Oct 29, 2017

Before Recovery, Eminem rarely played with puns, double/triple meanings and in general didn't have much wordplay going on. His focus was more on linear imagery, creative scenarios he'd create, like cartoonish depiction of violence for example.

But suddenly, he adopted the puns punchline game that is common in Young Money. It's always the same setup, a phrase in one line that's suddenly interpreted or associated with something different in the second line.

At first, on Recovery, Eminem's punchlines were very much in your face, "I do this - IN OTHER WORDS, it also could mean this". They relied on explanation. But after h--- The Sequel, he took the wordplay to a new level. They're no longer set up as a phrase + explanation, but are packed with multiple meanings for you to figure out. Homophones, double, triple or even quadruple entendre that connect through multiple lines while keeping a complicated rhyme scheme. It's really impressive when you think about it.

As much as MMLP2 seems random, individual songs are full of examples of this clever writing. I'm not going to write examples cause we all know the lyrics here. Pick any, there's tons of material there. Last project we heard from him was Southpaw Soundtrack and I believe this confirmed he took it to an alien level. It's incredible. Eminem himself had to explain the "backs against the wall and under a tack again as if I'm poster with this pinned up rage" line because no one annoted it on rapgenius yet. Best Friend is entirely constructed out of this sort of wordplay (stop with the focus on dropping the deuce, the verse is amazing)

But I think All I Think About is the pinnacle, prime example how far he can take it. It not only contains tons of these examples but also keeps impossible rhyme schemes, flows, style switches, etc. d---, Eminem is brilliant.

The only downside to this mastery is that he used to focus on an actual message or image he wanted to get across, you'd sit and listen like his every line was a revelation, but in these current songs there's not an actual thought getting across, it's basically a showcase of his technical abilities. Just a bunch of playful songs that he makes for fun

I'm sure his upcoming album will have something to say, but I'm glad we got to hear what he's capable of with well thought out rhymes and wordplays.

I don't think Eminem ever lost what he had, he just focused on different aspect of his writing and got it down to a T. Whatever style he chooses, he excells in it.

 

Oct 29, 2017

“Actin' like you’re Michelangelo with a f---in' cordless
b----, I'm Shredder, so you better crawl back in your shell
Or run 'fore you get injured
A f---in' Ninja Turtle wouldn’t come toward us
Two joint forces, of course this is what blunt force is
Cause we’d smoke you on any joint
Bad and Evil's back, b----”

 

Oct 29, 2017

all i think about has the best wordplay by any rapper ever

 

Oct 29, 2017

 

Oct 29, 2017

I agree that some of the stuff he says is f---ing brilliant. Like really smart and amazing.

But,when you have to listen to the track 10+ plus times and read the lyrics to actually realise what he’s just rapped, then it’s pretty s---. His delivery is f---ing dreadful most of the time now.

 

Oct 29, 2017

I didn't read OP because it's Spatula but

Relapse was a clear perfected flow/rhyme scheme but it had no substance because the man would write individual lines randomly and them mush them together on a song until they fit and then he filled out the rest. It sounds great for your ears but it's just gibberish half the time for the sake of rhyming.

Recovery Eminem noticed that no one liked Relapse meanwhile Lil Wayne was killing s--- so decided to steal his cheesy punch line bs and released an entire album of "marsh is not mellow" lines.

ShadyXV he snorted a pound of cocaine and decided to rap like Sonic the Hedgehog and took both concepts ^ and wrote some nice bars but he tries to fit too many words into every line and it comes off as tryhard. Still think Fine Line and Psychopath Killer are better than anything on Recovery.

MMLP2 is just a giant f--- fest of "I used to be so great huh well look I still am" lines and it's really boring living in the past like that. I think the only way Eminem can redeem himself to people outside of his core stan base is to ditch the double/triple time flow and go for a slow rap. Every since he tried to outdo Drake/Kanye/Wayne on Forever and make himself stand out like a douche, it's just continued to escalate. Rapping fast doesn't mean it sounds good. (I think his verse on Forever is great and foreshadowed Relapse but he took it and ran with it since then and it went too far)

 

Oct 29, 2017

thats actually a quadruple entendre you're just not intelligent enough to understand eminem

 

Oct 29, 2017

"that's an awfully hot coffee pot"