Recorded in one year and half, in the late 2013 is released the studio album number eight for the Detroit artist Eminem, three years after the flop of "Recovery" and a couple of years after the appreciated collaborative project with Royce da 5'9" under the name of the duo Bad Meets Evil. The title places it as a direct sequel to his personal album from thirteen years earlier. The production is invented by S1, M-Phazes, Streetrunner, Eminem, Rick Rubin, Luis Resto, DJ Khalil, Emile, Alex da Kid, DVLP, Frequency, Jeff Bhasker and Sid Roams. The guests are the rapper Kendrick Lamar and the singers Skylar Grey, Nate Ruess and Rihanna.
The first cut is "Bad Guy", a legitimate sequel of "Stan", starting from "Criminal". Dystopian boom bap realized by M-Phazes and S1, harsh drum downtempo, silenthillian synths, rough bass line that scratches in background, gloomy rapping by Eminem in the first verse, who plays Matthews, Stan's younger brother, reciting bars with a rushed and panicked way, similar to the rapping style he used while playing Stan over a decade ago. Interesting bridge on the dream pop / baroque pop chorus sung by Sarah Jaffe, uncredited guest. In the next two stanzas, the author spits hardcore, then calm, then aggressively, then calm again, keeping the same point of view and preparing to go and kill Eminem. After a extra-verse, the track presents a switchbeat, new rhythm realized by Streetrunner, drumless and with a sample by Gian Piero Reverberi's "Soana", a different part of the song is born, where Matthew's persona merges with Eminem's conscience, taking on a sinister double voice as Eminem "dies" as Stan. Then the beat becomes triumphant, yet still maintaining a dark, sad and gloomy aura as the author increases the scope of the delivery.
Despite not being released as a single, the song had a notable commercial impact, entering the charts both in its home country and in the British market. The author kicks off his new album with a classic, followed by a skit. On a normal album, there wouldn't even be any point in spending time on it, but since it's an Eminem album, it won't be a normal skit, and it isn't. The rapper takes the final scene from "Criminal", which closed the masterpiece "The Marshall Mathers LP" and gets into a car, fails to start, flees on foot, and kills a dog until the police catch him and put him down. Brilliant. The Detroit emcee apologies to his mother and addresses his father with a diss in "Rhyme or Reason", over a rhythm self-produced along with Rick Rubin (Luis Resto at the keys) that uses a sample of Zombies' "Time of the Season", rapping easygoing and fluid by Em.
There's a tough boom bap for "So Much Better", Eminem and Luis Resto revisit the rhythm of "Criminal", the author spits in a cheerful way. The guy leans on Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest to spin out a boastful piece over a DJ Khalil production that uses several guitar licks played by Erik Alcock, Mike Strange, and Pranam Injeti. Liz Rodrigues sings the chorus. Mathers kills the track with a excellent hardcore rapping. The piece sounds similar to his track "Won't Back Down", produced by DJ Khalil, which originally had Liz Rodrigues herself on the hook (later replaced by Pink) and was included in "Call of Duty: Black Ops". "Survival" ranks among the highlights of Eminem post-rehab career and is included in "Call of Duty: Ghosts".
Emile Haynie is credited for the production of "Legacy", simple, gloomy boom bap that serves as the backdrop to the first of a long series of lyrical exercises by the author, hook by the female singer Polina (uncredited). The song is not a single, but it still makes its way into the charts and gets certifications in three continents. Alex Da Kid flanks Slim Shady behind the keyboards for the rhythm of "Asshole", good dystopian gloomy boom bap to support the solid rapping of the emcee, chorus by Skylar Grey.
A sample of Billy Squier's "The Stroke" composes the rhythm of "Berzerk", produced by Rick Rubin with guitar instrumentals played by Jason Lader and Mike Strange, and keyboards played by Lader and Luis Resto. The boys build a piece that sounds skeletal and minimal like one of the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J. The drums are very hard, combined with crazy hi-hats, guitar licks, supporting keyboards, high bass, keeping up the alt rock atmosphere that this new Eminem album has taken on. Chosen as the album's first single, the song was a worldwide success, second in Canada and the UK, third in the Hot 100, in 2014 it lost the Grammy for Best Rap Performance.
The choice number nine is produced by DVLP with Filthy as co-producer. "Rap God" is another bravado piece by Eminem. The beat is annoying in several traits, Em starts altered and schizophrenic from the beginning, the mood is that of the great things, The Real Slim Shady kind of thing. He starts lightly, singing-speaking the hook with determination, then launches into this absurd six-minute braggadocio. The rapper delivers his lyrics alternating between spoken word, calm, and rapid rapping, sometimes giving precedence to this dystopian beat so it gets stuck in your head. At the umpteenth acceleration, he rapped about a hundred words in fifteen seconds, and the world collapse. The boy distances himself from his competitors in the rap game, particularly Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar, the latter of whom humiliated everyone with his verse in "Control", and closes the track with "Why be a king when you can be a god?" Highly praised by musical critics, the song lost the 2015 Grammy for Best Rap Performance to Kendrick.
