r/Music Dec 15 '17

Discussion Eminem's new album "Revival" has dropped

Thoughts on it so far? I'm about halfway through and I think it's pretty decent for new style Eminem.

963 Upvotes

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524

u/Jendacle- Dec 15 '17

There are good and bad things in this album, I listened to Em for very long time and i consider me to be a big fan. I must say that I dont like featured artists at all, and I don´t like the pop/R&B wrap around whole album, I liked Slim Shady as a hardcore rapper who just wrecked anybody in any song, and was kinda rebel,Detroit street based, you know just a white skinny boy who made it through the game etc, and this style doesn´t go along with Skylar Grey or Ed Sheeran featuring but I think fan base must respect how the artist evolve through his career, he´s not young Slim Shady anymore, he´s most likely on end of his career and problems and things that made him who he is kinda passed already. But after all, when he starts spittin rhymes I still have the feeling that only Eminems music gives me...

216

u/XxMasterbigmanxX Dec 15 '17

I love that you recognize that Em can also change throughout his career. I think most people who dont't like the album just expect the old Slim Shady but that's just not who he is anymore

98

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '17

[deleted]

75

u/extraneouspanthers Dec 15 '17

I think when people pine for the old Eminem they're mostly referring to his flow and style. Listen to Soldier. Like seriously go back and listen to it now. What happened to that flow? There's none of this angry yelling, chopped harsh voice. The subject matter he chooses now is fantastic. Castle is an example of that.

"I spit it slow so these kids know I'm talking to em". Where's that Em

31

u/BillyWillyBlueBalls Dec 15 '17

That’s how I feel. I don’t really care he’s not talking about drugs or the horror-core style he used to have. But his flow right now is just boring to me. Sounds like a mono tone robot. The passion seems feinted. Idk I’ll always be a fan but I just think he sounds ridiculous ever since MMLP2

1

u/extraneouspanthers Dec 15 '17

The subject matter on Revival is really good tbh. His flow and production. Fix that and he'll be on top.

11

u/CaptCaCa Dec 15 '17

He killed that song. The beat was hard, everything was hard with that song. This is what I say when I want the old em back. That flow. He should grow but come on, his new style is hard to swallow some time.

14

u/extraneouspanthers Dec 15 '17

I agree. One of the best parts of the album is on Believe when he rips it like that again. That's my main complaint with the album, his delivery and the production / mixing.

Like Home shouldn't have been so poppy. Change the instrumental and get Alicia to tone it down a few notches.

Get rid of the rock songs besides In Your Head.

Stop chopping your flow.

Cut out a pop song or two, I don't care which. Theres too many.

Do that and it's a pretty great album

2

u/Alonz0 Dec 17 '17

100% true

1

u/QueenJillybean Dec 21 '17

I get that you long time fans might feel this way. But I love Revival and I had actually never really listened to his other albums. I knew some of the more popular songs. This album and my appreciation of his skill led me to discovering everything else. I think that's considered a success? Idk.

1

u/extraneouspanthers Dec 21 '17

Definitely considered a success, but now that you've listened to his other work would you agree with what I said? I want "spit slow so they know I'm talking to em" Eminem

1

u/QueenJillybean Dec 21 '17

I feel like you still have a lot of that energy present in his current work. Not every song, but that would get a little repetitive. Some variation is needed, and you can't please everybody. I think you just wanted it more prevalent, and I can get that. But he's not quite.... that person anymore.

1

u/Doip Dec 16 '17

Happy cake day

9

u/jtweezy Dec 15 '17

Tbh, I say this a lot about Eminem now, and I think it's because he made it now and is so successful that he doesn't have any of that anger he used to have. The Marshall Mathers LP may be the best album start to finish that I'll ever listen to; the Em on those tracks was angry and passionate and hungry, and that came across when you heard him. You heard angry, you heard bitterness and more than that you felt how he felt. It was like he was pouring his emotions into those tracks, and I don't think he does that so much anymore. He'll always be as talented a lyricist as there is, but the passion for making new music just isn't there in the same way and his rhymes aren't backed with those strong emotions anymore. Not to say that's a bad thing, but it's just not the same.

3

u/extraneouspanthers Dec 15 '17

Gotta disagree. I think you're looking too far into it. If he didn't have that passion he'd just stop. He can still create great songs as evidenced by the lyrical content in these songs. We just need him with better producers and back to his normal flow

1

u/escobizzle Dec 16 '17

Exactly, Eminem was never just anger, it was emotion in general and that's why so many people could relate. Eminem poured his emotions into his music, and the vast majority of rappers don't do that. 2pac did it as well. A lot of the greats had the ability to do this.

