8 Questions With iHipHop: How Much Has Eminem Matured On MMLP2?

With MMLP2’s release to an adoring public, even as it earned uneven marks, Eminem’s perceived maturity has emerged as a red herring in terms of ways to evaluate this clumsily-conceived sequel. Like many of Hollywood’s clunkers, it is necessarily weighed against and down by the success of the first.

The protagonist labors to keep our attention the way his younger self would have aspired to do, and the plot lines lack hope or renewing novelty because favorite supporting characters have either died or gone on to bigger franchises. Since Eminem’s addiction is no longer the arc and moral of the story, his other human frailties are prominently on display, just as his technical merits as a writer may be masking his difficulty with times a’changing.
 
8 Questions is an e-mail exchange between ihiphop writers drewbreez and Dan Troisi. Each has a distinct take on MMLP2 and its place in Em’s catalog. This is dedication expressed through letters.