The Future of Eminem (Official Discussion Thread)

[ganjakush56]

Eminem, if he really wants to push his creative limits and expand his artistic form, needs to create a concept album. Eminem already has the skills to pull it off - easily.
he already has the following skills:

Storytelling: Stan, Kim, Yellow Brick Road, 8 Mile Road, As the World Turns, etc. He has many tracks which exhibit a story - a motherfucking plot - this is what makes some of his songs iconic. This is what makes many hip-hop songs in general iconic. Suicidal Thoughts, Dance with the Devil - these are very powerful songs because they have a plot which involves a central protagonist. The artist then uses the protagonist to convey a certain meaning or point or ideology to the listener.

Technical Ability: Eminem's technical skill is above nearly every other rapper who has gained any form of mainstream and/or commercial success. Big Pun had great technical ability but not to the extent that Eminem does. One primary reason why Eminem's technical skills shine are because of his versatility in the rhyme patterns, enunciation, flows, pitches, variances in speeds, etc.

Knowledge of Hip-Hop: Eminem is a fucking rap nerd. Everyone knows this. It may be accurate to assume that all Eminem literally does is write and study hip-hop as an art-form, culture, and mentality - one is lead to believe this simply by listening to the level of attention, perfectionism, and parallels with rudimentary forms of hip-hop in his music.

Eminem is at a point in his career where he has nearly exhausted his traditional formula for an album. His formula is shared by other artist as well in a general sense. It seems that up to this point, an Eminem album is a collection of songs put together in a cohesive manner. The songs do not necessarily have to have any relationship to each other either. This seems to be the way that most mainstream or commercial hip-hop artist construct albums. Today, however, it seems that this way of constructing an album is becoming an outdated one as evident in the commercial success, cultural impact, and artistic significance of Kendrick's Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City. This album was a concept album which told a story - it was literally as if the listener was watching a movie. This movie was a very important one as well if one pays attention to the actual content of the album. At this point in his career, especially after The Marshall Mathers LP 2, it seems that if Eminem wants to continue to stay atop the rap game and maintain immediate relevancy in the culture of Hip-hop as a current artist, he needs to expand in his artistic boundaries further than the traditional album structure ( a collection of songs).

While I thoroughly enjoy his entire discography which does contain arguably three classic albums, I cannot help but imagine how substantial a concept album by Eminem would be. The potential is unreal.
What do you think?

[Kill You]

I think he's done tbh. This last album was horrible, the next one will only be worse.

[shadyblogger]

I think he's done tbh. This last album was horrible, the next one will only be worse.

You joking bro?

[Kill You]

I think he's done tbh. This last album was horrible, the next one will only be worse.

You joking bro?

[Accor]

I think he's done tbh. This last album was horrible, the next one will only be worse.

[shadyblogger]

I think a concept album might be alright for Em but I don't think it's absolutely necessary for him so stay on top of his game. I just think as long as he keeps going the Shady route and doesn't give a fuck then he should be fine with whatever type of album he puts out content wise.

[yoda you can call me]

it would be hella dope if he did a comic book concept, kinda like czarface. he's a huge fan of the genre, so he would come up with some ill concepts

[Kill You]

The Slim Shady comic with an accompanying soundtrack.

Nah I'd just be happy with an album in 2015. Perhaps that will be his last album, if not the one after next almost certainly is. I want a full BME album tbh with the new style he's got.

[yoda you can call me]

The Slim Shady comic with an accompanying soundtrack.

Nah I'd just be happy with an album in 2015. Perhaps that will be his last album, if not the one after next almost certainly is. I want a full BME album tbh with the new style he's got.

i meant like an album based on comic book characters, really geeky shizzle

[shadyblogger]

So he could have like a Spider-Man rap or something

[__EWF]

I want a concept album, and hopefully, after mmlp2 the more voyeuristic fans are finally ready to let Em move on from rapping about his personal life.

[shadyblogger]

I'm just curious what Em would do. Every single album of his has had at least some rapping about his personal life so I'd be curious to see what he would do.

[shadyblogger]

Czarface is awesome. That was definitely my sleeper hit of the year. Put it on my ipod and forgot about it for like a month and a half haha

I don't expect a new solo Em any time soon tbh. I think he'll end up making one more album, but it won't be for a while. He says he has "projects" he is working on, but that is most likely just going to be working with shady shit, because he said he didn't have plans in the near future for his own record. A ton of things about this album scream that he intended on ending it here, whether he will or won't. A huge part of the impact of Bad Guy is that for so long he said he'd never stop...and then all of the sudden he starts saying "I'm your time that's almost up that you haven't acknowledged". A lot of the power of that verse is in him coming to grips that he can't rap forever, regardless of what he tells himself. He doesn't want to keep making albums until he burns out, hence the "unless it makes an impact then don't bother" line. So everything in Bad Guy, him finally closing the chapter on his relationship with his mom, making a sequel to Stan in general, describing his "legacy" as one continuous story from childhood to dominance, proclaiming his status as a rap god, the line that finishes the album..etc.

Someone asked about this before, about why Em in Survival said "last chance to make this whole stadium erupt" when he said "it aint over till I say it's over". Within the context of this being the "end of the saga", the line "it aint over till I say it's over" may in fact be referring to the album itself in putting out this last punch. As in, people thought he was retiring, but he still has some important things left to do and say. With that in mind, the two lines are compatible. So as I said, part of me truly believes that this album was intended to "close the book". Even on the commercials and his tweet when it came out. Something like, "coming home...for the last time". It is a clever set up because if people are satisfied with it as a conclusion, he can let it rest. If they aren't, whether it is because it got received poorly, or if people overwhelmingly still wanted to him to make another one, they could just hedge back and imply that it was intended to mean the last time he returns to his past.

