Eminem has made it clear that Shady isn’t dead. The new release from the Detroit rapper, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, may have fans waxing nostalgic for the days when Marshall was the center of any and all controversy, whether it is from his trailer park mad-man image or his less than radio friendly lyrics. Those fans have been not only justified in their wait, but rewarded in their patience.

The album brings Em to somewhere that not many of his rap contemporaries fear to go, and no, it’s not calling out women and making threats (although he does do plenty of that to keep dirty minds at play). It’s the place of accepting who he is and where his place in rap is. He realizes that his prime came and went in the early 2000s, and that respect is hard to come by these days, is a prevalent theme on the album.

Taking the path he does, then, both with self-depricating humor(highlighted on the Joe Walsh sampling “So Far…”) and biting sarcasm telling of his messed up history(on the song “Rhyme or Reason”), is an interesting one comparative to the big-money, big-lifestyle dealings of the big rappers today.

So what keeps Em at the top of his game, even as he stays in his own, late-90s driven world? The long and short answer of that would be pure skill. The exhibitionism showed on some of the more intense tracks, especially the supersonic speed of “Rap God,” has the world buzzing about Eminem, finally again in this positive light he so richly deserves.

We’ve seen many rappers holding close to their fame in times many thought they were done. Jay-Z hooked up with a phone company. Snoop Dogg changed up to Snoop Lion. Lil Wayne might have done something, I don’t think anyone knows anymore. With Em, he didn’t hide behind smoke and mirrors to keep his career going, he stood tall. He got back on the rap horse and he rode – to great success.