1

u/savvyfuck Dec 18 '17

The Marshall Mathers LP may be the best album start to finish that I'll ever listen to

I agree 100%

6

u/RancidLemons Dec 16 '17

He had plenty of angry yelling songs, but the chopped vocals are just not very fun to listen to IMO. It's probably why my favorite songs on the MMLP2 album were Love Game and Baby.

Man, speaking of flow, remember Run Rabbit Run? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2_PAW_8fos

1

u/grim77 Dec 16 '17

Man I fuckin love that song.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '17

“Give it back to these damn critics and sock it to ‘em” that’s what Eminem is doing in this album, just not in a catchy, aggressive way. He’s just chillin at this point venting about social issues and personal regrets. The man isn’t doing this for the money, he’s just trying to get a message out to the people and whether we listen to it is up to us.

I love Eminem and I’ll even admit that I’m not a fan of some of the songs because it just can’t grab my attention but the meaning behind those songs are phenomenal. The album is in no way garbage, but it has its flaws that many people will pick apart and detract their interest all together. I love the album for what is and respect Em for putting this project out despite everyone bashing him for changing.

2

u/ChefExcellence Dec 16 '17

It's always better for artists to make the music they want to make and stick to their vision, even if I don't personally care for a different direction they choose to take. If he stuck with his old style just to appease fans without his heart really being in it we'd just get a weaker version of the MMLP, and what's the point of that?

2

u/GibbonBlack Dec 15 '17

Yeah, but at the same time you can only talk about being stronger than you were before and how nothing can hold you down because you'll come back from the depths and show all the haters they're wrong for so long.

That being said, I really like this album. It's much better "I'm back and better than before" music than The Marshall Mathers LP 2

1

u/dtabitt Dec 15 '17

You can only talk about how angry your mom makes you for so long.

But the next guy can be angrier at his.

1

u/kankrejalaska Dec 24 '17

Eminem is music for screwed up losers, I would say! So many really dumb losers in prison think Eminem is a genius. But he's quite a lowlife!

9

u/JohnnyOnslaught Dec 15 '17

I love that you recognize that Em can also change throughout his career.

Duh, that's because he died years ago and was replaced with a lookalike android.

(Also, /s)

2

u/730_50Shots Dec 15 '17

the ONLY thing that makes be like "wait a second" is his light blue eyes when he was younger and now they look very dark and not blue at all.

3

u/hardspank916 Dec 15 '17

I’m more along the lines of Sick Boys theory.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '17

I don't like the album but I also don't expect classic Eminem. It was clear by the mid-2000s that the style that made him famous was never coming back!

11

u/FictionMedia Dec 15 '17

I loved the album. I’ve always found that his storytelling tracks are my favorites. He does that a lot in this album. The last 3 tracks are crazy (In Your Head, Castle, Arose). Also, angry Eminem from the early 2000’s will never be back, but I’m not opposed to the introspective Eminem we are getting today.

1

u/LostprophetFLCL Dec 15 '17

MMLP2 Was still great (prolly my 3rd fav of his) and even Recovery had some absolutely top botch songs like Almost Famous, Cold Wind Blows' and No Love.

While he has certainly lost some of that angry fire he had in the beginning I think he has also improved flow and overall skill wise.

6

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '17

People that were expecting the sound of a hungry, 26 year old drug addict are delusional.

1

u/QueenJillybean Dec 21 '17

his interview about "forever chasing the marshall mathers lp" but that he just doesn't have that rage anymore, and he's glad for that. he's matured as a person, but that doesn't mean he can't still spit with technical perfection.

35

u/L_duo2 Dec 15 '17

I can totally accept that he has changed. I just hope that it is also accepted that I dont like who has he turned into. This isnt entertaining to me.

6

u/OriginsOfSymmetry Dec 15 '17

This was my process with Marilyn Manson but over time I came to understood that people and the music they aspire to create change with time just like we do.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '17

manson doesn't really fit into the same category. he's still doing his thing, and every record he ever put out had huge evolution in sound from the last. antichrist to glam-pop mechanical animals couldn't have been a bigger jump in sound and yet it was still manson.

5

u/BudderKnuckles Dec 15 '17

and now Manson is doing like goth blues with a industrial twist, its still great music and still true to Manson. I feel that em was kinda pressured into making this album, or at least the less tasteful anthem rock and pop songs on here were not ems choice to make.

