Gotta add that part of the rollout was making sure his presence was still felt here in Detroit. He started with the Slim Shady obituary in the Detroit News months before the album came out and then came the historic storic concert at the Michigan Central Train station that featured everyone from Diana Ross, to the Clark Sisters to Big Sean. I think this has been his best rollout ever
Nas, Black Thought, Killer Mike, Aesop Rock, El-P, Ka, etc. every time any one of them puts out another dope verse I get more mad at 3 stacks for not knowing what to rap about
With all due respect, I am black, 47 years old, and I listen to eminem. I have lived in Florida, NY, and now boston, and in my whole life, I have only met a handful of people who don't like his music ... this stuff about black people not listening to his music. I find it wild . Why does this narrative keep going on? Not only I love his music, his content helps me in the 00s when my marriage was in shambles and I was going crazy 💯
TY. I’m boriqua from Jersey and I put Em up there with Nas and Jay. His Music has soul and the only reason people say it doesn’t is because he’s a white boy.
Justin I’ve been following your content for years now and I have to say I’m enjoying that you’re now releasing more frequently. Appreciate all the hard work
Good commentary as always. I’m an old school Eminem stan, and I was conflicted! I felt that it conceptually tried to do what he did on darkness. My first degree was in film studies, so when he made an album with a Hitchcock theme I was immediately intrigued, but I thought he would miss what makes Hitchcock great. But only on darkness did he really manage what Hitchcock did so marvelously, which is work with the identification of the audience and its relationship to violence on “screen” (in media). Darkness is clearly a song where he invites you to tap into is wavering mental health, his regular eminem Marshall struggles, but then he juxtaposes it with an identification with the Las Vegas shooter. Like Hitchcock, he attempts to “pull you in[to]” your disavowed pleasure in violence, how we as an audience secretly enjoys the violence and are participants. I don’t even particularly like that song, but he really pulls off a Hitchcockian rap song. I say all that to say that I feel like he attempts the same dramaturgy on this album. Emphasis on attempts. Clearly inspired from Mr Morale, he wants to draw you into the heart of his conflict and to see the enjoyment, the actual real pleasure, he gets from Shady: the uninhibited provocation with allows for such word play, and of course the “playful” violence. The tongue-in-cheek violence, directed at different celebrities, the “ironic” self-identification with serial killers and regular murder-themed shenanigans. And this, this is where the alt right comes in. Because that is what they enjoy themselves, that’s what they are mostly content with (for now). To enjoy transgressions in an uninhibited way. The theft of ‘wokeness’ is and a strategically developed way to say, “look at the ideologically charged prohibitions that “They” put upon us (usually white men)” but with the theft it mocks the authority of this “They” (liberal agenda, deep state dictatorship, communist, LGBTQ+ and other construed enemies that the ‘wokeness’ is attributed to), and grants you the secret pleasure to enjoy transgressions. The Death of Slim Shady then wants you to go through the first identification to then, at the heart of it, join him in his distancing in the song Guilty Conscience 2, where the crescendo happens, when the internal conflict comes to the edifice and you’re supposed to realize that this transgressive enjoyment is childish and immature, and de facto violent. I like this premise. But I watched a lot of reactions, I listen to people talk about it and most of what I see and hear are people missing the “cut”, missing the point where they are supposed to take accountability for the participation of the violence and distance themselves from the mediated enjoyment of transgressions and, I don’t know, emerge as responsible adults that don’t need to transgress some imagined law coming from some other, fraudulent, agency. This reverse idea of the album, and how it’s spread across social media, just doubles down on this: that the “real way” to listen to the album is to see remain unbothered by “the cut”, to keep enjoying the Slim persona, the uninhibited and violent joker. And thus, I am conflicted. The album sets out to, through the death of Slim Shady, finally break people out of this childish enjoyment against so-called PC-culture/‘wokeness’/and so on and hopefully let people grow out of this childish matrix. But when it misses its audience, you get what we got in movies like Fight Club or American Psycho: men who find it funny, and enjoy the violence and missing the subversive undermining of that very identification. Instead, it just becomes more candy for perpetual man children to demand that their transgressions be considered freedom of expression.
The Roots Undun should get credit for the backwards and forwards album concept in rap it was released in 2011 4 years before Lupe Fiasco’s Tetsuo & Youth. The Story of “Redford’s last day” is an innovative concept via Black Thought and The Roots.
This album is his best album since probably The Eminem Show. I think he executed the concept perfectly & to be able to hear different eras of him from the 90’s to 00’s was a clever throwback. I think this is some of the best production he’s had in a very long time. I don’t really have a problem with the more emotional cuts because they don’t overstate their welcome. But all in all Eminem dropped his best album post Revival & honestly that’s good for him to focus on a concept instead of just focusing on being the best technically at rapping. Kudos to Eminem. Side note: man I can’t believe The company man doesn’t like Evil. That joint is amazing. But that’s my opinion.
I like the Death of Slim Shady album. It was genius, the way he positioned guilty conscience 2 in the middle of the album, the way he placed the heart felt songs about Haile. It's a good album. I have no issues with it. Matter of fact it has compelled me to revisit the Relapse album
he was only 41/42 when he did rap god. he is not that old. my friend is 58 and still does dance tournaments all over the world and gets lots of women. we gotta let this age thing go. i know people in their 20's who can't run a half mile let alone have motivation. i have a friend who is 23 years old and is already balding.
Death of Slim Shady is great imo. Exactly what I was expecting it to be. I know some people have been very critical, but I'm not sure what they were expecting. Eminem is one of those artists who's first run was so legendary, the bar is set impossibly high whenever he comes with a new album.. but realistically, his art has been good since Kamikaze and gotten consistently better with each release. He's low key forming a very solid second act discography that won't be appreciated until years later because everyone keeps expecting a brand new Eminem Show or MMLP
The intro on Kingdom Come and Lost Ones are some of my favorite Jay songs. "Pantries full of Arm & Hammer, don't take Nancy Drew to see What it do, I'm a damn G Just sent a million dollars through a hands free That's big money talk, can you answer me? Before the answer was a 3 I was down in Georgetown with a Hoya chick, lawyer chick Sure he's rich now cause he saw the sh*t, all this sh*t That's why they call him Hov', cause he came before all this sh*t" And that is a great take, very much similar intentions behind both artists to make those albums.
Eminem is a global artist, of course. But his audience is strongest in white places. Here's the map I was talking about. www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/07/upshot/music-fandom-maps.html
I love this new album. I feel like his last two albums lead up to this one. The MMLP2 was the start, then M2BMB was the return of Slim, and this is the battle for dominance between the two. Depending on how you listen, you can decide the winner.
I'm a huge proponent of the 'live band' for rappers. The Goats and Brand New Heavies are two early influences. Little Simz. Little Simz. Little Simz. Did I mention Little Simz? RIP Mac Miller. For me people playing instruments is a game changer and dudes spitting in front of speakers, videos, or lights and curtains is more boring. Just watched the new Eminem videos because of this video: Houdini (hilarious) and Tobey (deep?). And I'm impressed on first listens. Eminem came up in the struggle. say what you will, and he's never sold out or chased it like so many others. I like that he raps about his own experience, his own worldview, the most profound thing to me about the first slim shady was how it dealt with fame and his changed position as a celebrity. And he created the model for rappers testing the limits of acceptability; I wonder if that's an over statement but I see that album in part as an endeavor to be as what? scandalous, sensational, provocative, objectionable... as possible. I think Run the Jewells took a page out of his book to great success with their first two albums. In Love Again and Close Your Eyes and Count... ("When you n***as gonna unite and kill the police mother fucker?") are the two songs that come to mind. Also credit to Eminem for seemingly being a person first and a celebrity or personality further down the list. Take it from the man.
I feel the same way. I enjoy it the more I listen to it. The rapping of JID and Em on Fuel is crazy. Regarding the crazy bars from Slim that people are criticizing him for (you're too old it's just corny old white guy stuff) kind of falls flat because I feel like Em's point on the album A) the environment has changed B) so has he. People are always saying bring back Slim but his point is if I were to really bring him back then it wouldn't work because of the aforementioned reasons. Overall, really fun album with some great production and flows. Glad he's deviated away a bit from that robotic flow he had been doing for some years. Looking forward to watching a broader piece from you on the album!
I love the comparison, and I think you’re right it has to be a reason for these legends to go back into that bag. For as much as your average hip-hop fan will say he wants his favorite rappers to succeed, they really don’t. Every other genre of music out there legends are celebrated hip-hop is the one genre that truly does hate its legends. I think after you go find a reason to go back in the old bag, though yes, you can still keep putting out more albums, but music to be murdered by and revival will never be looked at like the death of Slim Shady. I think the only thing artist at that level can do to top that is by announcing their final album. As far as Eminem goes, I think he could stretch it out if he would opened his mind up to some other ideas like one last D12 album. I mean in his interview sway part of the reason that he said he thinks D12 is dead because how would D12 survive in today’s climate? This album has D12 Eminem written all over it. Even Bizzare one of the featured artist on this album, which I loved by the way. I think Eminem needs to realize that those guys in D12 aren’t the same guys they were in 2004 anymore either. I think if he would just get in the studio with them he would realize that he’s not the same guy he was in 2004 then neither are they. Swift and Kuniva are wrapping better today than they did in the 2000s. And they’re dragging that D12 legacy with them. They’re still waving that flag. You can’t tell me that if he keeps the same Slim Shady persona going, and the remaining members of D12 drop an album that is unexpected by surprise in the next eight months and it’s a surprise, like kamikaze was a surprise the whole album was dedicated to Proof that that album wouldn’t be successful. It would go double platinum pretty easily. And there’s another successful album for him that isn’t an Eminem project so it wouldn’t have the pressure of a solo Eminem project but he’s still wrapping and it’s something I think his core fan base with Dig. That’s just a way he could stretch things out and tell another album comes.
