How Berzerk Flew Over Heads

[NjNets15]

A lot of the feedback I'm seeing about "Berzerk" leads me to believe most people don't have faith in the newly returned Mr. Mathers. I want to explain the song in the way I believe he means for it to be interpreted, although I think his plan was for people to not really understand the layout of it. I find the track to be more of a warning than it is a song....

1st verse- Shows us he still has it.

Now this shit's about to kick off, this party looks wack
Let's take it back to straight hip-hop and start it from scratch

Obviously talking about hip hop as "this party", showing his disinterest.

I'm 'bout to bloody this track up, everybody get back
That's why my pen needs a pad cause my rhymes on the raaaaaag

Wordplay out the ass, showing he is still capable of head scratchers. Bloody. Pen Needs a Pad. Maxi Pad. Rhymes on the rag. The Rag- term for a woman's period. Just clearing this up for anyone that may have missed it.

Let's bring it back to that vintage Slim,
The art of the MCing mixed with da Vinci and MC Ren
And I don't mean Stimpy's friend

Brings out the ridiculous flow. Now after the first verse Em makes it certain that his intentions are to bring hip hop back to it's origins... now let me move onto the 2nd verse.

Guess it's just the way that I'm dressed, ain't it?
Khakis pressed, Nike shoes crispy and fresh laced
So I guess it ain't That aftershave or cologne that made them just faint
Plus I just showed up with a coat fresher than wet paint

Em's presence in these bars, as well as the ones following including the "Bang Bang" line are clearly Slim making fun of the rap game, while spitting in a way that people will still find to be enticing. He didn't just make it was clear that he was bringing it back to Hip Hop, and then talk about his clothes in a very materialistic "new-rappish" type of way for no reason. This is the exact opposite of taking it back to straight hip hop. And in fact this whole verse is. It rounds off with....

Slow it down, throw in the towel, t-t-towel toww
Dumb it down, I don’t know how (huh-huh) how-how

Em, at the end of an intentionally awful verse, say's he does not know how to dumb it down.

At least I know that I don't know
Question is are you bozos smart enough to feel stupid, Hope so

Em wanted everyone to love this verse. Wanted everyone to think it was creative. Then he follows up the not knowing how to dumb down line with "at least I know that I don't know". This is where the warning comes in. I view the line "Question is are you bozos smart enough to feel stupid, hope so" one directed at everyone who enjoyed this verse. Basically saying I hope you're smart enough to feel stupid when you find out, I was dumbing down here. You honestly and truly have no clue what is coming.

And the third verse I find to be simply an explanation of what we all knew was coming. That he is going back to slim shady..

"woke up in that monte carlo" going to parody the game's hottest radio hits.
Going to call out celebrities (Kardashians, L.O), Go after rappers (future)

My take on the concept behind this song. I was worried about what was to come on MMLP2 after first hearing it, but after further analysis I couldn't be any happier. And for everyone thinking this is a negative sign of what is to come on the album, all of his albums but Recovery featured a silly single that wasn't at all like the rest of the album

SSLP- My Name Is
MMLP- TRSS
TES- Without Me
Encore- Just Lose It
Relapse- We Made You

[LMShady]

I generally think negative views on this song haven't read into the lyrics, once you break them down it really is a great song. But general people other than hip-hop heads just don't understand most of it.

[[Woody]]

The way you just dumbed it down for me, made me love this song ten times more, can't wait to hear more.

[unbound88]

Are you BOZOS smart enough to feel stupid?

He can make 'em look like BOZOS

Connection? Reaching?

[HeySamantha]

Just listening to the song, it's a fucking mess. When you read into what he's actually saying, the song is badass. It's a song you have to think about and understand before you can fully enjoy it. It's not like the mindless rap shit that's currently floating around the radio.

[Accor]

unless ur stupid this shouldn't fly over ur head, but there are some cleverish lines in there

[NjNets15]

Are you BOZOS smart enough to feel stupid?

He can make 'em look like BOZOS

Connection? Reaching?

Don't think I'm reaching at all. Eminem is not saying that he's bringing back real hip hop and spitting his most dumb-downed verse since Encore for no reason. Trust. He's not saying yessireee bob in a serious manner and thinking he's out rapping everyone... with Slim sometimes you need to look into it more..

[Hansen]

Nice theory, made me appriciate this song even more

[Brigitte]

The way you just dumbed it down for me, made me love this song ten times more, can't wait to hear more.

Me too! That was perfect. You put brilliantly into words what I was very very slowly realising
Thanks!

[kkaniff]

Post Recovery stans expect Window Pane level of lyricism from Em. Cant really say I blame them, but do they have to be so fuckin' vehement and outspoken about their inability to get it?
Think about it, most dudes went "trash" instead of thinking, "wait, is he saying something that is totally flying over my head?".
Its a sad combination of lowered expectations and laziness.

[ladelsofgravy]

making fun of other peoples lyrics by intentionally making them bad doesn't make them good

[Spyder]

I had no idea about those basic lines. Thank you.

[Jimmy Conway]

Yeah it's pretty funny and clever when you think about it.

8/10 imo. At first listen I thought the 2nd verse was bad, but it's actually awesome when you get what he's saying / doing.

8/10 are you crazy? That's like saying its one of the better songs ever. Once the album drops ill probably never even listen to that song. It's a skipable song. Not a classic.

5/10


And it's not over people's head so much as its just not that great. Though I do think people aren't seeing that this song is going in the right direction for Em, so it might be over the head in that sense. But when you have to fight for a song that hard, you know something is wrong. Good songs are just good. They do t need to be explained.

[Hansen]

making fun of other peoples lyrics by intentionally making them bad doesn't make them good

[Aquamarina]

Just beat me to it dude, i feel completely the same way... he flew over ALL of our heads here. SONG IS SOOOO WITTY. The Marshall mathers potty mouth better get the bar soap lathered line at the end proved it to me hes coming back talking crazy! BERZERK IS AMAZING.