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ohsohoney · 2 months

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When it comes to love you're just as blinded.

Part Four

Eminem x Musician

Summary: It starts with a drunk embarrassing video, it spirals into something a whole lot more.

Note: Four is finally here, took ages because I got carried away and so it's almost 9k long but I hope you enjoy it!! Thanks for all the love on this series, means a whole lot x

Set in 2014, just after the release of LP 2 || Em’s daughters are renamed here because it felt weird not to and also have different ages– doesn’t affect the story much but just a warning! Rosie's nickname is also Z:)

Masterlist

“Z, you comin’ or not?” Em shouted up the staircase, practically swinging against it whilst his hand gripped the large ball perched on the very end of the bannister. Somehow it managed to hold most of his weight even as he leaned further back, once more breaking his whole ‘no yelling’ rule. “We gotta move, baby!”

I was pretty content to just let this scene play out, especially after having witnessed the pair's antics firsthand whilst we’d been helping Rosie out with her homework– or rather, whilst I’d been helping, Marshall had been quite happy to just nod along with whatever I’d been saying. As though he understood what the fuck had been going on.

Even so, they’d made it fun, the way they playfully bickered back and forth and how Em seemed hellbent on correcting the girl’s spelling and punctuation even though the majority of it had just been numbers.

It wasn’t long after we’d wrapped up the worksheet that Marshall brought up the topic of food again and in truth, I’d been all for it, suddenly starved at the very mention. So Rosie had run off to stash her school stuff away and use the loo, whilst I’d wandered back out into the hallway where I’d left my shoes, settling down on the wooden bench there to lace them back up.

Em had followed soon after, seemingly ready and geering to go. He actually let out a hearty sigh when his daughter called back to him that she would just be another minute and I watched on as he glanced up towards the high ceilings in impatience.

I snorted softly to myself at the reaction and let my shoulders relax a little into the wall behind me, my eyes sliding over his slumped form as we waited. “You that anxious to get going?”

Marshall worked his jaw at the question, then pushed away from the stairs to move a little closer. He shook his head at me with a curled lip and then shoved his hands into his pockets, “Just always the same with her, you know? A minute means ten.”

A fond smile crept over my expression, “Ah, the consequences of being a girl dad, Mathers. You now run on female time.”

The brim of his hat barely covered the roll of his eyes when he scoffed, “Don’t I know it.”

“You love it though.” I shot back, so certain of that particular fact.

I had only been in the presence of Em and his daughter for barely even half a day and already I could see that. He hummed in retort too, neither confirming nor denying the assumption.

“Don’t be like that,” I smirked, amused by the tough guy act he liked to front, “She’s probably just grabbing a jumper or something. Looks cold out.”

As I said the words, I let my gaze slip out of one of the long windows by the front door, so I only noticed how his stare had lingered on me for a moment too long once I’d glanced back. I tilted my head in a silent question but before I could say much of anything, Marshall raised a single finger and was already stalking off.

My forehead furrowed into tight lines at the sudden retreat and I was left looking after him, but in the end, I just shook my head and let it go.

“Now look who’s not ready to leave.” I murmured quietly to myself, mostly in jest, whilst my eyes returned to the front drive.

It did actually look quite chilly out, the skies had a grey overcast to them and the branches of the nearby trees shook in the wind often enough that every third gust another leaf would fall. I watched one cascade slowly, winding its way lower and lower until it hit the grass, orange in colour but its stem still a vibrant green.

It was then, as I was lost in the world outside, focused on distant noise and the flock of birds which flew high, that Marshall returned. I heard the fall of his heavy steps grow nearer before they ultimately stopped by me. I ended up turning to look at him, but was instead met by a bundled ball of black.

Frowning, I peered at the arm holding the material and followed it up until I found his typically stoic face looking back at me. I lifted a brow, “What’s this for?”

His expression somehow managed to flatten further at the ask and so I reached out to take the thing, brow wrinkling even more at the hoodie that suddenly unfolded in my hand. I watched on as it unbundled itself in my hold, sleeves falling into my lap whilst my grip remained stuck on the hood. And yet, I still stared down at it in confusion.

“Uh,” It was a stupid reaction for sure, but I really was utterly baffled by the sudden item I’d been given and with no obvious explanation either. I glanced back up at Marshall, who was already wearing a hoodie of his own beneath his light jacket, so I guessed quite easily that the article of clothing hadn’t been meant for him. “This for me?”

I watched as his eyes slid closed for a second, as though he was taking a mere moment to breathe or some shit– like I was the confusing one here? Before he eventually dropped his head in a short nod, “You slow?”

My eyes were quick to narrow in retort to that response and I felt my tongue press against the sides of my teeth too, before finally, I allowed myself a smile that was nothing short of snarky. “Incredibly so, apparently. Especially without context and when someone’s being a proper prat about the entire thing.”

“Prat?”

I couldn't help it. It just– he sounded so stupid saying it in that Detroit accent of his, even more so when out of everything I’d just gone and said it was that particular word he’d chosen to get stuck on.

“Yes!” I laughed further, forever amused by the soft scrunch his face had taken on, it was almost enough to have me forgiving him entirely for his stupidity. “I mean, how was I supposed to know, Marshall? You walked off, then came back and said nothing.”

My snickering only continued, even as his cheeks hollowed out, but I’d quickly come to realise that the action was just one of the many he often resorted to when looking to dim down his own reactions. Typically, it was a smile.

“I gotta spell shit out for you?” He quizzed around a huffy exhale, quirking a brow at me when I widened my eyes in retaliation, “You said it was cold out. You’re sat in a t-shirt. We’re going outside, you’ll freeze. Ergo hoodie.”

“Ergo?” I blanched at him, entirely baffled by the odd phrasing, before I actually started cackling again. “Who the fuck even says that?”

“El.” Marshall warned lowly, but it was already too late. I'd seen the slight twitch the corner of his mouth had made when he’d gone to say my name and there was no use in denying it.

I chose to dampen my grin though, not wanting to push my luck here, and instead stood up to pull the hoodie on, grateful for the sweet sentiment even after the whole ordeal.

“Thanks for thinking of me.” I smiled over at him whilst I tugged my hair from out of the hood. His eyes slid away once they met mine though and so I put it down to the whole thing not being as big a deal as I’d made it out to be.

I briefly glanced down at my front, never really having felt anything as soft as the oversized jumper he’d allowed me to wear, but it was easy to see that it was very much him. Screamed Em in a sense, so black that even the slight text running down the side of it was emboldened in the colour.

I lifted my gaze, “Look okay?”

Marshall’s eyes flickered far left before they found me once more, my hands engulfed in too long sleeves, figure hidden by the thick fabric. He was quiet for a long moment but finally, his head dipped minutely in answer. Barely even a nod and yet I grinned.

“It’s warm as fuck.”

That got a chuckle out of him, or rather a snort. “Better be.”

His gaze met mine once more but this time it held, “Gonna take you to this diner a little bit away. Used to take Z there when she was a baby, it’s run down as shit now but it sort of became a habitual thing.”

My chest constricted at the notion, at him for wanting me to join them in a tradition that was wholeheartedly their own. I swallowed thickly around the emotion that gathered in my throat and coughed to clear it before my eyes could well. Last thing I wanted to do was cry like some weirdo.

“That sounds amazing.” I said after a breath, flashing him another smile, this one full of appreciation.

Marshall didn’t know what to do with that though it seemed, because he made this weird face that lasted less than a millisecond before he was shrugging, “I mean, just figured. We can head some place nearer, or get takeout if you’d prefer.”

My eyes must have widened on their own accord because his narrowed in observation. I was quick to shake my head, “No, honest. The diner sounds perfect. I actually could go for some real greasy food right about now.”

I pushed my hands into the pockets of the hoodie and hoped that he hadn’t retracted the offer just because he felt weird about it or that I’d think less of– I don't even know, him? That in itself made no sense, but I felt more than a little honoured to have been invited and I didn’t want him thinking I was anything but.

Eventually Marshall just nodded and a moment was barely able to pass between us before Rosie came storming down the stairs, a pink rain jacket haphazardly thrown over her shoulders and an exact copy of her dad’s Nike Airs on her feet. “Let’s go!”

She was met with an astonished look from her father when she skipped off the last step and flashed him a giant grin, oblivious to his stress induced wait. At the exchange, my laugh appeared to manifest into a gross sort of snort when I’d attempted to hold it in, earning a look off of Em too.

I raised my hands up at him in a mock surrender, only the tips of my fingers being seen over the cuff of my sleeves, and pressed my lips together when Rosie swanned on past the man to open the front door, already talking a mile a minute about how she’d spilt her pencils and had to clean them up only to have noticed this hair clip that she thought she had lost hiding down the side of her wardrobe.

