Music Review: “Kamikaze”
On August 31st, Eminem unexpectedly released his 10th studio album, “Kamikaze.” He opens the album with “The Ringer,” which attacks a wide variety of people, from Lil Yachty to Vice President Mike Pence and Donald Trump. The constant criticism of the similarities between current popular rap beats and specific artists is an ongoing theme of the album. Eminem also raps about the failure of his album “Revival,” which was unsuccessful last year. This is probably the song that follows his style the most, and is the best on the entire album.
I would not recommend most of these songs to listeners, unless they showed interest towards Eminem and the artists he called out.
The second track, “Greatest,” features some of Eminem’s signature clever wordplay. He parodies a line from Kendrick Lamar’s “HUMBLE.” and Playboi Carti’s “wokeuplikethis,” but never attacks the two. Eminem also chooses to criticize those who brag about success and declares himself as the greatest, which seems contradictory. The song has a great beat, and the fast rapping makes it a valuable addition.
Next on the album is “Lucky You,” which starts out with a flow similar to the artists Eminem has expressed a disliking for. Half of the song is performed by Joyner Lucas, best known for his song “I’m Not Racist,” and he talks about his lack of awards and accreditation. In contrast, Eminem brags about his accomplishments, but discusses his recent failures as well. He again expresses his disdain for the current state of rap and mumble rappers. There is a reference to him abusing prescription drugs, which many of his fans said was the time in which his music was at its peak.
There is a short interlude, “Paul (Skit) [2018]”, which features Eminem’s manager warning him about making an entire album that responds to those who disliked his previous album. The sixth track is similar in nature, but is instead a skit of Eminem responding to his manager as he travels to the house of someone who criticized him. Neither of these are necessary, and do not add to the album. They remind me of the phonecalls in the video game Five Nights at Freddy’s, which interrupt the excitement of the other songs.
The fifth track, “Normal,” sounds different compared to the rest of the album and is about a fictional bad relationship. There are many specific mentions of domestic disputes between both partners in the relationship, which would take away from the song if it sounded better. However, it sounds weird because he attempts a different style, but his voice just drags awkwardly during the chorus.
“Stepping Stones” is the next song, which Eminem uses as an apology to his former rap group, D12. This is a nice change from the mostly angry album, and slows everything down a bit. He explains that he feels guilt for using the group as a stepping stone for his career to progress, but that the friendship should prevail despite the failure of the group. He acknowledges that Proof, a member of D12 that was murdered, was instrumental in the success of the group, and that his death is what lead to their disbandment. This message isn’t exactly tasteful, but understandable.
“Not Alike” is a direct imitation of Drake’s “Look Alive” and “Bad and Boujee” by Migos. He disses Migos again by comparing their rap to Dr. Seuss’ work, possibly referencing a video of someone rapping a Dr. Seuss book to the beat of “Walk it Talk It.” The verses are riddled with parodies of the popular attributes in current songs, such as ad-libs. The use of Drake’s beat negatively impacts the song and distracts the listener from what Eminem is trying to say. “Look Alive” is a popular song, and he cannot change that fact due to its social media presence which spawned thousands of videos of people doing the “shoot” dance.
The next song, “Kamikaze,” is focused on the failure of Eminem’s last album. There is a somewhat chaotic nature to the song, as he angrily raps about wanting to crash into everyone like a fighter jet. The chorus features the word “fack” many times, which allows for his comparison to the song thought to be his worst, “FACK,” and “Revival.” The beat is catchy and would be a great pump-up song.
“Fall” is a rather controversial song on the album due to Eminem’s use of a gay slur when talking about Tyler, the Creator. Although the word is censored to a point of being unrecognisable in all versions of the published song, people have been outraged by the song because it is seen as demeaning to Tyler, who is thought to be gay. He goes on to critique more artists, but the rest of the song is overshadowed by the use of the slur.
Both of the following songs have a theme about the poor relationships in Eminem’s life, and feature Jessie Reyez. The verses in “Nice Guy” respond to accusations by a significant other about being faithful, but there is a line saying that he hopes the other person’s “heart get hit by a semi-truck.” The song is rather aggressive and it seems like there is no true remorse for how the relationship is.
“Venom” is last on the album, and it definitely sounds like a soundtrack song. It probably sounds good in the movie, but not in any other setting. It was a disappointing end to the otherwise exciting album, but it’s better at the end than as an interrupter in the middle of the songs.
I would not recommend most of these songs to listeners, unless they showed interest towards Eminem and the artists he called out. “Kamikaze,” “The Ringer,” and “Greatest” are all stylistically wonderful, so they would be great on any playlist. There seems to be a lot of anger and mocking of other rappers in this album, but there are also many gems and moments of the old Eminem that could satisfy nearly any rap fan.