Eminem

anybody think Eminem's voice (not his rhymes, his voice) sounds a little like Jadakiss'

no.

never thought of it but that constipated tone he affects sometimes is a little bit like Kiss.

Eminem was really good once upon a time. What a fabled, far off land.

let's start an internet rumor that he's dead.

Eminem died the moment he thought to himself "Gee, let me remove every ounce of humor from my albums and emphasize the soap opera! Oh and...I'LL SING on a few tracks too!"

for the record I really loved the Slim Shady LP, and to a lesser (albeit not much) degree, The Marshall Mathers LP.

No thread on "I'm having a Relapse"?

FYI

New single Crack a bottle on Imeem. On a first listen, it sounds somewhat underwhelming.

I just noticed that Eminem backwards is Men IME. Men in my experience. Does Eminem have a secret past?

this anti-Trump "freestyle" shit is the most embarrassing thing white Americans have done since getting Trump elected

lol

#PEAK https://t.co/pXX87JF2OY

— Desus Nice (@desusnice) October 11, 2017

A LOT of ppl are sharing this in my FB world, ppl who dont like rap usually i should say

shit sounded like James Corden's Grammys rap

I guess this means it’s the end of Eminem being the only rapper on rock radio.

It’s not brilliant but I love how he’s not only attacking Trump but his own fans who support Trump by literally saying “fuck you” to them. I imagine there’s actually a big overlap of Trump supporters and Eminem fans.

Might not seem like a huge thing but if there’s one thing he gives (gave?) a fuck about it’s his fans.

It’s not brilliant but I love how he’s not only attacking Trump but his own fans who support Trump by literally saying “fuck you” to them. I imagine there’s actually a big overlap of Trump supporters and Eminem fans.

otm

I rolled my eyes when I saw people talking about this yesterday. But I just watched and damn.

A LOT of ppl are sharing this in my FB world, ppl who dont like rap usually i should say

good point. so maybe this is good?

Musically, it's just ok, fine. But as an op-ed it's respectable and cogent and way more fun than putting something up on HuffPo.

It’s not brilliant but I love how he’s not only attacking Trump but his own fans who support Trump by literally saying “fuck you” to them. I imagine there’s actually a big overlap of Trump supporters and Eminem fans.

otm. But I wish he'd framed the song around his contempt for the people who voted for him. It may not have alienated fans: nothing Americans love more than to feel contempt for other Americans.

I can't imagine reacting to this with anything beyond mortification

Congratulations.

there was that fandom map of pop/rap/rock stars feature in the NYT a few weeks ago, and it was notable how many fans Em has in places where rap is not traditionally very popular--i.e. trump country in the great plains and midwest

Love this woke sexist and liberal pro-military garbage. https://t.co/kDD8oVPAoA

— San (@sansdn) October 11, 2017

go back to ILE bud

shocking that the guy who made his bones rapping about murdering his wife isn't a devout socialist

it's not even really about the lame #resistance sentiments tbh it's just that he sounds like a middling slam poet and the portentous staging makes it sound even worse

I can't say I really dug this (it just didn't seem very good tbh - and BET Awards rap ciphers are usually one of my favorite annual events) but y'know whatever good for him for using his platform in this way.

how much are we looking forward to Trump's clapback and a week of more dumb grandstanding/media attacks

I disagree – his enjambments, pauses, timing are his best in fifteen years.

I'm not debating the musical merits of the freestyle (i wasn't the biggest fan), I do think that it was a worthwhile message--how many white pop stars have spoken out this forcefully against Trump?

as long as you think calling Yam a bitch is socialist, voodoo

"FDT" is a million times more forceful (even with the Secret Service-prompted edits) and is actually listenable

(I get that it's not strictly a fair comparison)

there's tons of media figures goin after Trump, but idk what constitutes "white pop star" these days tbh (or why I should care since they're such a minor part of the media landscape at this point - Em himself is mostly irrelevant)

as long as you think calling Yam a bitch is socialist, voodoo

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, October 11, 2017 10:20 AM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

forgot my sarcasm font at home i guess

That Eminem, how dare he!

em is mostly irrelevant to people who actively pay attention to rap music, but he's got huge allegiances in parts of the country where rap is less popular

it's cool, you can just call them deplorables.

