Who had the best-selling rap album of 2002?
It went straight to number one upon its release in America, and it stayed there for six straight weeks. Beyond that, it was a number one album in the UK and in 16 other countries, too. Four of its singles were smashes, and even the critics loved it. The Eminem Show was truly a pop-culture sensation when it came out in 2002.
Not only was Eminem’s fourth record the best-selling album of 2002 in America and worldwide, but it has gone on to become one of the best-selling albums ever.
Considering some of its content, critiquing then-President George Bush and his war on terror, the fact that The Eminem Show was so popular is quite remarkable. This was no ordinary pop music fare.
The Eminem Show marked a shift in its maker’s style, as he moved away from the intense persona of Slim Shady and began to approach more serious subjects from both his own life and from the world around him. It was inspired by the turn that his life had taken in the wake of achieving mega-fame over the previous years, which led him to feel like he was always being watched. But the specific idea of framing the album as a show of his life came when he wrote the track ‘Cleanin’ Out My Closet,’ which contained a line that gave the whole album its concept.
“I had the line in ‘Cleanin’ Out My Closet’—‘I’d like to welcome y’all out to The Eminem Show’—and it was just a line, but I sat back and I was like, ‘My life is really like a fucking show,’” Eminem told Rolling Stone in 2002. “… I went through a lot of shit last year that I resolved at the same time, all in the same year. And, yeah, that’s when half of the album was wrote.”
Throughout the album, Em’s struggles with being so central to popular culture play out. He addresses some of the negative ways fame has affected his life, but, beyond that, he also takes on a much meatier theme. American politics around this time had become deeply inflected by 9/11, which had only just taken place. The US launched the war on terror in response to the attacks, which, despite the bellicose rhetoric of a hawkish political establishment, was understood by many to be unjust and disastrous. Em gave voice to such an opinion.
This was a potentially divisive thing to do, given the febrile political atmosphere of the era, but Em wasn’t concerned about that. “You put your shit out there for the world to see and to judge, and whoever agrees with you agrees with you,” he remarked to Rolling Stone. “Even my most die-hard fans don’t agree with everything I say. These are my views, this is how I see it. You may have your own opinion, but you may not get to project it to the world like I do.”
In terms of the music, The Eminem Show differed from Em’s previous work in that it took on a lot more rock influences. He’d grown up listening to artists like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and Jimi Hendrix, and their presence is certainly felt on this album. There’s even a little bit of Queen in there, with the kick-clap beat of ‘Till I Collapse’ inspired by ‘We Will Rock You.’
Eminem making a political rock album in 2002 probably didn’t seem very likely, but that’s what he did. And it worked. It became the album of the year, and later went on to move 27 million copies around the world. It is hip-hop’s best-selling album, and the second-best-selling album of any genre in the 21st century.