Most would have started to lose their patience by now, what with both Rosie and I having been an apparent handful, but Marshall seemed to take it all in stride, tugging the door open easily enough above my head so that we could all slip on through. Rosie grabbed my hand just as we dropped off the first step and led me out after I smiled my thanks to the man, Marshall following the pair of us, and it was just as we made it back out to the man’s monster-truck that Z asked about my most recent trip to France.

“Dad said you were there a while ago, I can’t remember the last time we visited but he swears we’ve been.” The girl told me just as Em unlocked the car, the vehicle lights flashing a hazy orange. He headed straight on over to the driver's side door but Rosie appeared to falter in her step by the backseat, lips wrinkling as she turned to face me, “Wanna sit in the back together?”

She’d asked the question almost shyly, which surprised me seeing as it was a total contrast to the person I’d gotten to know, so I was quick to nod along, being more than used to the dynamic whenever I was out with Lottie, and let her tug open the back door for us. Rosie climbed in first just as the engine started up and then I slipped in right after, shaking off the slight chill I’d captured once the door shut behind me.

“Uh,” Came Marshall’s perplexed splutter from upfront, my head snapped up at the sound to meet his piercing gaze in the rearview mirror. “What am I– your Uber?”

Rosie and I shared a quick look and then giggled, not even having thought about her dad when we’d made the decision. The little girl took the question in stride though as she clicked her seatbelt in place, “Duh.”

Marshall’s eyebrows shot up, “Oh, so it’s like that? Aight, but know imma be expecting a tip.”

His daughter’s narrow-eyed stare really rivalled his own and had me stifling yet another smile. I waved him off though with a roll of my eyes, “It’s just easier to show her pictures from my trip back here. Don’t complain so much, or those old man allegations will stick.”

Em met my gaze briefly as he glanced over his shoulder to reverse back out of the driveway, the property’s steel gates opening at the motion and allowing us to pass through.

“Besides,” I smiled coyly after having witnessed his slightly curled lip, already pulling my phone out to do exactly that in hopes that Rosie might enjoy them, “It’s custom for a princess to be chauffeured around.”

The younger girl snickered at that, as well as the expression her dad then pulled, but nodded her agreement. “Yeah, Dad. Listen to the Brit, she knows all about royalty and stuff.”

Amused, my brow wrinkled in an attempt to bite back my grin and I swiped into my camera roll to pull up the pictures I’d snapped at Paris Fashion Week. Lottie had been fascinated at first, very into the idea of the mania that surrounded the high press event, but her excitement for it had died out as soon as she’d spotted the A-list celebs sitting amongst the first row, having pointed out and asked me which one I’d managed to meet. She was cute at times, but an unimaginable nightmare.

“Kid, don’t let her brainwash you with all that London crap, she ain’t never even met the Queen.” Marshall was quick to pipe up, drawing me from my scrolling.

I peered over at Rosie, who was looking at the back of her dad’s head with an unimpressed expression. “You said you liked her accent when I said it was funny.” Z argued around pursed lips, her rapid retort made me blink and shoot another look at the driver.

“So you do like my accent!” I all but gasped, smiling gleefully now, because see, it had become somewhat of a passtime for Marshall to rip the piss out of whatever I would end up saying whenever we’d call. He’d done it enough times now that I truly thought that it was just something he’d grown to put up with.

The roll of his eyes was caught in the rearview mirror before they shot over and captured mine for a split second. “I think it’s safe to let you know now that Z is a pathological liar.”

I snorted at the cheek of him, whilst the girl mentioned called out a miffed, “Hey!”

Marshall merely shrugged in reply, though it seemed that we both could make out his ever growing smirk even as he continued to watch the road.

“Don’t worry, lovely.” I assured the girl around another soft chuckle as I moved to squeeze her hand in a show of support, “I’ve grown used to your Dad’s–” I went to say bullshit, but paused before I actually could, “antics.” I supplied instead, grateful to the way Rosie seemed to be none the wiser to the slight stumble, although Em’s appreciative glance was a tad bit mirthful. I shot him a dark look.

The rest of the ride was spent with me explaining each picture that Rosie asked about; the gardens of my hotel that I’d been utterly taken with, having spent most, if not all, of my free time hiding within them; the Westwood catwalk show I’d had front row seats to, sitting beside Ms Vivienne herself whilst almost dying of heatstroke in the dress I’d worn (the lights had just been a lot, okay?); and even the Parisian markets I’d wandered into, having collected an array of still photos capturing stalls full of prints, fresh food, flowers and clothing.

It had been a hectic week, but really enjoyable. It was also nice to note that Rosie found some enjoyment in the experience too, gasping and awwing about all of the little details she managed to spot within the frames. Although, there had been one photo in particular that she’d seemed to get stuck on, sliding back and forth between the rest to look at it again and again. I took note and filed the information away for later.

By the time we pulled to a slow stop, I was blinking and peering around in surprise to find that we’d already arrived, having seemingly been caught up in listening to Rosie’s opinions over some of the outfits I’d loved enough to go backstage and capture.

The diner was just as Marshall had explained, rundown. But only by a tad. It was almost as though it had been frozen in time, whilst the rest of the world had continued on around it. Its red paint was rusted and chipped, cracking at the beams that were nothing if not supportive. The glass making up the windows were tinted a sheer yellow, stained from years of direct sunlight beaming through, and a sign hung high above the front entrance, squeaking in the wind.

Stepping out, I was surprised to see the look of anticipation that crossed Marshall’s face once he’d rounded the car to meet us, Rosie slipping into the space beside me after the door slammed shut. I grinned, marvelled by the sight of an authentic American diner, one that seemed to have lasted past the ages, and let my eyes roam over the shop’s exterior before finally looking back at Em who stood beside us.

His hands were stuffed into his pockets alongside the keys he’d just used to lock up the car, eyes taking note of the way his daughter’s hand slipped inside of mine without question to start leading the three of us over.

“They make the best ice cream sundaes.” Rosie mentioned with a bright smile, almost skipping in her giddy excitement whilst her dad trailed a step behind us. “Dad reckons it was all I would eat some days when I was little. I’d scream and throw a fit if he tried to feed me anything else.”

Em’s breathy snort echoed out over my shoulder as the diner’s door rattled to welcome us inside. “Yeah, and why’s that?” He questioned her, holding the handle to keep it from bumping either one of us.

“Because I only ever wanted the cherry and whipped cream a sundae could offer.” Rosie giggled, tiptoeing briefly to look out across the shop. She seemed to know exactly where she was headed after that, hurrying over to a booth sat in the far corner where the window and wall connected.

I glanced back at Marshall with a quizzical look and was gifted a small smile as he shucked his chin out to gesture me on. “It’s where we’ve always sat.”

Oh.

My feet guided me towards the cushioned booth, its padded seats worn enough to look like a boxing bag after a proper fall out with its fighter, but they were somehow comfier than the car we’d ridden over in– not that I’d ever let that slip. I settled into one side at the beckon of Z, whilst Em slid onto the opposing bench with a practised ease. I looked right up into his eyes after and couldn’t help the excited smile I wore, hoping for him to somehow see how much I was already enjoying myself.

“Why, hello! Been a while, ain’t it?”

I startled at the sound of the unexpected voice, something which in itself caught me off guard because I was usually always so hyper aware of everything going on around me. Blinking off the shock though, I peered over to my left to find an older lady with hair so red it could have only been box dyed, stood there with a couple menus. The colour matched her lipstick too and suited her so well that it was hard not to gift her a small grin.

Her bright eyes appeared to meet mine at that exact moment and a flash of surprise washed through the watery blue before it was gone. She checked her hip against the side of the booth to settle in, “Well, ain’t this a surprise. An’ here I were thinkin’ we’d jus’ have to put up with the pair of you fer the rest of our days.” A hand came to rest on my shoulder, nails also painted a glossy red, “You’re pretty too. How you doin’, honey?”

A tad bit overwhelmed by her welcoming nature and the thick accent that didn’t seem to be from around here, I leaned into the gesture and smiled up at her warmly. “I’m good, thank you. Hope your day hasn’t been too rough either.”

The woman tittered brightly at the reply, her mirthful surprise written plain as day across her features as she squeezed my shoulder gently, “Well, I’ll be damned.” She blew out before she could shoot a glance Marshall’s way, “A looker and a sweet talker. Got yerself a real good one here, sunny.”

Marshall appeared to hide his reaction behind the pair of fisted hands he’d been propping his chin against, but still made the effort to reply to the waitress once it had been stamped out, “Quit being nice. These Brits don’t know nothing about that tip you’re looking for.”

My eyes widened whilst Rosie just squeaked out a laugh, peeking her head out from beside me to grin over at the woman with a happy wave, “Heya, Marcie. How’s Pluto?”

The waitress, or rather, Marcie’s knees gave out a bit at the hello to better see the youngen, the hand which held the menus pressing against the table’s edge in an effort to lean closer. “Hey, baby girl. Pluto’s doin’ jus’ fine, loved those dawg treats you gave him the last time ya came around.”

