Em too complicated for his own good

[Jimmy Conway]

I get it. You want to grow, you want to change, you want rap to stay fresh and exciting.

And I'm glad Em, but, it's OK to just rhyme sometimes. Just straight forward bars. Not yell/whisper, not speed up, slow down. Just straight going in.

He does it here and there on the album. Baby is one of the best examples for a full song.

"I got a laptop in my back pocket
My pen'll go off when I half-cock it
Got a fat knot from that rap profit"

"Enough rhymes to maybe try to help get some people through tough times
But I gotta keep a few punchlines just in case cause even you unsigned
Rappers are hungry looking at me like it's lunchtime
I know there was a time where once I Was king of the underground
But I still rap like I'm on my Pharoahe Monch grind
So I crunch rhymes, but sometimes when you combine
Appeal with the skin color of mine
You get too big and here they come trying to censor you
Like that one line I said on "I'm Back" from the Mathers LP1
When I tried to say I take seven kids from Columbine
Put em all in a line, add an AK-47, a revolver and a nine"


And somehow I saw my future is in this, that's how I know myAnnotate mission
Little boom box booming, spitting, practicing numerous writtens
When I sit in my room envisioning my dreams come to fruition


Who just happened to be a rapper who just happen to be on the crapper
When it happened I had an epiphany in the bathroom
I'd never be the same after, now I'm back with an apper-
-tite for destruction the fuckin' recipe for disaster


It's here and there. Smooth bars. Smooth flow. Rap a word or two in a bar, make the next bar have a word or two in it. Not this all over the place stuff.

For an album "taking it back to straight hip hop" it sounds pretty experimental for the most part.

[Him Shadow]

is this a letter to Em or somethin'? if not maybe you should send him one and stop cryin' here cause you can't enjoy his new album

[Jimmy Conway]

I enjoy the new album. I must just be tired and hungry because for a moment I forgot this place is full of stans that can't be critical or break down anything about Em.

Sorry, I should have made a "top ten em songs ever" thread so you delusional guys can be like 1.Bad guy.2Lose yourself 3.Headlights 4.Evil Twin 5.Stan 6.Brainless ect ect and over rate this album like you all have in basically every thread ever.

[Him Shadow]

@Jimmy I know what you talkin' about, but I'm not on of them, I just really like the album and I'm really happy about it, when Recovery came out I thought it's awesome but deep inside I knew it not really that good, now it's different for me. I think you should try and bumb this album everyday and focuse on the good things about it instead of lookin' for a reason why Eminem's music is not as good as it was or whatever

[Jimmy Conway]

I listen to the album a lot.

Analyzing things is fun. I don't want to just go "yep, that's good" and keep it so simple.

I like think, to break things down.

Not just be a mindless fan that ignores everything expect a positive outlook on em.

[cheeseburger]

I know what you mean. I really enjoy those parts you picked out.
But he is not to complex I feel. It makes you listen to a song 100 times and its still fresh.
Love it

[Him Shadow]

I listen to the album a lot.

Analyzing things is fun. I don't want to just go "yep, that's good" and keep it so simple.

I like think, to break things down.

Not just be a mindless fan that ignores everything expect a positive outlook on em.

if it comes to music I prefer to feel, not to think. so I guess I'm that mindless fan for you. ok

[Kill You]

So Far...'s flow is great.

[nicknem]

I think music HAS to stay simple to be good.


Why were MMLP and TES so cool?

Pretty simple shit when you think about it. Of course he is an amazing lyricist, he has an incredible flow, etc, but everything sounds and feels very simple, not forced like Recovery (basically everything except talking to myself and GTC), Relapse (basically everything except Same song and dance, Deja vu, Careful what you wish for, my darling and the first verse from beautiful) and some songs on MMLP2 are.

[EndoveProduct]

Oh shut up

[infinite2hts]

Its maybe because he does not have much to talk about. so he plays around with these rhymes and thinks about complicated structuring & phrasing in his writing to fill up the bars.
for old Em, lot of things were happening around him, for example see SFTM. Every word in that song has a reason for existence. all the shit happening around him inspired and fueled him to write songs like fight music, white america.
New Eminem is an accomplished rap veteran who loves hip hop, and loves rap. if you see the art of rap interview he talks about how all the time he thinks about is packing a verse with as much rhymes in diff bars. its what he loves to do. so...
any IMO I personally think we should be grateful that this guy is still dropping dope music after 15 yrs into the game.

[yoda you can call me]

no.. if it goes over peoples heads and they're not feeling it, then boo fucking who.. i love his genius. plus this has been a well received album.

[Raul]

I think Evil Twin had more beat pauses than I'd like, but apart from that the complexity of the rhymes doesn't annoy me.

[Crazee]

Honestly I don't think this is true at all. His flows and technical ability sound anything but simple on those 2 albums. Listen to Business, Square Dance, Without Me. His flows and rhymes are wild. To me, one of the main reasons those albums were so cool was how off the wall his technical style was. In every song he had a crazier, fresh way to rhyme and rap. Obviously there are other things he did very well, but I never thought of them as sounding "simple". Maybe that's just me though.

I agree, but I think Em's best trait in that era was being able to rhyme in an intricate pattern technically while also speaking in plain english and keeping things casual. At least pre-TES. I thought on TES, there are songs where he started to twist the english language more in order to fit the rhyme schemes. But SSLP and MMLP, man...it sounded so fluid and effortless. He's never been that fluid since, imo.

I'm not attacking his other albums, just my own personal taste. I think Eminem likes to fuck around and do different things, even on Encore he was a beast at flow switching and vocal tones. I honestly think that's what he enjoys most about rapping, flipping styles and schemes and seeing how they work.

[trentimus]

Post Rehab to me it seems he is really focused on creating flows and rhyme schemes that rappers can't reproduce.. it doesn't make for great music but it will establish that without a doubt he is one of the most technical rappers to ever do it.

His flow on MMLP2 is flawless in a technical sense and would probably be impossible for 99% of rappers to replicate anything like it and allowed for Relapse-level rhyming (without the accent)..

But TES was where he was really an instrument to the song and IMO that is the superior musical flow.
He would intertwine his words with the beat in a way that made them so much in unison it was difficult to tell which part you were really vibing with.