Is Elevator...

[CanadaPure]

One of the most frustrating Eminem songs to ever be officially released, ever?

Seriously, the beat during the hook, and the hook itself is beautiful. If the song had actually kept that tone, and been a serious song (which I was fully expecting considering how it sounded at that point), it would have been an absolutely amazing song.

Instead, the beat gets loud and stupid during the verse, and Eminem decided to rap about standing adjacent to Jason/Leather face, and together making them a fucking bad combination or some shit like that. Also about Adam Lambert being a faggot. Meanwhile the hook is sitting there dying for a semi-serious career-reflection song. I guess the last verse kinda made sense, but come on.

Fuck you Eminem. I still like the song, but what the fuck do these verses have to do with anything? HOMIE IM THE SHNEIZAH, ASK DOCTOR DREZUM. WAT? Eminem get the fuck off them drugs.

If you don't agree, what do you think is one of the most frustrating officially released Eminem songs? Because to me, Elevator is dope, but disappointing as fuck.

[PAINKILLƎR]

FUCKING WORD AYE

[shadyblogger]

I'd say You're Never Over was a bit disappointing. Like I actually really like the song and his passion but I don't think a tribute to Proof was good during the Recovery-era because it would be bound to be corny and have unnecessary yelling which You're Never Over did have. I just wish Difficult could have been on Recovery maybe.

[EminemBase]

Not at all.

That's what made the Relapse era great and a true return to the SSLP-era mindset - of taking real elements of his life and then creating fictional fantasies and streams of thought around them.

After MMLP, Em became so somber and self-obsessed and realistic... it's what took the wind out of his sails artistically and when he does become obsessed in that vein: introspective, somber realism... he writes himself in to a corner when he runs out of real life.

The song would have been boring af if he did what you wanted.

[shadyblogger]

So did The Eminem Show lack creatively?

[CanadaPure]

Not at all.

That's what made the Relapse era great and a true return to the SSLP-era mindset - of taking real elements of his life and then creating fictional fantasies and streams of thought around them.

After MMLP, Em became so somber and self-obsessed and realistic... it's what took the wind out of his sails artistically and when he does become obsessed in that vein: introspective, somber realism... he writes himself in to a corner when he runs out of real life.

The song would have been boring af if he did what you wanted.

Well, keep in mind I said (well, I intended to say) that I did like the last verse. But I felt like the 2nd verse fell a little short.

Particularly around that time, I just feel like he could have been more creative with it. Even if it wasn't just a self-reflection song. I really didn't like the second verse, particularly.

It's all in the execution for me. SSLP executed shit like this nicely, so did a lot of other Relapse era songs, I feel like this song didn't.

[mdemaz]

stanley

stanley

[EminemBase]

So did The Eminem Show lack creatively?

In comparison to SSLP and MMLP? Oh definitely.

TES has an amazing balance though, and he's still very creative with his thoughts and there's kind of semi-concepts like "Square Dance" which still have a foot in the MMLP camp of creativity of having hook concepts and themes but being very real-world...

TES is better lyrically and musically, and probably still his best, but CREATIVELY, for sure, that was the beginning of the down turn because he started to write himself in to realistic corners.

[shadyblogger]

So did The Eminem Show lack creatively?

In comparison to SSLP and MMLP? Oh definitely.

TES has an amazing balance though, and he's still very creative with his thoughts and there's kind of semi-concepts like "Square Dance" which still have a foot in the MMLP camp of creativity of having hook concepts and themes but being very real-world...

TES is better lyrically and musically, and probably still his best, but CREATIVELY, for sure, that was the beginning of the down turn because he started to write himself in to realistic corners.

Interesting. I never thought of it that way. I always loved The Eminem Show and quite often even more than MMLP or SSLP but that's just my personal taste.

[mdemaz]

I won't lie, when I first heard this, I thought it was garbage, but, I gradually began to like it I guess. It's goofy, it's dark, it's funny, but, it's pretty average. I would rate it high, but, it's low for Em's standards. Take into consideration the mind state he was in while when he was recording this song, though.

It's hard to really put my finger on why he made this track.
A bit of bragging and darkness maybe?

Fair enough.

[shadyblogger]

That chorus is so awesome

[Kill You]

Loved Elevator on first listen and still do fuck da haters yolo swag

[_Hawk_]

So did The Eminem Show lack creatively?

In comparison to SSLP and MMLP? Oh definitely.

TES has an amazing balance though, and he's still very creative with his thoughts and there's kind of semi-concepts like "Square Dance" which still have a foot in the MMLP camp of creativity of having hook concepts and themes but being very real-world...

TES is better lyrically and musically, and probably still his best, but CREATIVELY, for sure, that was the beginning of the down turn because he started to write himself in to realistic corners.

Absolute bull shit. Creatively, Eminem was growing phenomenally as an artist up until the Encore sessions and the eventual leaks. TES marked an interesting artistic growth: less reliant on Dre beats, and thus focusing more on producing himself, Em was experimenting more with rock samples and different guitar sounds. Before this he had basically had the production handed to him, so he could build a track over what he felt it sounded like, rather than what he himself created.
Move this further, by the time of 8 mile Eminem was arguably in his most creative artistic zone. The tracks he was making had such a different sound to before; Jeff Bass said that they were experimenting with almost an orchestral sound, as evidenced by the beauty of Lose Yourself. That beat is not something an artist would make who had artistically stagnated. Even by the time of Encore Eminem was evolving into more serious, political subject matter, which unfortunately was affected by the deficit of a drug problem. We As Americans highlights what Encore could have been. That kind of on-the-porch MMLP sound, but brought shockingly into 2004.


Your arguments for Relapse fall flat on the basis that Eminem was not working artistically. He was rehashing topics which came easy to him. He had always been highly capable of rapping randomly about serial killers and other areas of misogyny. Elevator clearly shows a lack of further inspiration, and thus it isn't an artistic evolution in subject matter, but rather a devolution. SWA is brilliant in that it sticks to a theme. But once you have made a dozen or so tracks with similar themes, you have to question whether the artist still has the capability of broadening his horizons.

It wasn't that Em wrote himself into "realistic corners". He just aimed to make his music more serious in that time-frame. It was reflective. The only thing special about Relapse is the rhyming and the flows, paired with some pretty good wordplay. The subject matter has never been done before in the mainstream because it just isn't listenable for most people. It gets boring. The jokes fall flat and the album falls apart. The only tracks I repeat are the exceptional murder fantasies when I want some incredible rhyming, or the more emotional tracks I can relate to. Em was clearly inspired by horror films he was watching, but relatively uninspired by the world around him. Contrast this with his previous albums, and MMLP2, and it is clear that Relapse was the lowest rung on the artistic devolution scale.

If he wanted to show growth, why even arrange the album with skits reflecting his earlier work? Since relapse, Eminem has been growing as an artist astronomically. It just hasn't always worked.

[Brainless BadGuy]

Hi...my name is Brainless BadGuy and I'm new to this site
Back to the original question I agree that Elevator is one of Em's most frustrating songs, mainly because of how much potential it had with that chorus (not a fan of the best tbh). I don't think it's THE most frustrating song though as obviously a lot of Encore could've been better as I feel the beats on that album were fantastic. I'd say overall Big Weenie is the most frustrating because it was "supposed" to be diss track and the beat was insanely good....shame

[Despicable]

Agree with OP.
The hook is great,should have been used on another song.

Youre Never Over is a terrible song (sorry EM)
I will never get past that hook,it sounds awful.When i first heard it,i actually laughed cause it sounded so awful.
The second verse is dope when hes flowing with the beat and doesnt "tap dance all over the beat"