Rosie’s face lit up at the admission whilst her dad’s appeared to age slightly at her reply, “I’ll make sure to bring a whole boxful next time!”

Marcie lapped it up though, laughing sweetly before she settled the menus in front of each of us. “I’ll mention it ta him.” She replied, then glanced about the rest of the table, “You two known one ‘nother long?”

That question seemed to be directed towards both Marshall and I, so I chanced a look over at the man to gauge his reaction and was pleasantly surprised to find him already wearing a small but fond smile. It wasn’t until Marcie raised a brow at him though that he moved to hide it again, almost as if he hadn’t even realised he’d been doing it at all.

“A while.” Marshall supplied with a roll of his eyes, not even taking a peep at the menu before he slid it back over to the woman, “That’s all you get too. So go stick your nose in Old Harry’s business for once.”

It was fucking rude, but the way he said it– Well, it once again had Marcie laughing up a storm. The entire exchange reminded me of the people back home, of the witty and sarcastic retorts most Yanks seemed to lack. It was rude, yeah, but honest and brash enough to show just how close these two supposed strangers actually were. Marshall knew Marcie, had known her for a long while even, that much was easy to see. And the woman had been surprised, really surprised, to see me sat here with him, even through all of her teasing, so that in itself gave me much to think about.

Marcie picked the menu up without looking or saying a thing about it. Then she hummed around another smile, “Most Harry’s got gowin’ on is that gout growin’ outta his foot.”

I had to thin my lips to withhold my snicker at her quick retort but even so the smile still shone through.

“Lovely, Marc.” Em drawled snarkily, before he slapped on a charming grin to bat his lashes up at the busty woman, “You talk to all your customers like that, or am I just special?”

“Ya know you’re ma only.” Marcie played along, nudging the man’s shoulder as she passed us by. Before she could actually disappear though she called out to us from over her shoulder, “Be back in a flash, jus’ need ma notepad!”

Watching her walk away, I found myself smiling, nose even wrinkling with the motion. She was a right character, one that oddly reminded me of this dinner lady I’d had back in primary school.

I was soon broken from my reminiscence when Marshall cleared his throat though, “She grows on you.” He murmured, catching my gaze, “Like cancer.”

“Dad!” Came Rosie’s hasty rebuke, one that had me giggling behind my palm as the girl playfully swatted her menu against her father’s arm.

“Or gout.” Marshall added in afterthought, smirking as he easily batted the girl’s attempts away.

“You know Marcie’s the best!” Rosie argued with him, but the corners of her grin had already begun to reach her eyes.

Marshall hummed lowly and pushed the menu back over towards his daughter, then he looked at me, “Should have gave you a warning though. Looked like you were at a circus when she arrived.”

My eyes narrowed, “She just caught me off guard, is all! Didn’t see her come up behind me.”

Rosie chuckled sweetly as she leant into my side and Em resettled his head against his fisted palms, looking between the two of us.

“It’s ‘cause she used to be a dancer. Says it’s why she’s so light on her feet.” Z let slip, but Marshall’s slight grimace told me a different story. One I let be for now.

“Seems the sort.” I said to the girl, smiling as I picked up my plastic menu card to toy with an edge, “Know what you’re getting?”

“A milkshake.” Was the confident answer before Rosie’s eyes shyly slipped over towards her dad, who raised an eyebrow, “Please?”

“Actual food, baby.” Marshall coaxed as he moved to rest against the tabletop on his forearms, but Z chewed on her lower lip, expression morphing into something which resembled a puppy quietly begging for treats. He sighed, folding all too quickly, “We can share one, but actual food first.”

The grin he received in turn was nothing short of adoring and Rosie was quick to dip her head in agreement, eyes surveying the menu once more. “The tenders look good.”

Em’s smile was soft and I watched on as he dropped his chin in a silent okay, eventually though his gaze shifted over to me, he waited.

I rolled my eyes, having caught on quickly, “Figured just a hamburger and chips.”

“Fries.” He automatically corrected which had me huffing out an airy laugh as I shook my head at the already argued debate.

Rosie, though, appeared to blink at our short exchange. “I forgot about that.” She giggled to herself before she then turned to her dad, “Why do they call them chips anyway?”

Marshall raised a shoulder in answer, “They’re backwards.”

Scowling, it was my turn to swat the man with the plastic menu and both Z and I laughed when he actually cowered further into the booth to avoid the next swing. “You’re backwards, driving on the wrong side of the road and paying for sodding healthcare.” I scoffed.

The most I was given in return was a long look from the man.

My eyes narrowed, “Bite me.”

Rosie was still giggling away at the pair of us, eyes alight, before she peered over at me, “I think it’s cool that you say things differently.”

My nose scrunched around the pleased little smile that overwhelmed my face and I draped an arm around her to rope her into a side hug. “This is why you’re my favourite.”

Em scoffed and so I widened my smile for him, peering over at the man from across the table.

Soon enough Marcie returned, letting us place an order whilst she told a story about how the cook had almost lost his hand a couple of weeks back when he’d helped this old woman with her car which had stalled outfront. Marshall seemed content to just listen, throwing in a reply or two, whilst Rosie and I glanced between the older woman and the car park with a slight grimace.

The father and daughter duo did actually end up ordering that milkshake to share, chocolate they’d decided, which arrived just before our food, something that Em bit his tongue about after he’d witnessed Rosie’s excited expression. Whilst I just opted for water, wanting to save some room for my food that looked as enticing as a five course meal at the Hilton when it finally came out, what with how hungry I was.

“Thank you, Marcie.” I murmured softly, gifting the older woman an appreciative smile as she settled my plate down before me. Rosie decided to follow that up with an eager thanks of her own, milkshake already nearing the halfway point.

“Yer most welcome, hunnies.” The waitress acknowledged as she placed Em’s plate between his knife and fork, and it was then that I paused, not having recalled the man even ordering anything after he’d handed her back that menu. It seemed though like he had a usual here. “Can I get ya anythin’ else now?”

I shook my head just as Marshall waved the woman off, giving her his own nod of acknowledgement.

Marcie left with one final grin and the three of us settled in, Rosie covering half of her plate in ketchup whilst Em and I watched on in faint amusement.

The girl made a gesture with the bottle shortly after, offering it up to me, and so I opened the bun of my burger to allow her a chance to squeeze a dollop on the patty. We both snickered at the novelty sound the bottle made before she then leaned over the table to do the same to her dad’s.

When I glanced back up from replacing my burger’s top, I was a little surprised to see Marshall observing us once more, before Rosie captured the entirety of his attention, switching out the red sauce bottle to a yellow mustard. He moved to thank the girl in a low register. After which, the rest of the meal was spent sharing odd tidbits; Rosie’s day at school, my flight over from London, before Em then started poking fun at my food.

“What?” He snickered around the mouthful of fries he just tossed back, “No burger is complete without cheese. I said what I said.”

“Why’s it called one then?” I quipped, having picked up my cheeseless burger and taken a bite. I wiped at the corners of my mouth with my tongue and raised a terse brow at the man. “It’s not my fault I can’t stand the stuff.”

Rosie sat there beside me a tad bit baffled, “I can’t believe people like you actually exist.”

I couldn’t quite help the laugh that bubbled from me, “Z! Come on, don’t team up against me now!”

Bless her heart, the girl did look a tad bit sheepish at that. So I bumped her shoulder with my own and winked, it seemed to spur her on.

“I’m not! Just, I don’t know anyone who hates cheese! Does that mean you don’t like lasagne?” Asking that though only made her gasp whilst her entire face seemed to drain of colour, “Or pizza?”

Snorting, I simply shook my head. “Hate it.”

Rosie’s jaw dropped open.

Surprisingly, it was Marshall that came to my rescue with that one as he shrugged a single shoulder at the topic. “Pizza’s always touch and go. Can count on one hand how many times I’ve actually enjoyed a slice.”

His daughter's frown was prominent and from this angle I could only assume that it looked even more devastating from Marshall’s point of view, “But you always end up finishing my half.”

Em gifted her a smile, but shrugged lightly, “It’s a waste otherwise.” It was then that he leant in a little closer though, speaking before he pulled a face, “Besides, who says no to free pizza?”

Rosie chuckled, content with his answer. Though I could understand the sentiment of its first part. Some kids grew up worrying over food and money, whether mum or dad would have enough to put dinner on the table or keep the lights on, because that was just what they were taught, what they had picked up on. Others, lucky ones like Rosie, were able to just be kids.

By the time the three of us were finished, I was a tad bit fatigued from how quickly I’d managed to scarf down my food and Em had since leaned back in the booth to place a hand over his stomach. Rosie giggled at the sight we must have made whilst she shook her head, “Is this what being old means?”

Both Marshall and I shot her a sharp look at the unexpected muse, my mouth gaping at the sheer cheek, but before either of us could even get a word in to argue, the girl was already scampering underneath the table to slip on out the other side. “Going to the restroom!” She told us brightly, her beaming grin giving way to the humour she’d found in tormenting the pair of us.