My channel is too small atm but I would love to sit and talk to this dude on a collab episode, I remember when he was w/ hiphopdx killing it. Now they hired a bunch of genz kids who know nothing about the culture. Keep doing ya thing, we’ll cross paths eventually
I heard this album on shrooms the night it came out and loved. I woke up sober still loved it. Then I analyzed it and started to question if I truly liked it. I picked out my favorites and tried to figure out why he chose certain angles like road rage and brand new dance but I still loved it lol. I disagree with you Justin, I love his heartfelt music more so from his early stuff not the stadium music he found a formula to. As a listener when I hear Em talking personal stuff that's when I enjoy his music because he brought us into his family and friends but the most recent of his music we have no reference so it does not sound believable such as (so much better, bad husband, tragic endings). HOWEVER, I must say I loved Temporary and even Somebody save me. I cannot listen to Temporary anymore cuz I cry every time (Im a father too lol). He checked the boxes and I have to say this is his best effort since Recovery. I think I like this more than Recovery....P.s. Relapse is totally underrated, I love it.
@@FacelessVixen hahahaha I can’t take that guy seriously. He tries really hard to come across as different so a lot of time when I watched his reviews. He tried to go against the masses to be different so…..
I enjoyed this album. Crazy that you skip "Evil" Justin cuz that's my favorite beat on the album and my favorite verse is probably that first verse. My favorite moment on the album is the Juvenile "Hahn" flip at the end of "Road Rage". Brilliant use of that. Favorite songs overall are probably "Tobey", cuz that song stays stuck in my head, and "Fuel", which is just pure unadulterated heat. And Ken Kaniff skits never stop being funny to me.
I’m with you lot… evil is one of my favourites, the hook, reminded me of “Old Em” instantly. It was the same with Brainless on MMLP2 that was my favourite track, most people seem to skip it. It’s all personal opinion though.
That’s brilliant tying both albums together and breaking down Jays album and showing how you feel it parallels to Ems new album. On the surface I agree. However, I feel Jay had more pressure to not drop back to back mediocre albums after retirement. I also feel Jay stepped it up lyrically as you see in the booklet he printed lyrics for each song which is extremely rare in hiphop unless you go back to the 90s I feel like Jay found a way to reinvent the wheel at a high level. Yeah it’s hustler talk but he managed to find a new door in a building everyone thought for him at least was blocked off And this had way more impact on Jays legacy than I feel Ems new album for Em
I think it's looked at as a better album from a hip hop sense. But Eminem and his music is more criticized by Hip Hop than Hov is. If we're talking fan bases, I think it has a very similar effect. Em's fans LOVE this album. It's the broader music media that's critical.
And of course, I do absolutely love this album. For me, it’s his best one since recovery. I have it ranked as his fifth best all time behind his first three on aftermath, then recovery, and then the death of Slim Shady. And I really liked kamikaze a lot but kamikaze isn’t anywhere near as good as this one is.
Great piece Justin. It pains me that we are having to use Pitchforks pieces as a reference for this video. I wish there was a more substantive site to drew in depth reviews from. One that we as a hip hop community that is being underserved. Pitchfork has, in my opinion, been a place that has constantly failed to promote the pillars of our community. It seems that there is a huge disconnect in the way that they handle seminal project from our long time statesmen of hip hop. They never reviewed the stellar released from some of the most respected emcees. Some of the ones that come to mind, Pete Rock and Common's project, Masta Ace projects, Black Thought & El Michels Cheat Code, etc. Yet the find the time to spend to draw up reviews on some of the least know street mixtape rappers crapping all over the project or elevating some of the hip hop that only serves to denigrate the culture. Why not take that same time to showcase some of the better releases that will enhance the listeners and let them know that there is great hip hop legends still putting out QUALITY projects. I wish there was a great option that the established hip hop community could turn to, to showcase, uplift, and elevate the artists that are still giving us that great hip hop to be valued.
My biggest complaint with “new Eminem” has been how he sounds, his delivery. He fixed that on this album! He managed to beautifully blend old and new Em flows and cadence and I love it. I couldn’t care less what the content is if I don’t like the song sonically. I would still love to hear him collaborate with more hiphop artists. He’s been doing that more on his recent projects but still manages to slide a few Pop features in there. I wish he would realize how much his fans really want the hiphop collabs. His biggest songs on his last 3 projects featured rappers: Joyner on Kamikaze, Juice Wrld on MTBMB, and JID on this one. Also I hated the beat on Somebody save me. Sounded like a Revival throw away
When I hear people talk about Kingdom Come or Magna Carta, it makes me see people don’t really listen to music. They just skim through it. Those albums have great music on it. This Em album if you take off “Brand New Dance” is no skip.
@@TheCompanyManSo. Em thought Revival was a good album. It wasn’t. “Castle” is ok but that’s it. American Gangster to me isn’t as good as Magna Carta. The first 9 songs on Magna Carta are bangers. I wasn’t a fan of every beat on AG being a 70s theme. But to each his own. Also Eff Pitchfork. Dudes wouldn’t know a good album if hit them.
Yeah that makes sense, I thought it was his mm&bs his version and 4:44, you know the whole mature themed self healing discovery journey honestly but this is take is actually more on par with what it represents, regardless this album is 🔥 best one since recovery imo, I love road rage because it’s the perfect blend of mature em and slim shady speakin about the the acceptance of all these new let’s be sensitive to people and it seems to do more harm than good, it’s actually enabling instead of confronting the issue that is prevalent and creating a cycle that will eventually lead to more issues, I think the whole album is great except trouble and bad one, Trouble for me was just another explaination to help anyone who doesn’t know slim what he does and his character but if you know you already gathered it from habits and skip over trouble and run to road rage it’s a smoother transtion sequence wise and story wise to let the movie the music creates to do what’s needed, and bad one isn’t for me, I dislike the song because the hook and it seemed like a rehash of a classic record seduction which that man was 🔥 but bad one ain’t it for me, and trouble other than that this album goes hard. Thanks for info and the conversation appreciate it stay blessed 🙏🏾
I feel like people really sleep on this album. He wasn’t just trying to offend Gen Z or PC culture for the sake of it, he’s aware of how tired out the gimmick has become. He was only poking fun at himself while also using elements that made his music enjoyable in the first place. And I really don’t like how they rebuttal that with sarcastic remarks such as “Oh wow, he’s corny on purpose. Genius! 🤯” 😑
You really reminded of the death of Pitchfork. I remember the independent music scene saw Pitchfork as suspect and highly disrespectful of the music. It really lasted this many years only to be merged with GQ. All these artists succeeding inspite of Pitchfork's reviews. Beezy430 mentioned the album works in reverse too. Has anyone given the reverse listen a try?
I find the criticism that "Eminem is self-aware but still hasn't moved on" so stupid. He doesn't believe in getting people mad on purpose to compain about it anymore, he doesn't hate his mom anymore. It's all a parody. This album is literally meant to put a stop to the persona. They're criticizing it like they know what he's going to put out next, which only tells me that they don't really understand what this album is. This album makes "going back to old him" impossible going forward.
