tactics fall flat. The album cover is uninspired, the blonde hair, secrecy and dark symbolism look gimmicky, the lead single Berzerk sounds like an outdated mess out of tune with the new audience. All this means I approached the record with some skepticism that the new work would only lead to a diminished appreciation of the original.Turns out, the new things that Eminem does now are where the appeal lies. The best aspect of the new album are the "new territories" he explores sonically. Throwing out the Dre g-funk sound of the original as well as the cluttered backdrop of his last record Recovery, Eminem and Rick Rubin (the executive producer) experiment to good effect with all sorts of textures to create a psychedelic landscape. From flipping the Zombies "Time of the Season" to the addictive sound of Rhyme or Reason; to tapping into fun's trademark drums; to a "Scenario" throwback in Love Game to a rap interpretation of current "pop-dance" synthesizers on "The Monster", the album moves at a pleasantly unpredictable pace. With few exceptions (The disjointed nature of So Far is jarring) the album gives layers upon layers of melodic goodies by use of ad-libs and sound effects.
Eminem uses every trick in the book to show off his wide range of rapping skills. The opening track Bad Guy is a light-hearted yet vivid story of"stan"'s sequel. As it slowly meanders to a gruesome finish it is full of funny lines, smart wordplay (Eminem killed by M&M) and amalgamations of references to his earlier works. Eminem sings a great Walsh impersonation on Stronger Than I was! Fear not hip-hop heads, the album is chockeful of puns, punchlines, multi-syllabic rhyming, intricate flows and carefully timed references. Nowhere is this more prominent than the brilliant Rap God. For six minutes, Eminem explores all sorts of deliveries. He mocks. He mimics. He does an unreal "supersonic" flow of 101 words in 15 seconds. Its mind numbing brilliance.
The content is nothing new. A combination of 13 years of years in the public eye and his unwillingness to be in the spotlight limit his openness. The poignant exception of this is on Headlights where he gives a heartfelt apology to his mother. Its a touching moment of remorse. Instead, we get "rapping about rapping" songs, a few homophobic slurs, some women bashing and the now standard self-deifying lyrics. There is very little that connects this album from the Public Enemy of 2001. Not to say that there arent well executed though. On Evil twin he raps
Fuck top 5, bitch, I'm top 4
ANd that includes Biggie and Pac, whore
And I got an evil twin, so who do you think that's 3rd
and that 4th spot's for?
He doesnt need to prove it anymore. He just does a good job of reminding you why.
