Eminem - Kamikaze

Let's discuss it here.

I listened to it the night it dropped, and am on my 5th listen now. Just ordered the vinyl. Not gonna ship for 3-4 months -_- oh well..

but

To me

his best since The Eminem Show.

I liked Relapse, Recovery. Loved MMLP2, and I mostly liked Revival.

But this is a whole 'nother beast...

Ya'll can roast me for this but... I'm probably one of the biggest Em fans there is. Will Smith got me into hip hop when I was 10/11 (fuck you, he's dope) but Em made me fall in love with hip hop. He was my gateway drug. MMLP came out when I was 13, that and D12's Devil's Night were the sound track to my life during those years.

whatever your feelings are about the old/new Eminem, I've felt like since he came back with Relapse in 09 he's kinda let people just walk over him (nick cannon not withstanding lol) and idk man, I'm just so fucking happy to see him finally standing up for himself again.

thoughts?

Yep.



TBH, I strictly had forbidden myself from making a thread like this to not look like an Eminem fanboy since I'm usually the one making topics on his latest projects. I woke up around 3AM (dun dun dun) Friday morning feeling restless af (forgot to turn my AC on) and didn't wanna go down stairs, so I took my phone off the charger and was going just watch some youtube clips to help me fall asleep, then little do I know I see a track of his uploaded and I'm thinking to myself this can't be... listened to the shit right there with my girl sleeping right beside me and thought the shit is dope.


I also went to the music store the same day to be told the physical copy doesn't come out till September 14th, so I'll be waiting on that. My thoughts are this: I don't think we'll EVER get the old Eminem back. The old Eminem was tons clever, said the most fucked up shit while being witty about it, had a good range of delivery, and was just at the top of the game. At that time he was vastly different from his contemporaries (at least in a commercial regard) and was on drugs, so he really didn't give a fuck what he was doing. Now? I'd say this is the closest to form we've ever got since Eminem Show. Albeit I'm basing this observation SOLELY on the one song I listened to (Kamikaze. Call me a Stan, but I refuse to listen to the rest until I buy the album).

When I heard Caterpillar it was like Em finally channeled his Pre-Relapse delivery. It wasn't just yelling. He seems to hone that more here. As for the lyrics, it's still KOTD-esque modern battle format when it comes to his punches and I feel like he doesn't plan to shy away from trying to cram in as much multi-syllables as he can. Which is a shame because I think if he took notes from the Eminem show he'd see he's fully capable of being a dangerous MC without even half as much syllables as he's cramming into his shit now.

Anyhoo, what I'm gonna take from this is that it's gonna be much more a drastic contrast than what we got with Revival. It's not exactly gonna be Eminem in top shape, but it's going be the best he's been in awhile. His songs will be dope at first listen, but won't retain its novelty beyond a months time. Still looking forward to it.

I didn't go jump to buy a physical copy. If this nigga wanna buy a physical copy of my shit, I'll get a physical of his. But the album is banoodles. I've been streaming the hell outta it. And will keep doing so. Def his best since Eminem show. Encore was weak, but that was the last time he sounded fully comfortable on an album to me. This is the most comfortable he's felt since then. Better album overall than Encore easily though. I liked Revival. And this poops on that.

2-3 good songs, the rest are meh.

Two people in this thread have said "best since Eminem show". What the fuck, that wasn't his best album by any means.
reason one: his lyricism wasn't as advanced in that album as Shady lp and MMLP
reason two: he softened up on that album and made more pop-like tracks
reason 3: Some of the tracks are a bit hard on the ears

But still, he dropped some good ones on that album like Soldier and cleaning out my closet.

Here is the countdown from worst to best of Em's albums:

11: Encore

10: Recovery

9: Revival

8: Kamikaze

7: Eminem show

6: Slim Shady EP

5: Infinite

4: MMLP

3: Slim Shady LP

2: Relapse

1: MMLP2

If you disagree then (turns on autotune) let's talk about it.

Update:



Bought the copy, played the first five songs, and...


The Ringer 5/5
The Greatest 3/5
Lucky You 2/5
Normal 2/5
Stepping Stone 2/5
Not Alike 2/5
Kamikaze 3/5
Fall 4/5
Nice Guy 2/5
Good Guy 4/5
Venom 4/5


Initial thoughts of this album:


Has that "B-Side" feel. I listened to The Ringer nearly 30 times before I played the 2nd track, and I felt a bit let down when I listened to it, then it got more disappointing as the album played out. Lucky You is neither Joyner or Em at their best. "Normal" - gee, another River... or Tragic Endings... or ... awkward relationship song name here... I liked the Paul skit, felt it was a nice nostalgic touch. Fall's pretty dope but imo it feels like his verse gets weaker and weaker as the track goes on. I still think it's one of his best moments on this album. Jessie Reyez and I actually went to the same Elementary way back when, and she hit me on Facebook nearly a decade back... it's crazy how much she blew up since then...but again... I don't feel she was utilized to her greatest effect... although what she did bring is pretty good.