Em just did.

he's got huge allegiances in parts of the country where rap is less popular

Yes, and he's used this to devastating effect. Just remember how powerful "Mosh" was!!!

lol otm

tbf I will fully cop to my ambivalence being at least partly rooted in the fact that I've never liked him. His technical skill is undeniable but his exploitative combo of self-absorption and opportunism (not to mention his 4chan-style LOOK HOW OFFENSIVE I AM schtick) has always put me off.

I remind myself every few months that his sales have remained impressive for years:

In the United States, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling more than 792,000 copies in its first week, becoming the second-biggest debut of 2013 and the second-largest sales week of the year, only behind the debut of Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience, which bowed at number one with 968,000 in March. The Marshall Mathers LP 2 logs the sixth-biggest sales week of the past five years. The album also marks Eminem's seventh No. 1 album.[106] In its second week the album dropped to number two, selling 210,000 more copies.[107] In its third week the album returned to number one on the Billboard 200, selling 120,000 more copies.[108] In its fourth week the album dropped to number two on the Billboard 200, selling 199,000 more copies.[109] The album sold 1,727,000 copies in the United States in 2013, making it the second best-selling album of the year.[110] As of April 2015, the album has sold 2,244,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen Soundscan

TMMLP 2 was released before Soundscan included streaming. I wonder how a new album would sell now.

opportunism otm - one of the other reasons I am so fond of "FDT" is that it predates the commodification of Trump-bashing

Yes, and he's used this to devastating effect. Just remember how powerful "Mosh" was!!!

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, October 11, 2017 10:40 AM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

people should only make political statements with music if it causes demonstrable changes to the political environment

I was referencing the fact that it sucked

tbf I will fully cop to my ambivalence being at least partly rooted in the fact that I've never liked him. His technical skill is undeniable but his exploitative combo of self-absorption and opportunism (not to mention his 4chan-style LOOK HOW OFFENSIVE I AM schtick) has always put me off.

^^^

This is pretty much where I fall too. I didn't like him in 1999, don't like him now, and have always thought of his critical cheering section as suckers and enablers. So now we're supposed to line up behind this toxic asshole just because he's anti-Trump? No thanks.

xxxxpost that "Rap God" video from his last album has 570,000,000 Youtube views.

Some tough customers in here

i'm not arguing that it's a good freestyle but a few of you seem to argue that he shouldn't have done it at all, which I think is blatantly wrong

(not to mention his 4chan-style LOOK HOW OFFENSIVE I AM schtick)

honestly i know 4chan has to come up in every thread but can we correctly place Eminem in the context of 80s and early 90s shock rap and not something that did not even exist at the time?

those things are connected!

ilx fifteen years ago ilx now basically the same people being wrong about rap music and rappers. cypher was fire though. eminem is one of the greatest rappers ever. i don't even fuck with him and i don't think i ever made an ilx post about eminem before.
i mean i'll take some of whatever like some bullshit criticism it's not an important moment or whatever and he says he likes the military so it's garbage, but you know based on the reaction of people it was directed at, made for, i think it was successful and important.

basically the same people being wrong about rap music and rappers...eminem is one of the greatest rappers ever.

self-pwned

also eminem is actually really popular on ilm no?

i put ass like that at #1 on my 2005 pazz and jop

i meant it in a in a respectful rap canon joe budden traditionalist way, where you nod along with his inclusion in a top 20 and say something like "yeah, em got bars," rather than in a visceral emotional response or true respect for his artistry.

ha yeah no worries that makes sense I was just goofin on you. like I said I don't question his technical virtuosity and yeah of course he would show up "Best Rapper Ever" lists.

(but I still don't like him)

fwiw I loved the Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers LPs

in a time where frightening things are happening and a lot of the criticism is wrapped in humour and cynicism and everything feels hopeless, it was heartening to see not so much em doing what he did, saying what he did--i think it's powerful because it's cringey and sincere--but the reaction to the cypher, and not so much the fuck donald trump part but the expression of solidarity with people who are under attack. right?
can you just say you fuck with it on that level before going in on em is a washed up horrorcore rapper that's about to drop a single with pink?

that was basically my first post on this topic

let's talk about mysonne now.

respect knuckles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE7P09ftXKU

knuckles?

