Guess who's back... Eminem returns with his 10th consecutive number 1 album "Music To Be Murdered By", which was a complete surprise to pretty much everybody. Now I'm going to try and un-pack as much of it as I can, here goes...
So yeah I may as well start with the opening track Premonition. This track very much feels like an extension of his August 2018 album Kamikaze. He sets the scene and updates us on where he is at the moment with his life. And he's still bare pissed off, I feel as though it was trying to capture the same energy as The Ringer. As hard as Premonition is, it definitely falls short of the standards of The Ringer. Still, the beat was dark and Em did sound great and it was great to hear his voice again back on an a full length LP. He did sound a little too sensitive to the media and critics opinions, but he did make valid points about how he should be credited (along with Tech Nine, Jay Z and 2 Chainz) for his longevity in the rap game. Also, "They say my last album I sounded bitter, no I sound like a spitter" was just brilliant.
The transition to Unaccommodating was pretty smooth, and Young MA sounded so comfortable on that bouncy trap beat. She sounded great, her verse does get a bit boring, so after a few listens you are just kind of waiting for Em's verse to begin. Em starts with a really good line in my opinion "Game over, Thanos, on you H-O's, on my petty (peddy) shit but I don't paint toes", immediately you know Em is gonna pull a good verse off. And he does, the flow where he says "I'm bout to say Abra-cadabra, and pull a B-Rabbit up out of the hat, I'm bout to Relapse and I betcha won't know how to react" really gasses me up every time. And just as a side note, Em donated $2M to the victims of the Manchester Bombings, before people get all upset about a lyric he said. The mayor of Manchester said Eminem's lyric was "deeply disrespectful" - I wonder how disrespected he'd feel if Em took that 2 Million Dollars back.
Royce's flow on You Gon' Learn was just phenomenal, "I'm a product of properly hoppin' up out of that poverty, Profitin' all for coppin' and swappin' that property out for a possible monopoly" - smooth as fuck. Royce kills all his features on this album, more evidence that another Bad Meets Evil mixtape would be awesome. The unknown White Gold does a great job on one of the strongest hooks on the album. The instrumental was crazy, possibly my favourite, the crazy drums reminded me of those in Lyrical Exercise by Jay Z, which I absolutely loved. The way the beat builds up throughout Eminem's verse was really hard. My highlight of Em's verse was the "Oh shit bro hold up wait, I just tripped over my cape", that bit was crazy to me, and the Tee Grizzley reply kind of blew my mind, when he's purposefully mimicking Tee Grizzley offbeat flow, "I am too volatile, too Grizzley to bear, yeah shit is getting to where I can barely even sit in the chair, I bust my ass for this shit and I swear, it ain't even worth dissing someone so off beat that they can't even figure out where their words should hit the kick, or, the, snare". Basically Tee Grizzley on his latest album said he runs Detroit and not Eminem, which is absurd because Em would never claim to run Detroit anyway, so this reply was the perfect level of acknowledgement. Em and Royce at their lyrical best here, song for the ages this one.
Those Kinda Nights had a decent hook from Ed Sheeran. Em said at the start of the song that the beat is taking him back to his D12 days, but the Devil's Night Eminem would NEVER spit some of the wack bars on this track - "I said, I'm a candle, I'll go out if you blow on me", like wtf Em? The catchy beat and unoffensive flow carry the song and its pop-appeal, but this isn't the type of music Em needs to be making. Half of me wants Em to mature out of this music, but the other half loves his immaturity, this album lacked the balance that The Marshall Mathers LP2 had so brilliantly.
The hook was alright on In Too Deep, I like Em singing his own hooks. But the instrumental and content was pretty boring, we've already had ample songs from Em about a dysfunctional relationship. In Too Deep also has in my opinion one of Eminem's worst lyrics to date, "call us long John Silver's cos we selfish (sell fish)" - I'm not sure if this one has the laugh ad-lib, but you know if it does have that laugh ad-lib that the bar is probably rubbish. The ad-lib is like Em excusing how bad the bar is, but it doesn't. Just don't say the bar, say something creative, original, clever and real instead.
