Eminem released Music To Be Murdered By on January 17, and while the album has received mixed reviews from critics, it’s set to be Em’s 10th straight No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart.
The album is what you’d come to expect from Eminem in this era: technically-impressive speed rap, dramatic production, outrageous quips and enough rage to make Chris Brown blush. Music To Be Murdered By can be considered technically better than Revival and Kamikaze. It’s more consistent, contains stronger features (Royce Da 5’9” is particularly sharp) and Eminem’s endurance across 20 tracks is commendable.
And yet, something’s missing.
Many successful rappers have been lauded for their duality. 2Pac was famous for it. T.I. ran with the concept for an entire album. Eminem has taken it a step further, fleshing out three sides of himself to make a fully-fledged artist. There’s Marshall Mathers the man, Eminem the rapper and Slim Shady, the wild alter-ego.
In his 2008 memoir, The Way I Am, Eminem described Slim Shady as an outlet for his anger, Eminem as a vehicle for his lyricism and Marshall Mathers as a channel for his sincerity.
“Slim, Em, and Marshall are always in the mix when I’m writing now,” he wrote in his memoir. “I’ve found a way to morph the styles so that it’s sort of all me.”
New York Times bestseller The Way I Am
However, on Music To Be Murdered By, the Detroit legend gives Shady and Eminem a wide berth, with barely any room for Marshall to breathe. It’s truly a shame. Behind the shock and lyrical prowess, it was Marshall Mathers, the humble, working-class kid from Detroit, who won the hearts of Americans.
As Anthony Bozza wrote in his 2003 book, Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem: “The real Marshall Mathers, the one I met before the fame and have seen less of since is the most interesting side of him — he’s angry and sensitive, shy and curious. The real Marshall is who America is really consumed with.”
The only one who doesn’t seem to realize that is Marshall Mathers himself. Music To Be Murdered By is filled with Slim Shady’s vitriol aimed at rappers, the media and family. It also contains complex rhyme schemes that allow Eminem to flex his muscles as one of the most potent MCs on the planet. Even when Marshall shines through, such as when he raps about his late father on “Leaving Heaven,” he does so with such intense anger that it’s hard to separate Marshall from Shady. That may be the aim, but it leaves clear-eyed reflection to be desired, à la “Mockingbird.”
There are other moments where Marshall arises, most notably on “Never Love Again,” a brilliant metaphor for his past pill addiction. Eminem’s (relatively) calm delivery is a breath of fresh air on such a hyperactive album. Yet, even here, he’s rehashing well-worn topics, which leaves the question: what has Marshall Mathers been up to for 10 years?
It’s possible that Eminem thinks the answer to that question isn’t interesting enough. In Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem, Em is quoted as saying that if people stopped writing about him, he might not have anything to write about. He goes on to say that without drama and negativity in his life, his songs would be “really wack” and “boring.”
Oddly enough, as both Eminem and Marshall, he’s proven that mindset wrong time and time again. Yes, his songs usually contain a fair amount of drama, but Eminem/Marshall is at his finest when he’s insightful (“Sing For the Moment”), compassionate (“Hailie’s Song”) or triumphant (“Lose Yourself”).
Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem
The best moments on each of Eminem’s albums from the 2010s have been when he’s allowed Marshall room to maneuver. “Not Afraid” was Mr. Mathers stepping up a new, sober man on Recovery. “Headlights,” on The Marshall Mathers LP 2, was a heartfelt apology to his mother, and resulted in his best song of the decade. “Castle” and “Arose” reimagined his 2007 overdose to a heart-wrenching, then triumphant, effect on Revival. “Stepping Stone,” an Eminem-Marshall hybrid that functions as a reflection on the end of D12, remains the most memorable song on Kamikaze for its earnestness.
As evidenced on “Premonition,” the introduction to Music To Be Murdered By, Eminem still pays attention to his critics to a fault. He has nothing left to prove, and yet he still spent another album settling scores at light speed. If he cared less about the buzz surrounding his music, maybe we’d get to hear more personal tales of Marshall Mathers, the 47-year-old father. With 4:44, JAY-Z made a masterpiece of a grown-man album out of his infidelity and love for his family. In doing so, he proved dad-rap is a thing, and yes, it can be gripping.
Slim Shady propelled Eminem to stardom. He was part of Eminem’s youthful exuberance. But, Em made a wise choice in retiring his Shady persona on 2005’s “When I’m Gone.” That’s where it should have ended. At 47, he’s too stately for such extremism, too weathered for such cartoonish rhymes.
Music To Be Murdered By is more than an hour-long, and we learned very little new about Marshall Mathers. What does he think of Hailie being in the internet’s spotlight? How does he feel about passing the torch to Griselda? What else is going on in his life that we don’t know about, that would make for compelling music?
In Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem, Em gives his thoughts on retirement. “I’m gonna stop when I have nothing left to say,” he says. “As soon as I don’t feel it, that’s it, it’s over.”
Maybe he really does feel all this anger. Maybe.
But, it’s hard to believe there’s not more to the story. If Marshall Mathers is willing to show himself, another album is more than welcome.
If not, it’s time for Eminem to be true to his word and put the mic down.
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I think he’s definitely being “Marshall Mathers” right now, this editorial imo is asking for something that’s already there. He was getting his shit together during the hiatus, raised his daughter, and did regular rich white guy shit that we don’t wanna hear him rap about. Eminem is doing what he was made to do, annoy other rappers period.
Great piece and the truth!
Agreed with all of it.
He gave us Marshall mathers and ppl shit on him, he tried Eminem the rapper and people shit on him again. Now he just does whatever because opinions like this dont matter. Whatever he does he will upset someone for not being enough of something else. Ppl like this are who he has been talking about from time, you are the reason he feels the way he feels on Walk On Water. A track that was killed by everyone (which is fine, ppl can like or dislike whatever) but the message of the song was missed by those who refuse to actually listen. I’m tired of these sorry, nonsense opinions today. Let the man live, he gives you a piece of every element of himself on pretty much every album, something for everyone to enjoy, including this one. G’fuck yourselves if you arent happy. Peace.
Also, not afraid was one of the weaker songs on recovery, the typical thing he gets clowned for in trying to be too mainstream and pop.
I think some are missing the boat on that track though. What has been one of the biggest things his fans have said about his music? It is inspirational. Has saved their lives. Has made them feel better about themselves. Motivates them to be better or at least happy with who they are. Not Afraid was a great great track. IDC if it’s pop or rap or country. The message is there and I absolutely love that track and still listen to it to this day.
I just want to hear his flow and voice circa Eminem Show / G-Unit era for a whole album again. I’m over the fact that he’s never going to be able to rap like Slim Shady LP days but he can definitely still rap like he did in 06-08 in terms of flow and voice. He does it on Be Careful What You Wish For, Beautiful, Stepping Stone, Talking 2 Myself to a degree, Venom, and even Darkness. He’s not screaming or trying to rap a million miles per hour. He even sounds less aggressive on Caslte even though he’s kinda screaming. I don’t care about flashy flow, just want to hear his voice and flow back to normal speed. Also would be great if he stopped singing on every hook. Yah Yah and You Gon Learn are improvements there
Exactly what the toy of war is. If he does Shady it’s not the same and he’s too old for it. He doesn’t do it, everyone wants the angry crazy shady shit
For Christ sake, let the man live and continue to give his fans one great album after another. And yes, there are millions of his fans that strongly believe he has never put out a bad album. Everyone gets something from them. Slim Shady then and now, Eminem then and now & Marshall Mathers then and now. Who are you or anyone else think they are judging him constantly under a microscope and trying to find something else to bitch about. Go take a look in the mirror at your dam self and start there. Are you everything everyone thinks you should be 24/7? Nope and either is he.
Actually this is what fans been waiting for. I agree this album should retire shady and bring marshall but this albums great
That’s a whack article. He makes great music That’s that. Why everybody gotta hate.
One of the worse articles I’ve ever read, Great album shady!
Note to the author, he gave you that on Revival and you didn’t want to fuckin hear it. That was addressed on the first track. We’re you listening? Cuz you sound like a dumb fuck.
Not really, Revival was uninteresting, boring, and difficult to listen to. He needs to go back to Dre with content made for his age. Em’s fabrications of murder and mayhem are stale. He’s been doing the same thing for over 20 years. It was cool when I was in high school, but as a grown man its just whack. Plus its not authentic. This fool is still talking about Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon 15 years after she said he was obsessed. Everyone has kind of done their own thing from his generation and passed him up. 50’s a better business man, Royce is a better rapper and has better content, Jay is waaaayyyy better at everything than Em, and Kanye is miles ahead musically. I agree with the author, if he doesn’t change it up, I’m going have to start putting him with hip hop has beens. Imagine if he’s rapping like this when he’s 60, you guys are still going to be entertained by him dissing people and offensive punchlines about mass shootings and bombings? He’s 47, Grow the fuck up!!!
Awww Peter Pan went and grew up. Only adult content for this guy.
So when Eminem is an old man still talking crazy shit u still gonna cheer him on?
If he’s still using an impressive vocabulary and rhyming words the way no one else has, then I sure will.
Murder and chaos isn’t my thing but I respect the mans ability to string words together. Why the hate?