I've posted this before, but again, it takes balls to say this to your fanbase:

and any fan of mine
who’s a supporter of his
im drawing in the sand a line
you either for or against
and if you cant decide
who you like more in your split
on who you should stand beside
ill do it for you with this
FUCK YOU

Yeah whatever... he is a has been and he's rich as fuck already, why would he give a fuck? Well, he has an album coming out in the following months and he's really popular in states where Trump won by a wide margin like Wyoming, North and South Dakota. Source: (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/07/upshot/music-fandom-maps.html)

Eminem, the 44-year-old rapper from Detroit, has remained popular, with several hits in recent years, including “The Monster,” featuring Rihanna, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard top 100 in 2013. His fan base is strongest in whiter and more rural places: West Virginia; southern Ohio; eastern Kentucky; deep north Maine; the Ozarks in Missouri; across the Great Plains. And, of course, Eminem is popular in his hometown, Detroit.

He's pretty much turning on the people that gave him half or more of his fortune. This is for me the real meat not the rap itself. Look, I've never really liked him and it doesn't surprise me a bit he's popular in white rural America... they probably take the homophobia and mysogyny and all the shock factor at face value, but that statement against his own fans in the end is pure mad passion.

it takes balls to do things that have actual stakes. this has none.

When you're totally familiar with rap music pic.twitter.com/UVFRHw21Yf

— Mark Agee (@MarkAgee) October 11, 2017

more like mark diceman

a thing that i'm finding funny is that a lot of the people who are praising eminem for "best political writing" for this cypher praised the eric garland game theory thing

Tweets that didn’t age well. A four act play. pic.twitter.com/jrNklSsVgX

— Jordan Strack (@JordanStrack) October 11, 2017

I liked at the time (and still like) the first three Eminem albums - if only Encore was anywhere near as great and he'd stopped there. I'm not really interested in any of his post-comeback stuff.

it takes balls to do things that have actual stakes. this has none.

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, October 11, 2017 1:34 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

heh wait to see if it has impact before jumping to conclusions? it may matter to some people.

i mean if there was ever a cultural phenomena that could be used as a trojan horse into the mind of republicans, it's Em.

whiteness distilled into its purest form is mike cernovich is rapping at eminem to defend the president pic.twitter.com/KmZgfZu6Wq

— TWO DAMNED MAUSOLEA (@2dAmMuslim) October 11, 2017

a thing that i'm finding funny is that a lot of the people who are praising eminem for "best political writing" for this cypher praised the eric garland game theory thing

― bodak horseman (voodoo chili), Wednesday, October 11, 2017 1:23 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^yes, and

olbermann gonna find soundbombing 2 via burgeoning eminem fandom and get super into def jux and rawkus and rhymesayers. tale as old as time

— Patrick Cosmos (@veryimportant) October 11, 2017

https://i.redd.it/5khdtrx7h8rz.jpg

lol xp

shakey otm btw, good on em for doing this, specifically calling out his fans who support him. the music itself is whatever, fine for what it is i guess

lol...

....two years pass

@KeithOlberman President Trump REFUSES to make May 15th, the day Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein was released, a national holiday HAVE YOU NO DECENCY SIR?

he sounds like a middling slam poet and the portentous staging makes it sound even worse

agree w/ this

but it does sound better than most of his releases for the past 1.5 decades have been

he is soon releasing a duet with p!nk who just voiced her tentative support for trump earlier this week

lol

I did think the presentation of it (no beat, out front by himself) was weird and maybe not the best cuz as you say it was portentous, it gave it this unearned gravitas. Like, if he had just dropped all that in the context of how those ciphers usually are presented (for ex. w/Primo on the turntables and a bunch of other rappers all taking turns) it would have actually been way more dramatic, a real "oh shit!" moment

heh wait to see if it has impact before jumping to conclusions? it may matter to some people

not the point. my point is, he risks nothing by doing this. it's not bold, it's trendhopping.

What would constitute a risk for a hugely successful pop star at risk? This is about as "risky" as anyone in his position can be, because at least he *takes* a position. I guess it could have been riskier if it was pro-Trump, and he was ant NFL protest and pro VA alt-right rally?

He’s releasing a new album in November iirc and he said “fuck you” to half of his fanbase. How is that not a risk, yeah he’s got enough money to care but it’s almost a given it will affect sales negatively.

yeah simon that strikes me as blindingly cynical

I can live with that.

