Its inclusion is pointless.Įminem has always had a self-loathing streak. The final new track is the live version of "Stan", performed with Elton John at the 2001 Grammys. "Gone" is the worst offender, yet another love letter from Em to daughter Hailie, it, like Encore's "Mockingbird", is heavy-handed and saccharine. Which leaves the compilation's four new throw-ins: the Nate Dogg collaboration "Shake That", the ridiculously inane "FACK", and new single "When I'm Gone" are all desolate placeholders- lesser versions of Eminem songs that already piss me off. Third album The Eminem Show is repped here by two songs: "Without Me", and the underrated "Cleanin' Out My Closet", which contributed as much to the confusing Freudian glints in Em's persona as anything else he's done. All didn't end well, though: Dido has a career now.
Overplayed as it may sound today, it remains a cultural milestone- throngs of people, fans and not, flipped upon first hearing it, essentially forcing the label to release it as a single. "Stan", however, still stands out as an exception. "The Real Slim Shady" made him profitable songs like "Kim" and "Kill You" made him interesting. The songs Curtain Call culls from that album are fine, but had little to do with the outrage he caught from parents, GLAAD, and the conservative right. Dre, also holds up, especially when Em puts his producer on blast as "somebody who slapped Dee Barnes." Eminem's strengths- verbal elasticity, the ability to write thunderous hooks, chameleon-ism, being white- have hamstrung him psychologically, but in these early days, before fame, 65 million albums sold, and media persecution, his joy for rapping shone hard.įrom the moment Dre and Interscope CEO Jimmy Iovine forced Eminem back into the booth to record "The Real Slim Shady", the cake icing on his colossally important second album, his fate was sealed. "Guilty Conscience", the role-playing jaunt between Eminem and mentor Dr. "My Name Is" remains blissful and more complex than the novelty it was written off as- it's funny and bizarre, and each punchline could have been a chorus. Only two songs from that album are included here: the hits. But his 1999 debut The Slim Shady LP marked his creative zenith.
It's a sad state of affairs now for someone who could have been the premier musical artist of the last decade.įor all intents and purposes, Eminem's position as globo-mega-star and intriguing personality began to wane after the release of his second album, The Marshall Mathers LP, a record regarded by most as his masterpiece. But it also happened mostly in conjunction with Em dipping into the pop well. Eminem's rise, in all its Great White Hope glory, paralleled the rise of modern hip-hop as America's dominant musical form.
#PITCHFORK EMINEM SHOW FULL#
His most recent LP, Encore, was a shell, full of flow-fuckery and canny hooks, signifying nothing. He's been swindling his audience for some time now, milking stardom for all its goopy dairy: D12, the 2Pac album, the outrageously overrated 8 Mile, a cartoon, radio station, DVDs, and books. It shows in interviews, and as he watches hard-won respect slip through his fingers whenever he shits out another scatological invective like "Just Lose It". Nothing personal, but are there people who think "Without Me" has resonance? Eminem has even worn himself out. Frankly, I don't want to hear these songs anymore.
0 kommentar(er)