To me, some days I think The Death Of Slim Shady his best abum, other days I think it's a top four Eminem album. I like every song on the album, but after Shady "died" on Guilty Conscience 2 and Marshal took over, the album became less interesting somewhat-although "Temporary" shocked me by being a genuinely moving Skylar Grey assisted cut, where Eminem pens a heartfelt letter to his daughter, giving her comfort and advice for the day whe he inevitably dies and leaves her behind. Most critics just hate it because of the anti-woke content, straight up, and others lie to themselves and say he "didn't mean it." Well, no, he meant most of it on some level, he just normally would not say it that way: " Ain't never really truly over 'til Lizzo sings... . .if you're mad 'cause they're clownin' you for poundin' them donuts, Put 'em down and either do somethin' about it or own it." It was a joke, but he meant it, too. Like the Candace stuff. A lot of truth is said in jest. Shady allows him to say all the things he wants to say, in the worst way. The pure jokes were obvious, like effing dead bodies, drop kicking midgets, dangling babies, wanting to eff Candace Owens so he won't diss her (even though he just did, and meant every word.) Eminem IS fairly progressive. He supports trans rights and BLM, and hates Trump. But he is not progressive ENOUGH for the fringe minoriy online, who view it as transphobic to say you won't have sex with a trans person: “So transgender rights, where do I stand? I'm all for 'em, I really am pro But intercourse with you , would I have? No I'm just bein' honest , now I'm an asshole.” These are the same sort of lunatics who wrote mot of the reviews for this album, who secrety or sometimes overtly see it as flirting with a "right wing agenda", and disguising their offended intolerence by saying Eminem is doing "old man yells at cloud" type lyrics, while dismissing how well written and produced this album is. Each song leads into the next, and the album tells a story thoughout, as Eminem delivers double and triple metaphors on the same subjects, while somehow geting more preverse and funny with each verse, until the album loses a lot of it’s humor and depravity as the Shady character is dominated by the more sobr style of Marshal Mathers. We needed "ten songs" (as one critic put it, saying he only needed GC2) of Eminem going at woke BS, precisely because of people complaing about it. It's a joke, not a dick, don't take it so hard. As a cripple, "Brand New Dance" was catchy and hillarious AF. Vintage Slim. The Death Of Slim Shady is top tier Em. Critics are cancer. These are the same kinds of people online and in reviews, who somtimes claim MMLP is a "favorite" album", who would have protested it back in the day, they just turned into permanently online keyboard warriors. These are the people Eminem aimed his Slim Shady ire at, and justly so. They are the same kind of losers who in the 90's tried to stop us from smoking weed and playing violent video games. In the 90's, this led to PC culture, anti-drug PSA's, and congressional disscusions about video games and their myriad alleged harmful effects, such as leading to school shootings. Currently, we have ultra-woke culture, trigger warnings, and censorious anti-free speech "hate speech" laws. They used to try to ban or censor entertaiment, now they may just edit out "offensive content” from the movies you stream The same authortarians with different excuses. We don't care if he makes fun of Trump, or Clinton, or uses the "gay" word. We respect his freedom of speech to take a stand against Bush or Trump. Agree or disagree. We also understand that Slim Shady is parody, and don't take his insane depravity seriously. We laugh and move on. Shady is a mirror on the dark aspects of America, it's vices and impulses, delivered with subtext and humor. Which is not to say that every Eminem song has to be super deep, either. Sometimes a joke is just a joke. For me, as a pure listening expirience, it would have been way more fun if instead of "Bad One", for example, (which was a great bop with good lyrics-just not as strong or interesting as the earlier, more Shady-centric cuts) Shady and Marshal had temprarily found commom ground and gone after Trump-maybe a cool story-telling song where they invaded Mar-A-Lago, or someting. Given his well documented Trump hate, it seems odd that nothing like that was on the album. As an older man, Eminem probably wants to get away from the South Park cartoon side of himself, and that's fine, but I treasure this last gasp of Shady, too. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no such thing as "outdated" humor. Blazing Saddles and Beavis And Butthead will always be funny, and you should laugh at them, should never apologize for it, ever. Just like I will never apologize for enjoying The Death Of Slim Shady.
It's not odd that Trump's not on the album. Too much of his audience is MAGA. We saw what happened when last time he forced that choice. Em is in a unique position because he actually speaks for the majority population and their often myopic view on race, class, gender, etc. Things that aren't a big deal to the majority population are often huge deals to other demographics and there is a long and consistent pattern of marginalized populations fighting for rights and receiving push back socially and literally legislated against throughout the history of America. So when a 50 something year old white man who made his millions in black music resurrects his callous side character, the one that literally defines the right wing media's approach to manufacturing consent (i.e. "You find me offensive???? I find you offensive for finding me offensive!!!!!!) complete with Trumpian attacks and politically right wing talking points, it means something completely different because the people who gravitate towards it most are gonna turn around a vote for a guy who wants to get rid of AP African American studies programs in schools, or for removing women's healthcare choices, or sending public dollars to private schools, or any of the many other confederate policies being passed in states nationwide. Music is powerful and Slim Shady's perspective is the soundtrack to segregation. None of this is Em's fault alone, of course. But that's what Gen Z and the media and critics see when they see Slim Shady. To the majority population, it's just funny music. But in an increasingly polarized society, thinking the society's biggest problem is "woke-ism" - a term that was hijacked and bastardized into convincing people that equality and equity for minorities is a bad thing - Slim Shady represents oppression actualized. And in 2024, hearing a white multi millionaire rail against transgenders, midgets, fat people, for whatever reason or intended artistic expression works most effectively on people privileged enough not to have to deal with any of these issues in real life legally or legislatively.
Believe it or not, but a large part of Em's fanbase is outside of USA and find American gun laws absurd. I would feel comfortable saying that Em is quite unique in hip hop in that his fans are majority non-American. I agree with your overall point in the video, though, this is Em's version of "I like the old Kanye..." but it's quite fun!
The biggest misconceptions of this album is that its actually a story being told from start to finish. The story is taking place in a FICTIONAL setting. Too many people have been misrepresenting the album as Em using slim shady to say offensive things in reeal life. No hes using slim shady in a fictional context as vehicle for introspection.
Hey Justin, Big fan of the show! In regards to 3 Stacks, do you think it’s possible that he’s uncomfortable saying that he doesn’t want to rap because he knows it’ll disappoint his audience? Admittedly, I didn’t enjoy his solo album the way I his appreciate his contributions to OutKast or his features. On the other hand though, I was kind of just happy for him. It seems like he wants to just chill and play his flute and if that’s the case that’s dope to me
I'm not an Eminem fan, but I don't understand the hate for his latest album. It's much better than his last. I mean there are at least three gems on this one where as the last one had none in my opinion. He's stated it was a concept album. Maybe people just really, really don't want that from Eminem. "Just shut up and be cray!" Also I agree that relistens make it more palatable unlike Music to Be Murdered By especially a reverse listen.
Yeah, if Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony could go back to E.1999 & St. Claire the album would put all drill music to shame and be the number 1 album about murder and serving fiends; everything drill music is. Except it’d sound grown up and 10000 times better. I do not want Bone to go back to Ruthless. I wish they would but it wouldn’t be authentic even though they are some of the originators for alot of what is heard today.
RIP Eazy E. It's still wild to me that their first three projects are almost exclusively about murder and marijuana. They're not going to the club. They're not going on any dates. Nothing but murder and marijuana. I'll always love them for that.
3 Stacks has said that he can’t rap anymore because he has nothing new to say or can’t be hip. Many people say that EMineM isn’t saying anything new and/or isn’t hip. So, unless you’re saying that EMineM isn’t retreading the same topics and is actually hip, it’s NOT a good case for 3k.
@@TheCompanyMan That still happens to him today, but is that new? Is it hip? Those are 3Ks biggest concerns. That it won’t be anything new and it won’t be hip.
If he doesn't feel it, he doesn't feel it. I can't argue with him about that. How he sounds sounds unfortunate all things considered. But that's just my opinion.
Eminem is 51 years old. Also, you shouldn't take a fake interview (created by Eminem himself) too seriousely. By the way, you're giving media critics way too much credit. it's a very bad idea to listen to critics (whether negative or positive) before listening to an album. Your ear is already tainted.
Man this gotta be the first time I disagreed so heavy with your points. I got secondhand embarrassed listening to this record. Hearing him say shit like "tryna gen z me, bruh?" is just too cringe for me to handle. I can recite this mans first three albums front to back off the dome too, so it's not like I hate him or anything. It just felt like he truly did not give a fuck then. Now it's clear he does when he gets upset with critics and fans who don't like his new work. I really hate to say MGK was right about anything ever, but when he said he doesn't get why Em in an angry legend I felt that. Dude can't let go of anything ever. He can't mature. I think I much prefer NAS approach to aging in hip-hop.
"They say I don't know struggle no more. That's a joke Btch, the fckin elevator in my mansion's broke. I have to walk like half a block to get a can of coke" I feel you. I have my critiques when I allude to in this video. But it's a fun and funny project to me overall.
Justin, I'm curious your opinion on Hiphopdx's scathing review of Death of Slim Shady? I thought the reviewer couldn't put their opinion aside on the subject matter and just disowned the entire project, ignoring the technical prowess of Eminem that is comparable to none
I understand where they're coming from. An old Slim Shady perspective doesn't jive well with most outside of Eminem fans and right wing media. I was really disappointed in that they came out of review retirement to shit on Em. Prior to that they hadn't dropped a review since April. I guess it's extenuating circumstances but it looks like a views grab, which it is. but as far as the opinion and the angle, I'm not surprised. Most in media feel like it's juvenile content and like I mention in this comparison video, there are aspects of it that I don't gravitate towards at all. I just feel like they wanted to make a statement more than deliver a review.
It's kinda amazing I didn't think of this comparison. When American Gangster came out, I heard a lot of complaints about Jay not evolving or challenging himself. But I loved it. I played the sh*t out it! I think that's why this comparison works. It may be his comfort zone, but it's also what ppl enjoy. It sounds bad, but sometimes you just want good music. I've enjoyed enough songs on Death of Slim Shady to call it a good album.
Yeah me too. I like it for the reasons I liked his early work, largely. It's a great nostalgia play. I enjoy it for similar reasons that I enjoy American Gangster.