However, doesn't sound like Em's M.O, so the collab feels a tad out of place. Which is weird, because Good Guy is actually another favorite of mine. Beat is crazy and he doesn't come off nearly as awkward as his other relationship type tracks. Actually sounds genuine. Venom isn't a too bad an ending to this album, but I do wish he didn't have a movie tie-in anywhere on this project. It's a dope track, overall, but I don't know... doesn't sit well with me being a final track.



So yeah... Eminem's albums are sounding more and more B-side-ish as he gets more and more out of touch with the modern world, it seems. Handful of these tracks have replay value, but the majority of them are forgettable... and I'm one of the biggest Em fan boys their are [bought two copies of Revival, returned one back when I listened to how bad it was, lol]. Em will always be the goat, but he clearly all over the place, and his albums show it.


Old age is a mofo.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fact Machine

Two people in this thread have said "best since Eminem show". What the fuck, that wasn't his best album by any means.
reason one: his lyricism wasn't as advanced in that album as Shady lp and MMLP
reason two: he softened up on that album and made more pop-like tracks
reason 3: Some of the tracks are a bit hard on the ears

But still, he dropped some good ones on that album like Soldier and cleaning out my closet.

Here is the countdown from worst to best of Em's albums:

11: Encore

10: Recovery

9: Revival

8: Kamikaze

7: Eminem show

6: Slim Shady EP

5: Infinite

4: MMLP

3: Slim Shady LP

2: Relapse

1: MMLP2

If you disagree then (turns on autotune) let's talk about it.

---

Saying "best since Eminem show" doesn't mean I rank TES as his #1 album.

10. Infinite

9. Relapse

8. Revival

7. Encore

6. MMLP2

5. Recovery

4. Kamikaze

3. TES - Not a bad song on this album.

2. SSLP - Been rocking with this since summer 1999

1. MMLP - this album changed my fucking life.

- - - Updated - - -

Back to Kamikaze, I bought a CD copy as well and have been playing it since, and have some further thoughts on this

Lucky You, Greatest, Fall, and Not Alike are my fav tracks.

Veennnnnoooommmmmmmm. Hate that hook.

Stepping Stone is pretty painful to listen to. Idk, just hurts hearing him say that D12 is over, but I have a feeling we haven't exactly heard the last from them.

I love the fact that, like I said before, he's sticking up for him self again which idk man it just felt like since he came back with Relapse he just been kinda letting alot of people slide with the shit they say about him. I love that there was no roll out or announcement of this album. I love how he's taking everything everyone is saying and just throwing it back at them. You see the ad he took out with the critics quotes? Lmaoo. Like he said in the Sway interview, everyone's had a lot to say about him - now it's his turn.

I love that he's pissing people off again. I think with this super offended "everyone gets a trophy" culture we live in now, he could really thrive/have a lot of fun in. Kind of pissed that he censored "faggot" on Fall. That was wack. Idk. I think Kamikaze is dope. Last album I played this much was Royce's Book of Ryan. That album is so fucking dope too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Celph Taut

Yep.



TBH, I strictly had forbidden myself from making a thread like this to not look like an Eminem fanboy since I'm usually the one making topics on his latest projects. I woke up around 3AM (dun dun dun) Friday morning feeling restless af (forgot to turn my AC on) and didn't wanna go down stairs, so I took my phone off the charger and was going just watch some youtube clips to help me fall asleep, then little do I know I see a track of his uploaded and I'm thinking to myself this can't be... listened to the shit right there with my girl sleeping right beside me and thought the shit is dope.


I also went to the music store the same day to be told the physical copy doesn't come out till September 14th, so I'll be waiting on that. My thoughts are this: I don't think we'll EVER get the old Eminem back. The old Eminem was tons clever, said the most fucked up shit while being witty about it, had a good range of delivery, and was just at the top of the game. At that time he was vastly different from his contemporaries (at least in a commercial regard) and was on drugs, so he really didn't give a fuck what he was doing. Now? I'd say this is the closest to form we've ever got since Eminem Show. Albeit I'm basing this observation SOLELY on the one song I listened to (Kamikaze. Call me a Stan, but I refuse to listen to the rest until I buy the album).

When I heard Caterpillar it was like Em finally channeled his Pre-Relapse delivery. It wasn't just yelling. He seems to hone that more here. As for the lyrics, it's still KOTD-esque modern battle format when it comes to his punches and I feel like he doesn't plan to shy away from trying to cram in as much multi-syllables as he can. Which is a shame because I think if he took notes from the Eminem show he'd see he's fully capable of being a dangerous MC without even half as much syllables as he's cramming into his shit now.

Anyhoo, what I'm gonna take from this is that it's gonna be much more a drastic contrast than what we got with Revival. It's not exactly gonna be Eminem in top shape, but it's going be the best he's been in awhile. His songs will be dope at first listen, but won't retain its novelty beyond a months time. Still looking forward to it.

---

Glad I was spot on with this assessment.

I just bought a copy of his music