8/11/2019 Marshall Mathers LP 1+2 Album cover analysis

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Marshall Mather’s LP 

Marshall Mather’s LP2

The hermeneutic code would be the ‘Barthes Code’ that

would some up both Marshall Mather’s. The album cover

is filtered in a ‘ghostly’ way, as though the artist is ‘a

nobody’ or doesn’t belong in the picture  –  his facial

expression shows he doesn’t care and is unaffected by the

world. The album doesn’t reveal much towards the

listeners. It’s odd to the listeners why the artist is in this

 particular location, in front of a run-down house, with this

ghostly filter.

Firstly I feel the tree on the left of the album cover createsa lot of dark, shady spaces –  perhaps hiding the powerful

negatives of his depressing, struggling upbringing he

highlights in this album.

Binary Opposite’s: 

To other rappers in the industry, Eminem’s

album cover doesn’t feature any of the

typical characteristics of a rapper. An

example of rap characteristics would be the

album cover below (guns, cars, bikini

women).

Representation:

Eminem would have been aged 27 when this

album was released. Considering the modern

rap industry, all the rappers tend to be at a

really young age when producing songs and

albums. With also the exception that most

rappers do not have a long career –  due to the

changing markets and trends. However

Eminem’s career has been continuing for 18

years and is being regarded as the best rapper

of all time, with so many hit songs.

Social Class:

It appears that Eminem

would represent in a

low social class,

wearing cheap clothing

and rapping about his

experiences. Most

rappers rap about their

success, money and

 popularity, howeverEminem doesn’t. 

The semantic code could represent this album cover as it’s a rich image of

Eminem’s house of which he grew up in. The rich image is recreated from the

original Marshal Mather’s album cover, of which was a big success. I feel this

album cover was created to set aside the differences, to bury the problems that

he expressed in his first album, the powerful memories he has, Eminem has

revisited that in this album, burying the problems/.

This could be shown by the tree which still stands, but doesn’t create the

darkness which covered the left side of the original album. Perhaps

symbolising that he has got ridden off the darkness in his minds and songs.

There is also the fact the building itself is now abandoned and deteriorated

since the first album –  this could symbolise change, the artist itself doesn’tfeature in the picture –  again could symbolise the changes he has made (forexample, creating massive rap albums, making money and moving his family

out of the area.

Representation:

Eminem, aged 41 released Marshall Mather’s LP 2, which again was amassive success in the rap industry. A continuing story, carrying on from his

original Marshall Mather’s –  again which won many awards for the best rap

albums ever created. Aged 41 in the rap industry is very impressive,

considering the modern industry features much younger artists than enimen.

However Eminem has worked hard to produce amazing songs and albums,

earning fans trust and respect to deliver a good song/album.

The ghostly filter remains on

this album as it did on the

original album. This mayshow how far he has come

and the first album is still a

 part of him.