Marshall merely clucked his tongue at his daughter’s retreating figure before he eventually rolled his head back over towards me. He huffed, “Don’t have kids. They’re assholes.”

Grinning, I propped my chin up on my hands and let my eyes slip close. “Yeah, but they’re cute arseholes.”

Em grunted.

I blinked blearily to peer over at him. “Thanks for bringing me.”

A faint line etched itself into the skin between his brows, “Don’t thank me, it’s nothing.”

With a roll of my eyes, I blew out a breath, “It’s not nothing.” I tried, dropping my chin slightly to catch his eye, “It means a lot that you invited me here, I can see how much it means to you guys.”

“It’s a dump.”

I exhaled around a disbelieving smile. “But it’s yours. And it’s Rosie’s. And it doesn’t matter what the fuck it looks like because the people here are warm and the food is fucking amazing.” I laughed then and scooched a little closer to press against the table's edge, “Stop worrying about whether I care or not.”

He scowled minutely at that before the look softened into something other, a half a minute passed between us and his eyes settled on the lot beyond the window. “Just ain’t showy, is it? Don’t want you like thinkin’– I don’t care or some shit. Just ‘cause I didn’–“

I cut him off there to poke fun, “Wine me and dine me?”

But his face said it all. This man truly didn’t realise how wrong he was.

Shaking my head lightly, I sighed and wondered how to word my answer exactly. “Em, I didn’t come here expecting you to put on a show for me. For you to hide behind some facade or flaunt your wealth. ‘Cause if you were looking for something like that then I’d be best pointing you in the direction of the nearest groupie.”

I let go a chuckle and we both shared a smile, even if his was a little less than anticipated.

“And I know that you care. In your own odd way. And that’s enough for me because I’ve seen how much you care, in all of our calls and sporadic texts, in the videos you pass on just because you reckon they’ll make me laugh like they did you.”

I looked at him then, I mean really looked, and hoped that he could make out the sincerity which lined my voice. Because I’d felt that, I’d been the person sat there waiting for the other shoe to drop, for somebody to finally ask for something or make demands. But I’d sooner die before I treated someone else like that. Still, I just figured that with all the years he had on me he might have figured that much out about me before I had to go and tell him.

“I didn’t come here looking for Eminem. Or for the life your money gives you. I like the fact that you’re off the grid. That you keep a jar by the fridge so you don’t swear in front of your daughter. That you plant flowers in your garden and pick up your friends from the airport, just because you can. And that you take said friend to a place that obviously holds such a sentimental spot in that old heart of yours. Because I know that you showing me this is your way of letting me in without having to say a bunch of shit about it, to make me feel welcomed whilst I’m staying with you. ‘Cause that’s just who you are.”

It should have been unnerving, the way his eyes had settled on me since I’d started this whole tangent, but I found myself looking back almost as intensely.

My words had been honest, I just needed him to see that.

Marshall went to say something but paused before he actually could, gaze skittering down to the tabletop before his eyes flashed back up to meet mine. For all that he could rap and spit a couple rhymes, he truly was a man of few words. Although, they were always paired with a genuine lilt and studying stare, “I appreciate that. And you, for saying it.”

Somehow I managed to muster a sheepish smile. I ended up nodding at him once, fiddling with the sleeve of the hoodie I wore before Marcie came swanning back over with Rosie attached to her hip, a container in the girl’s hands.

Marshall cleared his throat and shifted in his seat to welcome the duo back into the fold, eyes immediately honing in on the box. He shucked his chin out towards it, “What you got?”

Marcie squeezed the girl in a close hug and then let her go. “A couple treats.” She informed him, and when Em dared to open his mouth in retort, probably to deny the offer, the woman promptly cut him off, “On the house. An’ fer later.” She tittered before she flashed a look at both Marshall and I, “There’s plenty there fer you two as well. Don’tchu worry.”

Laughing softly at the exchange, I beamed at the redhead, “Thanks, I don’t think I’ve eaten this good in ages.”

It was an offhanded comment, one that appeared to make Marcie grin as she leaned in to rub my shoulder in a show of gratitude, whilst Marshall’s eyes lingered.

“The little lady mentioned ya had a penchant fer chocolate,” Marcie mentioned with a conspiratorial smirk, “So I saved ya some of our best cake– jus’ make sure this one here don’t get ta it first.”

Marshall pursed his lips when the waitress nudged her head over in his direction and only blew out a breathy chuckle when the woman added, “Though he could stand to put on a few, a good gust a wind might jus’ come an’ blow ya over, sunshine.”

The man in question rolled his eyes, not unkindly, as he waved Marcie off, probably all too used to it. But my mind had been caught on one word. Sunshine.

It suited him, I deemed. Almost ironically.

“I’m fine.” Marshall huffed at her, but he’d paired it with the quirk of his mouth to soften the blow. “Gonna have to waddle over to the car with how good I just ate.”

“Too right!” Marcie applauded him, then swerved around the table’s corner to pick up some of our dishes with a smile. Em grabbed the milkshake just as she reached for it though and slurped up the dregs of the runny chocolate that Rosie had yet to finish. “Animal.” The woman muttered, shaking her head at the man who then helped her to pick up the rest.

Marshall rose from the booth, cups and plates in hand, and motioned Marcie ahead of him without a word. I watched in practical awe as the man meandered his way throughout the diner alongside the older woman to drop off the round of dirtied dishes into the kitchen, neither one of them even second guessing the motion.

I shook my head to clear the many thoughts which had managed to wrangle my mind into a chokehold. Forever surprised by him.

Rosie slipped into the booth opposite, container perched happily in her hands, and so I leaned in to smile over at her, “What did you get?”

“Cookies and a little red velvet.” She chirped happily, holding the box out for me to peer into. “The chocolate’s yours and the muffins are Dad’s.”

“If they taste as good as they look you guys will never get rid of me.” I laughed softly before I shared a secret grin with the girl.

“You wouldn’t hear me complaining.”

That in itself warmed my heart. “Yeah, just wait until you see me tomorrow morning,” I teased, then gestured towards my face, “It’s scary.”

Rosie snickered and shook her head, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

I grinned and pushed away from the table to raise my hands in jest. “You’ve been warned!”

It was then that Marshall walked back over and my eyes caught the slip he held. “You two ready to go? Figured we could–”

“You paid already?” I asked with a slight frown, eyes jumping from the check up to his confused expression.

“Yeah.” He retorted, raising a brow.

I stuck my hand out and made a grabby motion for it, “Lemme see how much I owe you then, I wanna give Marcie a tip, too.”

Instead of doing exactly that, Em shoved the slip into his pocket and rocked back on his feet, “Already done.”

“Marsh,” I pressed, head tilting with it as I swerved in my seat to let my legs out. “Come on, I’ve got this one. You’re already doing so much for me.”

The fucker just stood there though with an unimpressed stare and gave me a slow blink. Then he gestured his head over to Rosie, motioning for the girl to start moving, and Rosie did so with a small grin that she was quietly attempting to dim.

I stood too, “Marshall.” It was almost said in warning but the man was already moving, leaving me to catch up.

I smiled politely at a waitress, who hadn’t served us, holding a tray of coffee cups and then again when we bypassed a group of patrons that were settled further up front. Em just continued on, mind already made up, but I made a point to at least catch Marcie on our way out.

Thankfully the woman was stationed up by the till still and so I paused by a breakfast stool at the bar she was working behind. The redhead glanced up at me and it was then that I saw the strange glint in her eye, she smiled wryly as though she already knew what I was going to say. She even beat me to the punch, “He said ya’d put up a fight.”

We shared a mirthful glance in the direction of the diner’s door where said man stood waiting just beyond, hands in his pockets and staring back at us.

I huffed out a somewhat humoured chuckle but pressed further against the bartop, the fight was already lost. “He didn't even offer.” I said,feeling the need to throw it in, “And I know it’s stupid and traditional bullshit, but he’s already made me feel so welcomed here. I just don’t want him thinkin’ I’m taking advantage. You know?”

Marcie cackled, bright red nails coming up to clutch at the bar’s edge, “No, I don’t know, missy. If I were ya I’d be takin’ full advantage of the fact that he don’t offer, unlike most men I’ve met throughout ma life, he’s an honest one. A true gentleman.”

I snorted slightly at the picture my mind conjured, Marshall dressed in old-timey clothes and maybe a monocle, but knew that she saw me slump a little, realising how right she was.

She pressed against the counter though to shoot me a wicked grin, arms falling effortlessly one over the other, “‘Tween you an’ me, ‘ve been workin’ on an edge where he’ll come in one day wiv’a set a house keys jus’ fer me.”

The laugh that escaped me caught me by surprise and I ended up shaking my head at her blatant teasing, thankful for the way she’d allowed me to see that him paying wasn’t as big of a deal as I was making it out to be. “I’ll see how I can help then.” I reasoned with her, which earned me a proud look in turn.