I loved that cypher and him telling his fans to choose a side. 😂 The concept is a very smart way to bring both sides of fanbase in as you say. I'll have to give it another listen. I think he's fkn incredible, but just not someone whose albums I tend to want to throw on much.
Let me know what you think the next go around. It's growing on me. I have issues with it at the core but at least it's fun. So much more than what I can say about this new kanye record. Ugggh.
@@TheCompanyMan will do! And as for Ye...that's the luxury I have that you don't --when something sucks I can just skip right through it, but you gotta listen to the whole damn thing. 😂 I'm sorry! 🥺😂😅 (I didn't make it through a single song all the way through.)
@@karaminalee Man, one of my close friends who's an editor at a big publication said the same thing. We were all in the group chat railing on it. Worst Ye I've ever heard.
@@TheCompanyMan yeah what I heard was rough 😰😂. Thanks for taking one for the team and listening to the garbage for us. 😅 Album is so bad anyway, and on top of that I was old-heading for a long long time--I've gotten much better over the years when I realized how much great shit I was missing out on, but I still can't do autotune and this boring ass flow so many have now. Jesus, I did listen to the entirety of Husband though because I couldn't turn away, like a car wreck. 😂 lord it's bad.
@@Taydee1193I disagree. I think Encore age well. I enjoy the rapping more than the songs itself even though there is so many deep cuts and even classic Em tracks. It felt like a comedy album at times. Range and imagination
@@TreRedding I respect that.... but besides mockingbird and toy soldier ....... and never enough??? The rest is just fun wordplay. Doss is a story and lyrical onslaught
Question off topic. Some time back it was announced that kendrick was working on a movie with the south park creators. Knowing that kendrick used the south park guy's AI technology (voodoo) for his face changing music video, do you think the movie is still coming out?
Just my friend, you are my favorite hip-hop journalist. And I love you but I have to disagree with you on one thing. Saying most of Eminem’s fan base are MAGA? I’ll go ahead and buy that most of them are white. I’m white/Navajo, and I’m going to buy every M&M album the drops, but I am in no way conservative, but I’m not really a liberal either and every Eminem fan I have ever met is either a liberal, or like me, they just don’t bite into the bullshit pie, and a political party. I’m not saying there aren’t conservative fans I’m sure there are I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s something like 40%, but even in red states, you still have millions of liberal people there. I just had to move to the state of Utah. For example it’s a red state, but Salt Lake has always been a liberal city. That and most diehard Donald Trump supporters claimed to hate Eminem .
THe one thing I'll say is that I dont agree with your assessment that eminem fans are just MAGA. THere was a large chunk of his fanbase that was but A LOT of them are not that at all.
The thing about Jays music is people know it's authentic. When he goes in his "American Gangster" bag we know he's not just pulling out make believe rhymes from thin air. So I don't think his inspiration from the film was an excuse, it was honest inspiration because Jay could relate to the shoes of the character in the movie. After Kingdom Come Jay was in the same space he's been in after 444 which is rapping about life outside of the criminal underworld which alot of folks in Hip Hop don't want to go beyond.
“Eminem fans are Magna”? 🤣 You realized Em dissed Trump in a freestyle and disses Coondace Owen’s on this album right? Which his supporters got their panties in a bunch over. Wow what an awful take.
Oh, I know that. I’m an Eminem fan. But a huge percentage of his audience is MAGA. It’s not a hyperbole. There’s literally a New York Times HAE stamp on artists that shows where there fans are. I link to in the comments and it’s also in my community section.
@@TheCompanyMan Oh The NY Times said it. Just like Pitchfork and Rotten Tomatoes have absolutely NO credibility. In Ems music he went after Bush Trump and Candace Owen’s but I’m supposed to believe his fans are MAGA supporters? My guy this is a cringe “take”. Trying to connect Em to Trump supporters for whatever reason is sad as hell my guy. I’m a huge fan of Em and even though I think the Democratic Party SUCKS. Am not a Trump supporter so miss me with that BS. People always wanna call someone a right winger when they wanna discredit them.
@@TheCompanyMan Even if his fans like Trump WHO CARES? As if shilling for Joe Biden is any better? The 94 crime bill guy? Just cover music man. Stay out of politics man. You’re clearly reaching and using legacy media liars as some sort evidence. CNN FOX MSNBC THE NY TIMES etc are all bought by billionaires get a clue
I don’t have an opinion or care about any of that. That’s not even the point of the reference. The reason for the reference is what happened commercially and critical after he drew a line in the sand and made his audience choose between him and trump. His audience picked trump and em has even recognized that in interviews. I’m not judging that portion of his fandom. I’m pointing out how Eminem found an excuse to connect again with an audience that he doesn’t seem to largely agree with. Trump and MAGA are just symbols. It can be replaced with anything and has been many things throughout history. But that sentiment, that slim shady fuck you for finding me offensive I hate how the world is turning so pussified we should go back to the era of real men sentiment, is a huge part of his audience. Ask Tom Macdonald.
@@TheCompanyMan That notion sounds preposterous and appears not have any legs. Eminem’s fan base is always being attacked for some reason. It’s laughable at this point. Ems fans are always either they don’t know hip-hop or they’re Maga people? You sound like you’re shilling for the democratic party. The Democrats passed a 94 crime bill that hurt Black people, but if a rapper comes out and supports them, I don’t hear any of you talking head saying anything? A conspiracy theory about Eminem’s fanbase all you guys do. Real men? The left thinks real men are toxic. And I’m not a Trump supporter saying this. Ems music if anything leans left. It’s just the anti woke stuff that triggers shit libs because they used to champion free speech. Now they think everyone has the same is progressive. It isn’t. Ems music didn’t change or his fans. The left did. So MAGA fanbase? Naw that’s 🧢
Most people that I know that listen to hip hop don’t listen to Eminem! He is extremely overrated!! The album was mid, it was a lousy attempt to make shock value rap like he did in the 99-00s! It won’t work in 2024 lol!
Gotta add that part of the rollout was making sure his presence was still felt here in Detroit. He started with the Slim Shady obituary in the Detroit News months before the album came out and then came the historic storic concert at the Michigan Central Train station that featured everyone from Diana Ross, to the Clark Sisters to Big Sean. I think this has been his best rollout ever
GREAT POINT
Nas, Black Thought, Killer Mike, Aesop Rock, El-P, Ka, etc. every time any one of them puts out another dope verse I get more mad at 3 stacks for not knowing what to rap about
With all due respect, I am black, 47 years old, and I listen to eminem. I have lived in Florida, NY, and now boston, and in my whole life, I have only met a handful of people who don't like his music ... this stuff about black people not listening to his music. I find it wild . Why does this narrative keep going on? Not only I love his music, his content helps me in the 00s when my marriage was in shambles and I was going crazy 💯
TY. I’m boriqua from Jersey and I put Em up there with Nas and Jay. His Music has soul and the only reason people say it doesn’t is because he’s a white boy.
Justin I’ve been following your content for years now and I have to say I’m enjoying that you’re now releasing more frequently. Appreciate all the hard work
I've been waiting for Eminem to put out a project of this caliber for over 20 years. I knew he still had it in him!
It's a fun listen.
He can do.
Good commentary as always. I’m an old school Eminem stan, and I was conflicted!
I felt that it conceptually tried to do what he did on darkness. My first degree was in film studies, so when he made an album with a Hitchcock theme I was immediately intrigued, but I thought he would miss what makes Hitchcock great. But only on darkness did he really manage what Hitchcock did so marvelously, which is work with the identification of the audience and its relationship to violence on “screen” (in media). Darkness is clearly a song where he invites you to tap into is wavering mental health, his regular eminem Marshall struggles, but then he juxtaposes it with an identification with the Las Vegas shooter. Like Hitchcock, he attempts to “pull you in[to]” your disavowed pleasure in violence, how we as an audience secretly enjoys the violence and are participants. I don’t even particularly like that song, but he really pulls off a Hitchcockian rap song.
I say all that to say that I feel like he attempts the same dramaturgy on this album. Emphasis on attempts. Clearly inspired from Mr Morale, he wants to draw you into the heart of his conflict and to see the enjoyment, the actual real pleasure, he gets from Shady: the uninhibited provocation with allows for such word play, and of course the “playful” violence. The tongue-in-cheek violence, directed at different celebrities, the “ironic” self-identification with serial killers and regular murder-themed shenanigans. And this, this is where the alt right comes in. Because that is what they enjoy themselves, that’s what they are mostly content with (for now). To enjoy transgressions in an uninhibited way. The theft of ‘wokeness’ is and a strategically developed way to say, “look at the ideologically charged prohibitions that “They” put upon us (usually white men)” but with the theft it mocks the authority of this “They” (liberal agenda, deep state dictatorship, communist, LGBTQ+ and other construed enemies that the ‘wokeness’ is attributed to), and grants you the secret pleasure to enjoy transgressions. The Death of Slim Shady then wants you to go through the first identification to then, at the heart of it, join him in his distancing in the song Guilty Conscience 2, where the crescendo happens, when the internal conflict comes to the edifice and you’re supposed to realize that this transgressive enjoyment is childish and immature, and de facto violent. I like this premise. But I watched a lot of reactions, I listen to people talk about it and most of what I see and hear are people missing the “cut”, missing the point where they are supposed to take accountability for the participation of the violence and distance themselves from the mediated enjoyment of transgressions and, I don’t know, emerge as responsible adults that don’t need to transgress some imagined law coming from some other, fraudulent, agency. This reverse idea of the album, and how it’s spread across social media, just doubles down on this: that the “real way” to listen to the album is to see remain unbothered by “the cut”, to keep enjoying the Slim persona, the uninhibited and violent joker. And thus, I am conflicted. The album sets out to, through the death of Slim Shady, finally break people out of this childish enjoyment against so-called PC-culture/‘wokeness’/and so on and hopefully let people grow out of this childish matrix. But when it misses its audience, you get what we got in movies like Fight Club or American Psycho: men who find it funny, and enjoy the violence and missing the subversive undermining of that very identification. Instead, it just becomes more candy for perpetual man children to demand that their transgressions be considered freedom of expression.
Great and nuanced take. You should make a video and use this as the script. I'd support it.
The Roots Undun should get credit for the backwards and forwards album concept in rap it was released in 2011 4 years before Lupe Fiasco’s Tetsuo & Youth. The Story of “Redford’s last day” is an innovative concept via Black Thought and The Roots.
Facts! I’ve been saying for years 🫡
This album is his best album since probably The Eminem Show. I think he executed the concept perfectly & to be able to hear different eras of him from the 90’s to 00’s was a clever throwback. I think this is some of the best production he’s had in a very long time. I don’t really have a problem with the more emotional cuts because they don’t overstate their welcome. But all in all Eminem dropped his best album post Revival & honestly that’s good for him to focus on a concept instead of just focusing on being the best technically at rapping. Kudos to Eminem. Side note: man I can’t believe The company man doesn’t like Evil. That joint is amazing. But that’s my opinion.
I love the hook on Evil. It’s like Shady’s astral spirit from the MMLP era is singing in Hell, completely unfazed that he’s standing in fire
I like the Death of Slim Shady album. It was genius, the way he positioned guilty conscience 2 in the middle of the album, the way he placed the heart felt songs about Haile. It's a good album. I have no issues with it. Matter of fact it has compelled me to revisit the Relapse album
Shout out Denaun (Mr. Porter) too bro always on standby
he was only 41/42 when he did rap god. he is not that old. my friend is 58 and still does dance tournaments all over the world and gets lots of women. we gotta let this age thing go. i know people in their 20's who can't run a half mile let alone have motivation. i have a friend who is 23 years old and is already balding.
youre entirely right, age is a case by case thing, you have to judge an adult's aging by their state as a person and their actions, not by a number
He’s talking about him performing Rap God at 51 THIS year. Not when he dropped it
@@issiahsilva no i get that.
i wasn’t dissing him. i was referring to others that say he is too old.
It’s old for hip hop standards. Especially charting this high.
@@304Dolohip-hop is still setting the standards though. In 200 years would be the right time to talk about hip-hop’s standard.
American Gangster still bangs
First verse of ‘Evil’ goes crazy. That’s one of my favorite tracks
Death of Slim Shady is great imo. Exactly what I was expecting it to be.
I know some people have been very critical, but I'm not sure what they were expecting.
Eminem is one of those artists who's first run was so legendary, the bar is set impossibly high whenever he comes with a new album.. but realistically, his art has been good since Kamikaze and gotten consistently better with each release.
He's low key forming a very solid second act discography that won't be appreciated until years later because everyone keeps expecting a brand new Eminem Show or MMLP
The intro on Kingdom Come and Lost Ones are some of my favorite Jay songs.
"Pantries full of Arm & Hammer, don't take Nancy Drew to see
What it do, I'm a damn G
Just sent a million dollars through a hands free
That's big money talk, can you answer me?
Before the answer was a 3
I was down in Georgetown with a Hoya chick, lawyer chick
Sure he's rich now cause he saw the sh*t, all this sh*t
That's why they call him Hov', cause he came before all this sh*t"
And that is a great take, very much similar intentions behind both artists to make those albums.
Exactly that album had heat music on it. The Prelude is amazing
I think he took the TI vs TIP album and did his twist to it.
Right. Or Redman vs Reggie Noble and extended it to an album. The concept has been out there.
That's weird that all his fans are in right-wing areas lol, I'm from massachusetts super blue state and legit everyone I know loves eminem
Eminem is a global artist, of course. But his audience is strongest in white places. Here's the map I was talking about.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/07/upshot/music-fandom-maps.html
😂 great analysis i didn't think of American Gangster in that light, also makes sense for Em
I love this new album. I feel like his last two albums lead up to this one. The MMLP2 was the start, then M2BMB was the return of Slim, and this is the battle for dominance between the two. Depending on how you listen, you can decide the winner.
I'm a huge proponent of the 'live band' for rappers. The Goats and Brand New Heavies are two early influences. Little Simz. Little Simz. Little Simz. Did I mention Little Simz? RIP Mac Miller. For me people playing instruments is a game changer and dudes spitting in front of speakers, videos, or lights and curtains is more boring.
Just watched the new Eminem videos because of this video: Houdini (hilarious) and Tobey (deep?). And I'm impressed on first listens. Eminem came up in the struggle. say what you will, and he's never sold out or chased it like so many others. I like that he raps about his own experience, his own worldview, the most profound thing to me about the first slim shady was how it dealt with fame and his changed position as a celebrity. And he created the model for rappers testing the limits of acceptability; I wonder if that's an over statement but I see that album in part as an endeavor to be as what? scandalous, sensational, provocative, objectionable... as possible. I think Run the Jewells took a page out of his book to great success with their first two albums. In Love Again and Close Your Eyes and Count... ("When you n***as gonna unite and kill the police mother fucker?") are the two songs that come to mind. Also credit to Eminem for seemingly being a person first and a celebrity or personality further down the list. Take it from the man.
I hate the narrative that artists shouldnt change and grow... we want them doing their old shit not new shit... i hate it...
Seriously it’s so annoying
I feel the same way. I enjoy it the more I listen to it. The rapping of JID and Em on Fuel is crazy.
Regarding the crazy bars from Slim that people are criticizing him for (you're too old it's just corny old white guy stuff) kind of falls flat because I feel like Em's point on the album A) the environment has changed B) so has he. People are always saying bring back Slim but his point is if I were to really bring him back then it wouldn't work because of the aforementioned reasons.
Overall, really fun album with some great production and flows. Glad he's deviated away a bit from that robotic flow he had been doing for some years. Looking forward to watching a broader piece from you on the album!
Any reason to bring that old thang back is good enough for me
I love the comparison, and I think you’re right it has to be a reason for these legends to go back into that bag. For as much as your average hip-hop fan will say he wants his favorite rappers to succeed, they really don’t. Every other genre of music out there legends are celebrated hip-hop is the one genre that truly does hate its legends.
I think after you go find a reason to go back in the old bag, though yes, you can still keep putting out more albums, but music to be murdered by and revival will never be looked at like the death of Slim Shady. I think the only thing artist at that level can do to top that is by announcing their final album.
As far as Eminem goes, I think he could stretch it out if he would opened his mind up to some other ideas like one last D12 album. I mean in his interview sway part of the reason that he said he thinks D12 is dead because how would D12 survive in today’s climate? This album has D12 Eminem written all over it. Even Bizzare one of the featured artist on this album, which I loved by the way.
I think Eminem needs to realize that those guys in D12 aren’t the same guys they were in 2004 anymore either. I think if he would just get in the studio with them he would realize that he’s not the same guy he was in 2004 then neither are they. Swift and Kuniva are wrapping better today than they did in the 2000s. And they’re dragging that D12 legacy with them. They’re still waving that flag.
You can’t tell me that if he keeps the same Slim Shady persona going, and the remaining members of D12 drop an album that is unexpected by surprise in the next eight months and it’s a surprise, like kamikaze was a surprise the whole album was dedicated to Proof that that album wouldn’t be successful. It would go double platinum pretty easily.
And there’s another successful album for him that isn’t an Eminem project so it wouldn’t have the pressure of a solo Eminem project but he’s still wrapping and it’s something I think his core fan base with Dig. That’s just a way he could stretch things out and tell another album comes.
I'd love a new D-12 project
My channel is too small atm but I would love to sit and talk to this dude on a collab episode, I remember when he was w/ hiphopdx killing it. Now they hired a bunch of genz kids who know nothing about the culture. Keep doing ya thing, we’ll cross paths eventually
I heard this album on shrooms the night it came out and loved. I woke up sober still loved it. Then I analyzed it and started to question if I truly liked it. I picked out my favorites and tried to figure out why he chose certain angles like road rage and brand new dance but I still loved it lol. I disagree with you Justin, I love his heartfelt music more so from his early stuff not the stadium music he found a formula to. As a listener when I hear Em talking personal stuff that's when I enjoy his music because he brought us into his family and friends but the most recent of his music we have no reference so it does not sound believable such as (so much better, bad husband, tragic endings). HOWEVER, I must say I loved Temporary and even Somebody save me. I cannot listen to Temporary anymore cuz I cry every time (Im a father too lol). He checked the boxes and I have to say this is his best effort since Recovery. I think I like this more than Recovery....P.s. Relapse is totally underrated, I love it.
