Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Square Dance (The Eminem Show)
Come on now, let's all get on down, do-si-do now, we gon' have a good ol' time!
Don't be scurred, 'cause thurr ain't nuttin' to worr' 'bout!
Let ya hurr down! And square dance with me
So here it is. One of Eminem's first forays into the Southern accent in his career, and an ominous sign of the many stupid accents to come later in his career (cough Ass Like That cough, cough Relapse cough). I don't mind the Southern accent on this song. It's weird, but it's cool weird.
The chorus is saying that despite what might be happening in the world, don't worry about it...just dance.
'Till I Collapse (The Eminem Show)
This is one song that is impossible not to nod your head to. It's just...incredible.
Eminem had reached the point of his career where he was pushing so many lyrical boundaries that he nearly succeeded in writing a verse where EVERY word forms part of a rhyme: a feat no rapper has ever attempted before or even come close to doing. The first verse to this amazing, amazing song is where it nearly happened. Let me begin on the almost impossible task of highlighting the rhymes to this incredibly complex verse. Try to follow this without confusing the fuck out of yourself. I'll start by copy/pasting the lyrics (fuck writing them out):
Till I collapse I'm spilling these raps long as you feel em
Till the day that I drop you'll never say that I'm not killing them
Cause when I am not/then I'ma stop (then I'ma stop penning them)
And I am not (not) hip-hop and I'm just not (and I'm just not Eminem)
Subliminal thoughts/when I'ma stop (when I'ma stop sending them) women are caught in webs spin 'em and hawk (spin 'em and hawk venom a-)
'drenaline shots of penicillin could not get the illing to stop.
Amoxacilin's just not real enough.
The criminal cop (cop) killin' (killin') hip-hop villain, a minimal swap (swap) to cop millions of Pac (Pac listeners)
You're coming with me, feel it or not you're gonna fear it like I showed you the spirit of god (god lives in us)
You hear it a lot, lyrics (lyrics) that shock is it a miracle or am I just a product of pop fizzing up
For shizzle my whizzle (this is the plot) this is the plot listen up (plot listen up) you bizzles forgot slizzle does not give a fuck (slizzle does not)
He's pretty much saying that he is going to keep rapping until the day that he's not good anymore...until he collapses. This is eerily foreshadowing his lyrical collapse on Encore (or The-Album-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named on this blog), after which he stopped rapping for five years. On Encore, he "wasn't hip hop" at all...and he was "not Eminem." He was an overweight, pill-popping zombie. For the rest of the verse, he talks about gaining Tupac fans and then wonders if he's just "product of pop fizzing up," or if he really is a serious lyricist. He then, of course, ends the verse with his catchphrase: "I Just Don't Give a Fuck!"
Eminem had reached the point of his career where he was pushing so many lyrical boundaries that he nearly succeeded in writing a verse where EVERY word forms part of a rhyme: a feat no rapper has ever attempted before or even come close to doing. The first verse to this amazing, amazing song is where it nearly happened. Let me begin on the almost impossible task of highlighting the rhymes to this incredibly complex verse. Try to follow this without confusing the fuck out of yourself. I'll start by copy/pasting the lyrics (fuck writing them out):
Till I collapse I'm spilling these raps long as you feel em
Till the day that I drop you'll never say that I'm not killing them
Cause when I am not/then I'ma stop (then I'ma stop penning them)
And I am not (not) hip-hop and I'm just not (and I'm just not Eminem)
Subliminal thoughts/when I'ma stop (when I'ma stop sending them) women are caught in webs spin 'em and hawk (spin 'em and hawk venom a-)
'drenaline shots of penicillin could not get the illing to stop.
Amoxacilin's just not real enough.
The criminal cop (cop) killin' (killin') hip-hop villain, a minimal swap (swap) to cop millions of Pac (Pac listeners)
You're coming with me, feel it or not you're gonna fear it like I showed you the spirit of god (god lives in us)
You hear it a lot, lyrics (lyrics) that shock is it a miracle or am I just a product of pop fizzing up
For shizzle my whizzle (this is the plot) this is the plot listen up (plot listen up) you bizzles forgot slizzle does not give a fuck (slizzle does not)
Holy shit. I started running out of colors. There are rhyme schemes within rhyme schemes within rhyme schemes...patterns that overlap and bend in on each other. According to wordcount, there are 39 out of a possible 158 words that don't form part of a rhyme scheme...so about 75.3% of the words in this verse form part of a rhyme. No other rapper has ever reached this strike rate and the most mind-boggling part about this verse...IT ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE.
