The Review:

There’s no avoiding it: Eminem is considered by many to be the greatest rapper of all time. His early work has retained classic status and many fans consider him a GOAT. Throughout the 2010s, however, the quality of each of the albums he put out was called into question. The last two records in particular were a special kind of bad, though.

2017’s Revival was the first of two records released within a year’s time. To say it was politically charged would be an understatement, but that doesn’t weigh against it. I can go at-length into why Revival is the lowest point in Eminem’s career, but he spoke a little about that on his next album.

Kamikaze, partially a reference to its surprise release, dropped at the end of August 2018; his second project in less than a year’s time. What about it? Well, a decent amount of the issues found on Revival were not found on Kamikaze. This made the first quarter of the album somewhat enjoyable, but that soon fades away. There are a lot of reasons why Kamikaze is not great, but there is nothing quite as horrendous on that album as “Venom”. Here’s the hook if you were curious.

Two Fridays ago, he dropped his latest album, Music to be Murdered By, without any press. I don’t think anyone was expecting this release, but is it any good?

Yeah, actually, it’s not bad, but I don’t think it’s that much better than Kamikaze.

Music to Be Murdered By is full of impressive flows from Marshall; even moreso than on Kamikaze. His flows on the project’s intro, “Premonition”, and later on the song “Lock It Up” are slick. He rides both of the instrumentals with every hit of the kick drum and doesn’t waste a second. “Godzilla” sees him going beast mode. His flow on this song is super aggressive and super fast for the first time since 2013’s “Rap God”.
Em’s lyricism is up to snuff here as well. Sometimes, he’s clever, like on “Premonition”. Here, he sets the tone of the album, speaks to his haters and fans alike, and addresses rappers he feels are in a similar spot as him.

“Bitch, if I was as half as good as I was
I’m still twice as good as you’ll ever be
Only way that you’re ahead of me’s alphabetically
’Cause if you diss me I’m coming after you like the letter V”.

Or on the song, “Lock It Up”, he gets witty about his violence. He makes excellence of his talent for connecting references from one line to the next, but this is just one example.

“Took a stab in the dark and broke the tip
Of my knife off, but your throat is slit
‘Cause I’m cutthroat to the utmost with it”

He’s occasionally humorous. He’ll throw in a funny bar here or there like on the song, “Unaccommodating”, where he says “On my petty shit, but I don’t paint toes”. His brand of wordplay and skill for internal rhymes also make an appearance on songs like “Godzilla”, where he goes,

“Pass the Courvoisi’ (Hey, hey)
In AA with an AK, melee, finna set it like a playdate
Better vacate, retreat like a vacay, mayday
This beat is cray-cray, Ray J, H-A-H-A-H-A
Laughing all the way to the bank, I spray flames”

The one aspect I do find consistent in Eminem’s music is his storytelling. The song, “Darkness”, is in the perspective of the Las Vegas shooter in the moments leading up to the actual shooting. He is very precise with his songwriting as he sprinkles in factoids about the shooter and current gun legislation while playing up the drama. The last verse of the song, “Leaving Heaven”, is about the complicated feelings Eminem has for his late biological father, who passed away in June of last year. He really hates him, but he’s grateful because he wouldn’t be where he is now without him. He wants to tell him how his shitty behavior made life hell for him and his mother, but now he’s dead and Em wants to keep it that way. It’s a surprising moment of emotional transparency that listeners haven’t heard since “Headlights” off of 2013’s MMLP2.

The guests on this album are pretty on-point. Royce da 5’9″ does his thing as he usually does; his performances are solid. Anderson .Paak is as smooth as ever; singing the hook and rapping a verse on “Lock It Up”. Black Thought easily has the best guest verse of the album on “Yah Yah”. “Makin’ plaques outta they head like dead venison” That shit is killer. However, the biggest curveball on the album is Young M.A. no question. She gives it her all, and I’m glad Em gives her a spotlight because it makes for one of the album’s strongest verses. The song is standard fare without her.

The production here is a big improvement than what was heard on Kamikaze. The pounding kicks on “Premonition”, the laid back vibe of “You Gon’ Learn” and “Lock It Up”, the New York-inspired boom bap sound of “Yah Yah” and “I Will”, and the fast-paced nature of “Godzilla” and “Unaccommodating”. The song, “Lock It Up”, has my favorite beat on the album. It also sounds the most like a Dr. Dre beat because it kind of is one. The layering of the drums, the crescendoing guitar melody, the grandiose synths, all characteristics of a Dr. Dre-produced instrumental. The production tries to hit all four corners, but the long track list does hinder it.

Music to Be Murdered By is quite long. At 20 songs or an hour and 4 minutes, this thing can be a bit of a chore to get through. There are interludes and intros and little suites in certain songs throughout the album to even out the listening experience, but it drags on at certain points. Whether it be due to some horrendous hooks, uninteresting production, and tired subject matter, Music to Be Murdered By would fare better if the track list was smaller. I didn’t skip any of the songs, but man, I was so tempted.