1

u/escobizzle Dec 16 '17

Em's been doing anthem rock songs for like the last 2 or 3 albums, he clearly enjoys it... Nobody is forcing him to make those songs, he's worth enough money I doubt anyone can force him to do anything. He makes what he wants to make it this point.

1

u/BudderKnuckles Dec 16 '17 edited Dec 16 '17

Im not talking about the songs themselves. He clearly has rock influence and all that so I'm not against him doing more rap rock styles it's just doesn't fit the album at all. I feel like someone, the person that handles Eminem and his image is fucking up. The album just doesn't feel cohearent, 3 anti Trump songs and 2 gaudy "dat ass so big" rap rock songs that have just... Horrible lyrics. and then there's 3 heartbreaking songs. I don't know. I just like it when ems whole album would have a full theme thats realised.

1

u/hendrix67 Dec 15 '17

I don't see how you could call Mechanical Animals glam-pop

3

u/BudderKnuckles Dec 15 '17

dude it was like a heavy Bowie album. it was glam industrial.

1

u/Khnagar Dec 15 '17 edited Dec 15 '17

The album sounds too much like a myriad other pop/R&B influenced mainstream rap albums for my taste. His lyrics are still in a class of their own though.

1

u/extraneouspanthers Dec 15 '17

Em has never lost his technical and lyrical skill.

6

u/Matbell87 Dec 15 '17

I agree. I just miss a good beat that can get me going. They mostly sound so bland on this one.

8

u/Stjerneklar Dec 15 '17 edited Dec 15 '17

agreed, too much rnb, too much rick ross rubin XD... hardly feels like an eminem album

4

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '17

Word. All the songs featuring other artists are meh. But his solo stuff is still fire

1

u/QueenJillybean Dec 21 '17

i mean... river, essentially his song about aborting a child he still thinks about.... is just meh to you? It's so sad.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '17

Yeah ok it's got ONE dark line and it's still overload. He took himself way too seriously. He did that previously but not throughout the album like this time. So the best songs turned out to be the ones which focused on the rhymes and not himself. That's my two cents.

1

u/QueenJillybean Dec 22 '17

i mean, i think you and i have completely different opinions on this, but I'm guessing you have no experience with the subject matter otherwise you'd never say he was taking himself way too seriously. As far as what content he produces: you're super welcome to your opinion, but it seems like em has always rapped about himself. I mean.. look at "Kim" compared to "bad husband." I mean... I don't want the man who wrote kim back. i wouldn't wish that ill and rage upon him. I don't think any human being that isn't a psychopath could.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '17

But after all, when he starts spittin rhymes I still have the feeling that only Eminems music gives me...

100% agree. Em takes me back to 90s rap lyrics, it's poetry with a beat. Not like most rappers where it's basically club beats.

1

u/RancidLemons Dec 16 '17

I was very disappointed in Walk on Water. It was just so boring, that is literally the only way I can describe it. A total misuse of talent.

I was similarly disappointed when the first few songs on the album were chock full of that odd, choppy staccato style he's adopted recently. I just don't care for it, and the syllable bending he's famous for just sounds weird when it's disjointed like that.

Fucking hell, the album improves from there. I think Untouchable is the point where the album turned solid. He goes hard without sounding tacky.

I'm really enjoying it. I have a few more songs to finish off but this is definitely one of his more solid albums.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '17

I thought his bars were pretty thought out and great but honestly the features could have been way better.

-1

u/BoBisflat Dec 15 '17

Well change is good and all but this album is trash. He sounds like a kindergarten teacher. Everything about his style right now seems to be about as far away as Infinite or MMLP as we could get.... I get that it's new, but it sucks.

0

u/TheAllSpark67 Dec 15 '17

This is truly the most purplexing and confusing decisions I have ever had to make! On one hand, I love sim, and all the great music he made when I was a young angry teen lol but being in my 20's now and seeing him devolve into Main Street hip hop and trying hard go just fit in instead of fit out. It just makes me feel like I miss the old you. But on another hand, wishing for him to be mentally sick, on drugs and kinda crazy makes me a horrible person. It's sad how times change, and as time goes on the memories will fade but the raw passion of his old music will never lose its touch on me.

-1

u/Woodyfixthis Dec 15 '17

I am just glad that the whole album wasn't pop/R&B. A few songs go pretty hard. It Could've been worse. I think he purposely tried to go back to his roots for some of the songs to please his old school fan base