Don’t like it? Stop listening and spreading negativity.
Sounds like this writer is upset he isn’t taking the same route as HOV. Em was born to piss the World off, getting pieces of Marshall is bonus material ..
Not to mention the Intro to this album was all Marshall, besides the lady being stabbed and buried
Hey what the fuck was revival then?
Em is cool but his music is just not interesting anymore.
you say that, yet his music still gotcha clicking on articles about him, HA!
more sick, be interesting one day of your life then you can speak
“Weren’t you listening to the last Album Meathead? Pay attention, you’re saying the same shit the Em said”
*”DONT FORGET TO BUY VENOM ON BLU RAY, AND THE SOUNDTRACK FEATURING EMINEM!!!¡!!!”
Listen to the first song Preminition, he addressed it.
I swear, every single thing eminem does these days people are gonna shit on him for it one way or another. I guess that’s just like how it was in the early days with em, except back then the people who shit on him were the mainstream and hiphop outsiders. Em doesn’t have to prove anything at this point. It’s funyy how Jay Z doesn’t get these types of criticisms
Yeah, you’re always gonna have haters when you’re a celeb. I can see why people don’t like New Em or Jay but honestly, their music still holds up IMO
Real talk STFU
You’re the fucking media, your opinion doesn’t matter. Fuck you.
Em’s entire discography contains 3-4 personal songs every album. Even Revival, for all its terrible production and overly pop leanings gave you Arose, Castle and Walk on Water which are all incredibly introspective. The new album gave you about 3 Marshall Mathers tracks “Leaving Heaven” , “Never Love Again” and No Regrets are all introspective. Hell his verse on You Gon Learn is half introspective before he snaps. Niggas have to listen harder
that’s the problem. People DON’T listen now days – they only skim to hear the beat. Hell, most people didn’t even give a sh!t about Juice WRLD until he sang that chorus on Godzilla. Now everyone’s like, “RIP JUICE! What a legend gone too soon!”
Eminem goes back to Slim Shady; the world: *OMG, he needs to mature and start rapping about real things. He needs to stop being so p!ssed off and stop swearing so much* Eminem goes back to Marshall Mathers on Revival; the world: *OMG, now he’s a SJW who’s clout chasing to stay relevant. I don’t want to hear him apologizing to Kim.*
Title should be “A A Ron just wants something to write, but offers nothing real to say”
Can’t please everyone, but stop shitting on a man for being good at something.
I thoroughly enjoy Music to be Murdered By. It’s an lyrical onslaught of different styles. He successfully melds the Eminem, Slim Shady, and Marshall Mathers personas together on many songs. I understand why you might miss the black and white duality, but resurrecting Marshall Mathers and retiring Slim Shady runs into the face of that.
Critiquing for the sake of the word ‘critique’. Clickbait lames are what most of you internet columnists are… Such as this article right here
so you mean like he did in 2013 when he released the mmlp 2? Cuz thats when yall started hating on Em
Real Talk; This article is straight trash.
marshall is fake slim shady the real deal
It’s highly annoying, in these times especially, to criticize a lyrical rapper for being too lyrical. Til this day, ‘Any Man’, ‘Get you mad’, ‘Are you afraid’ etc., are some of his best shit, and what most fans liked him for in the first place. If none of these old rock bands matured then we need to let Em rap his ass off!! FOH
This dude said people fell in love with Marshall Mathers and not Slim Shady…are you like 15? Were you around when he 1st dropped? Nobody knew who the fuck “Marshall Mathers” was until he was already the dopest. This shit doesn’t even make sense, who approved this trash? This “Marshall Mathers” you speak of, that has been shit for at least a decade, is not what we need…and ironically that’s all we’ve gotten. Since Recovery we’ve gotten a watered down “Marshall Mathers” claiming to be Shady. You seem to have a problem with the only part of his game that hasn’t fallen off…his lyrics. His whole vibe since Recovery is shit, his double time flow is shit, his singing is shit (at least before it seemed like he was joking, now it seems like he’s trying), and his beats are nothing special (but they never really have been imo)…yet you’re upset he’s still lyrical? WTF man
All 3 sides of em depend on each other, shady needs Em’s lyrical skills to express shocking violence, em needs Marshall’s humble beginnings, background and ‘feeble’ emotions to mess up and Marshall needs Shady to commit more sins so he can have more things to be sorry about
Heres whats funny about media coverage about Eminem. He showed up on the rap scene with incredible skills, shocking wit, and a don’t give a F attitude. Sure, its immature but he’s never taken himself too seriously. And the audience loves it. Why then is the expectation that he completely change? What, to satisfy aging critics? Man sit down. Let this man create his brand of entertainment. You don’t like it, theres plenty others to enjoy. He went in on this album. Sharper than he’s ever been and songwriting is the best its been since Encore Ep. Nobody telling Busta Rhymes to rap about more mature sh*t.
