The Three Faces Of Eminem

Eminem's great shtick is to be simultaneously inside and outside himself. Several tracks re-enact his 2000 arrest for assaulting a man he saw kissing his now ex-wife. He describes his uncontrollable feelings on "Say Goodbye Hollywood" while bringing in expert witnesses to comment on his stupidity. A voice-mail message from his manager becomes a spoken interlude in which Eminem is scolded like an impulsive child: "I told you not to f_____ bring your gun around like an idiot outside of your home."

In the persona of Marshall Mathers, Eminem's gift for self-scrutiny turns insufferably narcissistic. Marshall is deeply wounded, hates his parents but loves his daughter. About his dad, who left him when he was a baby, Marshall says, "I wonder if he even kissed me goodbye/ No I don't; on second thought, I just f_____ wish he would die." On "Hailie's Song", he sings in a surprising falsetto, "My baby girl keeps getting older, I watch her grow up with pride/ People make jokes, 'cause they don't understand me/ They just don't see my real side." Mathers has a weakness for sentimentality.

"The Eminem Show" doesn't have many Marshall songs, but it still sags after the halfway point before rallying to regain some of its bluster. There are two horrible songs: "Drips", a duet with D12's Obie Trice, is the dumbest sex romp since the Luther Campbell era; "Sing for the Moment", a licensed rip-off of Aerosmith's Dream On, substitutes a musty hit for any new emotion.

But the interplay among the three Eminems works. Call it a metaphor for the fragmented consciousness of the modern American white guy or call it a gimmick — it's well constructed and seriously considered. The characters occasionally blend, but if "The Eminem Show" were seamless, it would be high art, not pop. Terrific production, mostly by Eminem, helps add cohesion.

Those who actually listen to rap know that it's rarely as nihilistic as the moral gatekeepers claim. On "The Eminem Show", there's less offensive material than on his previous two albums, but Eminem still disrespects men by calling them "fags," and women are unfailingly "bitches." Of course, Eminem would argue that these are the thoughts of his characters and that he's entitled to his artistic point of view. "The Eminem Show" makes it a lot easier to believe he has one.