The original Marshall Mathers LP was released back in 2000 and has since risen to legendary status, being named as one of the best 100 albums of all time by both Time and Q, while Rolling Stone ranked it as the seventh best album of the noughties. It was also a huge commercial success, selling almost 30 million albums worldwide and spawning a number of high-profile singles. Eminem has continued to enjoy immense commercial success in the years since, becoming the best-selling artist in the world during the decade spanning 2000-2009. However, the truth of the matter is, for a whole variety of reasons, he has struggled to live up to 'The Marshall Mathers LP' and its predecessor, 'The Slim Shady LP', on an artistic level. That's not to say he has been bad; indeed he has produced occasional moments of sheer brilliance. But when you begin your major label career with two albums as good as the aforementioned pair, you set the bar very high and are going to be judged with that in mind. While his follow-up, 2002's 'The Eminem Show', was an unquestionably solid album, 2004's 'Encore' marked a creative low-point for the rapper. He subsequently took a four-year hiatus to deal with personal issues, including his well-publicised drug addiction, as well as what he described as a major case of writer's block. The 2009 album, 'Relapse', showed glimpses of a return to form, but was ultimately let down by, as Eminem himself explained, a "tendency to run things into the ground." In this case, those "things" included wacky accents and cheap shock tactics, which were over-the-top even by his own standards. 'Recovery' followed in 2010 and spawned the hit single 'Love the Way You Lie', which went on to become his best-selling single ever. Yet the album divided critics, many of whom criticised its out-dated pop culture references, its relative lack of humour and its repetitive themes. Despite his creative struggles, Eminem's talent as an MC has never faded. His flow and wordplay are beyond question and various guest spots on other artist's albums have showcased both in abundance. Indeed, as a pure MC, Eminem remains lightyears ahead of guys like Kanye West, for example. What must be placed under the microscope, however, is his ability to create a cohesive full-length album. This is where Kanye has trumped him over the last decade. He has continued to evolve as an artist with each passing album, changing his sound, growing and experimenting, while the now-in-his-40s Eminem has struggled to mature from a musical perspective. When Eminem announced that the title of his 2013 release would be 'The Marshall Mathers LP 2', it immediately filled many with dread - he was, after all, inviting a direct comparison with his magnum opus and, in the process, also seemingly admitting his inability to move forward, artistically. Fortunately, the MMLP2 holds up better than those people would have anticipated and also demonstrates a surprising level of self-awareness. Continue for our track-by-track breakdown.