People are tired of the crazy routine. It is played. His fans aren’t kids anymore their middle age now. Infantile behavior was his best act. The glory days are over and so is shady.
apparently not, because MTBMB still outsold Halsey and Mac Miller first week sales and is going to debut as #1 on the Billboard 200.
Any one can sellout and have a number 1 album. It doesn’t mean their talented. The boy bands sell alot of records but have NO TALENT. Halsey, mgk, mack and other artists are all overrated great white hopes. I would never admit that i listen to this. Reality tv is very popular but nobody has any talent. No matter how wack, m will sell to people that can’t judge talent. Enjoy the album.
How many boy bands when number 1 for over 20 years now? How many so called “sell outs” have had even close to Ems consistent level of success? I’ll wait… Sounds like you didn’t even listen to the album and was never a fan of Eminem anyways.
How many boy bands when number 1 for over 20 years now? How many so called “sell outs” have had even close to Ems consistent level of success? I’ll wait… Sounds like you didn’t even listen to the album and was never a fan of Eminem anyways. Reply is towards unknown since this site keeps switching who I’m replying to.
Selling alot records doesn’t mean your album is the best. Dr.dre never produced a full album for shady. He is one of greatest producers of all time. He did snoop, nwa, easy, above the law and dre’s album. Shady’s crowd don’t recognized dope beats otherwise dre would have done his album too. Anybody can do watered down beats including shady himself. Shady was pushed out of hip hop because his albums were not good enough. No classic HIP HOP albums maybe pop. Shady never had the whole package (BEATS and rhymes) to stay hip hop. Pop artists can get away with subpar albums and still be considered one of the greats. Shady is never compared to hip hop artists like jeru, cannibal ox, celph titled, guru, cypress hill and many others. They have classic hip hop records. Shady isn’t better this. MM is a product of a mostly white country that relates with a white rapper only that is overrated. He doesn’t get the beats by one of the best beat makers.
I’m replying to Unknown on his desperate attempt to discredit Eminem’s success.
You must be a very sad, bitter man who has nothing better to do than just talk crap all over the internet about one of the most successful rappers of all time. You don’t seem to be very educated on the matter and you’re obviously not an Eminem fan, so it’s normal that you’re missing all the important info.
Everyone has admitted that Eminem is indeed one of the greatest rappers to have ever lived (hell, even Snoop’s said that multiple times before he “changed” his mind last year just cause Eminem wouldn’t go on a tour with him). You can always go on YouTube and listen to what people say about Eminem, those people you think are important in this industry. Listen to Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, Nas, Ice Cube, Ice T, Jay Z etc. Just fucking type this in YT’s search bar and you will find all you need. He is not an overrated white rapper, he is a lyrical genius, an honest MC and a RAP GOD. And all us Stans will be by his side forever and ever, no matter what. MTBMB is a genius album with awesome beats and I can’t stop listening to it. But, we can’t do anything about you and your lack of taste.
Plus, do you seriously think he doesn’t work with Dre on his beats and shit? What planet do you live on? Do you know they’re actually friends and they still work together? Dr. Dre was also a producer on the last album (MTBMB) but hell, you sound like a sour middle aged man who’s never accomplished anything and wants to live in his own little bubble where Eminem isn’t the GOAT. Well too bad you gotta wake up every day and face reality – EMINEM IS THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME.
Peace out!
“They say that I’m lyrically amazing but I have nothing to say, but then when i put out revival and i had something to say, they said they hated the awake me, I lose the rage, I’m too tamed, I get it back, they say I’m too angry”
That wasn’t a reply to you. Dumb ass site switched who I was replying too.
9
This review feels like your saying Post Encore Em is the best or most endearing or the one we need more of. I’m not sure I’d go that far. But I agree with your position. The thing is… Em doesn’t go outside. Early em would at least rap about being at award shows or catching his girl kissing somebody at the club or performing at rap shows. Then he got too big and stopped going outside. He was doing interviews talking about running a marathon a day which is manic/addictive in its own right. Outside of that, he’s screaming at what he sees on the screen. It’s political hot takes and football metaphors and reactions to trending topics. All the things that dominate the lives of people who don’t go outside. And I don’t trust the opinion of anyone who isn’t living real life. Dope piece Aaron.
Hi I don’t have an email or any of that bull shit but I found a hook that you might really fucking dig. Just a person. Get back to me or don’t. I appreciate you.
At 47 you reckon he can’t still be Slim Shady you say? Haha look what just dropped today!
Eat your words.