Dec 9, 2017 Relapse, Recovery and MMLP2 were good albums, but since his hiatus, while he has displayed greatness in bits and pieces, he hasn't put out a stand-out project. I think Revival will be this project because, not only is he trying to come back, but because he is at the apex of his artistic freedom. It felt like, in previous projects, he had to put on a persona. Relapse tried to please his horrorcore/comedy fans. Recovery had the strain of proving to the masses he can be a serious MC, fit in with the mainstream and rap about personal relationships. With MMLP2, Em tried to bridge the gap between both sides of his fans, as well as some nostalgia. In the end, all 3 albums had pros and con; none of them completely outdid the other. With Revival, it seems Em doesn't care about pleasing people anymore. Walk on Water isn't for everybody, but it's perfect at what it does: it's spoken word, no percussion, honest lyrics, great singing. Untouchable is also politically divisive, but it's also one of his most inspired tracks about new subject matter. The production is excellent, the flow and beat changes up. The song definitely shows a lot of effort and attention was paid to it. Em really doesn't care if a vocal minority of fans think he's a p---- for speaking up for social justice or his weaknesses. He already has his money, prestige in rap and millions of fans. So far, it seems like this not caring about what critics think in the right way.
Dec 9, 2017 Eminem has been my second favorite rapper since day 1. But nah, this is gonna be one of his worst albums, on the level of Relapse. Maybe even worse. He's gone full PC SJW now and that's the opposite of the Eminem I became a Stan of. The Eminem I know would have dissed and made fun of SJW's. I mean, c'mon now, how many times has Eminem said f-- or fa---- in all of his music? And now he's white shaming people? I'll be dammed if I let a drug addict who use to rap about raping his mother try to white shame me...
Dec 9, 2017 The intro adds a gravitas, then the guitars quickly come in. He's done rock instrumentals before, but this one feels more like an organic instrumental than a sample. The song doesn't follow a basic structure. Then, in the middle the beat calms down into some interesting Outkast-like sound so can speak his thoughts clearly. Then the beat changes again. But the song feels cohesive. The song is cohesives, the verses look at different perspectives, his tone and mood changes too. It feels like a full song. I'm not saying it's equal to Stan, but it reminds of Stan that he's trying to express a complete thought rather than just string together a couple of dope verses.
Dec 9, 2017 The Eminem you knew was a product of record label marketing him as a troublemaker and controversy starter. But really, Em is just a regular guy who probably just hangs out, texts on his phone, watches TV and plays basketball, like many other guys. His views on race and social justice didn't fit within his hardcore or silly image, so he didn't really express them at the time. Let's be real here. Why would Em making a SJW song be any more of a sin than if Lady Gaga did it? Why do artists have to fit a certain tough-guy mold or whatever? I think Biggie was confined in this way too. Biggie was just a young looking kid, but posters and music videos were angled in a certain way to make him look like a thug. I don't think Biggie was given much room to rap about much other than women, cars and ganster life, even though he was a super chill dude. I think at this point, Em knows that his real fans won't leave him just because he's liberal. There are several artists who have views I strongly disagree with and I still listen to them. Hate to say it bro. But you were worshipping a false image of what Em actually was constructed by a PR team. Additionally, I want to say that it's not all or nothing. Maybe Em is a person that feels there are strong racial injustices, but also likes to agitate people that take the issues too far. People don't have to be defined labels one way or the other.
Dec 10, 2017 I definitely think it will be his best since TES. I keep my fingers crossed. Also for the sales, just to shut the f--- up his haters and fell off fans who came to listening to music only in cars.
Dec 10, 2017 What I'm worried about the most is the cohesiveness/consistency. MMLP2 wasn't that great in that regard. I feel like Recovery may be his most cohesive post-hiatus project. Not that it should be the no.1 thing an album should aspire to but it certainly should be one of the top priorities. Walk on Water and Untouchable, while both good songs, suggest the album won't be very cohesive. Of course, hard to say for certain since I haven't heard the whole album yet but I do worry a bit. MMLP2 feels more like a mixtape than an album. I don't know though. Walk on Water was a sign of potential greatness but honestly, Untouchable is not that great. And again - it's incohesive. Everybody is praising the beat switch but I don't like it. That's just my personal opinion though. Also, there's the objectively bad mixing. His voice sounds distorted sometimes, some parts are randomly louder than others, the whole songs sounds like it barely dreamed of some final mastering. And that has been a problem with MMLP2. Recovery to a certain degree too. This whole thing just makes me confused. The weird promotion, unsatisfying production...
Dec 10, 2017 Awesome post. It’s dope that you showed some real perspective. But just for the h--- of it I’ll play devils advocate and ask what if it’s the other way around? And the “liberal” Eminem is the one who’s being shoved down throats for marketing reasons. He never seemed to be the type to agree with the popular opinion until it became a trend to diss trump. Let’s be real... someone who’s current music failed to meet the standards that he thought they would could easily have a micromanager like Paul Rosenberg say “hey.. everyone’s dissing trump.. you should do it too but use the same shock value you used to in your old music”. And Eminem’s popularity amongst pop culture hasn’t been this big in over a decade until he dissed trump at the BET awards. Once again my man, not disagreeing with what you’re saying I hope you don’t think I’m showing disrespect. Just thought I’d throw out this idea for the sake of conversation.
Dec 10, 2017 Completely agree, let’s just hope the rest of the album is on par or better than the tracks we got, this album is 8/10 for me so far with these tracks alone.
Dec 10, 2017 That doesn't explain how he has completely lost the ability to rap. The SJW thing doesn't bother most fans, it's his god awful choppy flow / delivery that he uses. That and his horrible production / beat choices. Someone find that PR team and bring them back ASAP!
Dec 10, 2017 True, Em was also so f---ing "misogynist" during his Slim Shady days. He'd talk about raping his mom, ex or even killing them. But have we heard about him raping or killing anyone of those two ladies, or any girls for that matter. Slim Shady is just a gimmick, his alter ego, that was born out of his tortorous childhood. Label created it because it was something never seen before, just to mint money. Eminem is the real person who actually feels and responds to whatever he feels. When you all want Slim Shady back, y'all don't want Em back in form, you just want him to don that fake, controversial persona that ended up making him a success.
Dec 10, 2017 If Em had gone the Relapse route without giving a f--- what the fans said, and if fans hadn't shat on that album they'd later call a it a "Classic" he'd much position now mentally and musically.
Dec 10, 2017 I don’t mind him stating his opinion I’m a bit concerned by the mixed messaging for the ALBUm though What the h--- was that Revival Drug ad about? The cover is clearly political. The songs so far have been entirely unrelated in style structure and content. It’s all quite eclectic. I’m intrigued to hear this album though