Eminem announces new album THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRÂCE) - releasing Summer 2024
- Thread starter BoondockRiley
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Cheers! The Bad Meets Evil album is called 'Hell: The Sequel'? I've got that on Spotify too so will check it out.
Thanks for the recommendations. I was actually going to start with his first album, Rock City. I quite like doing that when hearing artists for the first time. See/hear their journey etc. Will definitely check out Book of Ryan though! 👍
I'm of two minds here.
On one hand, the Slim songs are purposefully crass, disrespectful and punch down so that Eminem can kill him and apologize in later songs which is a cool album concept.
And the songs are pretty good ngl, I've had Evil stuck on my head for hours.
On the other hand assholes don't care about the story or purpose and if they see something they can use as an anthem or symbol, they will use it, not unlike chuds using the South Park Kathleen Kennedy jokes to attack diversity in film despite the show trying to paint them as losers at the end. They'll just crop the anti trans segments of the Slim songs and call Em based while amplifying a harmful message.
I like the album tbh, but I can understand people not agreeing with the means justifying the end here. Nor the potential consequences of having songs like these on the wild.
On one hand, the Slim songs are purposefully crass, disrespectful and punch down so that Eminem can kill him and apologize in later songs which is a cool album concept.
And the songs are pretty good ngl, I've had Evil stuck on my head for hours.
On the other hand assholes don't care about the story or purpose and if they see something they can use as an anthem or symbol, they will use it, not unlike chuds using the South Park Kathleen Kennedy jokes to attack diversity in film despite the show trying to paint them as losers at the end. They'll just crop the anti trans segments of the Slim songs and call Em based while amplifying a harmful message.
I like the album tbh, but I can understand people not agreeing with the means justifying the end here. Nor the potential consequences of having songs like these on the wild.
More tiring than a 20 year old song joking about an accident that happened almost another 20 years prior to when it was actually written? A joke which Eminem had already run into the ground years before he was dyeing every grey hair on his head and face? I must have talent!
Yes, he raps about wanting to suck Megan Thee Stallion's toe.
That's the third mention of Megan on the album (and the second about her foot)? The other is a line about her scissoring Nicki Minaj.
It's all very bad.
This sounds like you just want to ignore the very valid criticism.
Royce is great but I haven't been able to rock with him the same way after Lupe Fiasco cooked him.
When people talk about separating art from the artist, I assume that a post like this is what they'd like people to do when that's said. Namely "don't think about the problematic nature of the material or artist, just the art itself". But, no, you should think about these things. If you find a problem and can still enjoy it, that's great. But it shouldn't be brushed off as "tired" that someone finds it a problem and can't enjoy it.
You can reckon with the problem and still engage with it. I like this album a lot but he says some super shitty things in it and it's going to turn some people off and that's totally fine.
I've heard it twice, a song going "no, you suck and I actually like those people" doesn't take away from the 35+ minutes of material of shitty things. It's like if someone makes a bad song on purpose. If they succeed then it's going to be excusable to some but others will just go "but it's a bad song". Doing shit things on purpose doesn't mean you shouldn't think they're shit.
I've listened to it twice, front to back.
Just say that you're not bothered by the transphobia and ableism on the album. It's a lot easier than childishly accusing people of not listening to it when they criticize said bigotry.
eminem dropped a warning before the album drop that the album should be listened in order otherwise it would make no sense and that its a concept album. so I am threatening it the way the artist is presenting it, not the way some of you here want me to threat it.
Yes, you can listen to it in order and still find the material problematic, how are you not understanding that aspect of it? It's not that people don't "get it", it's that they get it and find it shitty.
It being a concept album does not mean it's okay to say horrible things about trans people and use slurs for 13 songs.
He is really just using the concept of the album as an excuse to say those things.
That is literally the discussion being had in this thread.
Death is Certain is so underrated and holds up really well for the most part. It was also recorded at a time he was beefing with Eminem and D12 so there's some shots on there and a real raw and hungry underdog vibe throughout the album, some really nice beats from the likes of DJ Premier. It wasn't on streaming for ages but now it is it definitely shouldn't be skipped if you're giving him a listen.
It also really highlights how much he developed as a rapper, his style on Death is Certain is much simpler than on his more recent great albums like The Book of Ryan and The Allegory. He was perhaps the most improved rapper around, but as someone else alluded to, he got into a clash with Lupe, lost, and his music has regressed massively since.
