2freaky4church1 said:

What's corny is that same old gimmick. Eminem is predictable. On occasion, he comes up with something good like "Stan" that's well thought out. Normally he has three modes
1. Dissing other rappers. All rappers do that.
2. Pop rap mode which goes as follows:
"Just like a... (fill in the blank with something silly) I ...(fill in the blank with something obscene)...until they...(fill in the blank with something impossibly nonsensical)
I (something obscene) in/on (fill in the blank with random celebrity's name) until she (fill in the blank with something nonsensical)
3. Angry white guy mode - which goes like this:
Blah, blah, blah...Kim
Blah, blah, blah Hailey
Blah, blah, blah MOM
Blah, blah, blah kill everybody

He's entertaining at times but he isn't some "genius" MC in the grand scheme of hip-hop.

I just read on yahoo where Bill O'Reilly blasted eminem for
making fun of Sarah Palin. He was saying he represented the lowest
form of entertainment and that no one over 25 listens to his music
He also stated he was surprised there were no women's group
responding to his diss of jessica simpson and lindsey lohan.
Then he had to go here stating if it was Travis Tritt making
a diss record about Hilary Clinton and Michelle Obama the media
would be all over it.
While i'm not an eminem fan, i think this was all about bill o' reilly
being angry about eminem making fun of his conservative friend sarah
palin. He doesn't give a damn about jessica simpson or lindsey lohan.
Bill O'Reilly is so freakin biased when it comes to politics it's
ashame.

paisleypark4 said:

Back in the day his serious singles did just as well as his joke ones.

I hate when artists think this kind of crap is the only thing mainstream audiences will accept.

I think he's obviously running out of material. Couple this shitty song with Just Lose It and you have two underwhelming first singles that tried to mirror the success of My Name Is, The Real Slim Shady, and Without Me and failed miserably.

I don't know, it just seems like he's lost his vicious wit and traded it in with an unappealing cheesiness. Plus his voice sounds fucked.

I hope we aren't getting another Encore with this shit. I want the old Eminem.

BlaqueKnight said:

Black Thought isn't that interesting to me, out of The Roots camp I prefer Dice Raw.

As for Canibus, he and Em already had a diss back-and-forth and honestly, I preferred Em's stuff. Not to mention LL shitted on him with "The Ripper Strikes Back".

Don't get me wrong, Canibus is a great lyricist but he can't write a hook to save his life. Stuff like "Poet Laureate" is impressive, but writing a chorus is just as good if not better a skill.

BlaqueKnight said:

"Stan" was much better than "good" and you know it. You MUST know it. That was masterful storytelling right there. The way the drama slowly built from verse to verse, the way the Dido sample applied so perfectly to the troubled-fan-mindset and the way Em came in on the last verse to put Stan's predicament into some perspective was just remarkable. His delivery was flawless too. That's probably the only single I've heard this century that made me nod my head and go "Hmmm, this guy just MIGHT be a genius".

Eminem's metaphors are (were) way smarter than you're giving him credit for too. Just read a transcription of any of the lyrics from his second album and you should see that. This latest song/video is lame and corny. His last album (Encore) was shit too, but the other new song that's been played recently is actually great and showcases another of his greatest skills - his knack for writing BRILLIANT hooks. No one in hip-hop can match him in that area when he's at his best.
[Edited 4/16/09 4:30am]

P2daP said:

speak the truth!!!!! because your right.

BlaqueKnight said:

That was spot on!
pretty good.

midnightmover said:

I agree. Stan is very unique, I've never quite heard a song like it, the last few lines are especially chilling.

BlaqueKnight said:

I'd disagree. I have been listening to hip hop for 12 years and eminem is easily on of the greatest mcs of all time. His flow is superior to black thought imo and em himself is a fan of monch. Bis is incredible and i have every album but he is a fan of eminem; they have mutual respect as mcs although they had a disagreement. EVERY great rapper rates em; bis, jay z, nas, rakim, krs one, monch, thought, royce 59 etc.

Listen to revelation, don't approach me, hellbound, if i get locked up tonight, forgot about dre, infinite

BlaqueKnight said:

really?

stan
white america
infinite
forgot about dre
bonnie and clyde
mosh
we as americans
yellow brick road
kim
criminal
soldier
say goodbye to hollywood
lose yourself
run rabbit run
revelations
hellbound
scary movies
bad meets evil
kill you
renegades

Do you critics listen to music or do you just skim through it?

goodlookingmofo said:

They go with the crowd here. They automatically hate anyone who released music after 1999, regardless of whether they're actually good or not. I remember one member here once remarked that Alicia Keys is nothing but "Ashanti with piano lessons". Terrible. And all to stay cool with the "crowd".

purplesweat said:

Wrong!!! I personally don't like him or his music because it just doesn't speak to me. M&M is corny to me. M&M music speaks to people in different ways(not me). Just because most people on the "ORG" don't gravitate to M&M music doesn't mean they're haters.

kano1987 said:

Yeah, but people on the org don't gravitate towards anything unless it was made between 1960 and 1990.

