Kiddies, we're not sure whether Eminem and his D12 buddies are kidding or not when they say things like get that hoe, when you see her, you goin' bend her fuckin' neck back, yo default.htm cus you love her and the ever zenful fuck a tour and a mike, I'd rather fuck a whore with a knife - but you probably don't want to have it up too loud when Grandma (or Moby) are in the car OK?

While I heaps don't want to start getting all controversy-this and Eminem-hype that, it's impossible not to when you've got an album of such high profile saying such naughty things. If the listening public was made up entirely of consenting adults it would be okay, but if I was the girlfriend of a 13 year old Eminem fan I'd be a bit worried. Yeah, I've listened to the words of 'Stan' (from the Marshall Mathers LP) where he says it's all basically a big joke, but he's going to get sued by a fan's dead girlfriend one day and he can't say he wasn't warned. Then again, it's nothing Body Count didn't do.

Cliched Eminem review banter aside, this album is shit-hot. What makes it so is that it's a team effort with Eminem at the reigns and Dr Dre riding shotgun. (Get it?).

The lyrics of third track 'Business' kind of sum it up:

You bout to witness hip hop in its most purest, more rawest form, flow almost flawless default.htm most hardest, most honest known artist, chip off the old block, good but old Doc is BACK default.htm looks like Batman brought his own Robin, Oh God, Sadam's got his own Laden default.htm wit' his own private plane, his own pilot, set to blow college dorm room doors off the hinges default.htm oranges, peach, pears, plums, syringes, yeah here I come I'm inches default.htm away from you dear fear none, hip hop is in a state of nine-one one, so let's get down to business...

And get down to business they do... If you know what they're talking about, then those lines are a pretty good review of the album in itself. Hip Hop supergroups are nothing new, but the combination of Dr Dre's west coast production, Eminem's sharp as a (whore-fucking) knife rhymes and the ever present interludes of the Dirty Dozen (D12) make this one of the best rap albums of the decade (or century, or Millenia: whatever).

While there are a few un-astounding songs on The Eminem Show, which "suffer" from the standard West Coast R&B "backing tracks", this album is re-freshing and unique and perhaps best of all, bounces around like a big "black" basketball. (Remember when you could dance to hip hop?)

'Without Me' and 'Business' are the two stand out tracks from the album and are musically flawless. You just have to keep listening to them. The 'repeat' button on the stereo is getting worn out. But hidden in between them are a whole bunch of other jems and skits that combine to make this Show as listenable as anything NWA, Public Enemy or Cypress Hill ever put out.

For God's sake, there's even a lengthy Led Zeppelin/Lenny Kravitz lead guitar solo thrown into the mix in 'Sing for the Moment'. And it's really really good too! Then... Just when you think you've heard all the tricks, Eminem spends a whole song singing, (yes,singing) about his daughter Hailie and it sounds good and it's not R&B and he's got a good voice.

Perhaps the only thing that lets this album down is the constant whinging about how hard it is to be Eminem and controversial and how he really does feel hurt sometimes even if he pretends like he doesn't give a shit, which he doesn't, but he's all just clownin' but he does want to kill his ex-wife, even though he doesn't, but he does. At least he doesn't use the line 'You know what I'm sayin' all the time like some rappers, because I don't think anybody does.

Still, it's probably more realistic to listen to whinging than crap about how he's a soldier on the streets (track seven is called 'soldier'). That being said, no-one ever got famous rapping about sunshine and lollypops, so who cares.

This album will be a classic someday.