He went all out with this record. Think about it, MMLP2 is a stan's dream. He rapped his ass off, dropped the nice guy shit, dyed his hair blonde, stirred up some controversy, rapped over his own beats (like people have been begging for), covered a wide range of styles both rap wise and sonically, his marketing campaign was enormous, gave us a shitload of songs, kept this album the biggest secret that even people that analyze his shit every day didn't see it coming....then you play the album and off the bat he reveals that this is the end of the saga. He loves to drop bombshells.

I think what has happened since is that he is reading public perception. If reviewers would have placed focus on the lines indicating the "end", and said something like "Eminem's MMLP2 is a fitting close to a iconic career", then he probably would have left it be. Since practically no media has payed much attention to the times where he flat out states that this is "one last time", and in interviews ask him, "so what's next for you, are you getting back in the studio?" he has probably taken it as, 'ok, so no one is even willing to think that I was actually telling the truth...I guess that means that they still expect and want me to make music'. However, he is still unwilling to promise that he will in fact make another album. He said he still wants to be involved with the music somehow. That's it.

To wrap this up, I think he's going to chill back for a little while with solo music. He'll probably keep writing, and if they feel like there is the hunger for his music again, and believe he can still drop a massive album again, he will likely put out a grand finale when he has hibernated long enough to explode back on the scene. I just think his words in Bad Guy were too deliberate and probably meaningful to him, for him to just act like he never said it and churn out 3 more albums in the next couple years or something. But maybe I've just thought about this too much and I'm making shit up. Who knows. But damn did this get longer than I intended haha I've been pondering this for a while now

Interesting read. I agree.

[yoda you can call me]

Czarface is awesome. That was definitely my sleeper hit of the year. Put it on my ipod and forgot about it for like a month and a half haha

I don't expect a new solo Em any time soon tbh. I think he'll end up making one more album, but it won't be for a while. He says he has "projects" he is working on, but that is most likely just going to be working with shady shit, because he said he didn't have plans in the near future for his own record. A ton of things about this album scream that he intended on ending it here, whether he will or won't. A huge part of the impact of Bad Guy is that for so long he said he'd never stop...and then all of the sudden he starts saying "I'm your time that's almost up that you haven't acknowledged". A lot of the power of that verse is in him coming to grips that he can't rap forever, regardless of what he tells himself. He doesn't want to keep making albums until he burns out, hence the "unless it makes an impact then don't bother" line. So everything in Bad Guy, him finally closing the chapter on his relationship with his mom, making a sequel to Stan in general, describing his "legacy" as one continuous story from childhood to dominance, proclaiming his status as a rap god, the line that finishes the album..etc.

Someone asked about this before, about why Em in Survival said "last chance to make this whole stadium erupt" when he said "it aint over till I say it's over". Within the context of this being the "end of the saga", the line "it aint over till I say it's over" may in fact be referring to the album itself in putting out this last punch. As in, people thought he was retiring, but he still has some important things left to do and say. With that in mind, the two lines are compatible. So as I said, part of me truly believes that this album was intended to "close the book". Even on the commercials and his tweet when it came out. Something like, "coming home...for the last time". It is a clever set up because if people are satisfied with it as a conclusion, he can let it rest. If they aren't, whether it is because it got received poorly, or if people overwhelmingly still wanted to him to make another one, they could just hedge back and imply that it was intended to mean the last time he returns to his past.

He went all out with this record. Think about it, MMLP2 is a stan's dream. He rapped his ass off, dropped the nice guy shit, dyed his hair blonde, stirred up some controversy, rapped over his own beats (like people have been begging for), covered a wide range of styles both rap wise and sonically, his marketing campaign was enormous, gave us a shitload of songs, kept this album the biggest secret that even people that analyze his shit every day didn't see it coming....then you play the album and off the bat he reveals that this is the end of the saga. He loves to drop bombshells.

I think what has happened since is that he is reading public perception. If reviewers would have placed focus on the lines indicating the "end", and said something like "Eminem's MMLP2 is a fitting close to a iconic career", then he probably would have left it be. Since practically no media has payed much attention to the times where he flat out states that this is "one last time", and in interviews ask him, "so what's next for you, are you getting back in the studio?" he has probably taken it as, 'ok, so no one is even willing to think that I was actually telling the truth...I guess that means that they still expect and want me to make music'. However, he is still unwilling to promise that he will in fact make another album. He said he still wants to be involved with the music somehow. That's it.

To wrap this up, I think he's going to chill back for a little while with solo music. He'll probably keep writing, and if they feel like there is the hunger for his music again, and believe he can still drop a massive album again, he will likely put out a grand finale when he has hibernated long enough to explode back on the scene. I just think his words in Bad Guy were too deliberate and probably meaningful to him, for him to just act like he never said it and churn out 3 more albums in the next couple years or something. But maybe I've just thought about this too much and I'm making shit up. Who knows. But damn did this get longer than I intended haha I've been pondering this for a while now

great read, with great points. but you're missing one vital piece of information, which is, em is not built like the average human haha, he has a million ideas and concepts floating around his head constantly and loves to lay them on a track.. i certainly think he's done with talking about his life now.. i expect experimentation, ill concepts and collabs from here on out..

[Hopsinshadie]

He's going to just keep innovating and recreating