Luis Resto and Eminem rely on Johann Sebastian Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" for the musical carpet of "Brainless", gloomy boom bap, disturbing delivery by Eminem in a passage that retraces his school experience and his influence on hip-hop. The piece shows reference to "Brain Damage" ("The Slim Shady LP"), piece cited and paid homage to several times in this LP. Eminem sings in "Stronger Than I Was", the song serves as a counterpart to the track "Kim" and again addresses the relationship between the two, here the author apologizes to Kim for his past behavior over a boom bap soulful, another production by Eminem and Luis Resto. Frequency's wavering and questionable rhythm for the next choice, "The Monster", Rihanna sings the chorus (with the original author Bebe Rexha, uncredited), Eminem recites personal lyrics and finalizes what becomes a rousing commercial anthem. The song soared to the top of the charts around the world and became one of the best-selling songs of the decade, earning certifications on five continents (diamond in Brazil, platinum in the UK, and six times platinum in the US).
In "So Far" the author relies on his previous songs to show his progress, with consequent positive and negative sides. The piece boasts samples from Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good", Schoolly D's "PSK - What Does It Mean?" and a couple of his hits. Rick Rubin behind the keyboards along with Luis Resto and Jason Lader (keyboards, guitar and bass). Rick Rubin is the genius beyond "Love Game": boom bap with country flavor, sample from Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders' "Game of Love", uptempo clean crisp drum, good rhythm. Eminem spits easygoing, cheerful, in a fantastic way. The cheerful and carefree atmosphere of the beat contrasts with the rest of the album, which is dark and gloomy, while the author creates a great metaphor between love and hip-hop. Kendrick Lamar is the unique guest rapper of the whole LP and he kills the cut with an outstanding performance.
Emile Hayne, Jeff Bhasker and Eminem behind the keys for "Headlights". The song resumes' Fun.'s "Jumping the Shark" and samples John Lennon's "Mother", bringing Nate Ruess of Fun to sing the chorus for "Headlights". Tearful boom bap, dirty, muddy, slow, loaded midtempo drum, splendid guitar licks and bass line, sad piano keys, gentle synths to adequately accompany and support the powerful delivery of Eminem in one of his most difficult track of the career. The rapper holds the track tight with one of his saddest and heaviest deliveries and the track finally seems to be freeing itself up for Nate Ruess' chorus, who does an immaculate job. Here, the artist publicly apologizes to his mother after years of harsh criticism, in one of his most mature moments where he expressing remorse and even apologizing for songs that attack her. Despite not being a single, the song received a considerable response from the public and entered the charts around the world, reaching number four among the Urban singles in Australia and the top ten among the rap songs in the UK, becoming one of the best-selling rap songs of 2014 in its homeland and reaching platinum certification by the RIAA years later. The disk is closed by a splendid futuristic boom bap realized by Sid Roams and Eminem, flanked by Mike Strange (guitar) and Luis Resto (keys), complex track dedicated to both Slim Shady and Eminem.
In the deluxe edition are inserted five bonus tracks. The entire song "Baby" is based on the mantra "nobody puts Baby in a corner" from the movie "Dirty Dancing", dizzying rhythm created by Eminem and Luis Resto, the author fills the piece with pop culture references. Jamie N Commons sings the chorus for "Desperation", country-flavored track with a rhythm that credits Alex Da Kid for the production, along with James Dee (bass), George Cook (drum, percussion), J Browz (guitar), Luis Resto (keyboards), Gus Collins (piano, percussion), Benjamin Markham (percussion) and Jamie N Commons (guitar and tambourine). Frank Dukes and Cardiak are the beatmakers in "Groundhog Day": annoying, dystopian, controversial boom bap, with oriental elements, plucked strings, Em creates a creates a contrast with the beat by delivering a song about childhood, influenced by the movie of the same name.
Emile Haynie produces "Beautiful Pain" where the Detroit emcee delivers almost in spoken over an anthological soundscape for this ballad with Sia, the piece is much appreciated by crowds. In the last bonus track "Wicked Ways", Eminem brings back his character Ken Kaniff to close the album, after dropping the last stanzas over this musical carpet very well done by Alex Da Kid, with a hook sing by X Ambassador.
It's not over yet, because as "Call of Duty: Ghosts" bonus track there's "Don't Front", unmissable. The producer Katalyst realizes the track as if we were in 1993, it's amazing. Beautiful boom bap, gorgeous bass line, dusty and hard drum, sparse horns, Eminem enters paying tribute to both Buckshot and Biggie Smalls, then kills the cut with one of his most smoothness flows, demonstrating once again his stylistic and lyrical versatility, if any were needed, and showing everyone that he could deliver a classic boom bap album at any time. The hook is sampled from Black Moon's "I Got Cha Opin", nevertheless Buckshot is credited as guest in some version of the track. It's one of the best tracks of his career. It was supposed to be included on the LP, but the authorization for the song didn't arrive in time.
Released by Aftermath, Shady, Web and Interscope, distributed by Universal, the album is received very positively by many specialized critics, and received mixed reviews from other professionals, with a few harsh criticism. Upon its release, it was considered one of the best rap albums of the year, and was awarded by both Billboard and the Grammys. The album is also a commercial triumph for the artist, selling nearly 800,000 physical copies in its first week — the second-biggest debut of the year behind Justin Timberlake — and propelling him to the top of the Billboard 200 for the seventh time. Charting No. 1 in a dozen countries, the album is one of the best-selling of the decade in Australia, UK and US, the best-selling rap album of 2013 in Australia, and of 2014 in the US, where it's certified four times platinum.
Numbers aside, with this sequel Eminem returns to releasing solid material many years after his last good official solo studio album, "The Eminem Show", despite relying too frequently on pop hooks, rock and country rhythms, he increasingly demonstrates himself as a well-rounded pop artist.
Rating: 7.5/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment