Eminem needs to become Intimidating Again

[Hopsinshadie]

At my gym they were playing ''Forgot About Dre'' for some reason. It brought back a lot of chills for me. It reminded me of the days when Shady brought the house down. I realized something. Eminem needs to make you afraid of him again. He's not that person anymore. Now he's just Marshall.

Here is the thing. Eminem raps like he is pissed off. But he's just playing and you can tell nowadays. Here is the secret. Not only should Eminem be pissed off when rapping, I'm not even sure he should be. He should be pissing OTHER people off! That is the key. That is how Eminem would be perceived as a bad ass rapper again. It's not about him rapping pissed, it's about him jerking other peoples chains around and making them go crazy.

That is how he can get back on top, to truly return to his roots.

[mdemaz]

agreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed

[csw621]

isn't a middle finger in a pretty box with a bow on it still a middle finger?

[Trimss]

Do you always make the same thread over and over again

[kkaniff]

Pissing people off = Shock value =/= Great Artistic Legacy = what 41 year old Marshall wants/deserves.
HopsinShadie GOAT TR member, btw.

[Raul]

I agree with you OP. Em needs to go apeshit on everyone again

[EminemBase]

Earth to OP: he has been trying to piss people off ever since he hasn't been lmao.

He clearly got bored of it with Encore and decided to make fart sounds instead.

Then he got tired of being called softer so came back with what he and the label thought (at the time they said it contained Em's most offensive lyrics ever... which, it actually does) would be his most offensive album yet. He made an entire album of death and rape and eating babies and taking drugs and sick thought; now, it was all executed in a kind of fantasy way which may be part of the reason for it not causing the effect he wanted... but it's also because his initial impact has passed.

Now he will have the odd moment or fleeting reaction at best (Rap God).

Also, listen to the pure anger of Recovery. People seem to refer to that as a soft pop album due to some of the hooks and beats, but it's pretty much Em's angriest fucking album. MMLP isn't actually that angry, it's more playful than anything, SSLP is very playful, Encore is ridiculous/super serious and TES is pretty angry. But Recovery is like vain-bursting absurd anger (see: Almost Famous).

Again, he's had his impact and we've all heard him yell and say slut 10,000 times so it doesn't pack the same punch regardless of how much he turns the volume up on it.

I think he realized that after Recovery. I personally think he intended Recovery to be a new-age MMLP, as he initially referred to Relapse 1 + 2 as SSLP2 and MMLP2 mirrors... Relapse is definitely a SSLP-like sister album and then we never heard Relapse 2 but I bet it was angrier and darker. But he starts out Recovery with a very Kill You-esque song: pure ranting and raving, hyper-offensive character-play track and he spends most of the album trying to degrade women and get a rise out of people with insults, jokes or provocation.

Mr. Porter even referred to it as '''very reminiscent of MMLP'' at the time, which in retrospect feels very questionable/phoney as if they were trying to intentionally talk it up to be that.

That is why I believe he then made MMLP2, blatantly. Because I think he intended Recovery to be that but then when it got the reaction it did (mixed/poppy album meh) - I believe he got annoyed and thought ''fuck it, they want another MMLP? Here is MMLP2!!'' and called it that to put that speculation and comparison to rest.

<< This theory makes sense because he always uses the reaction of his latest album as fuel for the next one in conjunction with what's happening in his life and the reaction to Recovery was ''poppy, mainstream'' etc. hence: "it's not, hip-hop it's pop!" and the pure outburst of "Rap God".

It was actually an ingenious time to make MMLP2. No other time would have quite made sense like it.

1. It was pretty unexpected
2. He was huger than ever, so all eyes and ears on him
3. A lot of criticism for not being as good and selling-out/poppy

Encore-to-Recovery kind of laid the perfect groundwork to lead to a MMLP sequel which actually made sense and it feels very right @ "it's not, hip-hop, it's pop!" attitude on "Rap God"; doesn't even feel corny mentioning his own work within his work, it feels meta and like a true reaction like MMLP1. So the timing and his thinking was brilliant, it's just unfortunate that once again - despite (ironically) making an album to combat him compromising... he compromised on the very album itself and made a very uneven album trying to replicate the trend of ''eclectic'' being set by modern rappers like B.o.B which doesn't work for them either.

You end up creating an album which satisfies everybody a little bit but nobody to the max, a 6.5-7 (max) album, despite a 8-10 performance and some 8-10 songs. Damn. What could have been.

But yeah, in case you haven't noticed, he has been trying to piss people off ever since coming back.

I do think his style and how he approaches it does affect it aka whether he talks about nonsense/fantasy vs. real world topics. I think if he did talk about real world topics again then he would cause more reactions.

However, at this point, one of the most shocking things he can do is be truly sincere or apolgetic, as we saw from the shocked reaction to ''Headlights''. That's a cheap trick though and I would definitely like to see him dig deeper and apply his ingenious gifts back to the outside world - if he did that, his topics would be endless, although he is also becoming deeper and deeper in his ''angry grandad of rap'' routine and celebrating his own misery and obsessive negativity. And it's pretty funny and interesting, because it's so overkill.

Interested to see where he goes next. As always. If he does go somewhere next.

#VintageBase back in this bitch.

