That small achievement must not have sat entirely well with Eminem, who goes completely nuts on his sophomore release, The Marshall Mathers LP. While the essence remains the same -- snotty, rapid-fire raps delivered over Dre's surrealistic funk -- the words are now injected with a new industrial strength venom that make the last album seem like Hanson's Christmas disc.

Eminem not only takes spiked shots at his enemies (former lover Kim Scott, Insane Clown Posse) and MTV peers (Christina Aguilera, 'NSync, Britney Spears), he turns his incredibly offensive vitriol on sacred cows including paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve and late fashion designer Gianni Versace. And in a move certain to turn the delicate balance of the hip-hop world on its head, he even suggests bedding Puff Daddy's girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez. The man is fearless.

"On this sea, on this earth, and since birth / I've been cursed, with this curse," he raps on the so-confessional-it-hurts "The Way I Am." Indeed, if these words were coming out of anyone else's mouth they would seem obscene. But Eminem has an innocence and eloquence to his craft that is truly inexplicable. It makes lines like, "Since this chainsaw left his brains all / danglin' from his neck, while his head barely hangs on," from "Kill You," sound riveting and perversely funny. Guilty pleasures rarely get as good as this.