It's No. 1 all the way for Eminem

The video of Eminem’s new single Love The Way You Lie is out, and it is just as arresting as the hit tune. Rihanna, who collaborated with Eminem in the song for his latest album Recovery, is of course in it and they look and sound good together. A sleek, very smooth combination. The video also features Megan Fox of the big grossing Transformers flicks and Dominic Monaghan who was in the cast of the phenomenal TV series Lost and one of the hobbits in The Lord Of The Rings. Megan and Dominic play a couple in an abusive relationship. Now Rihanna knows a thing or two about that. And so does Eminem. In fact, his experience with abuse provided him with ample materials for his early efforts.

That was the Eminem we met in his early years. Although he ditched Marshall Mathers to become Eminem or occasionally, Slim Shady. He never quite got over his painful childhood or his unhappy marriage. And so he wrote songs about those. In a way, I thought he was using his music to make sense of all that has happened to him. The tack did not really work with me. I admired the way his albums were put together but, why dwell on so much unhappiness. So I would sometimes skip the cut when he gets too deep into his recriminations, although I would always think that the guy is one intelligent artist who knows how to get the best out of hip-hop.

The album Recovery is no different. Move on guy! But there are changes on the positive side. There is more experimentation. Having Pink rock in Won’t Break Down is a nice touch and having the easy-going Lil Wayne in No Love brought a striking contrast to his heavy style. He also now pokes fun at himself. Cold Wind Blows and Almost Famous are almost funny. And he has here some of his best melodies, Talkin’ 2 Myself featuring Kobe, Going Through Changes, Cinderella Man, and the best of them all Space Bound. The latter is so different from any that Eminem has done before and I would love to see it as the next single.

The other songs are On Fire, W.T.P., Seduction, To Life, So Bad, You’re Never Over and Not Afraid, the CD’s first single release which also made it to No. 1. All of the cuts are well-written, excellently produced and make up what must be Eminem’s best work to date. One of these days, he might just want to say thank you to his mother and his ex-wife for turning him into the mature, intelligent and big-selling artist of Recovery. Would you believe that the album is now being lauded as the album of the year.

I do not think getting that honor will surprise anybody. As you can see in these lists, Eminem is now the No. 1 guy in Billboard Magazine’s Top 200 Albums and Hot 100 Singles lists. I didn’t check the other tabulations like Hip-Hop or Digital Tunes or those from other countries. But there is a strong chance that Eminem is also No. 1 in several of those lists. He is really now on top of the world. Let us wait and see what trophies he will get in the upcoming MTV Video Music Awards in September where he is up for wins in eight categories.

Here are the Top 10 CDs in the Top 200 Albums: Recovery by Eminem; The Suburbs by Arcade Fire; Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, the soundtrack of the new Disney movie by Various Artists; Order Of The Black by Black Label Society; My World 2.O by Justin Bieber; All About Tonight by Blake Shelton; Teflon Don by Rick Ross; 31 Minutes To Takeoff by Mike Posner; Kidz Bop 18 by the Kidz Bop Kids; and Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold.

The Top 10 tunes in the Hot 100 are: Love The Way You Lie by Eminem featuring Rihanna; Dynamite by Taio Cruz; California Gurls by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg; I Like It by Enrique Iglesias featuring Pitbull; Teenage Dream by Katy Perry; Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner; DJ Got Us Falling In Love by Usher featuring Pitbull; Mine by Taylor Swift; Airplanes by B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams; and Ridin’ Solo by Jason Derulo.