TDOSS is such a Great Album! Eminem cooked with this one. 🔥🙌
Exactly, I went in on these points on my review of the album
How could you skip evil ☠️☠️☠️☠️
Yeah thats a crime
Seriously
🔥👈🍀 now that's what I'm talking about non Diddy foo ...
I appreçiate the angles you come from with these pieces.
Do we take pitchforks reviews serious tho?
Facts! They are terrible. They gave Ice spice an 8.5 I believe. Hahahahahahha that is comical
About as seriously as Anthony Fantano after his Hood Hottest Princess review.
@@FacelessVixen hahahaha I can’t take that guy seriously. He tries really hard to come across as different so a lot of time when I watched his reviews. He tried to go against the masses to be different so…..
@@edwardcolon3246 Yeah. I unsubed from him a few months ago. I just couldn't anymore - not even as background noise.
I’m predicting 2025 we get an Outkast project
Kingdom Come holds up better than BP3 and 4:44 to me in hindsight
I think it's better than BP3.
It doesn't touch 4:44. That album is too good.
crazy take
The lyricism is crazy too, in this album.
Love this comparison! I’m going to go back and have a critical listen
Thank you!
I enjoyed this album. Crazy that you skip "Evil" Justin cuz that's my favorite beat on the album and my favorite verse is probably that first verse. My favorite moment on the album is the Juvenile "Hahn" flip at the end of "Road Rage". Brilliant use of that. Favorite songs overall are probably "Tobey", cuz that song stays stuck in my head, and "Fuel", which is just pure unadulterated heat. And Ken Kaniff skits never stop being funny to me.
I agree and Revival is Em’s 4:44
Great synopsis Justin!
Recovery is Eminem’s Blueprint 3
You skip Evil?! That's crazy.
The hook is grating.
@@TheCompanyMandamn sorry you feel that way, that gives me 8 mile era vibes personally
@@TheCompanyMan Interesting. I feel like that's Ems best hook on the album.. At least it's the one I enjoy most.
Thats my favorite song. Listened to it 100 times already literally.
I’m with you lot… evil is one of my favourites, the hook, reminded me of “Old Em” instantly. It was the same with Brainless on MMLP2 that was my favourite track, most people seem to skip it. It’s all personal opinion though.
🎉👈 great summarization.
Relapse would be the Death of Slim Shady had it been appreciated more
That’s brilliant tying both albums together and breaking down Jays album and showing how you feel it parallels to Ems new album.
On the surface I agree. However, I feel Jay had more pressure to not drop back to back mediocre albums after retirement. I also feel Jay stepped it up lyrically as you see in the booklet he printed lyrics for each song which is extremely rare in hiphop unless you go back to the 90s
I feel like Jay found a way to reinvent the wheel at a high level. Yeah it’s hustler talk but he managed to find a new door in a building everyone thought for him at least was blocked off
And this had way more impact on Jays legacy than I feel Ems new album for Em
I think it's looked at as a better album from a hip hop sense. But Eminem and his music is more criticized by Hip Hop than Hov is. If we're talking fan bases, I think it has a very similar effect. Em's fans LOVE this album. It's the broader music media that's critical.
And of course, I do absolutely love this album. For me, it’s his best one since recovery. I have it ranked as his fifth best all time behind his first three on aftermath, then recovery, and then the death of Slim Shady. And I really liked kamikaze a lot but kamikaze isn’t anywhere near as good as this one is.
Respect the perspective and opinion, I like Music To Be Murdered By Side A, Side B not so much. The Death of Slim was dope.
Great piece Justin.
It pains me that we are having to use Pitchforks pieces as a reference for this video. I wish there was a more substantive site to drew in depth reviews from. One that we as a hip hop community that is being underserved. Pitchfork has, in my opinion, been a place that has constantly failed to promote the pillars of our community. It seems that there is a huge disconnect in the way that they handle seminal project from our long time statesmen of hip hop. They never reviewed the stellar released from some of the most respected emcees. Some of the ones that come to mind, Pete Rock and Common's project, Masta Ace projects, Black Thought & El Michels Cheat Code, etc. Yet the find the time to spend to draw up reviews on some of the least know street mixtape rappers crapping all over the project or elevating some of the hip hop that only serves to denigrate the culture. Why not take that same time to showcase some of the better releases that will enhance the listeners and let them know that there is great hip hop legends still putting out QUALITY projects.
I wish there was a great option that the established hip hop community could turn to, to showcase, uplift, and elevate the artists that are still giving us that great hip hop to be valued.
My biggest complaint with “new Eminem” has been how he sounds, his delivery. He fixed that on this album! He managed to beautifully blend old and new Em flows and cadence and I love it. I couldn’t care less what the content is if I don’t like the song sonically. I would still love to hear him collaborate with more hiphop artists. He’s been doing that more on his recent projects but still manages to slide a few Pop features in there. I wish he would realize how much his fans really want the hiphop collabs. His biggest songs on his last 3 projects featured rappers: Joyner on Kamikaze, Juice Wrld on MTBMB, and JID on this one. Also I hated the beat on Somebody save me. Sounded like a Revival throw away
tbh somebody save me sounds like revival if revival was good
When I hear people talk about Kingdom Come or Magna Carta, it makes me see people don’t really listen to music. They just skim through it. Those albums have great music on it. This Em album if you take off “Brand New Dance” is no skip.
Jay z ranks those albums last in his catalog
@@TheCompanyManSo. Em thought Revival was a good album. It wasn’t. “Castle” is ok but that’s it. American Gangster to me isn’t as good as Magna Carta. The first 9 songs on Magna Carta are bangers. I wasn’t a fan of every beat on AG being a 70s theme. But to each his own. Also Eff Pitchfork. Dudes wouldn’t know a good album if hit them.
That's the fun part about talking about music, we all get to share our perspectives.
Great analogy 👏
Yeah that makes sense, I thought it was his mm&bs his version and 4:44, you know the whole mature themed self healing discovery journey honestly but this is take is actually more on par with what it represents, regardless this album is 🔥 best one since recovery imo, I love road rage because it’s the perfect blend of mature em and slim shady speakin about the the acceptance of all these new let’s be sensitive to people and it seems to do more harm than good, it’s actually enabling instead of confronting the issue that is prevalent and creating a cycle that will eventually lead to more issues, I think the whole album is great except trouble and bad one,
Trouble for me was just another explaination to help anyone who doesn’t know slim what he does and his character but if you know you already gathered it from habits and skip over trouble and run to road rage it’s a smoother transtion sequence wise and story wise to let the movie the music creates to do what’s needed, and bad one isn’t for me, I dislike the song because the hook and it seemed like a rehash of a classic record seduction which that man was 🔥 but bad one ain’t it for me, and trouble other than that this album goes hard. Thanks for info and the conversation appreciate it stay blessed 🙏🏾
I feel like people really sleep on this album. He wasn’t just trying to offend Gen Z or PC culture for the sake of it, he’s aware of how tired out the gimmick has become. He was only poking fun at himself while also using elements that made his music enjoyable in the first place. And I really don’t like how they rebuttal that with sarcastic remarks such as “Oh wow, he’s corny on purpose. Genius! 🤯” 😑
American Gangster is arguably Jay's 2nd Best Album!
You really reminded of the death of Pitchfork. I remember the independent music scene saw Pitchfork as suspect and highly disrespectful of the music. It really lasted this many years only to be merged with GQ. All these artists succeeding inspite of Pitchfork's reviews.
Beezy430 mentioned the album works in reverse too. Has anyone given the reverse listen a try?
Andre is either lazy or a fraud..
I find the criticism that "Eminem is self-aware but still hasn't moved on" so stupid. He doesn't believe in getting people mad on purpose to compain about it anymore, he doesn't hate his mom anymore. It's all a parody. This album is literally meant to put a stop to the persona. They're criticizing it like they know what he's going to put out next, which only tells me that they don't really understand what this album is. This album makes "going back to old him" impossible going forward.
Can you release the Andre 3000 video next?
To me, some days I think The Death Of Slim Shady his best abum, other days I think it's a top four Eminem album. I like every song on the album, but after Shady "died" on Guilty Conscience 2 and Marshal took over, the album became less interesting somewhat-although "Temporary" shocked me by being a genuinely moving Skylar Grey assisted cut, where Eminem pens a heartfelt letter to his daughter, giving her comfort and advice for the day whe he inevitably dies and leaves her behind.
Most critics just hate it because of the anti-woke content, straight up, and others lie to themselves and say he "didn't mean it." Well, no, he meant most of it on some level, he just normally would not say it that way: "
Ain't never really truly over 'til Lizzo sings... .
.if you're mad 'cause they're clownin' you for poundin' them donuts,
Put 'em down and either do somethin' about it or own it."
It was a joke, but he meant it, too. Like the Candace stuff. A lot of truth is said in jest. Shady allows him to say all the things he wants to say, in the worst way. The pure jokes were obvious, like effing dead bodies, drop kicking midgets, dangling babies, wanting to eff Candace Owens so he won't diss her (even though he just did, and meant every word.)