He's pretty much saying that he is going to keep rapping until the day that he's not good anymore...until he collapses. This is eerily foreshadowing his lyrical collapse on Encore (or The-Album-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named on this blog), after which he stopped rapping for five years. On Encore, he "wasn't hip hop" at all...and he was "not Eminem." He was an overweight, pill-popping zombie. For the rest of the verse, he talks about gaining Tupac fans and then wonders if he's just "product of pop fizzing up," or if he really is a serious lyricist. He then, of course, ends the verse with his catchphrase: "I Just Don't Give a Fuck!"
The song is something special with just Eminem, but turns into something even more so with Nate Dogg on the chorus. That bassy voice over the guitar strings and stadium claps is an eargasm, along with the very catchy melody. It's a chorus to bring the house down.
In the second verse, Eminem continues the running theme of rapping until he drops dead...rapping until your run is over. And, as Eminem says, when your run is over, just admit when it's at its end. Then Eminem goes on a slight tangent, listing his favorite rappers: Reggie (Redman), Jay-Z, Nas and Biggie, Andre from Outkast (really, Eminem?), Jadakiss, Kurupt, Nas, and then me. Funny that, even though this track is on some "battling rap" shit (as he says in the third verse) and he has the license to brag (because that's what you do in battle rap songs), he's still very humble, putting himself at the bottom of that list. Let's face it: he's better than Tupac, and MUCH better than Biggie.
Then Eminem gets back to the meat of the song. We begin to see a new side to Eminem: it's almost like he's subconsciously trying to tell us something. You can tell he's very angry that he'll "never get the props" he feels he "ever deserves" and when he's not "put on the list" of the best emcees, he is bitter...he's resentful that because he's white he has to prove himself ten times as much as any black rapper.
Eminem sums up what he's all about with the last lines of the song: "A plaque and platinum status is whack if I'm not the baddest." He's not about the money...he's about the respect. And if he doesn't get it soon, well...he's going to collapse. And he did. So this song, along with 8 Mile, is like Eminem's last hurrah.
Production
I don't usually comment on production...this blog has mainly been about the lyrics. But it's imperative I talk about one of Eminem's best beats...hell, one of the best beats in rap, period. This was when Eminem just struck gold with every beat...he was making Sing For The Moments, Lose Yourselfs and 'Till I Collapses.
It starts off with those ominous, cinematic synths in the background, and the piano comes in...then that sick guitar riff comes in, and strings build...then an explosion of claps hits your ears and you're in a colosseum, with thousands of others, nodding your head in unison.
I love the little touches Eminem/Nate Dogg add to this song: the "ohhhh, ohhhhh" background melody that backs the rapping as it leads into the chorus.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Guilty Conscience (The Slim Shady LP)
Okay, so we've all seen this concept in movies...the angel on one shoulder, the devil on the other. Eminem just decided to make a rap version of it. And it's a classic Dre/Em back-'n'-forth.
I remember an Eminem radio interview where he said he made this song a single to show the world he's a serious rapper and he can write concept songs...he's not just a novelty act who makes songs like "My Name Is."
Part of what makes this song great is it's more than just an angel-devil song. It's got a point, which is that the bad side always wins in the end. At the end of this song, the bad side Slim Shady manages to convince the good side Dre to do the bad thing, so Grady kills his girl. I recall Eminem saying in the same radio interview (might have been Howard Stern) that that is the reality of most Americans' behavior: sure, people get a guilty conscience but it's always overpowered by the evil thoughts that manifest in their head. Whenever people face a moral dilemma, Shady always seems to win, and Dre caves in.
This is one of the songs Eminem recorded with Dre on the day they met, and the first time he recorded with Dre in the studio. He did this song, My Name Is, and Role Model. Dre produced all of these tracks and Eminem wrote to them. Eminem also wrote Dre's verses in this song.
I love the beat for this song. So catchy. Eminem recorded a chorus that went with the melody of the beat ("these voices...these voices") for the video and I'm disappointed he didn't put that in the studio version...I guess it takes away from the uniqueness of this song having no chorus, just spoken interludes (from Jeff Bass presumably). The beat has that melody that you instantly nod your head to, yet a dark tinge to it. It really accommodates Eminem's nasally, high-pitched Shady voice.
