The Eminem Show is the 4th studio album from the Detroit MC, and the third and final of his “Persona Trilogy” which started with The Slim Shady LP.

The Slim Shady LP saw Eminem taking on a cartoonish, immature and ultra violent persona. The follow up, Marshall Mathers LP spoke more about how he as a person (i.e. Marshall Mathers) was being characterized by the media, politicians, and the general public, some of whom interpreted his music as literal.

The Eminem Show sees Em taking a step back, looking at the wild success of his first two albums and the impact that they had on him and on others. It shows Em for the first time embracing himself as the super-star he’d become, and all the issues this caused. In his own words:

I was watching some interviews that I had did back last year, and I was talking about how my life is kind of like The Jerry Springer Show and my life is like a show and this and that. And I just hit me like, “Huh, why not? The Eminem Show!”

15 years later Eminem expanded further on this, explaining how inspiration for the album also came from the 1998 film The Truman Show, the premise of which being a man unaware that he is living his life on a fictional television show.

For the first time Eminem made it clear to the public that he was conscious as to the effect his music was having on others, detailing this on tracks like “White America”, “Without Me” and “Sing for the Moment”. This showcased Em’s growth into a more mature, introspective artist. The inclusion of a love song to his daughter further cemented this growth.

Notably absent from the album are songs designed to shock, or incite controversy for the sake of it. Eminem dialed back the antics to prove that he was capable of making a more serious, thought provoking album. However plenty of anger and lyrical wit spilled-over from his previous albums, best exemplified on “Soldier”, “Till I Collapse”, and “Superman”.

Another departure from his previous two records is the production. Em relied less on Dr. Dre and had a greater hand in the albums production, notably on tracks like “Sing for the Moment” and “Square Dance”.

Sales wise the album picked up where The Marshall Mathers LP left off, shipping over a million copies in its first official week and eventually going diamond: one of only seven rap albums to achieve this accolade, and Eminem’s second entry. The album also received the highest praise from critics relative to the rest of his work.