Aug 31, 2018

ik this site generally has a hate boner for faster rap, but it works just fine on this album and it's not a flaw here imo

probably just not your taste

also can't agree with regards to replay value, this is easily his most replayable release in years, dude finally sounds GOOD again and the production is nice

 

Aug 31, 2018

Finally an actual hip hop album from eminem.

 

Aug 31, 2018

I find myself compelled to tip my hat to the man. I came here this morning to b----. I heard that Eminem was releasing a tie-in song for "Venom", an idea between 10-20 years out of date, and it made me cringe to the core. So yeah, colour me surprised when I hear an album has materialized.

Em dropped the pop beats, the rock-rap, the girly hooks, added rap features, trimmed the fat, avoided another s-----y album roll out and actually surprised me with this release. That cannot be understated for me. The music will have to settle, but Eminem as a character and rapper is just about perfect here. The defiant energy is back. He is calling names and being petulant, but more importantly honest. This is particularly cathartic to me. 8 years ago, Eminem had a similar point to prove and I found it really disappointing that he spent so much of Recovery apologizing. Not this time. The flows are fast yet mostly interesting. His voice is decent. I was way too happy to see Paul return. g.d. nostalgia.

The back half is weaker than the front. The beats are an improvement but still not great all around. Some duds. Way, way better than Revival but I'm not going crazy. It's probably a 6/7. Fair play to Eminem though. If he can stay in this kind of space, there is more to enjoy ahead, and I haven't thought that about him in a while.

 

Aug 31, 2018

Listened to it through all the way once, then skimmed through it a 2nd time..that's more than I ever thought I'd do for a new Em album again.
It's good. I like about half the songs and it's definitely a nice surprise out of nowhere and better than I thought Em would do again. I'm more happy for him and his legacy etc than happy for the album itself. But it's fun, Em is pissed, Em dropped a fun solid album again. It's unbelievable really if you think about it, to me at least it is..

I don't know exactly how this album will be to me long term, if I'll go back to it a lot etc..But I'd give it like a 6.5 or 7/10 for now. Didn't like the 2nd half of the album nearly as much as the first, most of the last few songs kinda s----d imo. Ringer is probably my favorite track for now.

 

Aug 31, 2018

Since the Kamikaze thread is a gigantic circle jerk, thought we could take some time to discuss this like normal, well-adjusted grownups

I'm really enjoying a lot of things about this. Lots of that old genius shining through, especially on The Ringer, Kamikaze and Fall. Production choices are really nice for the most part. Incredible to hear Ronny J, Mike Will, Tay Keith on here. And its just good to hear him have something interesting to rap about (even though going at 'mumble rappers' is pretty cringe, I guess we can let it slide given the context of the album itself). He definitely sounds hungry again.

But this project has some serious flaws too. That Tech-N9ne/Joyner Lucas flow is plain garbage, I dont know how anyone can stand it (speaking of Lucas, his feature is seriously weak, Royce was nothing exciting either). I mean why not rap more like on Stepping Stones? His flow is actually great on there, not like this constipated heart attack bs he's been doing ever since Recovery. There's way too many times where he just goes off on the nonsensical syllable-cramming 100-bar rants that just give me a headache.

Overall, nice little comeback project, very little replay value. Hoping he keeps up the momentum and I'm interested to see what the feedbacks gonna be, especially that bar about Tyler. But there's no ways in h--- this is more than 6 / 10.

thoughts?

 

Aug 31, 2018

Normal, Lucky You and the last 3 songs are not good. Venom had potential to be on some My Darling type s--- but it comes off sounding like another Monster & Doritos anthem.

I do agree, the rest is really good. The Ringer and Fall are d--- near masterpieces. But thats only like 5 songs out of 13 tracks. Pretty sure you'll all be changing your minds in a few months once the hypes worn down

 

Aug 31, 2018

true, time will tell (and it won't ever hit relapse for me personally, that's just not happening)

however, in the moment the praise is warranted imo

no one saw something like this coming from eminem ever again, and its better than we could've reasonably hoped for by a f---ing mile and actually timely and relevant for once and not an embarrassment to bump

 

Aug 31, 2018

I agree, but you know that doesn't mean much. Revival was a joke (I couldn't even finish some of the songs) and the album before that is almost 5 years old. We'll see how Kamikaze ages, time will tell - I think it won't have half the replay value Relapse or Recovery had.

 

Aug 31, 2018

I mostly agree with what you're saying. Stepping Stones, Good Guy (and that fack hook!) are the most surprising songs, since they're very reminiscent of the smooth flows he was pulling off effortlessly back in the day. I'd rather see him keep this going rather than interpolating Medicine Man or Chloraseptic Remix flows again and again. That being said, the lyrics are mostly solid and interesting, even on the Tech-N9ne-but-choppier flowing songs, and we hadn't heard this in quite a long time...

now I try not to compare it too much to prime Em material (or even Relapse-era material for that matter), I take it as a "bonus track" of his catalog that I wasn't expecting at all. I'm not even expecting good music from Eminem anymore - but hearing him rap sincerely about D12 and Kim in 2018 is heartbreaking and nostalgic in a good way

 

Sep 1, 2018

Album was dope honestly.

 

Sep 1, 2018

He had some dope verses and when he was zoning in on the criticism and dissing it was some of his best writing since TES.


That being said he still put out like 2-3 awful bottom of the barrel uninspired relationship songs and as Sav said a Doritos anthem unabashed movie tie in Survivial pt 2 forced stadium rock "song" Venom which again is so cringe it's embarassing.
And the hooks on some of these songs parody or not are so poor again it's embarassing and an absolute pain to listen to.


Still an improvement from revival, at least he's not a laughing stock anymore he's a guy with some good content and a bunch of musical hiccups still plaguing him as an artist
I like 60-70% of the album and that's being nice just because it's awesome to hear Eminem dropping names and sounding like an actual a------ on record again.

 

Sep 1, 2018

8.5/10

 

Aug 31, 2018

f---in Joyner Lucas. I would have loved to hear Westside Gunn or even Boogie.

 

Aug 31, 2018

4th best album, easily.

 

Aug 31, 2018

6.5 - notably better than his past couple releases but it’s still missing something. Absolutely a step in the right direction though.

 

Aug 31, 2018

Most solid album since TES, yes.
I'd argue that Relapse had better highs, better production, far, far, far better flows and better delivery (minus the accent).

 

Aug 31, 2018

hate it.

Rapping way too fast doesn't matter what he is saying when the flow is so s---.