Guilty Conscience is quite an infamous song in Eminem's catalog. Probably the first controversial song he released...a lot of people pointed to this song as advocating violence, not seeing it for the concept/message it had. I recall Timothy White complaining about this song, and Em took a shot back on The Marshall Mathers LP: "Gimme the mic, lemme recite to Timothy White/Pickets outside the Interscope offices every night." It was this song in particular that gave Eminem a bad reputation...a reputation as a criminal/menace...a reputation he used as fuel for his next album.
Like a lot of The Slim Shady LP, this song contains some dark humor.
Humorous lines in the song:
Yo, look at her bush, has it got hair?
If it's got hair, there's your green light. Kind of sickening. If there's grass on the wicket...
While you're at work she's with some dude trying to get off? Fuck slitting her throat, cut this bitch's head off!
A bit of Eminem's personal anger seeping out here. Some of his resentment towards Kim for cheating on him with a dude while he was out working as a cook...oozing out.
"Wait, what if there's an explanation for this shit?" What, she tripped, fell, landed on his dick?
Be smart, don't be a retard...you gonna take advice from somebody who slapped Dee Barnes? "What the fuck did you say?" What's wrong, didn't think I'd remember? "I'll kill you, motherfucker," uh uh, temper temper.
Apparently Dre asked Eminem to write the lyrics and then lay the vocals so he could hear it, and Dre fell out of his chair laughing when he heard this line...Dre actually DID slap Dee Barnes (a reporter or something). He got charged for assault. Hilarious line.
Been there, done that...oh fuck it, what am I saying? Shoot 'em both Grady, where's your gun at?
Rhyming
A staple of SSLP is creative rhyming: George Burns/store clerk, conscience/nonsense/aunt's cribs/blonde wigs, bad for you/attitude, earlobe/years old, be smart/retard/Dee Barnes, violent/I went
And here is an excellent example of Eminem's internal rhyme schemes:
Now listen to me, while you're kissin' her cheek
And smearin' her lip stick, I slipped this in her drink
"Listen to me" rhymes with "kissin' her cheek" which rhymes with "this in her drink." Also, "lip stick" rhymes with "slipped this."
I remember an Eminem radio interview where he said he made this song a single to show the world he's a serious rapper and he can write concept songs...he's not just a novelty act who makes songs like "My Name Is."
Part of what makes this song great is it's more than just an angel-devil song. It's got a point, which is that the bad side always wins in the end. At the end of this song, the bad side Slim Shady manages to convince the good side Dre to do the bad thing, so Grady kills his girl. I recall Eminem saying in the same radio interview (might have been Howard Stern) that that is the reality of most Americans' behavior: sure, people get a guilty conscience but it's always overpowered by the evil thoughts that manifest in their head. Whenever people face a moral dilemma, Shady always seems to win, and Dre caves in.
This is one of the songs Eminem recorded with Dre on the day they met, and the first time he recorded with Dre in the studio. He did this song, My Name Is, and Role Model. Dre produced all of these tracks and Eminem wrote to them. Eminem also wrote Dre's verses in this song.
I love the beat for this song. So catchy. Eminem recorded a chorus that went with the melody of the beat ("these voices...these voices") for the video and I'm disappointed he didn't put that in the studio version...I guess it takes away from the uniqueness of this song having no chorus, just spoken interludes (from Jeff Bass presumably). The beat has that melody that you instantly nod your head to, yet a dark tinge to it. It really accommodates Eminem's nasally, high-pitched Shady voice.
Guilty Conscience is quite an infamous song in Eminem's catalog. Probably the first controversial song he released...a lot of people pointed to this song as advocating violence, not seeing it for the concept/message it had. I recall Timothy White complaining about this song, and Em took a shot back on The Marshall Mathers LP: "Gimme the mic, lemme recite to Timothy White/Pickets outside the Interscope offices every night." It was this song in particular that gave Eminem a bad reputation...a reputation as a criminal/menace...a reputation he used as fuel for his next album.
Like a lot of The Slim Shady LP, this song contains some dark humor.
Humorous lines in the song:
Yo, look at her bush, has it got hair?
If it's got hair, there's your green light. Kind of sickening. If there's grass on the wicket...
While you're at work she's with some dude trying to get off? Fuck slitting her throat, cut this bitch's head off!
A bit of Eminem's personal anger seeping out here. Some of his resentment towards Kim for cheating on him with a dude while he was out working as a cook...oozing out.
