If Kanye West is the father of the 2010s' technically-scrutinised hip hop scene, Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP surely spawned the bizarro rap world of the 2000s. His impact upon society was seen as nothing less than an epidemic, a gratuitously offensive menace responsible for the degeneration of youngsters everywhere. Eminem played up to this growing reputation on his third album, referencing such criticism while threatening to do unspeakable things to his own mother on 'Kill You', before defying his short-sighted critics with 'The Way I Am'. Perverted pop culture references and deliberately provocative scenarios are thrown around with reckless abandon, but Marshall proves himself a deceptively mature songwriter on haunting masterpiece 'Stan'. Decade Defining Track: The Real Slim Shady