I would add that I'll be surprised if he takes a sales hit well beyond industry trends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NBwt24PTe0

that's so weird

i expect there will be some people who would ordinarily never bother checking out an eminem album in 2017, myself included, who will at least give the album a cursory listen/stream just to see if he delves further in the direction hinted by this promo appearance. not to say that that would necessarily push the needle significantly, but merely to point out that commercial risk was far from not the only possibility to consider when weighing the decision to do this. given the proximity to his forthcoming album release (it's likely coming out in about a month) i would guess that his label felt the ~buzz~ would be beneficial.

i don't expect a large sales decline whatsoever.

*far from the only possibility

White rural America still buy physical albums.

^ the magical incantation RIAA chants every night at the witching hour

Lol

his cutesy sing-rap collabo w/ fellow white sing-rapper (and incidental trump supporter) p!nk is out today via the latter's album release. it's misogynistic but ~cute~ about it this time so white liberals will look the other way as usual

this already feels like twice the punchline it was on arrival

his cutesy sing-rap collabo w/ fellow white sing-rapper (and incidental trump supporter)

she's.... not http://www.vulture.com/2017/10/pink-on-lashing-out-at-trump-dr-luke-and-her-new-album.html

lol

I was thinking "P!nk, Trump Supporter" sounded very Bizarro-world but then again Donald Trump is actually our President so right now any stupid thing is possible

i'm kinda kidding about the trump supporter part. just like she's probably kidding about "So I’m going for a rap Grammy, and I’d like to take you along with me."

(i would die laughing if they actually got nominated for said grammy)

What is "kinda kidding"?

idk i thought i saw some magazine scan where she says something like "we elected him and that's gotta mean something" but i can't find it now so i was probably just trolled

I assume Eminem is a Trump supporter because I keep seeing all these headlines that contains the words "Trump" and "Eminem"

same

after 27 years of doubts about rap I am now a fan. https://t.co/vJXhqzUkp8

— Desus Nice (@desusnice) October 13, 2017

New Eminem single feat. Beyonce, "Walk On Water":

https://open.spotify.com/album/2Omgx7vrxKAy0LmCYllHCk

An actual couplet from the song:

So I scrap these
As pressure increases like khakis

Our boy has finally gone full Macklemore, y'all.

this is the most ridiculous song

"So I scrap these
As pressure increases like khakis"

Eminem feat. Eric Clapton - "Dockers Boner"

what does "as pressure increases like khakis" mean?

good lord this song is awful

poop tried to warn us

what does "as pressure increases like khakis" mean?

― alpine static, Friday, November 10, 2017 12:22 PM (sixteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

see post above

I wish he'd dropped in a sample of "Too Close" at that line

haha this is so bad

in before the inevitable whiney stanning

never liked Em anyway, couldn't make it passed the halfway point on this one.

such a bizarre release. preemptively noting in the verses that it might(/will) get completely eviscerated doesn't mean it's any less deserving of such. it just... doesn't really go anywhere and is already pretty well-trodden territory for him thematically. a meandering mess.

beyoncé was an appropriate choice for the chorus given the untouchable persona she embodies in her media image. but unlike her own recent work that provides just enough of a glimpse to feel personal and soul-bearing, on this she still seems very much behind the barrier, and the simplistic tune doesn't give her voice enough room to redeem it. (on that note: the industry needs to acknowledge that it is no longer 2011 and no one wants rap music packaged with skylar grey choruses. they literally are currently trying, and failing, to make that happen with macklemore too.)

that khakis line is absolutely horrendous oh my god

what are keith olbermann's thoughts

the going theory is that the pun is

"pressure increases [in creases] like khakis"

instead of a boner joke

should have gone with the boner joke IMO

^ pvmic

5 thoughts:
we're still using the word "retarded" as an adjective i see
"there was a time i had the world by the balls, eating out of my palm" is an interesting choice of mixed metaphors
this poor guy's breath control is shot huh
"Bitch I wrote Stan"?
this is bad

"Bitch I wrote Stan"?

lmao

Goddamn, Eminem is 45? He old.

This is beyond terrible

I've never been into slam poetry, or even heard any of it properly, but Em's new delivery sounds like my mind's conception of what it would sound like.

haha otm

lol

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DQTLp5wXkAEo_iE.jpg

woof

lol still going with skylar grey huh.

lol @ bad husband featuring x ambassadors

Genuinely looking forward to hearing that Sheeran collabo once and only once

He needs to be stopped

new song is dreadful, not even going to link it

very surprised to see that Stan is apparently not among his 10 most popular songs on neither Spotify or Youtube - wtf?? actually 50% or more of his top hits seem to be off albums after Eminem Show which is iirc clearly where he fell off

ft. Ed Sheeran
ft. Ed Sheeran
ft. Ed Sheeran
ft. Ed Sheeran
ft. Ed Sheeran
ft. Ed Sheeran
ft. Ed Sheeran
ft. Ed Sheeran

The Eminem Show is the last album of his that's worth a shit, yeah.