“Knew there were a reason I liked you.” Marcie tittered and her eyes returned to the door just before she tilted her head to look at me once more, “It’s his waya sayin’ thank you, I ‘spose. Fer comin’ here with ‘em, or maybe just fer actin’ the way ya do around his little girl.”

My brow wrinkled and so the woman clucked a faint chuckle, the sound sweet and inviting.

“God girl, you don’t see it, do ya?” Her smile stayed strong even as I frowned further in confusion. “He don’t bring many folks ‘round here. An’ I ain’t stupid, I know who he is but I also know who he was. An’ those two men ain’t all that different. You’ll realise what I mean soon enough.”

I wanted to pester her further, because all she’d really given me was a puzzle to solve. But I couldn’t quite force myself to, not with the way she was smiling as though she knew something I didn’t, her twinkling blue eyes flickering over towards the door just before it rang out again.

“El, daddy says he’s gonna leave your ass behind!”

“Dollar!” I called out without thinking, pointing at the little lady who’d just stuck her head through the opening.

Rosie gaped at me for a second, probably shocked I said it, before she laughed, “I’m just repeating what he said!”

“Uhuh,” I dragged out, unable to contain the smile which bloomed even as I cocked a hip against the counter and raised my brow. “Should I let him know that then?”

Her eyes grew so wide I was honestly a little concerned. But it was then that Marcie stepped in to save her, “Secrets safe with me, honey.”

My head swivelled over to find the woman already grinning, her eyes alive with the strength of it. I rolled my own in fond amusement and shook my head at the pair, “Two against one.”

Rosie had since stepped in through the door and was now peering over at me with those doe eyes of hers. I crumbled far too easily, “Fine, me too. But I want a pinky promise to seal the deal.”

The girl nodded hastily enough and so I moved over towards her, offering up a pinky for her to wrap her own around. We grinned and let our hands drop, linked fingers still in place. Z glanced over in Marcie’s direction then and I followed her to find the waitress watching us with a warm smile.

“Take care now. An’ I’ll be hopin’ to see yer face again soon, missy.” Marcie warned me with a finger pointed in my direction. I couldn't find it in me to deny her but still, I shot her an impish grin as I pushed open the door once more, letting Rosie slip through.

“I make no promises but I’ll think about it!” I called out to her over my shoulder, “That chocolate cake had better be the best I’ll ever have!”

Marcie’s brilliant laughter followed us out as she waved goodbye, Rosie leading me across the lot and over to the car Marshall was propped up against. The man pocketed his phone when he saw us approaching and gave me a questioning look, probably to see if we were still good.

With a roll of my eyes and after the conversation I’d just had with Marcie, I couldn’t quite berate him for what he’d done, but still stopped short by the car to shoot him a warning glance, “Next time it’s on me.”

He looked like he wanted to argue, even got as far as to open his giant gob before Rosie had to cut in, “Just let her have this one, Dad.” She giggled, opening up the backseat to climb inside.

“Yeah, let me have this one.” I quipped giddily, the two of us in an odd sort of standoff now.

Surprisingly Marshall relented with just a sigh and the shake of his head, motioning me into the car before muttering, “What have I signed up for?”

I swatted his shoulder in passing and he laughed, opening the door up wider for me to join Z in the backseat. I stopped him just before he could let it fall shut. “Thank you.” I told him, not wanting him to know that I was anything other than grateful.

Em looked at me for a long moment, shadowed eyes flickering back and forth between my own before he dipped his chin slowly, a coy smile playing at the corners of his mouth. It was only when he knew that I’d caught it that he let the door close.

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trendfilmsetter · 4 months

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Apple Music’s ‘100 Best Albums of All Time’ list:

#1. Lauryn Hill — The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

#2. Michael Jackson — Thriller

#3. The Beatles — Abbey Road

#4. Prince & The Revolution — Purple Rain

#5. Frank Ocean — Blonde

#6. Stevie Wonder — Songs in the Key of Life

#7. Kendrick Lamar — good kid, m.A.A.d city

#8. Amy Winehouse — Back to Black

#9. Nirvana — Nevermind

#10. Beyoncé — Lemonade

#11. Fleetwood Mac — Rumours

#12. Radiohead — OK Computer

#13. Jay-Z — The Blueprint

#14. Bob Dylan — Highway 61 Revisited

#15. Adele — 21

#16. Joni Mitchell — Blue

#17. Marvin Gaye — What’s Going On

#18. Taylor Swift — 1989 (Taylor’s Version)

#19. Dr. Dre — The Chronic

#20. The Beach Boys — Pet Sounds

#21. The Beatles — Revolver

#22. Bruce Springsteen — Born to Run

#23. Daft Punk — Discovery

#24. David Bowie — The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

#25. Miles Davis — Kind of Blue

#26. Kanye West — My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

#27. Led Zeppelin — Led Zeppelin II

#28. Pink Floyd — The Dark Side of the Moon

#29. A Tribe Called Quest — The Low End Theory

#30. Billie Eilish — WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?

#31. Alanis Morissette — Jagged Little Pill

#32. The Notorious B.I.G. — Ready to Die

#33. Radiohead — Kid A

#34. Public Enemy — It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

#35. The Clash — London Calling

#36. Beyoncé — BEYONCÉ

#37. Wu-Tang Clan — Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

#38. Carole King — Tapestry

#39. Nas — Illmatic

#40. Aretha Franklin — I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

#41. OutKast — Aquemini

#42. Janet Jackson — Control

#43. Talking Heads — Remain in Light

#44. Stevie Wonder — Innervisions

#45. Björk — Homogenic

#46. Bob Marley & The Wailers — Exodus

#47. Drake — Take Care

#48. Beastie Boys — Paul’s Boutique

#49. U2 — The Joshua Tree

#50. Kate Bush — Hounds of Love

#51. Prince — Sign O’ the Times

#52. Guns N' Roses — Appetite for Destruction

#53. The Rolling Stones — Exile on Main St.

#54. John Coltrane — A Love Supreme

#55. Rihanna — ANTI

#56. The Cure — Disintegration

#57. D’Angelo — Voodoo

#58. Oasis — (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?

#59. Arctic Monkeys — AM

#60. The Velvet Underground & Nico — The Velvet Underground and Nico

#61. Sade — Love Deluxe

#62. 2Pac — All Eyez on Me

#63. The Jimi Hendrix Experience — Are You Experienced?

#64. Erykah Badu — Baduizm

#65. De La Soul — 3 Feet High and Rising

#66. The Smiths — The Queen Is Dead

#67. Portishead — Dummy

#68. The Strokes — Is This It

#69. Metallica — Master of Puppets

#70. N.W.A — Straight Outta Compton

#71. Kraftwerk — Trans-Europe Express

#72. SZA — SOS

#73. Steely Dan — Aja

#74. Nine Inch Nails — The Downward Spiral

#75. Missy Elliott — Supa Dupa Fly

#76. Bad Bunny — Un Verano Sin Ti

#77. Madonna — Like a Prayer

#78. Elton John — Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

#79. Lana Del Rey — Norman F*****g Rockwell!

#80. Eminem — The Marshall Mathers LP

#81. Neil Young — After the Gold Rush

#82. 50 Cent — Get Rich or Die Tryin'

#83. Patti Smith — Horses

#84. Snoop Dogg — Doggystyle

#85. Kacey Musgraves — Golden Hour

#86. Mary J. Blige — My Life

#87. Massive Attack — Blue Lines

#88. Nina Simone — I Put a Spell on You

#89. Lady Gaga — The Fame Monster

#90. AC/DC — Back in Black

#91. George Michael — Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1

#92. Tyler, The Creator — Flower Boy

#93. Solange — A Seat at the Table

#94. Burial — Untrue

#95. Usher — Confessions

#96. Lorde — Pure Heroine

#97. Rage Against the Machine — Rage Against the Machine

#98. Travis Scott — ASTROWORLD

#99. Eagles — Hotel California

#100. Robyn — Body Talk

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flirtingw1thsuicide · 5 days

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My top 10 Eminem albums.

1. The Eminem Show. 2002

2. The Marshall Mathers LP. 2000

3. The Slim Shady LP. 1999

4. The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) 2024

5. Music To Be Murdered By. 2020

6. Kamikaze 2018

7. Relapse. 2009

8. The Marshall Mathers LP 2. 2013

9. Infinite 1996

10. Recovery 2010.

#eminem #slim shady #my top 10 albums

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therealcocoshady · 5 months

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COCO’S APRIL REPLAY 🎧

Can you guys tell that Em is the artist I listen to the most ? 🙈

This does absolutely not represent my ranking of his albums by the way ! 🙊.

That being said, it does change a lot for me. As time goes on and I evolve, some songs resonate more with me, some albums grow on me, too. For instance, I don’t think I fully appreciated Kamikaze when it came out, save for a few tracks. Lately, however, I’ve been listening to it more and more (I even bought the CD - because I’m an analog girly 💕).

This has me wondering though : which of these is your favorite ?

#eminem #marshall mathers #slim shady #music to be murdered by #8 mile #curtain call #curtain call 2 #sslp #kamikaze #mmlp #MTBMB #eminem album

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music-moon · 7 months

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My most played albums released in the year 2000:

1. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP

2. Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory

3. Coldplay - Parachutes

4. Bright Eyes - Fevers and Mirrors

5. Radiohead - Kid A

6. *NSYNC - No Strings Attached

7. Jill Scott - Who Is Jill Scott? - Words and Sounds, Vol. 1

8. Sade - Lovers Rock

9. Britney Spears - Oops!... I Did It Again

10. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica

Data from last.fm + pythfm.

2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019 / 2020 / 2021 / 2022 / 2023 / 2024

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shezanenigma · 2 months

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THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY

Eminem Album Review

💎💎💎💎💎

5 Diamond Review

By ShezAnEnigma

Eminem's newest album, "The Death of Slim Shady," is not just another collection of tracks; it's a reflection on his legacy, his inner battles, and the persona that has both defined and haunted him for decades. As always, Eminem draws from his own feelings and inner battles, creating a narrative that is both compelling and raw.

Since his debut album "The Slim Shady LP" in 1999, Eminem has been known for his sharp, often controversial lyrics and his alter ego, Slim Shady. Albums like "The Marshall Mathers LP" (2000) and "The Eminem Show" (2002) showed us the provocative, unfiltered side of Eminem, with tracks that were intense and filled with intricate wordplay, dark humor, and brutally honest storytelling.

Over the years, Eminem has consistently pushed boundaries and confronted personal demons, from addiction and mental health struggles to family conflicts and industry pressures. Albums like "Recovery" (2010) and "The Marshall Mathers LP 2" (2013) saw him addressing his battles and seeking redemption, while "Kamikaze" (2018) and "Music to Be Murdered By" (2020) showcased his relentless lyrical skill and unyielding defiance against critics.

In "The Death of Slim Shady," Eminem takes us on a ride through the chaotic mind of Marshall Mathers, where Slim Shady's influence is still strong. The first two-thirds of the album hit hard with that familiar, in-your-face style. Songs like "Lucifer," (produced by Dr. Dre) "Evil," and, "Antichrist" bring back that vintage Slim Shady vibe, full of biting commentary and controversial takes. Eminem doesn't hold back, targeting everyone from Lizzo to MAGA pundit Candace Owens, with some particularly pointed jabs at Caitlyn Jenner and the late Christopher Reeve.

But the real turning point comes with "Guilty Conscience 2," a powerful sequel where Eminem faces off against his alter ego. This track feels like a climactic moment where Marshall Mathers finally confronts Slim Shady, leading to a symbolic "murder-suicide." It's a moment of catharsis, marking the end of an era for Eminem.

As the album progresses, the tone shifts dramatically from aggressive shock rap to more introspective tracks like "Temporary" and "Somebody Save Me," a poignant duet with Jelly Roll. These two songs are my favorites because they have a deeper emotional pull and feel incredibly personal. Eminem is known for writing from his heart, and you can sense how difficult these tracks must have been for him to create. In "Temporary," he includes snippets of audio featuring him and his daughter Hailie, reflecting on how she will feel when he dies. In "Somebody Save Me," Eminem opens up about his struggles with addiction and his regrets as a father and uncle. These songs are slower, more reflective, and deeply emotional, painting a vivid picture of a man who has missed out on significant moments in his life and is filled with remorse.

While "The Death of Slim Shady" has echoes of "The Eminem Show" and "Encore," it's not a throwback. The production and the wordplay is as sharp as ever, and Eminem's flow is versatile and confident. He may be 51 now, a long way from that kid who broke out in the 1990’s but this album proves he still has the same lyrical prowess.

Overall, "The Death of Slim Shady" is an album that demands to be listened to from start to finish. Eminem's ability to balance the raw, controversial edge of Slim Shady with his personal reflections on regret and redemption makes this a standout in his career. This album isn't just about saying goodbye to Slim Shady; it's about Marshall Mathers coming to terms with his past and looking forward to his future. It’s an emotional, powerful journey that leaves a lasting impact.

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 1 year

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About Me: Favorite Albums

Music isn't something I talk much about here on my blog, mostly because I don't feel like I'm qualified enough to talk about these sorts of things. I know movies like the back of my hand, but I'm definitely not smart enough to dissect what makes music good beyond "I like how it sounds."

But hey, I'm trying to help you get to know me, so here are thirty albums I like the sound of from a variety of artists. My big rule is I have to like at least five songs on any given album for it to qualify. I've listed my top three from each here, so the other two I'll leave to your imaginations (except for my #1 favorite, for which you'll get all of my top 5).

Honorable mentions: Pinkerton - Weezer, Under the Covers, Vol. II - Ninja Sex Party, Montero - Lil Nas X, Poodle Hat - Weird Al, Bad Hair Day - Weird Al, Master of Puppets - Metallica, License to Ill - Beastie Boys, Thriller - Michael Jackson, Purple Rain - Prince, Teenage Dream - Katy Perry, and the so bad it’s good masterpiece Angelic 2 the Core - Corey Feldman. I also didn't include the soundtracks to stage musicals, but the 90s version of Cats and the 80s version of Starlight Express are also some of my favorites.

30. The Hazards of Love - The Decemberists

A tale of a tragic romance told in the form of a concept album, this would almost certainly make the list even if it didn't have some of the best villain songs I've ever heard.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Won’t Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)”

2. “The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing”

1. “The Rake’s Song”

29. Youthanasia - Megadeth

Quite simply, a fantastic metal album. Not much more to say than that!

Favorite Songs:

3. “Youthanasia”

2. “A Tout le Monde”

1. “Family Tree”

28. In the Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson

Even if it was just the semi-title track that I loved, this album would probably make the list. It's prog rock perfection.

Favorite Songs:

3. "Moonchild"

2. "21st Century Schizoid Man"

1. "The Court of the Crimson King"

27. Saturday Night Fever - Various Artists

The Bee Gees obviously are the stars of the show on this soundtrack album, but it also has one of my favorite things: Disco remixes of classical music.

Favorite Songs:

3. “A Fifth of Beethoven”

2. “Night on Disco Mountain”

1. “Stayin’ Alive”

26. The Marshal Mathers LP 2 - Eminem

While the original album is a classic in its own right and nothing on this one is as immediately iconic as "The Real Slim Shady" or "Stan," I do think that this older, more mature Eminem reflecting back on his career and flexing his skills is overall the better package. This was a real comeback for him, after multiple less-than-impressive comebacks, and it is glorious.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Love Game”

2. “The Monster”

1. “So Far…”

25. McCartney II - Paul McCartney

This is what happens when you let a beloved rock star get really weird. It’s so experimental and quirky; only a Beatle could get this bizarre.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Frozen Jap”

2. “Coming Up”

1. “Temporary Secretary”

24. Painkiller - Judas Priest

One of those rare times where the songs on a metal album are actually, genuinely as fucking awesome as the album cover art.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Night Crawler”

2. “Painkiller”

1. “A Touch of Evil”

23. Songs for the Deaf - Queens of the Stone Age

With the assistance of Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age really put their best foot forward for their breakout album. As hard as most of the tracks go, my absolute favorite is the eerier, slower hidden track about cannibalism.

Favorite Songs:

3. “You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire”

2. “First It Giveth”

1. “Mosquito Song”

22. Crash Twinsanity - Spiralmouth

The day I found out this entire soundtrack was a capella, my mind was blown. You mean to tell me this whole album is just mouth noises? It really does have the Crash vibe down.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Worm Chase”

2. “Rusty Walrus Chase”

1. “The Evil Twins”

21. Awesome Mix Vol. 2 - Various Artists

Every Guardians movie soundtrack is great, but out of the three it’s the second movie’s soundtrack that reigns supreme. It kicks off with ELO, scores the climactic final battle with Fleetwood Mac, and features a groovy disco remix of the Guardians theme music with vocals provided by David Hasselhoff over the credits. It’s all killer, no filler.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Guardians Inferno”

2. “Mr. Blue Sky”

1. “The Chain”

20. Mouth Dreams - Neil Cicierega

The way the songs flow into each other, the subtle jokes scattered throughout… Really, the only thing holding this back is some songs are just a bit too weak to justify bumping it above its predecessor.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Closerflies”

2. “Ribs”

1. “Fredhammer”

19. Mouth Moods - Neil Cicierega

From fantastic mashups that combine a dozen songs into one coherent whole to remixes that alter a single song and completely warp the premise to the point of absurdity, this is absolutely the highest point of the Mouth series.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Annoyed Grunt”

2. “Shit”

