Jun 21, 2022 Honestly, Eminems biggest problem right now, in my humble opinion, is his overuse of the simile. Ever since Side B came out, I can't even LISTEN to an Eminem song that was made post-MMLP2 without manually hearing the "LIKE" setup, every two or three bars, and it really hampers my ability to even enjoy some of his better s---, since it's peppered so thoroughly throughout even his best modern releases. I think this overdependance on "LIKE" bars and similes is a combination of a few things. Firstly, he's been around for 20+ years. What does he have to talk about that wouldn't retread over previously discussed topics? Not much. Here's the thing, though; not wanting to rap about things you've already rapped about is fine, but has he not been rapping about just similes and puns for the better part of 5 years? That's worse than rehashing an overdose or Proof track. Whereas before, his motivation for rapping came from not only his experiences as an individual, but the cultural tides ebbing that he felt as well, he now only raps for the sake of making puns and similes. Secondly, I think this is an issue of confidence. I think something happened between MMLP2 and Revival that kneecapped and crippled his confidence. Rather than take risks and branch out into different veins of sound, he'd rather just spam generic trap beat after generic trap beat, rehashing old, tired similes. He doesn't do this because it's better, he does it because it's easier. It makes him feel like a technical genius, while actually doing very little. And it's sad to see.
Jun 21, 2022 f---... What if the main campaign of the Eminem Game was Infinite - MMLP2, and everything after are just bonus DLC side quests, made by the smaller dev team in Asia?
Jun 21, 2022 How about talking about stuff that aren't personal to him? Em's music has always been about him. His life, his problems, his skills, his mother, his wife, his daughters, etc. But with his talent and knowledge he could tackle topics such as poverty (without talking about when HE WAS poor), the music industry in general (I heard songs from Twenty One Pilots and even Ed Sheeran regarding this that were very interesting), Cancel Culture, Feminism, Politics, etc. Without making it about HIM. I'm not black. Yet I still can relate to a lot of the s--- Tupac says in his music, even to this day. And even if I can't connect some of his lines directly to myself, I can understand the points he's trying to make, which helped me see the other side of things early on in my life. I think that's why a lot of people say that while they recognize Em's got a lot of talent, they can't relate to Eminem's music. Because unless you've had problems with most of your family members and women you've dated, or felt like you were the odd one out at some point in your life, then it's going to be hard to feel most of his music.
Jun 21, 2022 On revival he talked about trump, police issues, gun control.. yet people still hate on it!!
Jun 21, 2022 But still its incredible how such an average album like Revival can end w Castle/Arose so beautiful
Jun 21, 2022 I still believe that an Relapse concept type album would bring the best out of him. Over the years, at least for me, the Relapse type tracks are some of the best he has released after Relapse.
Jun 21, 2022 He didn't really dumbed down his lyrics. Em was never an intellectual, let's agree on that. He had so much to talk about and he had a life like a movie, he had drama that intellectual or not many people can easily connect to. And he had his way with words but Sheakespeare comparisons are always a bit over the top to me. His choice of words were always simpler compare to most poets and that was actually nice because it suppossed to be that way to come out as a better music. He doesn't have any of the issues, problems he had back then to talk about now. Plus, he is into technicality of rap lately. Actually, he probably was like that since the beginning but I believe guys like Dre, Bass Bros helped him a lot with his medium. He wasn't s--- back then so it was very easy to influence him and point him towards different musical / artistic ways. Now, he is on top of the world. It's hard to really make him dubb down his technicality maybe even for Dre. He had mature content on Revival, he was wiser aight but musically nobody liked it, it was the biggest flop of his career and people didn't even appreciate his very mature content like Like Home, Untouchable etc. I think Revival and reaction to it kinda f----- that chance of us having a more wise / mature content by Em. Again, he was never a intellectual to begin with so at this point, Revival is the wisest we can get from him content wise... But I wouldn't overthink over this Elvis track. It was for just a bs soundtrack album which nobody would care. He just tried to go mainstream or maybe even he didn't try anything at all. He was probably paid for that song nice and that was it. He'll have better content, better stuff for his next album. I'm sure we are in for wiser writing and content there. I think his wiser written stuff are very very much overlooked bc his sound is not as good, mainstream as it was back then. Even, I as a huge fan don't listen to his stuff much for the last few years. I usually listen to deep house, authentic edm etc. Sometimes jazz, funky, reggeaish s---, sometimes old classics but I don't listen to rap music much anymore. And the most streamed rap music doesn't even sound like rap music at all. Imagine the same vocals on pop beats and they are just pop songs with meh lyrics barely talkin about anything and autotune singing. Only thing making them rap is the heavy trap beats lol...
