May 12, 2016

Recovery

 

May 12, 2016

Upon further thought I'm going with Encore. Musically, from an artistic, album making level, a full scale comprehensive attention to detail was lost thst he hadn't regained. And I enjoy his post hiatus material.

This discussion has prompted me to think about what would have happened if Eminem never dropped the accent. Like, if Paul and them just kept convincing Em The accent was good and he went the last 7 years rapping in one. Imagine how weird that'd be? The legendary angry blond rebel slim shady morphed into a reclusive veteran who's undertaken a jamican accent and no one is quite sure why.

I also wonder, when the accent was thrown out, why the f--- did all of that fantastic production have to go with it?

f--- Recovery though. Relapse had that "Eminem" feel but Recovery was beginning of a downward spiral production wise that he never recovered from. Some of his tracks still sound like s--- from an engineering standpoint. I genuinely feel I could have mixed the og release of Phenomenal better. And f--- all of his work with Boi1da and Just Blaze with that overly synthed BS. And the classic rock acid rap mix s--- doesnt mix all that well, it sounds dated, uninspired, unoriginal, it's not nearly as captivating as we've seen Eminems content from a production scale (go back and listen to 'Soldier'). Marshall needs to just beg Dre back or something.

 

May 12, 2016

There's so many ways I could say this so I'll just say it the way I feel it best.


I was around when Eminem first broke out and let me tell you, even from his Slim Shady LP days he was all out to cause controversy and shock people. If you are a genuine artist that just wants to make music, like many rappers from the hood do, they just love doing it and that's that, you don't change. Eminem over the years clearly did change and why? I'll tell you why. He wanted to feed his daughter and look after his wife. His previous attempts at being a rapper did not do that very well. When he seen people reacting and listening and talking he absolutely went with that gimmick. That was his "thing", for years prior that wasn't his thing he was just a rapper doing what he loved but he was so desperate, so down and so depressed that the smallest sign of hope and success was all he needed and rather than do what he always loved he instead gave people more of what they wanted. The more he did it. The more people listened. The more people listened. The more money came in and I do believe he thought it could end any time and it was a case of trying to keep it going as long as possible and when it ends, when his 15 minutes of fame are up at least he's got money in the bank. At least he's got a roof over his wife and daughter's heads aswell as his own. Little did he know that his 15 minutes of fame would last a very long time.

And it didn't drag out. Infact within a year he had blown up huge and just a little over that year later he dropped a brand new album which just happened to be one of the most influential rap albums in history. He didn't have time to let it slow down and think and take it in, the following year he's the biggest star on the planet and now the gimmick, the schtick, the family thing which was never mentioned in Detroit for the previous 7 years was the thing the public knew and he gave them what they wanted. The Eminem Show followed, more of the same, that was his thing, the family. In some ways it was an act, there might be half truths in there, there might be some little white lies but that was his thing and it was a thing that many young people and adults could relate to and that's how they latched onto him and he loved it.

Around this time the 8-Mile movie is being filmed and the soundtrack being recorded. I think with him doing that at the same time it must have been a shock to his system because now the film is meant to document his life and of course the word "loosely" is used just like many biopics do. They always add in some half truths and blow things out of proportion but now the media were really looking into his past. Did he really live in a trailer park? Did his Mom really have those troubles? Was there a Hip Hop Shop? Did things really happen the way he said they did cause if they didn't surely someone would speak out? Anyways not much time passed before The Source magazine leaked a tape they recieved from his past, a past which the movie didn't show and it showed him being racist and using racist slurs. This was in 2003. So now it's no longer just an act or schtick, now it's real, now the stories are starting to come out, he's spent 3 years making money off his version of his life story and now some things are coming out that he never mentioned before so that begs the question, what else has he said and done that he's not told us about?

2003 passes by fairly quickly, Eminem apologizes and things move on. The D12 World album was the first big project to be released and was a decent effort although was a sure fire sign of things to come as the album did not deliver the same punch the Devil's Night album did and for many people, D12 had recieved the Eminem touch, it had that smooth Eminem Show type feeling where nothing's quite serious and it's not really hip hop or rap it's just treading a fine line, you could say the entire group sold out in many ways. Later that year in 2004 the Encore album was released. Many tracks that were leaked in 2003 did not feature on it, those tracks by the way, the ones people wanted were the typical Eminem tracks where threats and anger were used. The Encore album in many ways was the realest one he did then because the mask slipped and probably the most heartfelt track on it was Mockingbird which sounds like a genuine love song to his daughters and it's about the only thing he seemed to really put effort into. It's almost like in 2004 if you asked him what was important in his life his answer would be his daughters. All the talk of Kim and his Mom and his depression and his anger at the world seemed to be scaled way back, almost non existant and many of the songs seemed to be just him goofing around, almost like...........going back to what he did a decade prior, before he was famous, before he had money, back when he did it just for the love of doing it. Could he have given you another SSLP? Yes. Another MMLP? Yes. Another ES? Yes. Why didn't he? His heart wasn't in it anymore. Why wasn't his heart in it? Cause all that stuff that made him famous and made people get behind him were exagerrated and it was done to get attention and any sad thing that happened to him in his life was magnified by 100% and by November 2004, probably long after he thought his 15 minutes would last he didn't have the energy to keep it up. He even says it himself in Big Weenie.............

