That's That...: Eminem

Showing posts with label Eminem. Show all posts

Dyme Def - "Intro-Ducing" x "Conscience" x "DontEverGo" (feat. Choklate)

Your wallet seems real heavy, a little too heavy to carry,

I'm just trying to help 'em out by any means necessary,

Suddenly I'm in the game and suddenly I'm legendary,

Suddenly your permanent position's turning temporary,

Turn away before it's too late, I'm too great,

No more time to eat you old n***as, I'm on a new plate.

It's tracks like this that make the blunder that was Sex Tape all the more unbearable. People forget how groundbreaking Dyme Def were when they first dropped. When I first put Space Music into my car back in 2007, it was like nothing I'd ever heard before and certainly like nothing that had come out of Seattle. I didn't want to listen to anything else ever again and played the album constantly for a three-four month period. From the minute that you heard "Intro-Ducing," you were hooked. The album started with so much energy and so many one-liners that you didn't have a choice but to listen to the entire thing over and over again.

It was as if OutKast and the Beasties had an unholy trio of love children and an adopted son (BeanOne), then subsequently abandoned them in the Upper Left. They had out of this world rhymes and subject matter that seemed to be descended from ATLiens and out of the world BeanOne and Brainstorm beats that took what the Mario C did for the Beasties back on Hello Nasty (see "Super Disco Breakin'," "Intergalactic") to an entirely new level. Like the Beasties, the trio fed off each other, trading bar for bar and at times word for word with an impeccable chemistry that made them the best local live act.

Space Music and their follow up 3BadBrothaaas showed that you didn't have to solely be a conscious rapper to be popular in The 6. In the process, Dyme Def kicked in the door for an entire post-Massline generation of Seattle emcees from Fresh Espresso to Champagne Champagne.

And while everyone loves the high energy tracks like "GetDown," "TheGameNeedsMe," and "3BadBrothaaas," it was down to earth songs like "LetitBe," "Conscience," and "DontEverGo" that made the trio the complete package. Everyone knows and loves "LetitBe," but these two songs off 3BadBrothaaas deserve credit in their own right.

As much as I like his Eminem-side, Marshall Mathers' Slim Shady persona is always that indulgence in which I feel no guilt about listening. Both sides of Em are equally talented but are intended to offer the listener two vastly different experiences. While Eminem is the man himself, one who has a lot of issues and is capable of recording deep, beautiful, introspective songs like "If I Had" and "Stan," Slim Shady is a hyper-polarized, cartoonish parody of modern American culture.

After a rather disappointing comeback album last year (which Em even admits to on this song), it sounds as if Marshall Mathers is finally back. This powerful, emotionally driven, Boi-1da produced track that doesn't quite rank among the Detroit legend's best (blame the hook that's tiresome upon multiple listens, but it's better than anything on Relapse/Encore. It's to early to tell based off of one song, but if "Not Afraid" is a sign of the sound of Recovery, which is set to be released on June 22nd, it should stand as one of the best albums of the past few years. Lyrics after the jump:

Peace, Love, & Hip Hop,

WordIsBorn

Eminem - "Not Afraid"

The song that everyone has been waiting to hear off of Bobby Ray's debut doesn't disappoint as Marshall Mathers kills his verse on the second version of the ATLien's single. The Adventures of Bobby Ray drops one week from today. Support good hip hop and pre-order yourself a copy. Much love to 2dopeboyz. Update: Due to a cease and desist order, I've been forced to remove the link to the song (the thanks I get from Atlantic Records for giving shine to their artist), but I'm sure you can find the song somewhere on the interwebz.

Love him. Despise him. There's no in between with Eminem. Marshall Mather's Slim Shady persona polarizes people like no other artist. Some see him as a problem, a man who explicitly glorifies drug use, murder, and rape in his songs. Others see him as a preacher to a fed up generation looking for a purpose, a satire mocking American culture in general.

I'm not that huge of a Drake fan, in fact I'm not in the least bit, but I'll give shine to Travis Barker of Blink-182 who kills the remix.

Drake - Forever f. Eminem, Kanye West & Lil' Wayne (Travis Barker Remix)

Jay-Z - "Dear Summer" & "Renegade" feat. Eminem

On the eve of the release of his 11th solo album, I thought it would be appropriate to look back at a couple classic Jay tracks.

Not enough people have heard "Dear Summer," and it's surprising that Jay could release a relatively hidden gem in 2005 (but let's be honest, who buys Memphis Bleek albums and for good reason-this song by Jay-Z is better than anything else on 534). The song is unusual because it is on his lablemates Bleek's 2005 album 534, but does not feature Memphis Bleek on the track. The story goes that Jay, who was retired at the time, started freestyling over the beat when it came on and Bleek gave him the track and released it as a single. It seemed appropriate to drop this track as, for many of us, Labor Day marks the end of summer with school starting and what not. I love this song because it displays Shawn Carter's absolute love for hip hop (under the thinly veiled metaphor of summer) and in hindsight we can now see it as an example of him missing the culture and sense it as a prelude to his comeback.

"Renegade" is a classic collaboration between two of the greatest artists of all time. A lot of people claim that Eminem killed Hova on this track off of The Blueprint, but I think they both murder the song and Em probably offers the best verses of his career, offering a commentary on the blame that society places upon him and hip hop in general.

The final piece to the Blueprint drops tomorrow. I plan on copping a physical copy as soon as I'm capable of it.

Peace, Love, & Hova,
NYCentric Noah

"Dear Summer"

Drake - Forever f. Eminem, Kanye West & Lil Wayne (prod. Boi-1da)

I'll let you decide for yourself on this song...couldn't pass on this collab...tell me what you think

Eminem - "The Warning"

On another note, pop stars should never attempt to diss accomplished battle rappers. In response to Mariah Carey's "Obsessed" (a catchy track taken out of context, but an incredibly weak diss track). While Carey's song charted at #11, it doesn't really attack Eminem at all. Eminem's track on the other hand was never meant to chart and instead goes straight for the jugular and absolutely crushes Carey and Nick Cannon, while throwing in a little self-deprecating humor along the way. Personally, I think the song is better than anything he put on Relapse (other than maybe "Underground") and hope this is a taste of what is to come on Relapse 2.

Eminem- "Infinite"

The best emcees let us view multiple sides of their persona through a wide variety of songs. The best artists aren't one-dimensional. They don't purely battle rap (Mobb Deep, DMX) or generate pop hits (Diddy if you can even consider him a rapper rather than a cancerous growth on hip hop). Likewise, the best rappers don't solely write songs complaining about the state of hip hop (Macklemore, as much as I love him) or party anthems (Asher Roth along with most other one-hit wonders in the game today). If you look at Jay-Z, he isn't considered one of the best rappers of all time solely for his battle raps ("Takeover"), pop hits ("Hard Knock Life," "Dirt Off Your Shoulders," too many to list), street hits ("No Hook," "What More Can I Say," "Dead Presidents"), or the songs which catch him at his most introspective ("Regrets," "Song Cry," "Moment of Clarity"). He is known as one of the greatest rappers ever, not because of these individual songs, but because of the depth of his catalog and his ability to create a wide variety of hands down classic songs.