Jun 21, 2022 I agree with some of the criticism I read on here but there are really weird takes too. He clearly is at a point where he just has fun and likes to rhyme words, trying different flows and making similes as main focus in his music. I get why someone is not happy with it but y'all can't tell me he is not addressing social issues or having conscious songs anymore when his last two projects have songs about mass shooting, police brutality, the state of hip hop, covid, advicing younger rappers, cancel culture and more. And I don't want to come off as a stan who's gonna defend him no matter what because I agree with the overuse of similes and the overtechnical approach he is having lately that clearly take away something but it is what it is. Plus I don't care, this Elvis song is cool and it will probably be used during the movie credits so it makes sense to be a fun, light, dumb song and not some conscious "I am white and stole hip hop like Elvis did with rock".
Jun 21, 2022 Apart from all the criticism, which is quite justified, I'm glad that Eminem after all these years in the game is still trying to do something new. New beats, new flows. Of course, the content remains the same over long stretches, but he always tries to pack it in a new style. Edit: And wasn't Side B actually what so many wanted? Chill flow, not overly technical bars and good for the ear to hear At least for me, its his best sounding album since Relapse
Jun 21, 2022 I do wonder if people talk about other artists the way people here do about em Like, do people talk about every future leak how much he talks about the same subject or uses the same beat. Or about drake that he almost never has anything interesting to say (etc, for example)
Jun 21, 2022 It’s only eminem they do that to. But then we get called “Stan’s” when we say s--- like that. Everything he does is studied under a microscope lmao I swear to god
Jun 21, 2022 I think Em never was about relatable music like that. He was an artist who'd lend you a window to see his soul through music. And he was smooth with it. Most people loved it even when he wasn't being relatable because his commentary in general was hilarious and witty. That was his USP according to me. What's happened since then is that somehow his own personality has become somewhat of a caricature of his old self. That's why he keeps talking about the same things (having money, getting over drug addictions, being victimized when young in the least insightful and interesting ways) now because he's unable to delve deep into his own psyche. He thinks when people refer to his old self, it's really just about mindless violence and misogynistic humor, when it was always much more than that. 'I don't do black music, I don't do white music/ I make fight music for high school kids'. The deterioration since Relapse has been so slow that there's no definitive point as to when he started losing that edge. But he still has some gems where he's brutally honest and insightful, that's why I always stay hopeful of a solid comeback. Evil Twin But all bs aside, I hit a stride Still Shady inside, hair every bit is dyed As it used to be when I first introduced y'all to my skittish side And blamed it on him when they tried to criticize 'Cause we are the same, b---- Walk on Water It's the curse of the standard That the first of the Mathers disc set Always in search of the verse that I haven't spit yet Will this step just be another misstep To tarnish whatever the legacy, love or respect, I've garnered? The rhyme has to be perfect, the delivery flawless And it always feels like I'm hitting the mark 'Til I go sit in the car, listen, and pick it apart Like, "This s--- is garbage" God's given me all this Still I feel no different regardless Kids look to me like as a God, this is r-----ed If only they knew, it's a facade and it's exhaustive And I try to not listen to nonsense But if you b------s are trying to strip me of my confidence Mission accomplished I'm not God-sent Nas, Rakim, Pac, Big, James Todd Smith, and I'm not Prince, so
Jun 21, 2022 That's simply because Eminem's discography in general is an interesting topic of discussion. Future is pretty much the same in every album whereas Em brings different ideas to who Eminem is in each of his album. Future's also not the in the same lyrical bracket as Eminem so the former's fan base doesn't have much to discuss about. Any form of discussion in general is good though. The way Em is dissected and critiqued might be unique to him, but if anything, Eminem fans and Eminem in general should take that in his stride.
Jun 21, 2022 I'm pretty sure, that his next album will have a new sound to it. Otherwise he wouldnt take that much time to releae it
