Omega wrote:@Eminem Base post
That depends what "concept" means to you.
No it depends what it's generally accepted to mean in the English dictionary, or is generally defined as. Otherwise why bother using the word at all lmao? just make up your own words, and if you do that, we're speaking in constantly undefined terms aka chaos.
A definition of concept:
A plan or intention; a conceptionSo, in the context of albums, this would mean the album would have to have some kind of overall conception to it ie. a story or idea running through it. Or some kind of idea or concept that the songs all contribute toward...
Omega wrote:I see the albums as this:
SSLP: The concept of the album is obviously introducing to the world the Slim Shady persona. Every song is an idea of what's on the mind of this guy.
That doesn't make the album a concept album. Sometimes he's in character on it and sometimes he's not, he uses it as an excuse to indulge in storytelling and subversion. And comedic madness.
But, there is no overall concept to this album. It's a collection of songs with circling theme(s) under the guise of partial character. However I would lean towards this album possibly being able to be defined as a concept album due to him being in character.
But... Slim Shady was really just a name he gave to his attitude and smart-ass rhymes at the time. It evolved into more than that but he was really just using a name to avoid being himself, and for the ability to rap about anything he liked in extreme and comedic ways.
Not really a concept though is it. It's just... character.
Omega wrote:MMLP: A concept album that tries to give the Slim Shady persona a more "human" feel. Songs like Criminal or The Way I Am explain it perfectly.
This isn't the concept of
The Marshall Mathers LP. It's by reading things like this that I'm amazed at how many fans don't truly get the best of his work and a lot of his intentions.
And I'm going on things that he's said and what's obvious int he work via logic, not 'my own' definitions or decisions on the material.
I agree in the sense that, he almost certainly wanted to be taken more seriously as an artist and he stripped Shady / his character play of much of its lighthearted cartoony-ness to make it, like you say - more human, and therefore more affecting and harder to figure out.
However, the concept of
The Marshall Mathers LP is that he's going to become whatever you say he is. Hence "I am,
whatever you say I am..." that's why that song is such a perfect single and that one line sums up the concept of the entire album.
The concept is a 'is he joking or not ?' game he's enforcing on the listener, in response to misunderstanding and misinterpretation of his aims and lyrics on
The Slim Shady LP. That's why he insults gay people on it, because some critics were saying he was homophobic due to a line on "My Name Is". Which is why he said 'okay, I'm gonna be whatever you say I am'... so, he became a homophobe on the album.
He also became a prick, an asshole and whatever else people called him, to the NTH degree. He also wanted to confuse the people who 'didn't get it' to make it humorous for those of us who did ("put the youth in hysterics"). That's the concept of album, and that is a concept and all the songs feed into that.
Omega wrote:TES: The concept here, as seen in the cover of album itself, is how even in the spotlight and at the top of the world, Eminem is in a dark place himself. All of the songs are part of the "drama" show.
Again, this is not a concept or anything he said, this is just some concept you've invented and decided for yourself from seeing the cover.
Eminem's own explanation for the title / theme is that at that point, his life was like The Jerry Springer Show, with all his personal business being aired out on television and in papers etc. and his life was like a dramatic show, on display to the public.
That's why it's called
The Eminem Show. And then from that title he runs with that idea / theme, making his life an actual show, with curtains / a stage and himself as a performer in
The Eminem Show. But from there on, the songs are really just a collection of thoughts and emotions.
You could still argue it's a concept album from that alone but I'd still say it's not and that it's just a committed theme. And the album itself is just a collection of songs.
Omega wrote:Encore: There's no concept at all here. The album cover and the title make one believe that the album will have dark songs full of emotion, and some kind of "farewell" to hip hop. Instead we got an album 75% dumb shit, 25% serious.
This is not true at all.
Encore, is an encore to
The Eminem Show. It's paired with that album hence the cover being similar to
The Eminem Show but there being blue curtains.
The actual
concept however is that, after 'the
Encore' to 'The
Show' - he shoots the audience and then kills himself. Take a look at the booklet art, you'll see audience members covered in blood and Em shooting at them. And there's a picture of Eminem from behind bowing, on stage, with a gun held in his hand. This is at the end of the
Encore - taking a bow.
So, the songs serve as 'the
Encore' and then he carries out the concept. Which is why you have the "Final Thought" skit and you hear him shooting people. Again, "One Shot 2 Shot" also feeds into this concept, as he's running around shooting people.
Omega wrote:Relapse: I commented about this a million times. Most of the songs are like a metaphor of real life things that happened to him during the pill addiction era. Everything is tied together by that "serial killer" theme, which as I see it is a way to express how being an addict fucks you up mentally and emotionally.
No, once again you may have commented a million times but you can't just decide what his albums are about or that they have X comment and say it's a fact when he's never said or implied this and it's not obvious lmao.
He said
Relapse was a double-entendre of a title in that, it was relapsing in the literal sense, which he's done with drugs - and that he was relapsing, into the asshole he used to be.
So, it opens with Dr. West and this starts what you could call the 'loose concept' of the album with him relapsing into addiction and... then we see the results of that. But, I say loose concept as, after "3am" the 'concept' stops being present and it's then just a collection of songs.
You have a somewhat storytelling track ("My Mom") about how he suspects that she used to slip Valium in his food as a kid and that's partially why he's not an addict, followed by another storytelling track where he gets fictionally raped by his fictional step-father...
Followed by "Bagpipes from Baghdad" which is a song that dedicates a good chunk being a jokey Mariah Carey jab and the rest being an off-the-wall, could-go-anywhere lyrical track, followed by "Hello" which is a zany, bouncy introduction track with more storytelling elements...
Again, there's clearly no 'concept' here outside of the loose idea of him relapsing in order to justify a new style and sound. But this isn't directional or committed enough to be called a concept album. Anything outside of the obvious, or that can't be defended or justified with logic is just pure speculation and wishful thinking. In regards to
Relapse being a concept album.
Omega wrote:Recovery: Most of the album has the "recovery" theme on it, literally and metaphorically. Literally with songs like T2M, Not Afraid, Going Through Changes, You Are Never Over demonstrating how Eminem is recovering himself from addictions that almost killed him. Metaphorically with Cinderella Man or No Love, where the "recovery" part is clearly seen on the passion and level of lyrics he's able to spit.
Again, the tracks having a 'theme' to them doesn't make it a CONCEPT album.
Theme and concept are different. The tracks are supposed to have a theme to them and all fit together, that's what makes a good album. That doesn't make it a concept album though and neither does the title.
The title is a reference to his life, and his present position or recent position at that time and the album has no concept. The songs being him re-vitalized and spitting about recovering and being on top of his game etc. again, those are themes.
There isn't a single idea or direction or story to the album that all the tracks feed into. It's emotional and introspective and the tracks are a collection of tracks, not all scenes of a movie so to speak.
The only true concept album I'd say is
The Marshall Mathers LP. And then,
Encore did have a concept but it wasn't really followed through on too much outside of the album art. But, like I said - by your logic you could justify almost any album being a 'concept' album.
It's like a popstar making an album called
Love and having mostly love ballads on it and then you saying "Well, the title is
Love and there are a lot of tracks about love on here, so that's the concept - this is a concept album about love". But, it's not is it... it'd just be an album about love. For it to be a concept album about love, there'd need to be an underlying idea driving the album, sculpting it in some way so that it's not random and for its own sake.
