Final single “When I’m Gone” can be seen on MTV at-well, probably right now, and the Nate Dogg collaboration “Shake That” goes about as well as any Nate Dogg collaboration ever does.
#Eminem discography curtain call plus#
To supplement these wan offerings he’s added three new jams, plus the previously unreleased Elton John version of “Stan” (gag). He’s a businessman, a mentor, standing approvingly over the G-Unit suckfactory with Dre-no longer a protégé, but a peer! On his way out the game, he tosses out this Curtain Call, a shameless grab for a few extra bucks. We’ve all still got “The Real Slim Shady” memorized, you know? Could there possibly be a market out there clamoring for “all of his hits, finally in one place”? This isn’t The Beatles we’re talking about here nobody needed a refresher on this shit. Besides, Em’s trajectory to the top was concurrent with the rise of file-trading. During those five years, 14 of these 17 tracks dominated the media-anyone that hasn’t grown repulsed by them at this point certainly already owns them and could revisit if they wanted to. Maybe this greatest hits thing wasn’t such a good idea, either.Įminem sold 20 million records in the past five years. “Mockingbird,” meanwhile, was saccharine horseshit, a sham made pensive by one of Em’s most lazy, maudlin beats and “When I’m Gone” was, well, the exact same fucking song. Everybody understood Em’s message well enough, and in “Stan” he wisely made the antagonist someone that understood it too well-his “greatness” came from his mic skill and his cultural importance, not some misunderstood message. In “Sing For The Moment” he makes the mistake of playing the part of the misunderstood genius, which was never even the case. Em’s conflicted rumination on his own legacy brought him the critical adulation that would legitimize his misogynyhomophobia, but, as became his trend, by the next album he could only muster a hollow impersonation. After the rousing, funky Slim cut “Kill You,” “Stan” seemed the most poignant possible counterbalance, a melancholy missive from a legitimately tortured artist. When “Stan” first flipped on my ninth grade stereo, I was ready to proclaim Eminem the voice of my generation. Maybe that whole “Marshall Mathers” thing wasn’t such a good idea, either.Īlthough it seemed okay at first, too. By “Just Lose It,” Slim’s entirely out of touch-a feckless grab for attention toward an increasingly juvenile audience from a pathetic, grinning buffoon.Ģ. “My Name Is” grabbed our attention with a headspinning mix of shit talk, verbal dexterity and Cap’n Crunch-sweet beats, but subsequent first singles “The Real Slim Shady,” “Without Me,” and “Just Lose It” are unlistenable retreads, each one reeking of acute idiocy worse than the one previous. This was novel, but the resulting music was not. Biggy and ‘Pac grappled most famously, but both said “fuck it” and embraced the wildly oscillating meaning of their raps, while Jigga, at his best, straddled the divide and made both meanings work simultaneously, effusing a seen-it-all weariness with look-at-me-now braggadocio into every easy syllable.Įminem split it down the middle, letting Slim Shady start beef and Marshall Mathers sing the requiem.
Every rapper that’s come in the wake of gangsta rap has struggled with the inevitable contradictions between showmanship exploitation and real-life sermonizing. Maybe that whole “Slim Shady” thing wasn’t such a good idea.Īlthough it seemed okay at first. Being that I lack both the stomach and the time to interpret fully the legacy of Marshall Mathers, and that such an endeavor would most assuredly be futile (as another half-decade’s distance is needed from the phenomenon), and that this album sucks and if I listen to it much more I’m going to go outside and set fire to a car, but that in the interest of maintaining the Glow’s dedication to incisive criticism I must nevertheless offer a review, here are:ĥ Lukewarm Assertions That Can Be Made While Listening to Eminem’s Greatest Hitsġ.