1. “Wow Wow”

18. Ten - Pearl Jam

Homelessness. Suicide. Incest. Murder. This might be one of the single darkest albums of the grunge era, and it firmly cemented Pearl Jam as a force to be reckoned with. Eddie Vedder’s unique vocals really are what makes these songs stand out from the crowd.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Alive”

2. “Jeremy”

1. “Even Flow”

17. The Symbol Remains - Blue Öyster Cult

You wouldn’t think a 70s rock band that loves singing about weird occult stuff could drop anything good five decades into their career, but BOC ain’t any old rock band. Only they could take a silly, memetic concept like the stereotypical “Florida Man” and turn it into a song that has enough weird and mystic vibes that it can easily sit alongside songs about aliens, eldritch horrors, vampires, and zombie Joan Crawford in their discography.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Tainted Blood”

2. “Florida Man”

1. “Box in My Head”

16. Impera - Ghost

One of Ghost's most solid albums to date. It has a few low points ("Twenties") but the highs are so high they easily eclipse those few lesser tracks.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Spillways”

2. “Hunter’s Moon”

1. “Call Me Little Sunshine”

15. The Presidents of the United States of America – The Presidents of the United States of America

I have very fond memories of listening to this in the car growing up. It’s such a charming piece of 90s rock, with the band foretelling their ultimate fate with the track “We Are Not Going To Make It.” Oh well, they manage to make it onto this list at least.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Kitty”

2. “Lump”

1. “Peaches”

14. Born This Way – Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga has fallen from the lofty heights she once stood upon, not quite being as massive as her heyday... But with an album that gets you this high, there's really nowhere to go but down. This album has a song for everyone, and for someone with taste as weird as my own, it had a load of great tracks.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Bad Kids”

2. “Bloody Mary”

1. “Judas”

13. In Utero - Nirvana

You can definitely tell that Nevermind was a more polished, commercial album when you listen to this one. The songs here are so much more raw than on their more famous album, with so much more bite to them. It can be a bit off-putting for sure, but this is definitely the short-lived band's best work (if not my favorite).

Favorite Songs:

3. “Dumb”

2. “Rape Me”

1. “Pennyroyal Tea”

12. Undertale Soundtrack – Toby Fox

Easily my favorite instrumental soundtrack of all time—and considering all the fantastic game soundtracks I’ve heard in my time, this is saying something. Every single track is a fantastic and fitting tune for wherever they’re used in-game, and even if my favorite track is the obvious pick, even I’ll admit that it’s not the best one (that would probably be #2).

Favorite Songs:

3. “Death By Glamour”

2. “Battle Against a True Hero”

1. “Megalovania”

11. Metal Gear Rising Soundtrack – Various artists

A game as insane and metal as Rising needs a soundtrack to match, and to say this one delivered is an understatement. Every song is one of the most badass things you will ever hear, with a good chunk of them elaborating on the motivations and personalities of the bosses. It says a lot that the weakest song is Blade Wolf's, and even that's just "okay" as opposed to "awful."

Favorite Songs:

3. “Red Sun”

2. “A Stranger I Remain”

1. “It Has to be This Way”

10. Seven Inches of Satanic Panic - Ghost

I don’t think this is better than their full albums, but I definitely think this is one of the best musical one-two punches I’ve ever heard. “Mary on a Cross” and “Kiss the Go-Goat” are two of Ghost’s finest songs, and this is where they came from

9. I Get Wet – Andrew W.K.

In the proud tradition of AC/DC, pretty much every song on this album sounds the same—and none of the songs rock any less for it. It’s a collection of awesomely stupid anthems about partying, hot girls, and NYC that goes harder than it has any need to.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Ready to Die”

2. “She is Beautiful”

1. “I Get Wet”

8. Running With Scissors – Weird Al

This was a big turning point in Al’s career—it’s when he debuted his new look, sans glasses and with his hair grown out—and for me at least it’s the album where I feel like he put all the lessons he learned over the 90s to good use. It’s true that there’s a few lines that haven’t aged well but the overall package is strong enough that it overshadows the blemishes. It has his strongest “movie recap” parody song, his best polka medley, and his funniest and most iconic epic-length song; how can it not make my top ten?

Favorite Songs:

3. “The Saga Begins”

2. “Polka Power!”

1. “Albuquerque”

7. Doolittle - Pixies

It’s genuinely tough picking between this and Surfer Rosa, but when it comes right down to it Doolittle is the one that has more tracks I like. I don’t think anything here is quite as good as “Where is My Mind?” from the latter album, but that album doesn’t have “Mr. Grieves” on it.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Here Comes Your Man”

2. “Wave of Mutilation”

1. “Monkey Gone to Heaven”

6. Invisible Touch - Genesis

I think Invisible Touch is Genesis’s undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Take the lyrics to “Land of Confusion.” In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. “In Too Deep” is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I’ve heard in rock.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Domino”

2. “Land of Confusion”

1. “Invisible Touch”

5. Mandatory Fun – Weird Al

As of 2023 this is Al’s last album, and if he never makes another it’s hard to argue that he didn’t go out on top. The style parodies are some of his best ever, the polka medley is fantastic, and the parodies here are all leagues better than the songs they’re spoofing. “Foil” in particular is worth singling g out for being a hilarious subversion of the stereotypical food-related parodies Al was known for back in the day.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Foil”

2. “Handy”

1. “Jackson Park Express”

4. ABBA Gold - ABBA

Is it cheating to put a greatest hits compilation on this list? Well, since it's my list, the answer is no! An album like this is all bangers, no filler, every song I love in one place one after the other. The omission of “Tiger” is the only flaw.

3. Nevermind - Nirvana

It's pretty inarguable that this is a more polished and commercial grunge album than In Utero, but no matter what Kurt or the other band members say this is still one of the best albums ever made. My only gripe with it is that the song that gets the most attention, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," overshadows a lot of songs better than it. "In Bloom" is the best track in my opinion, with its lyrics abut fans with zero media literacy still very relevant even to this day.

Favorite Songs:

3. “Polly”

2. “Come as You Are”

1. “In Bloom”

2. The Number of the Beast – Iron Maiden

From the band with the greatest album covers of all time comes a metal album featuring the hard rock version of "Roxanne," an epic seven minute track, and the greatest song condemning the actions of colonizers. Oh, and the title track is pretty awesome too. Considering how lukewarm the first two albums are, this might be one of the greatest glow ups in metal history, going from a decent but not spectacular act to one of the greatest bands of all time.

Favorite Songs:

3. “22 Acacia Avenue”

2. “Hallowed be Thy Name”

1. “Run to the Hills”

1. Spirit Phone – Lemon Demon

Maybe I'm just a basic bitch for calling this my favorite album ever, but the fact of the matter is that this whole album is basically tailor made for my interests. Songs about conspiracy theories? Songs about urban legends like Gef and Polybius? Songs that make fun of Reaganomics? I genuinely could not imagine a better set of songs than this if I tried.

Favorite Songs:

5. “Reaganomics”

4. “Touch-Tone Telephone”

3. “When He Died”

2. “Sweet Bod”

1. “Cabinet Man”

#about me #music #albums

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cyarskaren52 · 8 months

Text

Jack Harlow Is Serious About This

By Ross Scarano

Photography by Stacy Kranitz

December 11, 2020

Jacket, $2,850, and shirt, $875, by Louis Vuitton Men's

Somewhere amidst the green hills of West Virginia, in the kind of club that offers bottle service to its VIP customers, there’s a woman in possession of Jack Harlow’s heart.

He flew into Pittsburgh—the nearest major airport—before driving into the wild and wonderful heart of Appalachia for a club appearance. At the club, he met a bottle girl who stopped him cold. If you were unaware that West Virginia had bottle girls, so was Harlow. “I found out just shortly before you did,” he deadpans over a video-less Zoom call.

She’s been on his mind since, and because everything in Harlow’s lyrics really happened, she’s in his music, too. Track three on his debut album Thats What They All Say, his first full-length release since his smash single “Whats Poppin” (and its star-studded remix) shot up to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Performance, to be precise.

Thats What They All Say will likely be one of the biggest albums of the year, and the bottle girl makes her cameo early, on “21C/Delta,” a mellow two-part journey into 21st century romance as experienced by a 22-year-old rap star who claims few vices outside of sex. In fact, Harlow is something of a strip club aficionado—when the Los Angeles Clippers point guard Lou Williams was allowed to leave the NBA bubble in July to attend a memorial service, it was Harlow’s Instagram photo that revealed that Williams had also found time to stop by Atlanta’s legendary Magic City. According to Harlow, there are no hard feelings and the video for his single “Tyler Herro” was shot on Williams’ home basketball court.

But he’s too decent a guy to say anything more about his brief encounter in Appalachia. “I don't want to ruin this person's life,” he says. Fingers crossed, this will not devolve into a “Courtney from Hooters on Peach Street”situation.