Marshal Mathers LP2 > Eminem Show

what the hell is this

this is so dreadful wow

going in on the sheeran collabo now; if i don't return, please call my mother and tell her i love her

"just shit on my last chick and she has what my ex-lax"
okay i'm out

dear lord

she said she'd be my Gwen Stacy, despite her man

jkalsdfiagu yd[uoqw;iugopasldghosdgjkasdgasdgsdg asdgasefdgbasdf rfcujk

"Trump is gay as hell" - Eminem

so #woke

https://www.theringer.com/2017/12/18/16788430/eminem-revival-donald-trump-white-america

this take seems pretty OTM to me. a lot of my classmates were big into Em in the late 90's and I feel like nearly all of them turned into #MAGA ironybros.

Huh.

https://genius.com/a/stream-eminem-s-surprise-new-album-kamikaze

Is this a whole album about how everyone hated the last album?

— Craig Bro Dude (@CraigSJ) August 31, 2018

sounds much better than the last one

Had rock bottom expectations for this one, but I'm loving it. My friends and I (all ex-Eminem fans who think everything he has done after 2005 is total garbage) have a WhatsApp group chat in which we're all unexpectedly losing it over this.

I'm not losing it but def the most inspired I've heard him since yes 2005 or smth

I've never really been an Eminem fan at all but I dig some of these tracks mostly for the disses tbh

I've never really been an Eminem fan at all but I dig some of these tracks mostly for the disses tbh

he gets instant points for the sub-75-minute running time and what seems to be a reduction in big syrupy chorus hooks

...but I got tuckered out around the fourth song. I can't deal with his voice/persona for more than 10 minutes at a time anymore and I re-remember this every time there's a new album.

hehe I can relate to that

Via Variety:

When Eminem dropped his surprise album “Kamikaze” late Thursday night, hip-hop fans of a certain age immediately noticed that the cover was both an homage to and a spoof of the Beastie Boys’ 1986 debut album, “Licensed to Ill.” A rep for the rapper confirmed that the homage was intentional; a rep for the Beasties said the group had not yet commented.

Ok this is pretty good

Love dummies who don't get that tribute art has been a thing in hip hop since forever

Idk why this shit so funny to me pic.twitter.com/uyPvTzp1Vb

— 💜NAT PUFF💜 (@LeftAtLondon) November 19, 2017

this album is brutal
I really feel bad for him, he seems so stunted ... imagine being his age and dropping homophobic slurs about Tyler who's like 15 years younger than him

he's like the Yngwie Malmsteen of rap at good point, so much effort and technique going into songs no one will remember 2 months from now... it's kind of impressive in like the way it's impressive to watch the slam dunk contest during the NBA all star well, but not really musical in any way

also I really hate the thing where "real" rappers define themselves by what they're not, as if shitting on Lil Xanax or whatever SoundCloud rapper is actually meaningful

otm. and his voice is just not pleasant to listen to.

Other successful rappers in their 40s tend to become moguls and stuff, don’t they? I guess he’s just About the Music (even if he’s embarrassing itself, going by some of these reviews)?

I felt like Em lost most of his humor and ability to create classic albums by The Eminem Show.

i was really excited about this album when i heard he was rapping about venom but it turns out he's just rapping about the spider-man bad guy and not the trve cvlt metal band, so fuck him

lol rapping about Cronos would be dope

there's plenty of rappers his age and older than still make good records

I don't know if 4:44 was completely successful but at least Jay was trying to make an album from a real perfective of where his life was at the time

Lol rusho

Eminem's the 40 something gamer who yells QUIT SPAMMING MOVES in tourneys

Eminem's the 40 something gamer who yells QUIT SPAMMING MOVES in tourneys

― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal)

turns out dude is legit a world-class donkey kong player

new Ghostface is promising, Snoop could become the Willie Nelson of rap, comfortably releasing variations of the same good album every year

can't think of more high profile rappers +40 doing well but I'm not thinking that hard either

but yeah the Yngwie Malmsteen analogy is otm

as the kids say... I'm dead

This funniest shit I’ve seen all day g. He say this how Eminem raps. pic.twitter.com/9lc8cWA5yd

— Larry Legend (@larryislegend) September 2, 2018

can't think of more high profile rappers +40 doing well but I'm not thinking that hard either

E-40? more like E-50+

also DJ Quik is 48, Run The Jewels are both 43 and at the peak of their careers

oh yeah Quik!