Edit: this is hard af
View: https://youtu.be/rgHPxtEoROA?si=-h6DWQ56j2lh8mTr
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But its easy for you to just assume things right? I guess I am just not as easily offended as you are. But me not being offended has nothing to do with what I support and don't support and maybe that's the difference between us.
Yeah and I dont agree, just like almost literally no one else is who checked the album. The whole point of it is that if you listen to the album, the whole thing, you understand that He realises himself that the old eminem did and said things which are unacceptable. thats the whole idea behind it. Do you think anyone really felt comfortable listening to anti christ? I mean if some people finish the album and feel like, yeah the first part is what I am going to bang in my car, well I think they missed the whole message or have not outgrown puberty.
Thats fine, Just say you find it shitty and I am ok with it, but some people are pretending they've listened to the whole album and come with weird takes which is comical.
I think this album is a lazy attempt of being edgy while still trying to look like you have evolved as a person. It doesn't work either way.
There are some good tracks and lines in there, the production value is of quality as well, but yeah, mediocre overall.
There are some good tracks and lines in there, the production value is of quality as well, but yeah, mediocre overall.
Its not you, I talked and quoted you directly on the points we where having a conversation about.
I know.
But if you're going to accuse people in this thread of giving an opinion on the album but not actually listening to it, you should quote them.
Ill try to find the time for it later, its 15 pages now and I honestly dont feel like entering back and forth with everyone, I reply to you because I've seen you involved in a lot of hiphop topics
Of course. Time to vaguely accuse people upset about transphobic content of not listening to the album but not enough time to specify who you're referring to.
Listened to it on a drive today. It's interesting at times, lazy at others going in and did enjoy some of the closing tracks.
Thing is when you pan out from the concept back into the real world there's only so much you can believe him truly finding it unacceptable to say those things in his songs when he's out there still making tracks saying the same things. Through a concept album sure, but they're still lyrics he's penned, produced and is profiting from. It's kind of having your cake and eating it.
Not finding them offensive is one thing, it's too tired and trodden for me to get all that tilted over Eminem, it's more that the message itself rings a little hollow. He's talented enough to have this reflection on his past self/persona without spending portions of the album saying bigoted things, it would be better without them imo. Obviously not the direction he chose to go though, that's his choice. People can be critical of it while still getting the idea behind it.
View: https://x.com/Ultraasher_ssb/status/1811989300927496618
A whole concept album for a point he succinctly made about himself in the last verse of Bad Guy 13 years ago.
Hell The Sequel is amazing imo. There have been rumblings that Em and Royce are working on another album together. I hope it is true.
21 years in a row without dropping anything good
and I'm supposed to buy that he's a goat? Lol, lmao even
this album is the same repackaged shit since recovery. there's nothing here, he's got nothing left to talk about. this shit is lazy and tried but it's ok, good, and different since he said it's a concept. aight man lol
and I'm supposed to buy that he's a goat? Lol, lmao even
this album is the same repackaged shit since recovery. there's nothing here, he's got nothing left to talk about. this shit is lazy and tried but it's ok, good, and different since he said it's a concept. aight man lol
One reason I feel that the concept of the Album works for me is that modern Em, at least on his last 3 albums, did not act like Slim Shady in this album and did not use these slurs that I know of. Other than in fall where he used the f word and censored it and also apologized for.
So Eminem saying he wants to distance himself from Slim Shady and kill him I think is true.
Personally I want Eminem to kill the offensive Slim Shady persona. I like modern Em more than Slim Shady anyway.
So Eminem saying he wants to distance himself from Slim Shady and kill him I think is true.
Personally I want Eminem to kill the offensive Slim Shady persona. I like modern Em more than Slim Shady anyway.
Hey, Recovery was only, uh... 14 years ago.
I mean, that's not really how it works. The level of skill shown on his second, third and fourth albums is nearly impossible to deny. And the impact, popularity and critical acclaim of those albums is impossible to deny.
Because of the lyrical content on SSLP and MMLP, I generally only like to revisit The Eminem Show. But I can't deny his GOAT status because of his later work being mid.
Everyone falls off at some point.
Yeah, Em lost me with the trans/PC boomer shit. There's some good tracks on the album but that wasn't necessary. He could have done Slim Shady shit without that.