exactly what your eyes look like, want to check to see?
Here's a mirror, notice the resemblence here?
Wait, let me put these sun glasses on
Now look in this mirror, how about now?
What do you have in common?
You're both green with envy and look like idiots with sunglasses on 'em
You look like I sound like singing about weenies
Now take my weenie out of your mouth
This is between me and you, I know you're not happy
I know you'd much rather see me lying in the corner of a room somewhere crying
Curled up in a ball tweeked out of my mind dying


Do you know what he's saying there? He's talking to the fans that loved all the threats he made, all the hate speech he did, all the controversial things and what he is saying here is, me and you are nothing alike. Look in the mirror. We're not the same, I've moved on, I've got money, I've left the hood, I'm not that guy anymore. Take my weenie out of your mouth? He's telling you to stop sucking his d-ck and telling him how great he is, he doesn't deserve it, he's just a regular guy who got lucky. And the kicker? That last part. I know you'd much rather see me lying in the corner of a room somewhere crying. What he is talking about is his Marshall Mathers LP cover, his album that everyone loves and wants him to be. They always wanted another MMLP and he knew it. He knew his own fanbase just wanted the same thing OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN and he wasn't gonna give it to you. Why? It's entertainment. It's not real life. And in November 2004? It's not his life.


With the 2009 Relapse album he again did what he wanted. A concept album. Bringing Slim Shady back, it was an album for Slim Shady fans and himself. This is where things get a bit interesting. Not only is he sober for the first time in years but now in 2009 we have social media, we have Facebook and Twitter and now more than every people can get their opinions across. Not only that but celebrities are using it. Businesses use it. Now he has to compete with that. Now his own coworkers have a direct line of communication to their own fans aswell as his. His own manager has it, in some ways he HAS to have it. It's unavoidable and with that you have forums like this, where you have these hardcore fans that no offence.........but most of you haven't bettered yourselves. Eminem did that. But many of you want the same old Eminem, you want this guy from 1999 and 2000 and even before all that, he did Relapse on his own, he in his own way thought he was giving you Slim Shady again but the backlash from a small group of fans, small, small with the loudest voice told him and I guess those around him that it wasn't good enough. A more mature sound was needed. For some unknown reason, I'm assuming money, he did that, he actually listened to these hardcore minority and gave you Recover but guess what? That's not enough because these minority are never happy so they want more angry Eminem, they want the old school style where he mouths off at everyone, he again listens to you and gives you a much tamer but interesting sequel to his MMLP album but guess what? It's not good enough.

So he brought back Slim Shady on his own for Relapse, you turned on him. You wanted the Eminem Show.
He gives you Recovery. It's just a bit too poppy. Not good enough. You want more anger.
He gives you MMLP2. It doesn't have the same anger or production as the original. Not good enough.

So what do you expect him to do? He even went back to his battle rap roots and what do you say? You want something different now?

Do you know what I think the truth is? I think there's good work to be found in all of his albums and I think forums like this are full of people that are never happy and never will be happy with anything any artist does. I think for his next album he should do another Encore/Relapse. With that I mean do something he wants to do. Not what the label wants or the fans want, something he wants to do. If he wants to goof around then let him, he's earned that right and the one thing that he did in his entire career is with every album, no matter the gimmick or schtick or theme, he always gave you at least one song where he shows you his real talent, that one song or like Big Weenie, the lyrics are sprinkled here and there on different tracks where if you really listen to what he says, he's saying to you, I know what I'm doing here, and I'm the best at this and don't you forget it. Unfortunately I think a lot of fans and artists forget that. It goes over their head and they're too quick to dismiss him where if they listened and read back some of his lyrics, on every album, every project there are those lines that just reveal the truth and they let you know, he's not a fool, he knows exactly what he's doing.


And what is that? It's being too good. 1999. Right off the bat. My Name Is. Right away. Pure confidence of, I know hip hop, I know rap, I can do it well but hey, i'm gonna have fun. And that's his whole career. Having fun and every now and then reminding you that it's not hokey or false, he really is the best, infact he's so good that he doesn't need to make entire albums full of hatred and anger anymore, he can have fun. Why is that hard for people to accept? Same reason why many of his peers don't, he became successful. What do many of his peers and fans have in common? They're still chasing a dream. Whether it's an artist trying to get a record deal and do the SAME THING EMINEM did before, feed their families and put a roof over their head or an artist who no matter how good they are or how many records they sell still think they have something to prove, Eminem rests easy knowing he's been there and done it and when you're the best at what you do you don't need to prove anything anymore and for those still trying to make it? It can happen. Same with fans that hate Fack and a--- Like That and want more If I Had and Just Don't Give A f---. Do you know they act like that? Cause they haven't changed. They are still living that life. That life where they still dream to make it big and make something of themselves. There are people to this day that in 1999 believed every word Eminem said and related to everything he said because what he talked about was THEIR LIFE, how THEY FELT, it was real, it was heartfelt but the irony is...........Eminem changed that. Now he lives in a mansion and doesn't live that life anymore yet 17 years later many of those fans are still living that same life. Some of you here are probably in that group. How many of you on here are still living the same life you did 17 years ago? Same house? Same income? Same job? Same girlfriend? Same boyfriend? Same life? That's why you crave the old stuff because the old stuff is the only stuff that speaks to you. But after 17 years you really should try to change your lifes or move on. Unless I've got it wrong and many of you on here are under the age of 17 and it's all NEW for you. It's all relatively new but man, don't hate the guy cause he changed his life for the better. Use him as inspiration. Change yours.

 

May 15, 2016

He stays old out you wish he would hold out since Jump he's shone out straight8 blow out bitchs need a husband's knot from twat rott