If you think at all like i do, you found Eminem's past 3 or 4 albums to be a bit "meh." In my mind I found them to contain one or two decent tracks but for the most part they were very forgettable. Then there was that awful B.E.T. freestyle thing that furthered my "meh" attitude about him. However, in Kamikaze, i believe that he has completely redeemed himself and I have a theory as to why that is.
From the very first song he has you hooked. "Ringer" has the deep bass that we really tend to enjoy about rap and he also switches to and from multiple styles of laying down bars. This shows that not only can he do the style that he was a massive part of developing but is also more than capable to of moving over to other styles - which I am not going to pretend to know the names of.
This album was completely unannounced and the people involved in its production did a very good job keeping that information from leaking. There wasn't even any sort of whisper talk on 4-chan about it as far as I know. It truly caught everyone off guard. It couoldn't have come at a better time because while no one was claiming he was washed up or anything, he was becoming less important in the rap game because of the lackluster performance of his last 3 albums. I suppose this is unfair because just like one of the lines in a recent song
Marshal is held to a completely different standard than pretty much everyone else in the game. If he ONLY sells 2 million copies, it is considered a failure whereas for pretty much anyone else, this would be an amazing accomplishment.
Now on to my theory about why this album is good and the last 3 really weren't: Eminem hasn't been properly mad about anything in a while
Think about it. If you know anything about this guy's past music you would know that much of his subject matter is his pent up rage about his past. He's past all that now, everyone loves him and kisses his butt all the time, he is rich as F**K and has people waiting on him hand and foot from now until the end of time. What is there to be mad about?
Then 3 albums in a row he receives negative press about the quality of his work and a majority of pundits are "slaying" his albums on youtube and in magazines that anyone still reads. Plus there was the whole thing where MGK said what i consider to be an innocent comment about his daughter being "hot" and Eminem takes that sort of stuff really personally.
Anyway, angry Em was back, and this is when he does his best work. A majority of the tracks on Kamikaze are response tracks, mostly to the critics as is personified in this epic track, and pretty great video
I don't really pay much attention to hip-hop, for the most part I don't like it. However, it is difficult to ignore something as good as Kamikaze, whether you are a fan of rap or not.
Honestly, I've got a ton of issues with this album and while it isn't as bad as his previous album Revival, it also rubbed me the wrong way for completely different reasons than Revival. I want to preface this with saying that his late 90s and early 2000s records were some of my favorites and he has certainly earned his legend status, but it is getting hard to reconcile that fact with the reality that he simply hasn't put out a good record in nearly 15 years for me.
With that said, I'll say what I liked. Em is technically on point again. His flows are insane and prove why he's one of the most untouchable rappers alive from a technical standpoint. Additionally, Lucky You with the criminally under rated Joyner Lucas is amazing. Definitely a high point for him this decade.
Now, here my overarching view of why I inevitably don't like it. The concept for this album is essentially Eminem agreeing that his last record was bad, then attacking everyone who had the nerve to say it before him. It's a garbage concept for a record and it's why I can't get behind it. I'm tired of getting albums like this from him. It's designed to court controversy by attacking artists that quite frankly, are more relevant than him while failing to learn the lessons from the albums that he is defending. There is nearly zero content with longevity here. I could go into it more, but I consider tracks like Stepping Stone and Venom among the worst things he's ever written. The production is inconsistent and largely not what I would expect from an A list artist. That female vocalist on this album is awful.
And here's the thing that really gets me with this album. He frequently alludes to feeling like the only reason his last album did poorly is because the wordplay went over our heads. It didn't and frankly, it's insulting to me as a fan to say that we weren't smart enough to "get it" which just isn't the case. It was lazy and underdeveloped and now I get a whole album of him defending his awful previous album which grows old incredibly quick. By the 3rd listen, when I got past how technically untouchable he is, I found myself being almost angry with the lack of substance in this album. I can't get behind it, even though I really wanted to like this. It made me nostalgic for a time when he wrote well crafted songs instead of him whining about critics, his previous albums, and how younger rappers are making more successful music (even if the quality of that music is debatable). It feels vacuous. It feels like an old man yelling at the sky. I get why people like it, but Em is a better artist than this. I don't need a whole album of him telling me he's the best. I want an album of him showing me that he's still got it in him to write great songs with meaning and this wasn't it. 4/10 for me.
wow dude, great write up! You are making me re-think my rating. You clearly know more about this than I do. I hadn't really thought about it in the way that you did and was approaching is simply from a "flow" perspective. Venom is terrible - i'll give you that :)
Maybe I'm a cynic, but I'd agree that the flows are there but the content just isn't for me. I tend to overthink music so take it with a grain of salt. There's just a lot here that vibes wrong with me. Stepping Stone for instance paints the picture of asking us for forgiveness for the way he treated D12, but places himself at the center of it and justifies his behavior rather than actively showing remorse for it. Like he wants to be absolved of it rather than amend his actions. I get why people dig this record, but I think the weirdest part of this record really comes from one of the skits called Paul, where he acknowledges how this record will be perceived, but rather than try and rectify these issues he just sort of plows through with every poor decision he makes here once again justifying it rather than learning any real lesson. Once again, Eminem is one of the greats and he's earned his stripes, but attacking everyone for giving him well deserved criticism just makes this whole album sound like an extended version of this video below.
lol @ that video. Good stuff.
You actually liked it? It has moments, however I couldn't stand to hear him whinge about how all the other rappers were getting more critical acclaim. Musically, lost his way long time ago, immense talents being wasted - should just make some music for himself and that I'm sure his fans would lap up - not dissing everyone they are also listening to now.
Well I am a metal fan and probably shouldn't be considered an expert on hip-hop at all. I couldn't even tell you who half the people are that he goes after in his songs even are. But the flow is great and the fact that he writes all of his own material is impressive to me. On Kamikaze i think more than half the songs are hits and that is quite an accomplishment for anyone :)
I still don't like rap music but Eminem is World's apart from the rest
I'm a fan of Tupac(Rap God) but like kamikaze.
Dude, this album rules. I love it. I've been an eminem fan for yearsss, and I also kind of agree about the recent albums being a bit 'meh', i also think that lyrically relapse is awesome (in terms of technical rapping and word play), i loved the MMLP2, maybe it had a few too many tracks, some a bit weaker but I like them all, and I also do like revival! Maybe I'm a bit bias as I'm a huge shady fan, but kamikaze is straight up awesome! Mad lyrics! He really is incredible at his craft