Starting things off with "Bad Guy" a grimy, realistic sounding track that features poignant lyricism that weaves its way into our collective consciousness right away and allows us to get an emotional glimpse inside Em and allows us to experience exactly what he is feeling at the same time the song is playing. "Rhyme or Reason" samples The Zombies "Time of The Season" into an inventive and cleverly mastered opus that shows the overflowing creativity emanating from inside of the mind of one of the most clever and inventive rappers of our generation. "Survival" is another mind blowing track that takes it to the next level with more complex musical arrangements finding its way to the forefront and puts the entire album in perspective for us and makes us wait with great fervor and anticipation for the rest of the album to follow. "Legacy" is a piano driven tune featuring delicate beats and a simple musical structure that cools it down just a bit and offer up a hint of diversity for the prospective music listener just tuning in. "Berzerk" is a jumbled, hot mess of a track featuring some rock influences a la Beastie Boys, and has a hand in production credits from none other than Rick Rubin, who contributes a great deal to the attitude and swagger of this track that is primed for your next house party. "Stronger Than I Was" enables to delve even deeper inside Em's persona, and allows us to come to the realization that his troubled past is finally behind him, and is ready to move on forward and leave his Slim Shady persona dead and buried with no regrets.
The second half starts off with my favorite track off the album "The Monster". Featuring the talents of Rihanna, the song has a uptempo, dazzling musicality to it with top notch rhythms and Em's engineered rhymes making things seem brighter and is the highlight of a nearly flawless studio effort heard here before you. "So Far..." is an amazing, jaw dropping track that has a surprisingly chirpy personality and upbeat musical tone that is something we haven't had the opportunity to experience with Em, and it works here to a great degree. "Headlights" features the talents of Nate Ruess from fun. who contributes a great deal to this downtempo track that does an excellent job of melding together the worlds of indie rock and hip-hop, two genres that I never expected to come together but it works well on this gutsy track. "Baby" is a methodically structured, standard issue hip-hop track with Em's trademark wiseguy rhymes making its way through on a comical level, and makes us wonder whether he's just playing around with us or is being serious. "Desperation" has that frenetic and jarring on the edge of your seat tone to it with a realistic sounding edge that shows off Em's emotion pouring itself out in one fell swoop right before your ears. We start to close things out with "Beautiful Pain" featuring Sia, and this track begins to close things out with downtempo rhythms and Sia's voice putting everything in perspective here and allows things to conclude much like the same way it began in the first place. "Wicked Ways" concludes matters here with a track that brings together all the musical elements we've heard in one way or another in succession, and gives us an encapsulated overview that shows how we got to this point in the first place, and also allows us to come to a conclusion of what this album was able to accomplish today. I've been a fan of Em ever since The Slim Shady LP came out in '99, and I really appreciated his lyrical abilities and his knack for crafting works of art that challenged the very concept of free speech, and immediately put everyone on edge that made me respect him that much more and understand how big of a role the city of Detroit played in his music, and his rocky relationship with his mother and ex-wife becoming verbal punchbags for him to vent and tell everyone exactly what he was feeling at that time.
In conclusion, another terrific effort from Eminem, who has made another quality effort that continues the evolution of Em into a more confident and open minded artist ready to face anything thrown in his direction, and his conviction and drive are nothing short of impeccable on this amazing effort. Highly recommended!
Album Score: 4.5/5
Track Listing:
- Bad Guy
- Parking Lot (skit)
- Rhyme Or Reason
- So Much Better
- Survival
- Legacy
- Asshole (f/Skylar Grey)
- Berzerk
- Rap God
- Brainless
- Stronger Than I Was
- The Monster (f/Rihanna)
- So Far...
- Love Game (f/Kendrick Lamar)
- Headlights (f/Nate Ruess)
- Evil Twin
- Baby
- Desperation
- Beautiful Pain (f/Sia)
- Wicked Ways
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