May 14, 2024 The easy answer is Recovery, but I’m going to choose Side B as well. Recovery has way lower lows but Side B is just consistently mid for me. It’s the first Eminem album that I can barely recite the verses. The dumbed down lyricism really affected it for me, the similes also plagued Recovery but at least there was an excuse that he was at the beginning of learning the skill, Side B is doing it purposely simple (bad). It’s a very weird project to me because it still feels like a try-hard rap album, but it never achieves any highs, it’s completely redundant following Side A. That’s all it is to me, a worse version of the original MTBMB. That’s also most likely why Revival is that bad, because Recovery already hit the mark for that style & sound. There’s no You’re Never Over on Side B, but nothing on that comes close to the peak of Going Through Changes.
May 14, 2024 Gotta agree, especially on side B low key f--- side B, it's got book of rhymes and discombobulated but I've gone back to Side A WAY more, GNAT especially aged like bread for some reason, I used to listen to that s--- a lot when it came out and now it just bores the f--- out of me I DO remember lines from side B tho but lines I don't really like, maybe that's why I don't like it lol
May 14, 2024 Like it makes sense, it’s literally Side B but I just think with the original MTBMB already being almost 20 songs there was just no need for more in that style. I would’ve rather had more Kamikaze songs because of how small that tracklist was & the content was exciting because he was firing off at the industry along with finally speaking his mind for the 1st time this side of his career, at least before the complaints about fans & critics became redundant after 3 full projects of it + features lol. Or even more from MMLP2 considering he recorded 200 songs & there’s no strict soundscape or lyrical content. It’s just unlucky MTBMB was the album that the pandemic hit on & the new wave was adding ‘Deluxe Editions’ aka full albums to increase streaming numbers for the original.
May 14, 2024 MMLP 2 for me. I think the bad habits of his career(which peaked at revival) started fully here. 1. Weak and outdated production on many songs 2. Weak/average hooks 3. Some bad delivery there and there There are some songs that I enjoy from it but overall but it’s not really an album I often feel like going back to. I prefer Recovery because I find it to be a bit more fun to listen.
May 14, 2024 The main problem is Em's always a dollar short and not because of the famous "I zigged when I should've zagged" or "moving of the goalpost" as he says, it's a reality, we got better beats and hooks on side b (from guests at least) but the lyricism took a serious hit and the "he's having fun" s--- always infuriated me lol, he's having fun in "Marsh" and it's still a good song imo, plus side B does reach the lows of side A unfortunately (Stepdad/Tone Deaf) but it doesn't have a "Darkness" or "You gon learn" in it to compensate, h--- it doesn't even have an "I will" on it, a love song with Dr. Dre is NOT it. It might sound like I despise side B but I don't, I'd bump that s--- a hundred times in a row instead of listening to Revival ever again for example, but it became a big dissapointment after the hype wore off because side A for me was a big step in the right direction and side B at times takes two steps back, I still like 3 or 4 songs from it tho (Zeus, Book of Rhymes, Discombobulated, maybe these demons)
May 14, 2024 Yeah I agree with pretty much everything here, although I will say I think there was way too many beat changes on Side B it was actually confusing on 1st listen, another example of Em running a trick into the ground once it gets praised lol. I also never listen to Book of Rhymes or Discombobulated I don’t understand their appeal at all but I know I’m in a minority for that one. I can’t believe he didn’t use a DJ Premier beat for it I was gutted when that corny a--- trap beat came on after seeing the feat credit.