"Wait, what if there's an explanation for this shit?" What, she tripped, fell, landed on his dick?
Be smart, don't be a retard...you gonna take advice from somebody who slapped Dee Barnes? "What the fuck did you say?" What's wrong, didn't think I'd remember? "I'll kill you, motherfucker," uh uh, temper temper.
Apparently Dre asked Eminem to write the lyrics and then lay the vocals so he could hear it, and Dre fell out of his chair laughing when he heard this line...Dre actually DID slap Dee Barnes (a reporter or something). He got charged for assault. Hilarious line.
Been there, done that...oh fuck it, what am I saying? Shoot 'em both Grady, where's your gun at?
Rhyming
A staple of SSLP is creative rhyming: George Burns/store clerk, conscience/nonsense/aunt's cribs/blonde wigs, bad for you/attitude, earlobe/years old, be smart/retard/Dee Barnes, violent/I went
And here is an excellent example of Eminem's internal rhyme schemes:
Now listen to me, while you're kissin' her cheek
And smearin' her lip stick, I slipped this in her drink
"Listen to me" rhymes with "kissin' her cheek" which rhymes with "this in her drink." Also, "lip stick" rhymes with "slipped this."
'97 Bonnie & Clyde (The Slim Shady LP)
And now we turn our attention to the song that preceded Kim, even though it's a sequel: '97 Bonnie & Clyde.
Kim and '97 Bonnie & Clyde are like twins. Kim is the louder, more aggressive twin, while '97 Bonnie & Clyde is the quiet--but in many ways, more frightening--sibling. In Kim, Eminem shouts directly at his wife for the whole song...in '97 Bonnie & Clyde, Eminem sweet-talks his daughter, dressing up the description of his wife's violent death in baby language.
As horrifying as Kim is, it's not even in the same universe as '97 Bonnie & Clyde when it comes to creepy. Nothing is quite as twisted as a father rationalizing to his daughter, in baby terms she can understand, her mother's murder, while professing his love for her and turning her into an unwitting partner-in-crime. The fact that his daughter is the accomplice in this crime is the reason Eminem called the song '97 Bonnie & Clyde: Bonnie and Clyde were a pair of lovers/outlaws who committed crimes together. In this song, Hailie is Bonnie, and Eminem is Clyde:
Wanna help Dada tie a rope around this rock?
We'll tie it to her footsie then we'll roll her off the dock
Ready now? Here we go, on the count of three
One, two, three: wee!
Another reason for the title of the song is that it was an homage to Tupac's '96 Bonnie & Clyde, a metaphorical love song about him and his gun. Eminem has replaced "gun" with "daughter" and created a masterpiece. Considering it as a sequel to Kim makes it even scarier. He goes from a furious rage to a creepily calm, affectionate tone in the sequel. It's sickly. It's morbid. It's genius. Tell me you don't get goosebumps when you listen to his love letter to Hailie at the end of the song, right after disposing of her mother. He actually sounds like a psychopath:
That's all we need in this world, just me and you
Dada will always be here for you
Your dada's always gonna love you, remember that
You ever need anything just ask
Dada will be right there
Eminem refers to this in a later album, The Eminem Show, in Hailie's Song: Hailie, remember when I said if you ever need anything, Daddy will be right there? Well guess what? Daddy's here..
Another reason this is so creepy are the chilling euphemisms Eminem uses so that his baby daughter can understand. Here is a list:
blood = ketchup on her shirt
the slit in Kim's throat = boo-boo on her throat ... a little scratch
smell of Kim's rotting corpse = dead skunk
The real knife he used to slit Kim's throat = Dada's toy knife
Kim getting dumped in the lake = Wash off in the water
Killing her = putting her on time-out
Your mother is dead = Mama's too sleepy to hear you screaming
Help dad dump her stepfather/stepbrother in the lake too = Help dad with two more things out the trunk
But I haven't even mentioned the #1 CREEPFACTOR of this song...which is the voice of Eminem's ACTUAL daughter in the background of this song. Holy shit. Adds to the whole authenticity of this song and blurs the line between fact and fiction very nicely.
It's a little-known fact that Eminem lied to Kim in 1997 about taking Hailie out to Chuck E Cheese...he was actually taking her to the recording studio so he could record '97 Bonnie & Clyde and also record her voice. It was this song, along with Guilty Conscience, that raised the most eyebrows in the lead-up to the release of The Slim Shady LP and the aftermath as well. Murmurs of "Apparently there's a song where he kills his wife on it..." swept across America. This song made SSLP a notorious album before it even hit the shelves.