You can already sense the climate is startin' to shift
To these kids you no longer exist
Went from rainin' cats and dogs in this bitch
To tiny drops, little drips
And by the time your reign is over, you'll hardly be missed

And my favorite orange soda is Sunkist

He’s more self-aware than Malmsteen. Also I think he’s about to break the record for artist with more consecutive #1 albums (9). Had no idea his previous albums went #1.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/8078653/eminem-revival-makes-chart-history-with-eighth-consecutive-no-1-debut-on

This was the previous album. I assume this one will get to #1 if Revival did.

Who holds the record presently?

(xpost – I see that article answers the question)

Was driving around the other day and my wife was in control of the music. She starts playing something and I'm all, what the hell is this? And she goes, it's the new Eminem. And I say, why, you didn't listen to the last three or four new Eminems, and they were bad, too. And she says, hey, I just saw this was out to today and wanted to listen to it. (30 seconds goes by) Yeah, she goes, this is bad. And then she turns it off.

Folks making fun of his style are endlessly funny to me. Sometimes when I'm out for a walk I start coming up with ridiculous angry Eminem rhymes. "Like a constable I am constantly able to beat your head on a table til you bleed red like Day-glo or Fay-go or whatever shit glow, no, flow, 12 inches of snow won't stop this shit show, like a ho you don't know showing up wrecking homes were you go when you want to be alone and atone for some shit that you done, like signing your name in the snow with number one, or worse, number two that I got from you when you shit your pants like you were two, wrapped it up once your ass blew, oh whoops, did I offend you? whoopiedoo..."

That said, I just played the Oops! Slim Shady Did It Again mashup a couple of hours ago, and I still absolutely love it.

I kind of like the backing track in The Fall, sounds like a Jim Jonsin production and I love his work. he has worked with Eminem in the past so it could actually be him but no idea if the credits have been published for this one.

Production-wise this is probably his best album in a while. I haven’t been following his career much tbh but I can’t remember liking any of his backing tracks for like a decade.

"More self aware than Malmsteen" might be a new standard in faint praise

that Chris D'Elia clip just kills me, I can't get over it

Malmsteen at least seems to be having fun

Em was fun once (or at least, jokey)

yeah that's the thing he's lost the kinda antic Looney tunes "hi kids do you like violence?" aspect

yeah in some weird way his stance now is more that of an offended person

I still like the bonkers Em flow, and I would be riding HAAAARD for this thing if was just an EP of tracks 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 (i.e., just the mixtape energy stuff with none of the sad reflections, Marvel crossovers, ex-girlfriend/bad-boyfrend whinges)

I honestly think the Em flow is really just a continuation of a crescendo of the ideas of MCing that started with Moe Dee/Caz/Melle Mel, sent through G Rap and Kane, and ultimately spawning like (to point to two extremes) both Biggie and Skribble Jam competitons.

Obviously rap has changed and people expect more than just raw chops, but my Twitter feed of middlebrow media people and weird twitter goons is def ~interesting~ in how they protest too much about the Hopsin/Logic/Cole/Eminem axis of chops but it was only like 4 years ago when every rap tweet/thinkpiece was like "Future said 'You as cold in your heart, you as cold as your heart' and I started weeping openly and inconsolably in the mall" and it's like, idk, maybe hipsters have kind of a narrow idea of what this genre is and a shallow understanding of what it's traditons are.

https://i.imgur.com/cuNbv9z.jpg

am i so out of touch?

no it’s the children who are wrong

"Normal" is like a Weird Al style parody of a Drake song.

whiney I'd like to think my taste in rap is at least as irrelevant as yours and I love rappity rapping but the thing that gets me is is soooo joyless and not fun

the Black Thought ep from this year he's going off and I find it so much more musical and actually perhaps even better technically in some ways because he can be super technical while still flowing