Eminem IS fairly progressive. He supports trans rights and BLM, and hates Trump. But he is not progressive ENOUGH for the fringe minoriy online, who view it as transphobic to say you won't have sex with a trans person:
“So transgender rights, where do I stand?
I'm all for 'em, I really am pro
But intercourse with you , would I have? No
I'm just bein' honest , now I'm an asshole.”
These are the same sort of lunatics who wrote mot of the reviews for this album, who secrety or sometimes overtly see it as flirting with a "right wing agenda", and disguising their offended intolerence by saying Eminem is doing "old man yells at cloud" type lyrics, while dismissing how well written and produced this album is. Each song leads into the next, and the album tells a story thoughout, as Eminem delivers double and triple metaphors on the same subjects, while somehow geting more preverse and funny with each verse, until the album loses a lot of it’s humor and depravity as the Shady character is dominated by the more sobr style of Marshal Mathers.
We needed "ten songs" (as one critic put it, saying he only needed GC2) of Eminem going at woke BS, precisely because of people complaing about it. It's a joke, not a dick, don't take it so hard. As a cripple, "Brand New Dance" was catchy and hillarious AF. Vintage Slim. The Death Of Slim Shady is top tier Em. Critics are cancer. These are the same kinds of people online and in reviews, who somtimes claim MMLP is a "favorite" album", who would have protested it back in the day, they just turned into permanently online keyboard warriors. These are the people Eminem aimed his Slim Shady ire at, and justly so.
They are the same kind of losers who in the 90's tried to stop us from smoking weed and playing violent video games. In the 90's, this led to PC culture, anti-drug PSA's, and congressional disscusions about video games and their myriad alleged harmful effects, such as leading to school shootings. Currently, we have ultra-woke culture, trigger warnings, and censorious anti-free speech "hate speech" laws. They used to try to ban or censor entertaiment, now they may just edit out "offensive content” from the movies you stream The same authortarians with different excuses.
We don't care if he makes fun of Trump, or Clinton, or uses the "gay" word. We respect his freedom of speech to take a stand against Bush or Trump. Agree or disagree. We also understand that Slim Shady is parody, and don't take his insane depravity seriously. We laugh and move on. Shady is a mirror on the dark aspects of America, it's vices and impulses, delivered with subtext and humor. Which is not to say that every Eminem song has to be super deep, either. Sometimes a joke is just a joke.
For me, as a pure listening expirience, it would have been way more fun if instead of "Bad One", for example, (which was a great bop with good lyrics-just not as strong or interesting as the earlier, more Shady-centric cuts) Shady and Marshal had temprarily found commom ground and gone after Trump-maybe a cool story-telling song where they invaded Mar-A-Lago, or someting. Given his well documented Trump hate, it seems odd that nothing like that was on the album.
As an older man, Eminem probably wants to get away from the South Park cartoon side of himself, and that's fine, but I treasure this last gasp of Shady, too. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no such thing as "outdated" humor. Blazing Saddles and Beavis And Butthead will always be funny, and you should laugh at them, should never apologize for it, ever. Just like I will never apologize for enjoying The Death Of Slim Shady.
It's not odd that Trump's not on the album. Too much of his audience is MAGA. We saw what happened when last time he forced that choice.
Em is in a unique position because he actually speaks for the majority population and their often myopic view on race, class, gender, etc. Things that aren't a big deal to the majority population are often huge deals to other demographics and there is a long and consistent pattern of marginalized populations fighting for rights and receiving push back socially and literally legislated against throughout the history of America.
So when a 50 something year old white man who made his millions in black music resurrects his callous side character, the one that literally defines the right wing media's approach to manufacturing consent (i.e. "You find me offensive???? I find you offensive for finding me offensive!!!!!!) complete with Trumpian attacks and politically right wing talking points, it means something completely different because the people who gravitate towards it most are gonna turn around a vote for a guy who wants to get rid of AP African American studies programs in schools, or for removing women's healthcare choices, or sending public dollars to private schools, or any of the many other confederate policies being passed in states nationwide. Music is powerful and Slim Shady's perspective is the soundtrack to segregation.
None of this is Em's fault alone, of course. But that's what Gen Z and the media and critics see when they see Slim Shady. To the majority population, it's just funny music. But in an increasingly polarized society, thinking the society's biggest problem is "woke-ism" - a term that was hijacked and bastardized into convincing people that equality and equity for minorities is a bad thing - Slim Shady represents oppression actualized.
And in 2024, hearing a white multi millionaire rail against transgenders, midgets, fat people, for whatever reason or intended artistic expression works most effectively on people privileged enough not to have to deal with any of these issues in real life legally or legislatively.
Believe it or not, but a large part of Em's fanbase is outside of USA and find American gun laws absurd. I would feel comfortable saying that Em is quite unique in hip hop in that his fans are majority non-American.
I agree with your overall point in the video, though, this is Em's version of "I like the old Kanye..." but it's quite fun!
I think it's his best album, sicerely. At least top 4.
The biggest misconceptions of this album is that its actually a story being told from start to finish. The story is taking place in a FICTIONAL setting.
Too many people have been misrepresenting the album as Em using slim shady to say offensive things in reeal life. No hes using slim shady in a fictional context as vehicle for introspection.
Hey Justin,
Big fan of the show! In regards to 3 Stacks, do you think it’s possible that he’s uncomfortable saying that he doesn’t want to rap because he knows it’ll disappoint his audience? Admittedly, I didn’t enjoy his solo album the way I his appreciate his contributions to OutKast or his features. On the other hand though, I was kind of just happy for him. It seems like he wants to just chill and play his flute and if that’s the case that’s dope to me
I'm not an Eminem fan, but I don't understand the hate for his latest album. It's much better than his last. I mean there are at least three gems on this one where as the last one had none in my opinion. He's stated it was a concept album. Maybe people just really, really don't want that from Eminem. "Just shut up and be cray!" Also I agree that relistens make it more palatable unlike Music to Be Murdered By especially a reverse listen.
P.S. Not being a fan of someone does not mean disliking them.
P.P.S. I think Kendrick ruined "fan" for me. 😂
I enjoyed kingdom come lol. Especially do u wanna ride and beach chair
Yeah, if Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony could go back to E.1999 & St. Claire the album would put all drill music to shame and be the number 1 album about murder and serving fiends; everything drill music is. Except it’d sound grown up and 10000 times better.
I do not want Bone to go back to Ruthless. I wish they would but it wouldn’t be authentic even though they are some of the originators for alot of what is heard today.
RIP Eazy E. It's still wild to me that their first three projects are almost exclusively about murder and marijuana. They're not going to the club. They're not going on any dates. Nothing but murder and marijuana. I'll always love them for that.
i fw it heavy
if thats the case then I hope HipHopDX hosts another remix contest to make the beats better
3 Stacks has said that he can’t rap anymore because he has nothing new to say or can’t be hip.
Many people say that EMineM isn’t saying anything new and/or isn’t hip. So, unless you’re saying that EMineM isn’t retreading the same topics and is actually hip, it’s NOT a good case for 3k.
3Stacks made classic verses rapping about fans he ran into in random places. That still happens to him.
@@TheCompanyMan That still happens to him today, but is that new? Is it hip? Those are 3Ks biggest concerns. That it won’t be anything new and it won’t be hip.
If he doesn't feel it, he doesn't feel it. I can't argue with him about that. How he sounds sounds unfortunate all things considered. But that's just my opinion.
1:20 Sometimes people's taste in music/interests change as the years go by, so I don't get why people are mad at Andre 3000 for going his own way.
Eminem is 51 years old. Also, you shouldn't take a fake interview (created by Eminem himself) too seriousely. By the way, you're giving media critics way too much credit. it's a very bad idea to listen to critics (whether negative or positive) before listening to an album. Your ear is already tainted.
My thoughts exactly. Most of these critics have agendas. Rotten tomatoes gave Dave Chappelle a bad review. Let that sink in.
“Pitchfork” and rap critics like that are RT of music. I could care less what they say about rap music.
Interesting collation.
Man this gotta be the first time I disagreed so heavy with your points. I got secondhand embarrassed listening to this record. Hearing him say shit like "tryna gen z me, bruh?" is just too cringe for me to handle. I can recite this mans first three albums front to back off the dome too, so it's not like I hate him or anything. It just felt like he truly did not give a fuck then. Now it's clear he does when he gets upset with critics and fans who don't like his new work. I really hate to say MGK was right about anything ever, but when he said he doesn't get why Em in an angry legend I felt that. Dude can't let go of anything ever. He can't mature. I think I much prefer NAS approach to aging in hip-hop.
"They say I don't know struggle no more. That's a joke
Btch, the fckin elevator in my mansion's broke. I have to walk like half a block to get a can of coke"
I feel you. I have my critiques when I allude to in this video. But it's a fun and funny project to me overall.
