its varying forms.
This is not an album that asks to be played in sequence. If anything, it has the feel of a lengthy reel that provides brief glimpses into the years of all the service Em has dedicated to the game. Redundant, if you ask me, though. It’s not like the man needs to jog our memories so that we give him a guard of honour on his way out. Especially not when his music has been as memorable and transgressive as it’s always been. But then again, that’s merely a side note on the compilation’s actual existence.
“Beautiful”, “Not Afraid”, and “The Monster” (from Relapse, Recovery, and The Marshall Mathers LP2, respectively) are the haunting self-portraits of a troubled man who, instead of trying to outrun his dark past, commits to acknowledging his failings and struggles to steer the ship of his life away from tempestuous waters. In these songs, alongside ‘Love the Way You Lie’, ‘Headlights’, and ‘Lighters’, are gems of reflection, age-acquired wisdom, how to best deal with a questionable past, discovering one’s self-worth in a callous world, and that it’s never too late to go back in time and correct your wrongs.
‘Fast Lane”, “Rap God”, “Survival”, and “Godzilla” see Eminem’s highlight moments in his career of lyrical superiority and mastery—with the last two mentioned songs making it into the Guinness Book of World Records for fastest rap words in a song.
‘3 a.m.’, from Em’s 2009 era, is a song of gore and murder, probably the most misplaced addition. Perhaps ‘Guts Over Fear’ or ‘I Need a Doctor’ (despite it being a Dre track) would’ve felt like better, more consistent fits. But then again, CC2 doesn’t present itself as a flowing playlist. Amid other, more human and thoughtful records, ‘3 a.m’ sounds like an amusing blip. Considered as part of the whole, it feels like Eminem was poking fun at himself by including it. Every reel needs some comic relief, right? If that was the angle, then well played, Shady.
And yes, like the previous CC, there are several new songs, including one which notably features West Coast icon Snoop Dogg. However, one reason I took so long to mention them is because I found them blasé. Nothing more. Whereas CC boasted the classic “When I’m Gone” (sitting at close to a billion views on YouTube), none of the three in the sequel weighed close as much.
Whether or not CC2 will climb up to the commercial heights of its 2005 ancestor, this greatest hits compilation stands alone and strong in its own right. It makes no attempt to be as humorous, as sober, as offensive, as spiteful, and as vengeful as the first. Em has long shed that skin. CC2 is a body of work from a master of his craft and somewhat secure in the knowledge that he’s one of the best and among the most influential to ever do it. And instead of running more laps to prove how good and fast he is, in this album, he simply leans back and hits rewind to refresh our memories as to who he is by letting us witness who he once was ourselves.
