Eminem

It's an alright album. I feel it has a similar high and low pattern in quality to Encore. Without a doubt Castle + Arose is some of his best work post-hiatus, also an awesome album closer. I also feel the marketing was something that was completely fucked up. They chose the wrong singles for the album first of all, for the most part. Believe should have had been at least one of the singles, it has that appeal to it, but barely acknowledged due to it not being promoted. And the drug ad campaign wasn't something that ever going to reach or really be acknowledged by a larger audience than his core fanbase. Besides that, Rick Rubin needs to step away from Eminem's albums. Some of his work was credible on MMLP2 which again, was a mix of highs and lows. (Could have been a decent album with the right cuts.) But, the samples felt lazy or just didn't blend with the style really anyone wants from Eminem in this day and age. Don't get me wrong, rock and rap can blend perfectly with Em's records. Look at Sing For The Moment, it was done perfectly. Another issue I feel nowadays which is somewhat apparent to a lot of people following his work after 2009 and is evident on Revival, is the bad punchlines. Although, he has the ability to be extremely poetic in his music even today. For instance, look a excerpt of 'Bad Guy' from MMLP2 -

"So, one last time, I'm back
Before it fades into black and it's all over
Behold the final chapter in a saga
Tryin' to recapture that lightning trapped in a bottle
Twice, the magic that started
It all, tragic portrait of an artist
Tortured, trapped in his own drawings
Tap into thoughts blacker and darker
Than anything imaginable; here goes a wild stab in the dark
As we pick up where the last Mathers left off."

Great lyricism, the entire last verse of that song was very memorable and well thought out.

But some of the punchlines in Revival aren't even laughable, they just sound like bad pickup lines. "Your booty is heavy duty, like diarrhea." - was he not just speaking emotionally about his deceased best friend in a couple tracks earlier? (He always referred to him as 'Dooty' as it was a name they had for each other growing up.) It just comes off in bad taste, and such lines can ruin the mood of a song. He seems very out of touch with what people want from him, and therefore has this idea of unrealistic expectations as depicted in 'Walk on Water'. And there was definitely too many pop features, more so than Recovery. "Need Me" wasn't even an Eminem song, it was a P!nk song. This yet again shows how out of touch he is nowadays. The political subject matter can be a bit overwhelming as there's just too much of it, and it seems he's trying to take shots at Trump in any way possible, even if it means lackluster attempts. (Don't get me wrong though, I despise Trump's presidency.)

Off the point of Revival and to the subject of Eminem in general, his first three albums were without a doubt hip-hop classics, as well as the 8 mile soundtrack. Encore is where his work started to seem lazy or his struggle started to show. Relapse was a fantastic horror-core conceptual album, but the accents and subject-matter isn't what fans wanted in an Eminem comeback after all the rumors of his weight problems and coming public with his sobriety. Recovery is the closest I feel, of the kind of lyricism that we'll get to The Eminem Show. Though, it doesn't lack some of the bad punchlines I touched on earlier, and the mixing wasn't great. But, the passion was there. Why? Because of the backlash of Relapse. He needs to have a reason to have that passion to put out good content.

TL;DR
His first 3 or so album run was a classic era in hip-hop as it showed a white rapper could come into the hip-hop scene in a clever way and be respected. Inspired a lot of the rappers we know today, especially with hip-hop beef which is a huge aspect nowadays. Revival is hit and miss just like his career since his comeback. It consists of, in my opinion, great - good tracks like 'Believe', 'Chloraseptic' (though, I'd consider the remix better than the album version for various reasons), 'Bad Husband' 'Framed', 'In Your Head', 'Castle' and 'Arose'. Some alright tracks, and some songs that just shouldn't be put on an album. Ideally, I'd like to see him put out one last great record and retire.

Meh his music isn't that great anymore in my opinion liked his old stuff though

It's like all the other album I think it's decent I guess.

17-02-2018, 03:38 PM

Asura Wrote: Do you guys think that eminems newest album is trash?

Love him me!!!!

Not a big fan of the new Album but the song river is pretty good to be honest.

Not trash but not good for me ....

Try Damso on spotify

I prefer the old eminem but I don't think we will be getting music like that anymore from him, he seems to be trying new sounds and exploring in his own way. For some its enjoyable and they love it, I don't like his new music at all.

I think the old stuff is just better, maybe its just too good and sets the bar to high for new albums

There's a few good songs on the album but it's not what you come to expect from Eminem. Unfortunatly a step back.

Its not bad anything eminem makes is never bad just dont like the flow much