But let's get to the actual lyrics of this song before we get too carried away. In the first verse, Eminem puts Hailie in the car, the very same car in which he's screaming at Kim in the second verse of Kim. The very same car Kim's body is in, along with her new husband and her stepson. The entire first verse he's talking to her in the car (you can hear the sound of driving in the background).
You can assume he's driving to the lake (he lies to Hailie, saying it's a beach, perhaps to make it sound more fun than it is) at night time, since Eminem says "I know what you're thinking: it's kinda late to go swimming." Not to mention the sound of crickets, which are more prevalent in the night time (well at least that's what I think). Let's not forget that Eminem is drink-driving (from Kim: "You're drunk!"), so he is putting Hailie's life in danger too. But fuck it...it's fiction.
The second verse begins with:
A place called Heaven and a place called Hell
There's a place called prison and a place called jail
And Dada's probably on his way to all of them except one
'Cause Mama's got a new husband and a step-son
I love these lyrics...he's saying he's going to Hell and he's going to jail. But I was always confused because prison/jail are the same thing.
What makes Eminem's story-telling so formidable is he is able to create links and running threads through the narrative:
Come on, hey hey, we goin' to the beach/I know what you're thinkin', it's kinda late to go swimmin'/don't you wanna help dadda build a sandcastle?/And mama said she wants to show you how far she can float/We'll let her wash off in the water and me and you can pway by ourselves, can't we?/And Dad'll wake her up as soon as we get to the water/We're gonna take mommy for a little walk along the pier/But don't worry, Dada made a nice bed for mommy at the bottom of the lake/We'll tie it to her footsie then we'll roll her off the dock/There goes mama, spwashin' in the water/Now we'll go play in the sand, build a castle and junk
Rhyming
The obligatory rhyming section of my reviews. Here are some subtle rhyme schemes you may have missed:
Thinkin'/swimmin/women, throw a fit/go of it/so upset
Along the pier/wrong idea
New brother/you wuv her
Kim and '97 Bonnie & Clyde are like twins. Kim is the louder, more aggressive twin, while '97 Bonnie & Clyde is the quiet--but in many ways, more frightening--sibling. In Kim, Eminem shouts directly at his wife for the whole song...in '97 Bonnie & Clyde, Eminem sweet-talks his daughter, dressing up the description of his wife's violent death in baby language.
As horrifying as Kim is, it's not even in the same universe as '97 Bonnie & Clyde when it comes to creepy. Nothing is quite as twisted as a father rationalizing to his daughter, in baby terms she can understand, her mother's murder, while professing his love for her and turning her into an unwitting partner-in-crime. The fact that his daughter is the accomplice in this crime is the reason Eminem called the song '97 Bonnie & Clyde: Bonnie and Clyde were a pair of lovers/outlaws who committed crimes together. In this song, Hailie is Bonnie, and Eminem is Clyde:
Wanna help Dada tie a rope around this rock?
We'll tie it to her footsie then we'll roll her off the dock
Ready now? Here we go, on the count of three
One, two, three: wee!
Another reason for the title of the song is that it was an homage to Tupac's '96 Bonnie & Clyde, a metaphorical love song about him and his gun. Eminem has replaced "gun" with "daughter" and created a masterpiece. Considering it as a sequel to Kim makes it even scarier. He goes from a furious rage to a creepily calm, affectionate tone in the sequel. It's sickly. It's morbid. It's genius. Tell me you don't get goosebumps when you listen to his love letter to Hailie at the end of the song, right after disposing of her mother. He actually sounds like a psychopath:
That's all we need in this world, just me and you
Dada will always be here for you
Your dada's always gonna love you, remember that
You ever need anything just ask
Dada will be right there
Eminem refers to this in a later album, The Eminem Show, in Hailie's Song: Hailie, remember when I said if you ever need anything, Daddy will be right there? Well guess what? Daddy's here..
