It’s easy to Hate Eminem in 2020.
I mean it’s Eminem, who wants to like an angry rich middle aged white man? That’s not popular any more. In this culture of empathy we’re always learning new ways that we’ve been assholes. A few weeks back I found out I was an asshole for recycling bottles the incorrect way. Because I personally wasn’t putting glass in a paper bag, stomping it and then wrapping it in cardboard, a poor garbageman has a scar. I still feel bad about that. Eminem doesn’t make music for empathy. Eminem makes music for punching walls. It works for him, it’s made him money, and he clearly enjoys doing this.
However, every time he drops an album people are either shocked at the content or shocked at the fact he doesn’t make “popular” music. Eminem makes music for Eminem fans. Do Eminem fans suck? Yes. But do most fanbases suck as people made liking someone into a personality? Yes. Eminem is not trying to get new fans. He’s here for the people that have liked him forever. Eminem makes music for the people who ruin parties by saying “yo put on that new Eminem”. He’s mad a career of this, so why would he stop?
With this said, lets get into his new album “Music To Be Murdered To”
Well, that happened.
Eminem is very good at making Eminem music. Expecting anything different is dumb at this point. To say that Eminem isn’t one of the greatest rappers of all time would be criminally insane. He was designed to rap, he was put on this Earth to rap, but man I really don’t need to hear him rap anymore. A lot of songs on this album had me questioning why they existed. For example he’s got a song from the perspective of the Las Vegas Mass Shooter. He doesn’t glorify the actions nor really humanize them, he just raps what happened. I think that he wanted to make a point about how mass shootings are acts of senseless violence, but it’s hard for him to fully empathize when he’s been rapping about senseless violence for decades. I think Eminem wants to be a good person and be poignant but his rap style is just hella aggressive. It’s like watching Pennywise (the clown from IT) volunteer at a children’s hospital.
To me, Eminem has reconciled with the fact that he’s inspired a lot of angry white dudes to be angry, but he can’t stop them. He’s too rich and too successful to truly understand why these new white niggas are so angry; it’s hard to truly relate with an incel when you dated Mariah Carey. However, Eminem still loves rapping and his fan base believes in his abilities. So I ask again, why would he ever stop? He has enthusiasm on this album, he enjoys rapping about murder, he’s the happiest he’s ever been. Seriously, how mad could homie be with an Ed Sheeran feature? That hobbit nigga is too jolly to be around negativity.
Eminem’s early albums sounded like therapy sessions, his newer albums sound like he’s been going to therapy. He’s rapping like someone who isn’t afraid to fail and isn’t afraid of losing. So this album is way creepier than his old shit. He’s a happy, fully functioning, successful father who doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder. The guns he hold next to his head aren’t loaded anymore, and his middle fingers are love signs to his fans.
Overall “Music to Be Murdered To” is an Eminem album. If you love homie you’ll get lyrics tatted on your face regardless of what I say. If you don’t like Eminem, this isn’t going to make you a fan by any means. I’m kind of ambivalent about Marshall so, I can take or leave it. So, I give “Music to be Murdered To” 5 pairs of Osiris Sneakers out of 9.