Oct 27, 2025 Relistened to The Death of Slim Shady today. Soon after release I realized something that is even more prominent after more than a year later. This is a very unfocused execution of a concept he should be at home with. The whole problem he is positing and then solving here is his playground, he had all the time and all knowledge anyone could have to present a case and resolve it. Slim Shady is his creation, he should have had this concept down to a T and presented interesting opposite voices that play off each other. Instead, he has no idea what he is trying to achieve. The Slim Shady here is not what Slim Shady is, so immediately it misses the mark. Then this Slim Shady does not actually say anything worthy of being cancelled, and there is no story through songs except in skits before, during, or after songs. That's not what a concept album with cohesive story is. I relisten to the first part of the album often as individual songs, because they are not at all tied to the album. Slim Shady is supposedly running wild, as seen in Houdini video, but he's not really in the songs. Lilly Allen just released a concept album that is what this album should have been. Although in her case I find it boring soap opera, but here it could have worked great. Then we have the climax, Guilty Conscience 2, which is even misnamed because this is more like My Darling 2. This was the opportunity to express all his inner conflicts and present a strong case for both characters, so you don't know who to root for. But Slim Shady is just obliterating Marshall, and all Marshall has to say is "yea, uh-uh, b----, you talk s---" Why is it good Slim dies? He made no case for Marshall at all. Then comes that confusing skit. Is it a dream within a dream? Is Slim really dead? Who cares? Because following songs have the same amount of Slim like the previous did, and as previous albums did. Eminem really dropped the ball with this one. It's a concept that is uniquely his, he had everything to make it cohesive and interesting, but it did nothing and went nowhere. This is not a good album. The second half of the album is worthless basically. Just some leftover songs. I expected Eminem to bring his A game on this. He should have and could have done better.
Oct 27, 2025 Well, he is pretty mid now. I always look forward to new Em projects but I think MTBMB was our last chance at getting a few sonically pleasing songs. Don’t get me wrong there’s a bunch of sonically pleasing music on TDOSS but most of the ones I would point to are dug up from old unreleased stuff. Even the best sounding song on MTBMB Side A/B is a dug up old track. As a side I still really like the way GNAT sounds, it’s a really smooth sounding modern track, it’s just full of a bunch of easily dated Covid-19 bars and aged like milk because of them, and the hook being references to f---ing MGK lol. I think the only tracks off TDOSS that are completely new that I like for casual listening are Fuel and Tobey. I appreciate the emotional songs but I cannot stand Jelly Roll belting out lyrics. SUM BAHDY SAAAAVE MEEEEEE
Oct 27, 2025 Ultimately if Eminem releases another project I will be super pumped and hype but deep down ik we’ve probably completely missed the boat for a truly great modern sounding Em album. All the pieces are there with some of his features like Lord Above where he absolutely ate up that soul beat with a really nice and unique flow, and stuff like Fuel Discombobulated and GNAT that prove he can sound good with modern rappers on modern beats but when it comes down to album time it’s all a disjointed mess and has seemingly no bar of quality he’s trying to achieve at all with either lyrics or production.
Oct 27, 2025 Eminem hasn't released a cohesive album I can listen to and enjoy from beginning to end since 2002, and hasn't released a (near) perfect album since 2000, so safe to say the train is out of the station on anything approaching a classic album (Death of Slim was cool but not even close). I came to grips with that years ago so that I'm never too disappointed. As long as the next album has at least 1 song with high replay value I'll be satisfied.
Oct 27, 2025 I feel like for me, eminem has been pretty good in his late career. I think a lot of artists die off and hes held at an unfair standard BUT I do feel he doesnt know what to do anymore, death of Slim Shady didnt really make much sense. The commercials were the coolest part and if he could have executed that concept on the album it would have been super dope. Dr. Dre should have killed Slim Shady, and there should have been an abundance of guests as suspects as Slim went off one final time saying all types of outlandish s---. The whole album could have played out like a murder mystery Just poor, lazy execution in my opinion. He needs to lean into a project fully instead of trying to please people. At this point if I was him id rather have a well respect album than worry about sales.
Oct 27, 2025 Not really. I like Relapse and it's nearly a classic Eminem album but I could easily remove 3 maybe 4 tracks... add Music Box and Buffalo Bill (yes the hook is a little cringe) and you've got a 9/10 Horrorcore album.
Oct 27, 2025 Get rid of Insane, My Mom, Hello (can't stand the hook) Add Music Box , My Darling, CWYWF
Oct 27, 2025 I like the verses but I could never get into the hook unfortunately. For me Music Box, Darling and CWYWF trump Hello.
Oct 27, 2025 You listened to that one 100% more than I did. He's frankensteining his way to full album-length the last two projects. It's sloppy and lazy. Also, he's pulled this before -- MM2 was this same sort of mismatched mess.
