Tweet
Anyone who knows me here knows I'm a big fan of Em. Dude's run from 1997-2002 with the Slim Shady EP, Slim Shady LP, Marshall Mathers LP, Devils Night with D12, Eminem Show, 8 Mile, and all those dope features was one of the greatest runs in the history of hip hop.
He kinda fell off a bit with the drugs and what not from 2004-2008. Encore had 4 terrible, awful songs. His rhyming wasn't near as complex as he used to be. But still there were vintage moments on that album, and the album overall was mediocre though. Then more of the same on minor releases like Curtain Call and The Re Up. While Curtain Call had amazing stuff like When I'm Gone, he also dropped the worst song he's ever released in Fack. While The Re Up had an arguably Top 25 Em song ever with No Apologies and another dope track in Public Enemy #1, it also had just overall mediocre recordings from him.
Then he made a comeback with Relapse, his rhyming was top notch and the delivery was perfect. Unfortunately he was rapping with accents on half the damn album. While the album had brilliant vintage moments like Beautiful, Deja Vu, Underground, it contained trash like Bagpipes From Baghdad and We made You. Better than Encore because the rhymes but not as good as his older material. But then Em started dropping dope features again. Psycho, Forever, Drop the World, Airplanes 2, etc. And he dropped Recovery, which for all intents and purposes was his best work since 2002 easy. The delivery and flow was perfect, there was nothing too terrible, with Love the Way You Lie being the worst offering. It was a pretty good album aside from the production, which was hit and miss.
Then he dropped Hell the Sequel with Royce as Bad Meets Evil. Which topped Recovery easily. It was straight fire, and Em sounded like he couldn't be touched. Easily his best work since 2002 yet again. But then he started doing features where his delivery sounded off. And I was worried about MMLP2 coming out. But Em surprised and dropped all around his best material since Eminem Show and 8 Mile yet again. Aside from The Monster, Berzerk, Stronger Than I Was, the other 18 songs we got were pretty dope. Bad Guy, Groundhog Day, Rap God, Brainless, Evil Twin, Baby, etc. I mean there was vintage classic Em there. Not as amazing as his prime material but for modern Em he was spitting fire and making dope songs.
But......everything since, meaning Shady XV compilation album, his features, and this new track.....is mediocre at it's best. It's like he's too overly focused on syllables and rhymes. He's pausing throughout his verses to showcase every rhyme, trying to rhyme as many things as possible. He's way, and by way I mean WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY to focused on cramming as many syllables as he can into every bar to sound complex with his rhyme schemes. They sound forced. It's mind boggling how someone who had one of the best deliveries and flows in the rap game, even on his less stellar albums like Relapse and Recovery his flow was ****ing flawless, that he can't seem to figure that one aspect out in 2014 and now again this year.
This song is like a 5/10 at best. I'll take Survival over this easily. Listen if you want to, let me know if you agree. But the 2nd verse is easily the best part. Idk why the dude won't just flow like that.
Comment