New on DVD

Eminem

Live from New York City | Eagle Vision

By BEN WESTHOFF | December 3, 2007

3.0 Stars

Nowadays, hip-hop is about drug dealing, cash, and rims. But there was a time, not so long ago, when rapping about raping your mother and strangling people with candy bars was au courant. Eminem brought a truly bizarre persona to mainstream rap, and his new live CD — filmed two years ago on the New York stop of a farewell tour — gives you an idea of just how exhausting it is to be him. His stage show includes costume changes, a multimedia drama of sorts (he considers killing himself), and elaborate set pieces (he muses on Mariah Carey and then proceeds to vomit into a toilet). At the center of it all are Em’s demons, his ex-wife, his mother, and his fans. Has there been a better song this decade than “Stan”? Although he does only one verse of it here, you can hear the creativity and the rage — and you hope they haven’t been extinguished.

Related: Smack downer, When it pours it rains, Flashbacks: July 21, 2006, More

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