Eminem - The Eminem Show [2LP]

The Eminem Show finds Marshall Mathers at the height of his fame and fully in control, presented here on double vinyl.

Released in 2002, his fourth studio album was made while he was filming 8 Mile, and it marks a clear shift. The cartoonish shock of Slim Shady takes a back seat as Eminem turns the camera on himself and his family, then widens the lens to pick apart celebrity and post-9/11 America with a sharper, more personal pen.

He also stepped up as a producer, building most of the beats himself with help from Jeff Bass and Dr. Dre, and the result leans into rock with heavy guitars and stadium-sized drums. "Without Me" is the gleeful, bratty lead single, while "Cleanin' Out My Closet" lays bare his fractured relationship with his mother. "Sing for the Moment" builds on an Aerosmith sample to defend rap's place in teenage lives, and "'Till I Collapse", with Nate Dogg on the hook, has become a permanent fixture of workout playlists and sports montages.

It's a dense, restless record, part confession and part state-of-the-nation address, and it holds up remarkably well more than two decades on.

For many fans this is the definitive Eminem album, the moment his humour and anger finally lined up perfectly with his craft.