Justin, I'm curious your opinion on Hiphopdx's scathing review of Death of Slim Shady? I thought the reviewer couldn't put their opinion aside on the subject matter and just disowned the entire project, ignoring the technical prowess of Eminem that is comparable to none
I understand where they're coming from. An old Slim Shady perspective doesn't jive well with most outside of Eminem fans and right wing media. I was really disappointed in that they came out of review retirement to shit on Em. Prior to that they hadn't dropped a review since April. I guess it's extenuating circumstances but it looks like a views grab, which it is. but as far as the opinion and the angle, I'm not surprised. Most in media feel like it's juvenile content and like I mention in this comparison video, there are aspects of it that I don't gravitate towards at all. I just feel like they wanted to make a statement more than deliver a review.
It's kinda amazing I didn't think of this comparison. When American Gangster came out, I heard a lot of complaints about Jay not evolving or challenging himself. But I loved it. I played the sh*t out it!
I think that's why this comparison works. It may be his comfort zone, but it's also what ppl enjoy. It sounds bad, but sometimes you just want good music. I've enjoyed enough songs on Death of Slim Shady to call it a good album.
Yeah me too. I like it for the reasons I liked his early work, largely. It's a great nostalgia play. I enjoy it for similar reasons that I enjoy American Gangster.
I don't like the comparisons to Jay Z. Eminem is Eminem.
I loved that cypher and him telling his fans to choose a side. 😂 The concept is a very smart way to bring both sides of fanbase in as you say. I'll have to give it another listen. I think he's fkn incredible, but just not someone whose albums I tend to want to throw on much.
Let me know what you think the next go around. It's growing on me. I have issues with it at the core but at least it's fun. So much more than what I can say about this new kanye record. Ugggh.
@@TheCompanyMan will do!
And as for Ye...that's the luxury I have that you don't --when something sucks I can just skip right through it, but you gotta listen to the whole damn thing. 😂 I'm sorry! 🥺😂😅 (I didn't make it through a single song all the way through.)
@@karaminalee Man, one of my close friends who's an editor at a big publication said the same thing. We were all in the group chat railing on it. Worst Ye I've ever heard.
@@TheCompanyMan yeah what I heard was rough 😰😂. Thanks for taking one for the team and listening to the garbage for us. 😅
Album is so bad anyway, and on top of that I was old-heading for a long long time--I've gotten much better over the years when I realized how much great shit I was missing out on, but I still can't do autotune and this boring ass flow so many have now. Jesus, I did listen to the entirety of Husband though because I couldn't turn away, like a car wreck. 😂 lord it's bad.
🎉
This new Em album is like the 2024 version of Encore. I still enjoy Encore more though.
No way...
..of course I loved encore because I was 14 when it came out. Doss Is by far better than encore
You’re smoking crack 😂 encore was fucking horrible. It had 3-4 good tracks 🤦♂️
@@Taydee1193I disagree. I think Encore age well. I enjoy the rapping more than the songs itself even though there is so many deep cuts and even classic Em tracks. It felt like a comedy album at times. Range and imagination
@@TreRedding The album with 'ass like that" and "just lose it" aged WELL? NO
@@TreRedding I respect that.... but besides mockingbird and toy soldier ....... and never enough??? The rest is just fun wordplay. Doss is a story and lyrical onslaught
🤭👈 less than stella groove back🤪
Have you seen The channel "Your Favorite Band Sucks" review of Eminem?
Question off topic. Some time back it was announced that kendrick was working on a movie with the south park creators.
Knowing that kendrick used the south park guy's AI technology (voodoo) for his face changing music video, do you think the movie is still coming out?
So far it says it's still on the way.
www.ign.com/articles/south-park-creators-and-kendrick-lamars-comedy-movie-gets-a-july-2025-release-date
@@TheCompanyMan sweet, thank you and have a good day
You too, Nic.
Hhdx 1.3 of 5 stars.
What is your top 3 favorite Em albums.
Just my friend, you are my favorite hip-hop journalist. And I love you but I have to disagree with you on one thing. Saying most of Eminem’s fan base are MAGA? I’ll go ahead and buy that most of them are white. I’m white/Navajo, and I’m going to buy every M&M album the drops, but I am in no way conservative, but I’m not really a liberal either and every Eminem fan I have ever met is either a liberal, or like me, they just don’t bite into the bullshit pie, and a political party.
I’m not saying there aren’t conservative fans I’m sure there are I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s something like 40%, but even in red states, you still have millions of liberal people there. I just had to move to the state of Utah. For example it’s a red state, but Salt Lake has always been a liberal city.
That and most diehard Donald Trump supporters claimed to hate Eminem .
Here's the map I was referring to. www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/07/upshot/music-fandom-maps.html
Lol andre just got tired/bored of hip hop. He's moved on
I'd love for him to just say that.
@@TheCompanyMan” like Andre when he plays the flute 🪈 I ain’t got shit to say to you” Eminem 🤣
Justin you’re my guy but this feels like you’re try to miss the point the album on purpose
What am I missing?
Youre painting a few narratives here that are a bit shallow and untrue
For example?
@@TheCompanyMan😂😂😂 exactly bro had no example. People just be talking you da GOAT
r/newsentences
I believe TDOSS is in the Best Em Album Contender conversation!
THe one thing I'll say is that I dont agree with your assessment that eminem fans are just MAGA. THere was a large chunk of his fanbase that was but A LOT of them are not that at all.
Nostalgic for sure. A solid album. B tier.
The thing about Jays music is people know it's authentic. When he goes in his "American Gangster" bag we know he's not just pulling out make believe rhymes from thin air. So I don't think his inspiration from the film was an excuse, it was honest inspiration because Jay could relate to the shoes of the character in the movie. After Kingdom Come Jay was in the same space he's been in after 444 which is rapping about life outside of the criminal underworld which alot of folks in Hip Hop don't want to go beyond.
IMO Jay Z is overrated 🚮
What have you heard? But also depends what you Reyna hear from an artist
“Eminem fans are Magna”? 🤣
You realized Em dissed Trump in a freestyle and disses Coondace Owen’s on this album right? Which his supporters got their panties in a bunch over. Wow what an awful take.
Oh, I know that. I’m an Eminem fan. But a huge percentage of his audience is MAGA. It’s not a hyperbole. There’s literally a New York Times HAE stamp on artists that shows where there fans are. I link to in the comments and it’s also in my community section.
@@TheCompanyMan Oh The NY Times said it. Just like Pitchfork and Rotten Tomatoes have absolutely NO credibility. In Ems music he went after Bush Trump and Candace Owen’s but I’m supposed to believe his fans are MAGA supporters? My guy this is a cringe “take”. Trying to connect Em to Trump supporters for whatever reason is sad as hell my guy. I’m a huge fan of Em and even though I think the Democratic Party SUCKS. Am not a Trump supporter so miss me with that BS. People always wanna call someone a right winger when they wanna discredit them.
@@TheCompanyMan Even if his fans like Trump WHO CARES? As if shilling for Joe Biden is any better? The 94 crime bill guy?
Just cover music man. Stay out of politics man. You’re clearly reaching and using legacy media liars as some sort evidence. CNN FOX MSNBC THE NY TIMES etc are all bought by billionaires get a clue
I don’t have an opinion or care about any of that. That’s not even the point of the reference. The reason for the reference is what happened commercially and critical after he drew a line in the sand and made his audience choose between him and trump. His audience picked trump and em has even recognized that in interviews. I’m not judging that portion of his fandom. I’m pointing out how Eminem found an excuse to connect again with an audience that he doesn’t seem to largely agree with. Trump and MAGA are just symbols. It can be replaced with anything and has been many things throughout history. But that sentiment, that slim shady fuck you for finding me offensive I hate how the world is turning so pussified we should go back to the era of real men sentiment, is a huge part of his audience. Ask Tom Macdonald.
@@TheCompanyMan That notion sounds preposterous and appears not have any legs. Eminem’s fan base is always being attacked for some reason. It’s laughable at this point.
Ems fans are always either they don’t know hip-hop or they’re Maga people? You sound like you’re shilling for the democratic party. The Democrats passed a 94 crime bill that hurt Black people, but if a rapper comes out and supports them, I don’t hear any of you talking head saying anything? A conspiracy theory about Eminem’s fanbase all you guys do. Real men? The left thinks real men are toxic. And I’m not a Trump supporter saying this. Ems music if anything leans left. It’s just the anti woke stuff that triggers shit libs because they used to champion free speech. Now they think everyone has the same is progressive. It isn’t. Ems music didn’t change or his fans. The left did. So MAGA fanbase? Naw that’s 🧢
Nah, the album ain’t it! Stop the bs!
Maybe for you! Don’t try to tell others what to think
No, most people in hip hop think it is mid!!
@@SuperKillerdoglol, so you know most ppl who listen to hiphop? Like I said, just speak for yourself
@@SuperKillerdogspeak for yourself😂
"Said you're looking for miniature golf, I thought you said men to jerk off" 😭😭
Most people that I know that listen to hip hop don’t listen to Eminem! He is extremely overrated!! The album was mid, it was a lousy attempt to make shock value rap like he did in the 99-00s! It won’t work in 2024 lol!
Eminem trash 🚮
You just had to get it off your chest.. I'm sure you feel better now mate 😌
@@gintoki_sakata__ yep 👌🏿
😂😂😂