I didn't care too much for Godzilla, except for the beat and the way Juice Wrld's and Em's voice intertwine so brilliantly for the hook. The hook is definitely the best part of the song. Em's rapid flow at the end was pretty impressive, but this is nowhere near the Em flow that I appreciate the most. Rap God was dope, but it should have ended then.
Darkness is the type of mature content Em could go into on a permanent basis from here on in. This is the standard of penmanship Em should be holding himself to every time he picks up the pen, forget the corny punchlines. The part where the bullets start firing and the beat changes to seem a bit brighter and hopeful really contrasts to the bullets and what Em is actually saying, is incredible, the rhyme scheme he maintains is phenomenal too. Go to 2:50 and listen to 3:55 if you wanna hear some of the greatest song-writing that will come out this decade. If nothing else just notice the rhyme scheme and how he keeps it going effortlessly, this is a masterclass in multi-syllable rhyming.
I wasn't a huge fan of Em's flow on the second verse of Leaving Heaven but he did have some cold bars at the beginning of the song. It was dark to hear Em's thoughts on his Dad even after his passing, fair play, still hates him. The hook was pretty ass. His track record with Skylar Gray is patchy at best. The only song from them I'm really into is Kill for You, Tragic Endings is decent. This bar Em says about his Dad is just rude how cold it is - "Never met your Grand-kids, fucking coward, only guts you had were from your stomach fat, I couldn't see your ass going to heaven, so I'm asking for a pass to go to hell, so I can whip your fuckin' ass, I hate that I'll never get to say I hate you to your face"
The beat on Yah Yah was a little too messy. Black Thought definitely had the best verse on the song, "I'm the King of this bloodsport on mics, I'm from the era you had beef, ya'll prolly fist fought on site". The 3 part hook was also pretty great, Q-Tip's bit being my favourite, he really glued the song together really well. I was happy for Em to have this song, having 2 legends on this song, knowing how much of a Hip Hop historian Eminem himself is, this is like a dream come true for him - to further this, the amount of classic rappers he shouts out is just ridiculous but a great moment for him and Hip Hop. In the words of Q-Tip - "My era, my era, my era, so original".
Stepdad had a unbelievably catchy hook but some terrible lyrics. It felt kinda random to me to be talking about his Stepdad here, since the only other time we've really heard about his stepdad was on Insane from Relapse.
For sure Marsh had one of the strongest beats of the album. Matching the sentiment of the chorus the beat was really spacey. That initial rhyme scheme and flow for the opening bars was awesome, "Checked in at the Royal Garden, to chill and avoid my problems, untill paranoia caused me, to feel like I'm going bonkers, for real think my toilet's talkin', I spilled like 40 bottles, of pills, think your boy's startin' to feel like a spolied carton of milk". Which goes into one of Em's best bars on the album, and surprisingly it was an attempt at a clever punchline, but this time he actually pulled it off - "My girl is cheatin' I'm kickin' that fuckin' bitch to the curb, but the word "fucking" ain't meant to be a descriptive word, the type of bitch she is, ain't no adjective it's a verb". He had a great bar in there dissing MGK too, all in all, aside from a horrible bar about Ed Sheeran (which I won't even bother quoting) this song was great. This is the type of immaturity which really made me fall in love with his music, and is also a reason I wouldn't like it if he went fully serous.
Never Love Again reminded me a bit about 25 to Life as they're both extended metaphors that parallel a dysfunctional relationship with something else. 25 to Life is about his relationship with Hip Hop disguised as a love song, and Never Love Again is the same except it is about his relationship with prescription drugs. The hook was great, his cadences were really on point on this album and the epitome of that is the chorus for this song. I wasn't a huge fan of the beat switch on the last verse, but I appreciate it was used as a progression in the song as Em finally gets over his drug addiction, and it was Em being more experimental too, which he often does in the 3rd verses of his songs.
