Kill You wrote:EminemBase wrote:Menzo wrote:^ I agree with Slaughterhouse but not Yelawolf. Radioactive was his fault tbh, he made it that sound and Interscope made it even worse by waiting so long to promote him and choosing none of the GOOD radio friendly songs.
I disagree about Yelawolf... Yelawolf ultimately laid the groundwork for the failure of
Radioactive and the entire concept of the album, as its double entendre, was to be a stab at radio... but at some point in the album's production; Em stepped in and gave advice and how he thinks it should be rounded off and sound overall etc. and Yelawolf at the time said Em told him how to make it more 'worldwide', which I think is one of the problems with it, it feels forced and contrived in places.
And a prime example of that is "Good Girl", and they make a silly skit to justify it, but that still doesn't excuse the fact it's a blatant compromise of the point of art and shows the main problem with Em's recent thinking; ie. "a song for the girls"... as if an album should please every demographic or even be well-rounded.
The Marshall Mathers LP is a masterpiece because it's NOT well-rounded, it's totally relentless from start to finish, and that's why it's so cohesive and glued together in its conceptual, daring brilliance. Where as since then, he's been trying to balance themes too neatly and he's writing for presumed audiences more than for himself.
This is largely due to his fans bitching about Relapse. He used to write songs for himself then he started listening to fans...I think if he did the music he wanted that it would be great.
Absolutely, and it's a shame to see because...
When he came back with
Relapse, I followed all those interviews and articles, so it's quite clear to me when he's bullshitting or contradicting himself now; this idea that
Relapse was the product of a 'hazy' / 'coming out of addiction' phase is such nonsense.
I have heavily abused drugs, including painkillers myself, for years, and despite them absolutely taking a tole on your psychological states, there's no way that after a year of being sober, and contemplating a comeback for so long - AND the lyricism being so tight on
Relapse, that he was in some slap-happy hazy state. There's no way you can write that detailed and obsessively and be aware of every line in that way, if you're not totally aware of what you're doing and why.
Not only that but his interviews at the time, the articles; he sounded totally with it and knew exactly why he was doing
Relapse, and I truly believe he loves that sound and he simply retracted and changed courses because of fans, because in some sense, he still needs or wants acceptance and probably feared losing his initial fanbase and looking back regretting it, in such a crucial, second-phase of his career. Clearly, he tried hard to figure out what was exciting the new younger generation of rap fans, as
Recovery is heavily influenced by
Blueprint 3, and Wayne.
And, he is so bat-shit insane talented that even when compromising or doing things for kind-of-the-wrong-reasons, or in a confused period in his career, he can still create some truly amazing material ("Almost Famous"), but even so, I am really annoyed I won't get to hear
Relapse 2, and think he sold himself short by cancelling it and choosing acceptance over integrity.
His first three albums - he wrote for himself, entirely, and it completely shows. He wasn't second-guessing himself, aiming for faceless demographics; he was just creating, and he created three of the best rap albums of all time. His only two albums which are kind of, bizarre missteps,
Encore and
Recovery; he's clearly writing for others. Not that I'm calling
Recovery a failure, I love a lot of those tracks, but clearly the production and aims, were compromised for reasons other than self-fulfilment as an artist. And with
Encore, I think it's pretty obvious that he tries to force 'funny' ("Rain Man") and 'sentimental' ("Mockingbird") to please presumed fanbases within his audience who like his 'funny' (which actually here is just goofy and self-parody) and 'emotional' sides.
I really hope that with his next album, he just writes to create.
I couldn't of said it better yourself.