MMLP2 was his last good album
MMLP2 was his last good album
Mid.
8 Mile Soundtrack was dropped in October 2002.
That's a 21 year drought to me
I think Recovery is legitimately great. Some of his best production (arguably his last album with solid production throughout) and while he leaned too heavily into the yell-rapping at times, it felt like actual growth from his older material.
That and The Eminem Show are the albums I revisit the most.
I can see why a lot of the material in the first half of the album could make people uncomfortable, but I didn't personally have an issue with it. Those lines are in the voice of a fictional character/alter-ego who is killed off on the album, and they're explicitly rejected by "Old Eminem", who's positioned as the album's protagonist. Additionally, I think there's a deliberate hokeyness to them. I don't think Eminem recycled a bunch of dated jokes about Christopher Reeve and Caitlyn Jenner with the intention of courting controversy. There's an arbitrariness to them, suggesting they exist only to further the album's narrative.
But that kind of points to one of the album's primary issues. It doesn't really capture what made Eminem such a controversial figure to begin with. I don't think he's capable of tapping into that darkness and rage anymore. He can do a reasonable facsimile of the goofy irreverence seen on stuff like "Without Me," but that's about it. Songs like "'97 Bonnie and Clyde" and "Kim" remain deeply abrasive and unsettling experiences to this day, and even beyond the horrorcore flirtations, there was a manic energy to his early music that he hasn't approached in many years. If he's unable to convincingly portray that character anymore, then the concept of this album can't possibly work. It also makes the album feel kind of pointless. I don't think "Slim Shady" has really been part of Eminem for a long time, so this entire exercise feels hollow as a result.
But that kind of points to one of the album's primary issues. It doesn't really capture what made Eminem such a controversial figure to begin with. I don't think he's capable of tapping into that darkness and rage anymore. He can do a reasonable facsimile of the goofy irreverence seen on stuff like "Without Me," but that's about it. Songs like "'97 Bonnie and Clyde" and "Kim" remain deeply abrasive and unsettling experiences to this day, and even beyond the horrorcore flirtations, there was a manic energy to his early music that he hasn't approached in many years. If he's unable to convincingly portray that character anymore, then the concept of this album can't possibly work. It also makes the album feel kind of pointless. I don't think "Slim Shady" has really been part of Eminem for a long time, so this entire exercise feels hollow as a result.
I believe we outgrow every artist eventually. I've personally come to a point (sadly) where I listen to a album and then just dont care anymore about it. My biggest problem is that I simply just cant connect to any HipHop artist out there right now, Nas might be one of the few who has a track here and there, but thats about it. Joyner Lucas with ADHD was the last thing which really hit home because i have ADD myself. I wonder what the fuck you have to do once you reach a age where your focus is your family and your kids, like is there hiphop for dads?
One of the criticisms I see of this album (that it's a concept album yet Eminem didn't really commit to the concept) is one of the reasons I love Relapse.
That album really, *really* commits to the theme and concept on it from beginning to end. And if you don't like or are unsettled by that concept (or just hate the accents, which I didn't mind), you'll feel even more strongly about how much you reject the album.
That album really, *really* commits to the theme and concept on it from beginning to end. And if you don't like or are unsettled by that concept (or just hate the accents, which I didn't mind), you'll feel even more strongly about how much you reject the album.
I mean Jay Z is at 21 years too since his last great project with The Black Album. But everyone lets him slide.
Its good, not great. Not up there with Reasonable Doubt, BP and Black Album.
The problem is that for a lot of people Em hasn't even been putting out good albums.
Good is good! The conversation was about how it's been 14-21 years since Eminem's dropped anything good
Which isn't true lol kamikaze, Music To Be Murdered By are definitely considered in the realm of good. And this new album is getting pretty high praise, so that's 3 good Albums since 2017.
There is a 14 year period between 2003 and 2017 where he dropped trash to extremely mid albums though.
Kamikaze is mediocre and propped up by his "I'm lashing out at everyone" facade. MTBMB is bad.
I dunno, off the top of my head I'd put MTBMB at the top of his last 3, but I def wouldn't call it a good album.
Will probably listen through his later projects tomorrow and see if I feel differently, it's been so long that I don't think I could provide a detailed take. Glad they resonated with you though
I remember kamikaze hitting harder thanks to the surprise factor. Hype faded pretty quick though