[Raul]

Great post, EmBase

Now I think, if Em is going to release another project in 2015/2016, I imagine if he is going to use the reception that MMLP2 got as a fuel. Because... MMLP2 was received pretty well by the majority. There are those people who didn't like it, of course, but it got far better reviews than Recovery and Relapse. I don't think he has a fuel (album reception) that's strong enough to make him go in a certain direction.

[TonyTilt]

There's just not the fire in him anymore, I feel like in Forgot about Dre and that era Em had almost an "unpredictable" vibe to him.

[EminemBase]

There's just not the fire in him anymore, I feel like in Forgot about Dre and that era Em had almost an "unpredictable" vibe to him.

He was unpredictable because you had never heard him before.

You'd never been exposed to the Eminem bag of tricks.

You think ''Rap God'' would sound predictable if you'd never heard him before?

Or do you think RG or ROR or Baby is Em without fire? Lmao, gotta be crazy maiyne. He's a raging inferno; technique, phrasing and wit are at an all-time high in most places. We've just heard him rap himself tireless for SEVEN other full solo albums, TWO group albums and a group EP spanning 15 years.

That's a long-ass time and he is still coming up with completely new styles, rhyme schemes, sounds, voices, tones and inventing utter brilliance within rap technique and voice performance. Unfortunately, when it comes to how he approaches provocation, social commentary and self-analysis... we have heard an absolute abundance of it and there isn't too many ways he can slice it with a singular outlook, although he does a fucking brilliant job on re-framing the same thoughts in ways which feel slightly new.

But, I think to say he ain't got the fire with how he's rapping is absurd yo.

[Dirrt]

Do you always make the same thread over and over again

Straight to the point I'm noticing



Great posts EminemBase, I'd also like to high five you for your grammar and spelling

I'd like him to dig deeper, but there's only so deep he can go based on what he's already told us
It is great when he's obscene and offensive for no reason, telling a story as he goes - Might not be real, but he's so good at it
Telling the same story in a different way is clever, but it’s still repetitive

He'll always be pissing someone off by breathing and being successful, he's probably bored of law suits now and many of his problems he faced were back in the day
His life is easier but he’s still has his own shit to deal with
He’ll always be as honest as he’s allowed to be and he will always speak his mind

I can’t tell on his new album if he ran out of ideas and is just rapping about utter drivel as he knows his Stans are going to buy it
I can't tell if he's business minded or passionate anymore
With the exception of Rap God, I’m not impressed by anything on his new album yet
Hands up, I do need to give it more time

I lost a little respect for him when he hooked up with Rihanna, he’s been insulting people like her in mainstream manufactured shit since he began (once reason why I love him) but he does explain himself in Rap God

[TonyTilt]

There's just not the fire in him anymore, I feel like in Forgot about Dre and that era Em had almost an "unpredictable" vibe to him.

He was unpredictable because you had never heard him before.

You'd never been exposed to the Eminem bag of tricks.

You think ''Rap God'' would sound predictable if you'd never heard him before?

Or do you think RG or ROR or Baby is Em without fire? Lmao, gotta be crazy maiyne. He's a raging inferno; technique, phrasing and wit are at an all-time high in most places. We've just heard him rap himself tireless for SEVEN other full solo albums, TWO group albums and a group EP spanning 15 years.

That's a long-ass time and he is still coming up with completely new styles, rhyme schemes, sounds, voices, tones and inventing utter brilliance within rap technique and voice performance. Unfortunately, when it comes to how he approaches provocation, social commentary and self-analysis... we have heard an absolute abundance of it and there isn't too many ways he can slice it with a singular outlook, although he does a fucking brilliant job on re-framing the same thoughts in ways which feel slightly new.

But, I think to say he ain't got the fire with how he's rapping is absurd yo.

You always find a way to make someone feel like a jackass ahaha. But you're right with pretty much this whole post.

[kkaniff]

Nah, MMLP2 was pretty tame, almost deliberately so.
The standout attempts at typical Em baiting were on So Much Better; the "you fucking pigs, all you're good for is doink..." and, heh, pretty much every other lyric on the song, and they were so cartoon-ish exagg and OTT that only idiots (HuffPost) would mistake them for actual misogyny.
And on Brainless, the "...little homos get over your fears and phobias" line is followed by "my whole career's a stroke of sheer genius, smoke and mirrors, tactical, practical jokes yeah, you motherfucking *insert insult here*"
Which is just so obviously spelling it out in mile high neon letters that I'm shocked that there's still conversations about Eminem's homophobia.
The rest of the album was relatively tame.
Intentionally.
I think he finally realised that getting feminists/gay rights activists mad is probably the easiest thing in the world to accomplish, and switched to saying stuff like:

...but everytime I speak you hear a beep, but lyrically I never hear a peep

and

...fuck top 5, bitch, I'm top 4

trying to feel out the reactions, and still didn't hear a peep about those either.
Maybe he'll finally stop being modest and claim GOAT once and for all, he's honestly overqualified for the position.
Also, it's funny Recovery gets praise for being "mature" when it contains some of the vilest, most hilariously childish insults Em has spewed since SSLP.

[Mr Evil]

His skill intimidates MC's as much as ever but he's not an intimidating person anymore really.... Does that make sense ?

[Just Silver]

He should diss the fuck out of fagglemore