The hooks and/or choruses on Eminem albums are hit and miss, especially if he’s the one singing them. Of the ones done by guests, my complaints lie with Q-Tip and Skylar Grey. First of all, what the fuck is Q-Tip doing on the hook to “Yah Yah”? Why doesn’t he have a verse? Then, there’s Skylar Grey on the song “Leaving Heaven”. I like the way the hook is written, but I can’t tell any of her hooks apart and she’s done a bunch with Em over the years.
The hooks/choruses he does sing wear pretty thin on the listener’s ears. The hook to “Little Engine” sees Eminem rapping the hook like the rev of an engine. “Little engine gone, finna vrin vrin gone/I’m losin’ control”. The temptation to skip the song during initial listening was strong with this one. The hook to “Stepdad” is one very straightforward sentiment: Eminem really fucking hates his stepdad. Simple hooks can work, he’s even written a few in the past, but this one is really irritating. Also, that first line that starts the song when he says “This song is about—” and then interjects by scream singing “MY MY STEPDAAAAD” is the funniest thing I’ve heard on a song in a while. Em’s singing on the hooks to “Farewell” and “Never Love Again” are grating to the ears. The best Eminem hooks are the ones he raps or has someone else sing. The autotune on the track “Marsh” sounds like a budget version of the kind Travis Scott uses on a lot of his songs, who Eminem is clearly channeling in the hook’s ad-libs and overall vibe. It’s pretty funny he’s using autotune here when he mentioned the following lines on “The Ringer” just a year and a half earlier,

“But if you’re lookin’ to get a porterhouse you better go get Revival
But y’all are actin’ like I tried to serve you up a slider
Maybe the vocals shoulda been auto-tuned
And you woulda bought it”

The song “Stepdad” is a disturbing fantasy in the perspective of a young Eminem plotting to kill his stepdad. There’s just something off about the track. Perhaps it’s the bland melody or the boring production, but I think it’s in the violent cartoonish lyrics. The hook is underwritten, childish, and annoying. The verses are super edgy as he takes us through every instance of abuse that motivates the climax of the song when his fantasy of killing him becomes a reality. It sounds like it was written by a fifth grader with a fucked up childhood, but I guess that’s the point given the song’s intro? The level of comfort Eminem feels talking about this kind of abuse is more disturbing than the reference he dropped to the Ariana Grande Manchester concert bombing. That isn’t disturbing, it’s expected. It’s an Eminem record. That doesn’t surprise me. He’s still the same tactless man he was almost thirty fucking years ago.

The song, “Farewell”, opens with the line, “For what it’s worth, you were a slut at birth”. I’m sure you can already guess what the rest of the song is about. The song “Those Kinda Nights” has Revival alum Ed Sheeran scraping the actual bottom of the barrel for a hook to this cut about a particular night Em has with someone. Here are a few excerpts,

“OMG
Like the gas in the tank, she’s gettin’ low on me
Said she wants to go with me
I said ‘Go with you where?’ She said, ‘Out’
I said, ‘I’m a candle, I’ll go if you blow on me'”

If we’re still at it, here are a few corny lines from some other tracks,

“Plus I get dough like Ed Sheeran, so call me the ginger bread man” (“Marsh”)

“I’m getting head like a Pillow Pet” (“Unaccommodating”)

“Gettin’ head in the bucket, Marshmello” (“Those Kinda Nights”)

“I look up to myself
Like a fucking headstand” (“Marsh”)

Yeah, I’d rather listen to “Venom” on repeat for an hour than this shit.

There’s a lot that Music to Be Murdered By does right, but there’s a lot in the way of it being a solid addition to his discography. A chunk of the track list can be cut to its benefit, a decent amount of the hooks range from bland to awful , the songs about Em’s love life are forgettable, and Eminem’s pen game varies. Though, this album could have been way worse. He could have rapped in the perspective of Eric Cartman.What we got wasn’t half-bad. The guests are decent, the production isn’t bad, and when Eminem’s verses do land? They stick the landing and then some.

If this was Music to Be Murdered By, we got away with a few cuts and bruises. Nothing major.

5/10

The Pairing:

There was a lot to talk about on this album because it was so long. I will edit this piece a notch in the coming days, but thank you so much for sticking it this far. Skipped to the pairing? I won’t take it personally.

Murderers kill in cold blood. Eminem has fantasized about doing this to quite a few people in his life, like his stepdad. However, if we were to think of him as a lyrical butcher, then there’s one spot in Miami I recommend: The Butcher Shop Beer Garden. They’re based out of Wynwood and specialize in meat and its many ways it can be prepared. Sausages, steaks, burgers, and the variety in each category. For sausages, they have bratwurst, kielbasa, Hungarian mettwurst, currywurst, chorizo, and that’s not even all of them. It’s honestly quite impressive. Though, I want to pair this record with a mean burger and that’s what I’m doing. I’m pairing Music to Be Murdered By with the Butcher Mix Burger from The Butcher Shop. I was impressed with it’s juiciness. The patty blend was made up of brisket, short rib, and sirloin, which is known to be an industry standard. There is a reason, though, as the savory notes of the meat come through with every bite. The burger was also topped with char-broiled onions that went well with the juiciness of the patty. It also arugula, tomatoes, and cheddar, but the star of the toppings were those onions. Delicious. The bun was tasty and also held up well even after absorbing a lot of the juices of the patty. Overall, a well-excecuted burger. Meat lovers and bloodthirsty murderous rap legends look no further. The Butcher Shop has you covered.