The Slim Shady persona never really made sense to me and it still doesn’t; alter egos rarely do; so it’s just as well he kills it off. Eminem is Eminem after all; one rapper and the number one rapper on my “top five” list despite being terribly inconsistent over the years. Lyrically The Slim Shady LP remains the best album I ever heard. He was almost perfectly succinct back then. Now he’s verbose. Compare that Guilty Conscious to this one. “Can’t even form words,” he claims, rather ironically, as if he didn’t already use “words” in that rhyme scheme.
Still The Death Of Slim Shady (LP) is his best since Relapse; appropriately enough given the return to signature themes he hadn’t revisted since, including a message from Paul Rosenberg and monologue by Ken Kaniff. He’s also back to making fun of Christopher Reeves. “A lot of people ask me,” he says on Temporary, but those expecting another trip Underground will be disappointed. It’s a sycamore sap dedication to his daughter. Then, as if one sickeningly sweet ode wasn’t hard enough to stomach, there’s Somebody Save Me.
When he’s not making gay love songs, he’s offending gay people again, along with bisexuals and so-called transgenders, which is refreshing to hear; I detest LGBT and all “woke BS”; though he’s not as provocative as he claims to be. If he were, he’d say “the F word” like he used to and go after more rap peers/successors instead of easy targets; real victims of “cancel” culture; like Diddy and R Kelly… and Candace Owens. Deviant Eminem is the best Eminem and he hasn’t been this deviant in a long time, in other words, but us fans are never satisfied.
“I don’t see no fans,” he says, “All I see’s a bunch of complainers.” I like Houdini though. Evil is good. After that Nights tease from his previous project, I’m also pleasantly surprised to hear a verse from Bizarre; it’s been decades; though Eminem should’ve dropped one over the beat to make it a proper duet. No hook needed, but his Habits bridge is better than White Gold’s. Road Rage; the best beat; is ruined by its. EZ Mil’s Head Honcho is also weak before Em abandons it for a long tedious verse, though he does provide some witty bars elsewhere on the set.
my rating : 3 of 5
2024