The hook on Little Engine really is competing with Venom to see which song could have the most irritating hook. But I absolutely love it in the same way I love Venom. The stuttering flow at the end was really cool too - "Chicka ch-ch-chill like I zero, zip zip zilch, like Kaepernick I got kn-kn-kneel, word to Goodwill-will, this must be how bein' hood-rich feels, was a ghetto (geto) boy, now I ball out (eyeball out) like Bushwick Bill".
The transition from Little Engine into Lock it up is one of the best I've heard period. So smooth, even smoother than the Unaccommodating to You Gon' Learn transition. Another very strong song, they both had great chemistry, both Anderson Paak and Eminem sounded great on this quality beat. Anderson Paak's flow and delivery was class at the start, "Say bro, where you get that from, Detroit? THAT MACHINE GUN" Em rides the beat perfectly in his second verse and it was classic screw-face Em that we've grown to love over the years. The best bar from that song from Em being "What I am is better than every single on of you, whether separate or all of you band together".
I never thought I'd hear No Games by Serani sampled on an Eminem song, but on Farewell that is exactly what we got. Sort of a good vibes song from Em which is very rare, but it sounded great, great sampling and the flow and delivery was noice.
Then No Regrets was another solid song as we near the close of the album. Em sounded good, this flow is one I'd be happy to hear from Em nowadays. Great introspective song from Em which we love from him, we didn't get too much of that on this album. "My enemies ain't put an end to me yet" is my favourite line from this tune.
And there it is, the final track I Will. Finishing with a lyrical banger. This track could easily be on a Slaughterhouse album, and further evidence that Slaughterhouse should definitely release that final album (even if Joe ain't on it). I could pick up highlights from all their verses, so I'll just leave it to see if you can take a listen and decide your favourite bar. Also, an epic hook from Em which grows in intensity for the duration of the song, great stuff.
Overall, I like this album. My biggest gripe is the corny punchlines that are so unnecessary. The way I think of wordplay is, if it takes you out of the song then for me it isn't good wordplay, and that did happen a few times on this album. The wordplay should be smart and creative and be embedded in the song nicely and the content. For example wordplay about "Euthanasia (youths in Asia) and "Kids in Taiwan" in a song about his Stepdad just didn't do it for me. I fell in love with Eminem's music for how creative and real his lyricism was, not for wordplay or even punchlines like that. I thought with Kamikaze we got past the wack punchlines that we had in Revival, but it just seems like they've started to creep back in a little. But for every bad bar there are 2 good ones with a liquid flow, so for that, this album does move closer to the fire end of the spectrum, rather than trash.
At first I thought this song didn't have enough personal and introspective songs and there wasn't much to take from the album, however I have gone back on that now, this album is "mood music in a jugular vain" and is an exploration of murder/death and everything around it, so not having too many personal songs wasn't actually that damning at all.
I would like Em to move passed this 'pissed off' stage now. Although he's rapping great, he can make good music still when he's not mad. In fact The Marshall Mathers LP2 is better than both Kamikaze and Music To Be Murdered By and he wasn't particularly annoyed then, so I know he can do it fine.
Music To Be Murdered By has an amazing start, a patchy middle and a superb ending.
Star Track - You Gon' Learn
7.25/10
If I could say anything to Em now, I'd like to think I'd say this: Going forward, don't feel the need to rush anything. Stop forcing wordplay, that isn't what you are best at. Rather than that, keep up producing these incredible flows, cold lyrics and you will maintain being the realist and illest MC on the mic. You're still the GOAT in my eyes and your longevity is seriously impressive. Don't stress too much about what the fans and the critics say. Anyone who understands Hip Hop knows how sick you are and how much of a legend you are. You have a cosign already from your heroes like Dr Dre, Rakim and LL Cool J, it doesn't get better than that. Your pen games is not to be fucked with, just know that.
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