Hopsin is garbage it's beneath me to even listen to

Logic seems fine but boring

J Cole drives me up a wall I hate his personal

I definitely feel you on the emporers new clothes aspect of reading existential ennui into every SoundCloud dude autotune drooling into his cup

but yeah Em is so exhausting now

The Jean Grae/Quelle Chris album was a gift, so engaging and playful and sometimes sad but genuine skill and old school early Dee weirdness and humor

Hopsin has some real corny libertarian-ish views, Logic can be cloying with his Mensa-membership-card schtick, Cole is like a parody of a Nas stan. I probably wouldn't throw on any of their records for fun, but its absolutely insane to say these guys can't rap their asses off. The whole "shocked elmo because white guy heard someone rap fast" meme really does sum up that chops are absolutely unfashionable and uncool, which – whatever, like what you wanna like – but it runs counter to what rap was from like 1973 to like 2003. And also discounts that these guys are making some of the most popular rap albums on earth even though a bunch of people who have heard a Gaslight Anthem album thinks they're wack

everyone on earth agrees Em can rap just like everyone agrees Malmsteen can shred. how much value should be placed on that in isolation depends on what type of listener you are I suppose

like how many of the ppl dismissing Em now do so on the basis that his internal rhyme schemes of syllable rate have fallen off

*or

everyone on earth agrees Em can rap just like everyone agrees Malmsteen can shred. how much value should be placed on that in isolation depends on what type of listener you are I suppose

― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Tuesday, September 4, 2018 10:25 AM (three seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I agree with this

I'm just saying rap itself was a competitive, skills-based artform from its earliest years. And while, yes, the genre can/will evolve; I think it's ridiculous to completely dismiss the people who still keep the tradition moving forward.

It's like *telling* that old Eighties/Nineties rappers in my feed are goo-goo-eyed for the new Em, but ILXors are passing around ... Chris D'Elia routines.

Feed vs. squad.

I thought he was at his best when he was at his most reactive/reactionary a la "Without Me." Now that he is not or is certainly much less culturally relevant (imo?), as popular as he may remain he just hasn't found much of a way to write/rhyme himself back into the narrative, and said internal rhyme schemes definitely skirt self-parody minus a big picture hook on which to hang their absurdity.

It's like *telling* that old Eighties/Nineties rappers in my feed are goo-goo-eyed for the new Em, but ILXors are passing around 

you are definitely the master of I'm not saying I'm just saying posts where you don't actually say anything just somehow imply that everyone except you doesn't like rap in the right way

I got fuckin vhs tapes of mtv raps don't come sideways like I give a fuck about gaslight anthem

I gave you a specific example of the new Black Thought which is dope that you purposefully ignored...or the new Ka/Animoss thing is incredible, both are more lyrical and musical than Em

Hopsin,Cole logic of course the can * but they can't seem to do anything with it

at that point do we need to stan for Smack DVD/Youtube battle dudes like Daylyt or Iron Solomon?

cuz honestly that's what Em reminds me most of nowadays

Royce is doing much better records in the last few years if you want an example of someone in his own camp

also there is a semi popular West Coast guy named Kendrick Lamar who is pretty popular which seems to suggest that the problem isn't necessarily that people hate skills when they are applied to actually meaningful and dope music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1572Ij0t1E

Unbelievably bad even for 2019 Eminem

yeah, he does sound really bad on this mash-up posted by the "Official Video SLR" YouTube channel!

Yeesh they should have payed the money for a Nelly verse instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfl3N9nesRg

maybe more Devo

lmao dude

I am... into this album

I don't know what to do with this information

Middle fingers put em high
That's why they call it a bird
'cause you put it up in the sky

A few of the early songs were almost enjoyable but I got to that ^^^ and decided to bounce. (I also skipped "Stepdad" and "Darker" a few seconds in.)

I am very into "Darkness" and "Yah Yah" so far

yeah i mean, sometimes he's sheer lunatic technical virtuosity takes it to a very weird place, his verse on yah yah is nuts

I always do this with new Em records, check it out in hopes of enjoying the viscerally thrilling rapping, which there's always plenty of, but then inevitably get fatigued by the self-pity, tired jokes, and the nauseating syrupy stadium hooks. Not worth it.

(the definition of insanity etc)

I'm trying to think of some rock musician/guitar player analogy for Eminem - a technically virtuosic asshole that deploys his skills in the service of some of the stupidest aesthetic decisions possible.

all I'm comin up with is Ted Nugent.

(I know Em doesn't share his politics but still)

based on early peak and quick decline and being a blonde bastard, maybe Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart has rarely lost his charm.