It's funny- NO ONE mentions Chino XL in their comparisons. I personally think Eminem "swagger jacked" Chino as far as the "shock value raps", but Chino pissed ANY & EVERYONE off on his 1st CD "Here To Save You All" even the late great 2Pac!!!!
The interesting thing w/Eminem is.....IT WAS FUNNY THE 1ST 2 CD'S!!!!!
IT AIN'T FUNNY NO MORE!!!!! HOW MANY MORE TIMES CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR WIFE/HO/BABY'S MAMA and YO' MAMA???
People- do some homework...find a copy of that 1st Chino XL disc and you'll see what I'm talking about
sidebar-I heard a rumor that after Eminem & Dre made all their money, they had the NERVE to try & sign Chino Xl.....

woogiebear said:

Interesting info, woogie.

woogiebear said:

chino's flow is terrible

crooke d I killed him on the wake up show

goodlookingmofo said:

I know- Crooked was the ONLY one to beat him in a battle!!!!! I'm sayin' though- His shock value has MORE range than Eminem's!!!!!

I didn't hate this, but he seems overripe at this point. Nothing wrong with him hanging around still, but there really doesn't seem to be a point. The hunger doesn't seem to be there.

japanrocks said:

She needs to let it go. Feminem is SO 10 years ago.

woogiebear said:

yes. He name drops and does the same thing as em.
I like his lyrics but can't listen to his flow. He tries to get too many words into each line.

goodlookingmofo said:

But the key is.....he did it BEFORE Eminem!!!!!

I don't know the depths of Eminem's work. And I've slept on hip hop for years. But I can say that even while Eminem is certainly not the best MC out there, he consistently drops a flow that has aficionados at least debating his place among the best. That in itself says something.

The problem with Eminem -- and I say this as one who recognizes him primarily by how he presents himself in videos, radio singles, etc. -- is that his artistic vision seems nowhere near his verbal talent. His subject matter is old. His class clown/provocateur persona impresses only frat boys and Bill O'Reilly these days. And even Dre's production work is getting boring. And if Em's got "deeper" stuff to offer, why the heck doesn't he drop those titles as singles instead of crossover-begging trash like this?

If Eminem disappeared for a bit, read some books, maybe did some political work/ travel/ familiarizing himself with the problems of the world beyond his own dysfunctional life, then came back to drop something conscious, it could be remembered as a masterpiece... even if attention came in part just because he's a white MC. Heck, that dynamic might make the statement even more profound!

But he'd rather waste his unique position to diss young starlets, so...
[Edited 4/20/09 7:06am]

2freaky4church1 said:

It's the same thing he's always done. It'd old, and no one cares anymore.

midnightmover said:

Stan, is that you?

purplesweat said:

Nice try. I post new music here fairy frequently and I certainly don't fit under that moniker. I'm just not as easily impressed as some of these people who got into music listening to one or two artists and circle their musical experiences around said artists. If you know a lot of music, the term "genius" won't be thrown around so easily. Eminem is not a genius AT ALL. Most of the people who think so restrict their listening experiences to pop. Its not hard to appear to be a genius when you're surrounded by mediocre and sub-par.
[Edited 4/20/09 0:27am]

kano1987 said:

There is some truth to this as well. "Mainstream" was impressed with Vanilla Ice and he sold a lot of records, even though he sucked. Because Em has some talent, he's elevated as the "greatest" because the audience he's communicating to can relate to him and they see him as "representation", so he gets hailed as the greatest when most of the "mainstream" don't even listen to real hip-hop, they listen to hip-POP.
[Edited 4/20/09 0:33am]

BlaqueKnight said:

Your opinion entirely. That's what the org doesn't realise. Just because they say it and think it, doesn't mean it's true. Music is art, art is all down to interpretation. You'd think there'd be more respect for what people like based on that, but not here. Here, you have to like a set group of artists or you apparently know nothing about music or you just get ignored.

I don't believe Eminem is the best or the greatest, but I'll be damned if I could ever rhyme like he does/did I don't believe anyone is the best at anything and I don't go looking for "the next best thing". A lot less disappointment that way.

kano1987 said:

Wrong in my opinion. This guy NEVER ONCE rapped about how much girls clothes and cash he had on one tune as much as alot of these lame rappers have been doing since Puffy came out. He is either being funny or has something important to talk about.

paisleypark4 said:

He did get into all that after the 8 Mile era came to an end.

Ass Like That
Shake That
FACK
Smack That

Granted, it's hardly the first subject or topic you think of when you think of Eminem, but he's still done that type of rap.

BlaqueKnight said:

I honestly don't think you've actually sat down and listened to Eminem, and if you have, you've done it with prejudiced ears. You've admitted that "Stan" was "good", but the way you casually look past it tells me you're not really interested in making a fair, objective appraisal of his talent, and would rather take the lazy route of not challenging your first instinct. I would naturally be prejudiced against him too, since I loathe his personality, and I resent whites being overpraised for ripping off black music. So why do I praise him? Simply because ANYONE who listens to Eminem at his best, cannot reasonably deny just how clever his rhymes are. Most hip-hop heads are full of praise for him, because they recognize his skills are unrivalled. I don't doubt that much of Eminem's audience were philistines, but the same is true of most popular artists, including MJ, The Beatles, etc. That's not an excuse to dismiss them.

And let me emphasize (though I shouldn't need to), I am not someone who is easily impressed. FAR FROM IT! My standards are much higher than most. Eminem is a pathetic character in many ways, but he produced some excellent work for a little while there, that will stand for a long time. It's a shame he has mixed it up with so much junk too.