Jacket, $1,750, and pants, $600, by Room Service Los Angeles / Earrings (throughout), his own

Harlow was introduced to hip-hop around age seven by his mother Maggie, who played The Marshall Mathers LP and other landmarks of the genre while driving around their home of Louisville, Kentucky. Her trip to buy Kanye West’s Late Registration is one of his earliest memories. “She told me all the words I was about to hear but wasn't allowed to say,” he told me. Around the same time, he remembers his teachers praising his writing. “In first grade, I was writing personal narratives and persuasive letters,” he says. “That's when I knew I enjoyed words.”

After years of adolescent grinding in the mixtape circuit in Louisville, supported by his parents and grandmother, Harlow recognized that in order to progress he needed to be at the center of American music culture. So in 2017 he moved to Atlanta, where he met hip-hop veterans DJ Drama, Don Cannon, and Leighton “Lake” Morrison, who signed him to their label Generation Now in 2018. The mixtapes and EPshe made in Kentucky often felt too try-hard, both in terms of the attempts at comedic wordplay (“Like blue jeans at the state fair, I might cut you off straight mid-sentence”) and the self-seriousness that Harlow deployed as a counterbalance (a ride past his elementary school on “Eastern Parkway” becomes an opportunity for a belabored metaphor about states of matter). He describes those early records as “forcefully goofy,” so much so that he felt uncomfortable playing the music “in front of girls.” Atlanta gave his music a new sense of nonchalance; he learned to relax his grip. “I'm doing a much better job of representing who I am off record, on record,” he says.

Blazer, $1,025, and turtleneck, $750, by Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh / Sunglasses, $625, by Vintage Wood Collection

“I’m signed to the gatekeepers,” Harlow raps on the intro to Thats What They All Say. Often when gatekeepers are invoked in rap, it’s to decry the (white) executives, radio programmers, and members of the Recording Academy who prevent authentic music from truly succeeding, or, conversely, amplify the wrong things. But for Harlow, gatekeepers means Black men with impressive industry bona fides who vouch for him. Drama hosted the Gangsta Grillz mixtape series, where Lil Wayne did some of his most sublime work; Cannon produced a number of the highlights across those mixtapes; Lake managed both Drama and Cannon, along with the aughts R&B star Bobby Valentino for a period.

“I don't know if [credibility] is a requirement to have success, but it's important to me,” Harlow says. “When I was shopping around before I signed I wasn't like, ‘I’m not signing until I find some Black gatekeepers.’ But I’m proud to be signed to them.” Cannon says “gatekeeper is simply a word that says, ‘Hey, you belong here’”; Lake says that Harlow is “driven and trying to move in an urban space, and one thing that I appreciate about him is he's open to a conversation.”

A successful white rapper will always have to reckon with the fact that their skin color lends a commercial advantage. But these are times of particularly intense scrutiny about the ethics of cultural appropriation. The release of the artwork for Thats What They All Say, which depicts Harlow signing autographs for a racially diverse group of children while sitting in a luxury vehicle next to a faceless brown-skinned woman, prompted much ado on social media. But rather than, say, rush out a Macklemore-esque apology, he’s not sweating it. Harlow’s touch stays light.

Not everyone has welcomed his rise: In 2019, labelmate Lil Uzi Vert posted a photo on Instagram of Harlow with a clown emoji superimposed over his face after Harlow made his support of the label clear in response to Vert’s criticism of it. (Lake says he appreciates Harlow’s solidarity.)

Suit, $1,850, by Grayscale / Turtleneck, $590, by Thom Browne / Boots, $515, by Raf Simons / Watch (throughout), his own, by Rolex / Ring (throughout), his own

Harlow wants his name (and debut) to be mentioned among greats like Drake and Kendrick. The wide audiences they found and the respect they commanded for their technical abilities—he wants those things too. Drama, Cannon and Lake push him: 48 hours before Thats What They All Say was supposed to be completed, Harlow says Drama told him that “the greats would do a new intro.” In the final hour, Harlow recorded “Rendezvous,” a bars-forward salvo that sets the tone for the level of candor found in the album’s best moments. Cannon, who thinks “all the greats are honest,” encouraged him to rap with increasing frankess—a key skill in the age of the vulnerable rapper. “Nobody really knows who you are,” Cannon remembers telling him. “We have to know who you are, whether we like it or not. Whatever comes out, that's going to be our truth.”

Thats What They All Say is a concise coming-of-age story that marks significant improvement from his previous work. He’s trying the right amount, and the humor feels natural rather than overdetermined. When he raps with Lil Baby, the star of hip-hop in 2020, he doesn’t sound out of place. But above all, the project is animated by Harlow’s belief that he can be “honest about anything.” That can mean sexual adventures like the story of the bottle girl, or mishaps like the digital-era tragedy on “Way Out”: “I’m in the mountains out west on the tour bus texting a chick I used to mess with/Got her in the bed doing video shoots, tried to send one to me but it didn’t go through: damn.”

But Harlow can also be reflective about his flaws (he’s been seeing a therapist recently). He recounts running into someone he used to sleep with at a party for over two-and-a-half minutes on “Funny Seeing You Here,” an X-ray of early-twenties awkwardness that culminates with Harlow’s admission that, as a romantic partner, he can fall short:

You used to say her man was trash and tell me about the way he’d act

I would shake my head until I realized I’m the same as that

Now I wonder do she tell her man that I’m a trash dude

And would he shake his head until he realized that he was trash too?

On the album’s outro, “Baxter Avenue,” he stops pondering the vicissitudes of casual humping and turns his attention to race and his mixed crew. “Always wondered to myself if I could really be the leader to a group of brown-skinned boys when I’m not brown-skinned,” he raps before clocking the differences in their upbringings. Sounding genuinely unsure, he raps about wanting to share his success and wealth, and wonders what it would look like to do that fairly. He says it’s the kind of song that will be “tough to sit in a room and have other people hear.” According to Cannon, that’s exactly the sort of honesty he pushed Harlow toward.

Watch Now:

Jack Harlow Goes Undercover on Twitter, Instagram and Wikipedia

The song will start a conversation, something Harlow relishes. On the day he released the album artwork, the invite-only, audio-led social media app Clubhouse, which has become more and more popular as a gathering place for music industry real talk, hosted a vigorous debate about it. “I didn't tune in for a second,” Harlow says. “But a lot of people I’m close to did. There's no way we could have dressed that cover up, race-wise, without causing a discussion. If they had been all white, it would have been ‘Why are you whitewashing?’ If it had been all Black, it’s like, ‘Where’s the white people?’” Harlow thinks the cover reflects the city and scene he comes from. “If you come to our parties or the kickbacks we have with 20 people, it looks like [the cover].”

Lake chalks the conversation up to “everybody's in the house and has nothing but time.” Though he acknowledges that Harlow’s trio of label execs don’t always agree on his artwork choices, he says the critics “thought about [the artwork] in way more detail than Jack did. People that don't know Jack would maybe question it, but if you know him, that's him, 110%. He's a white artist in a Black genre, and he's attracted to women of all races, colors, creeds, everything.”

Painting, “Buster”, by Jaime CorumJacket, $2,850, and shirt, $875, by Louis Vuitton Men's / Pants, $820, by Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh

If you still take issue with his decision to cast a faceless Black woman as his love interest, the title is directed at you: Thats What They All Sayis meant to be an all-purpose retort. “It’s how I feel about any criticism or praise that I'm receiving,” Harlow says. “You really can't tell me anything I haven't heard before.”

Still, he does hear it. Though he’s stopped searching his name on Twitter, he hasn’t stopped reading his reviews and knows he’ll take in the latest round of press. (He doesn’t need the WiFi password to recall the 5.6 Pitchfork score for his 2019 release Confetti.) “I’m just too much of a narcissist,” he says. “I always catch ‘em.”

Blazer, $1,025, turtleneck, $750, and pants, $920, by Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh / Boots, $990, by Celine Homme by Hedi Slimane

At one point on Thats What They All Say, Harlow says that “all the rappers I love most at one point got called a fake.” Among others, he means Drake. From the occasional singing to the subject matter, Harlow is a student of the great Canadian, and he has Drake’s confidence too. Accusations of fakery never slowed Drake—he only became more powerful. Reflecting on Drake’s ability to overcome gives Harlow comfort. Like Drake, Harlow works hard at this. His seriousness is part of what makes it possible to root for him. That he’s more interested in reconnecting with the West Virginia bottle girl than trying to resolve the ills of the world with his music doesn’t hurt either.

Ross Scarano is a writer and editor from Pittsburgh.

PRODUCTION CREDITS: Styled by Metta Conchetta

Sent from my iPhone

#Instagram #jack harlow #jackman thomas harlow #jackman harlow #💚💚💚#Jack Harlow #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow x black reader #jack harlow x you #jack harlow concepts #jack harlow fluff #jack harlow imagine #jack harlow fanfic

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