audio review : Hell [ The Sequel ] ( album ) … Bad Meets Evil

Eminem and Royce Da 5-9, collectively known as Bad Meets Evil based on their duet from The Slim Shady LP, should’ve made an album in 1999. Back then they were not only the best two rappers ever to emerge from the underground but nearly word-perfect to the point of lyrical flawlessness. Listen to the Bad Meets Evil song or Scary Movie and tell me what rappers were better than those two.

There’s a song on this CD, the title of which follows in the footsteps of that aforementioned Shady LP duet, Eminem haphazardly refers to as the “sequel” to Scary Movie, but that’s lyrical blasphemy. No verse on this album even comes close. As far as skills go, both rappers are mere shadows of their former selves, especially Eminem. He went from being then considerably better than Royce to now about equal.

They are still two of the best rappers in the game though and there are a few truly impressive bars sprinkled about here and there. Eminem’s David Carradine Die Hard rhyme scheme sounds almost like vintage Eminem and Royce’s “ass/bathroom” line is pretty funny. In fact, that first song, entitled Welcome 2 Hell, is one of the best, along with the ones with the best hooks; namely Lighters and A Kiss.

Eminem’s singing on A Kiss, which comes with a minor yet surprising technical flaw; it sounds a little muffled, perhaps because it was mixed with a little too much bass; is what makes the song good. The sample of a girl’s voice saying she wants a kiss adds to the concept. Lighters, as soon as it begins with Bruno Mars singing the chorus, sounds like it belongs on a different album, but it’s a nice song.

The Reunion is also notable. Not for its chorus, which is middling on the quality scale, but for the fact that Eminem makes a decent attempt to restrain the Recovery vocal delivery I hoped he’d stop using by now. The rappers also give the tiring speed-rapping a break. The concept of the song is sloppy; romantic heartbreak doesn’t really go well with their reunion story; but it’s okay enough.

The album, which, at nine full-length songs, is no more of an EP than Michael Jackson’s Thriller, though it’s being officially promoted as one, ends with a Slaughterhouse song. Though Royce Da 5-9 should’ve come on directly after Eminem instead of after Crooked I; the album has a few sequencing flaws; I guess that’s appropriate assuming the next Shady Records release is a Slaughterhouse album.

my rating : 3 of 5

2011