The Eminem Show
Any lingering doubts as to the depth of Eminem's skills or his potential  for raw yet compelling honesty are dispelled onThe Eminem Show's first  track. Armed with a quicksilver flow and a thundering rhythm track (the record  was exec produced by longtime mentor and partnerDr. Dre), "White  America" finds Eminem ferociously mauling the hand that feeds him, lambasting  his critics, the industry, and the racism that, in many ways, helped make  Marshall Mathers more than just another rapper. "Let's do the math," Em sneers,  "If I was black I would have sold half/ I could be one of your kids/ Little Eric  looks just like this." After the bombast ofThe Marshall Mathers LPand Eminem's well-noted use of sexual epithets, this kind of material is made  more controversial because it actually rings true. From a brutal retort to his  long-estranged and equally troubled mother ("Cleaning Out My Closets") to a  surprisingly tender ode to his child ("Hailie's Song"), Eminem examines his  life, loves, arrests, addictions, failures, and successes with surprising  insight, making this a funk-drenched hip-hop confessional well worth the hype.--Amy Linden