I'm trying to think of some rock musician/guitar player analogy for Eminem - a technically virtuosic asshole that deploys his skills in the service of some of the stupidest aesthetic decisions possible.

this is Yngwie Malmsteen

Now here's to LL, Big L and Del
K-Solo, Treach, and G Rap
DJ Polo, Tony D, ODB, Moe Dee, Run-DMC
Ed OG, and EPMD, D.O.C., Ice-T, Evil Dee
King Tee, UTFO, and Schoolly D, PE, and BDP
YZ and Chi-Ali, Rakim and Eric B., they were like my therapy
From B.I.G. and Paris, Three Times Dope, and some we'll never see, and PRT
N.W.A and Eazy-E, and D-R-E was like my GPS

I enjoyed this

can't spell yngvie malmsteen without e m i n e m

I always do this with new Em records, check it out in hopes of enjoying the viscerally thrilling rapping, which there's always plenty of, but then inevitably get fatigued by the self-pity, tired jokes, and the nauseating syrupy stadium hooks. Not worth it.

― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Friday, January 17, 2020 1:49 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

If you made a playlist of the just sick rap songs from the last three albums, it would make a pretty good album

if I put a strict 45-minute cap on it, sure.

I'm trying to think of some rock musician/guitar player analogy for Eminem - a technically virtuosic asshole that deploys his skills in the service of some of the stupidest aesthetic decisions possible.

all I'm comin up with is Ted Nugent.

― Οὖτις, Friday, January 17, 2020 12:55 PM (forty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

nuge is kind of a hack though

one thing that is kind of interesting as Em has developed is that i think he started running out of words to rhyme with other words and he increasingly relies on breaking a word into two-parts at a syllable break so he can rhyme the first half of the word with the end of the next bar instead of the whole word

i don't know if i explained that very well

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_rhyme

one thing that is kind of interesting as Em has developed is that i think he started running out of words to rhyme with other words and he increasingly relies on breaking a word into two-parts at a syllable break so he can rhyme the first half of the word with the end of the next bar instead of the whole word

this is the history (and tragedy) of English poetry though b/c English sucks as a rhyming language and because Em knows 40 words.

and this album reminds us that one of them is "Columbine"

https://pudding.cool/projects/vocabulary/index.html

Eminem is solidly in the middle of the rapper vocabulary conversation; not overly verbose, not stone stupid

Good to see my man Ghostface

Eminem is solidly in the middle of the rapper vocabulary conversation; not overly verbose, not stone stupid

All this chart tells us is something we already know: verbosity and intelligence are not synonymous.

Don't think DJP suggested otherwise!

The assertion was "Eminem uses the same 40 words" and I posted that to show he's no more or less verbose than the average rapper, which I think we all should be able to agree uses more than 40 words

From B.I.G. and Paris, Three Times Dope, and some we'll never see, and PRT

I don't think this is the right line, but I can't figure out what the right line is

"and Sondoobiest(IlovethepornosIusedtosee)"

I strike a still pose and hit you with some ill flows
that don't even make sense, like dykes usin dildos

dumbass eminem. some dildos can also be used to store important paperwork and objects (medicine, keys, etc). so you see, it turns out that some lesbians DO have a use for dildos

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2020/11/british-woman-covered-in-eminem-tattoos-breaks-record-640261

It’s very annoying that the albums don’t go in chronological order after Kamikaze

bloke in the baseball cap looks like fred durst from a distance

"I really want to meet Eminem and I think this might help!"

stan is not a subtle song

and this is quite the interpretation of the concept

congrats 2 British Lisa Loeb

i am losing it to be quite frank pic.twitter.com/pKUGFluxlb

— jodran (@femcelgirlboss) March 2, 2021

That is the single most embarrassing thing I've seen come out of Tik Tok yet. Shut it all down.

just learning about genz vs millennial wars on social media and am very amused

I mean, the most positive thing I can say about that video is that the time she took to record it probably meant one less minimum wage earning store manager getting berated for being out of something. That cadence and delivery before she started the actual rapping is way too finely honed from years of condescendingly mocking baristas.

Don't Even Ask Me to Condescendingly Mock a Barista Until I've Had My Coffee

I Got a Condescending Barista Mocker Permabanned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FIQQVWNE1U

.@minions got my back. Shout out to Gru and them… pic.twitter.com/zRWaqCF3u4

— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) May 8, 2022