Another reason this is so creepy are the chilling euphemisms Eminem uses so that his baby daughter can understand. Here is a list:
blood = ketchup on her shirt
the slit in Kim's throat = boo-boo on her throat ... a little scratch
smell of Kim's rotting corpse = dead skunk
The real knife he used to slit Kim's throat = Dada's toy knife
Kim getting dumped in the lake = Wash off in the water
Killing her = putting her on time-out
Your mother is dead = Mama's too sleepy to hear you screaming
Help dad dump her stepfather/stepbrother in the lake too = Help dad with two more things out the trunk
But I haven't even mentioned the #1 CREEPFACTOR of this song...which is the voice of Eminem's ACTUAL daughter in the background of this song. Holy shit. Adds to the whole authenticity of this song and blurs the line between fact and fiction very nicely.
It's a little-known fact that Eminem lied to Kim in 1997 about taking Hailie out to Chuck E Cheese...he was actually taking her to the recording studio so he could record '97 Bonnie & Clyde and also record her voice. It was this song, along with Guilty Conscience, that raised the most eyebrows in the lead-up to the release of The Slim Shady LP and the aftermath as well. Murmurs of "Apparently there's a song where he kills his wife on it..." swept across America. This song made SSLP a notorious album before it even hit the shelves.
But let's get to the actual lyrics of this song before we get too carried away. In the first verse, Eminem puts Hailie in the car, the very same car in which he's screaming at Kim in the second verse of Kim. The very same car Kim's body is in, along with her new husband and her stepson. The entire first verse he's talking to her in the car (you can hear the sound of driving in the background).
You can assume he's driving to the lake (he lies to Hailie, saying it's a beach, perhaps to make it sound more fun than it is) at night time, since Eminem says "I know what you're thinking: it's kinda late to go swimming." Not to mention the sound of crickets, which are more prevalent in the night time (well at least that's what I think). Let's not forget that Eminem is drink-driving (from Kim: "You're drunk!"), so he is putting Hailie's life in danger too. But fuck it...it's fiction.
The second verse begins with:
A place called Heaven and a place called Hell
There's a place called prison and a place called jail
And Dada's probably on his way to all of them except one
'Cause Mama's got a new husband and a step-son
I love these lyrics...he's saying he's going to Hell and he's going to jail. But I was always confused because prison/jail are the same thing.
What makes Eminem's story-telling so formidable is he is able to create links and running threads through the narrative:
Come on, hey hey, we goin' to the beach/I know what you're thinkin', it's kinda late to go swimmin'/don't you wanna help dadda build a sandcastle?/And mama said she wants to show you how far she can float/We'll let her wash off in the water and me and you can pway by ourselves, can't we?/And Dad'll wake her up as soon as we get to the water/We're gonna take mommy for a little walk along the pier/But don't worry, Dada made a nice bed for mommy at the bottom of the lake/We'll tie it to her footsie then we'll roll her off the dock/There goes mama, spwashin' in the water/Now we'll go play in the sand, build a castle and junk
Rhyming
The obligatory rhyming section of my reviews. Here are some subtle rhyme schemes you may have missed:
Thinkin'/swimmin/women, throw a fit/go of it/so upset
Along the pier/wrong idea
New brother/you wuv her
Drug Ballad (The Marshall Mathers LP)
This is Eminem's love song...it goes like this...
But Drug Ballad isn't even a "love" song. It's an anti-love song. It's about how young people take ecstasy and they think they're in love with people ("I think I'm in love wit' you") but it's just drug-induced artificial love. It's more a parody of a love ballad, and it's a ballad to drugs, not women. Eminem later re-uses the same concept in Space Bound, the concept of a song that on the surface seems about women, but is actually about drugs. In fact, there are more examples I'll point out later in this review where Eminem has (probably unknowingly) taken elements from this song and re-hashed them in later songs
Throughout the song, Eminem muses on the effects of party drugs: "This ecstasy's got me standing next to you, gettin' sentimental as fuck, spillin' guts to you...we just met, but I think I'm in love wit' you..." He was on ecstasy while he made some of The Marshall Mathers LP, and on ecstasy a hell of a lot while on tour.
I suppose the main appeal of this song is not the themes/ideas, but rather the execution: the flows and rhyme patterns are intricate and focused:
Back when Mark Wahlberg was MARKY MARK
This is how we used to make the PARTY START
We used to, MIX HENN, with BaCARDI DARK
And when it, KICKS IN, you can HARDLY TALK
And by the, SIXTH GIN, you gon' PROBABLY CRAWL
And you'll be, SICK THEN, and you'll PROBABLY BARF
And my pre-...DICTION, is you gon PROBABLY FALL
Some subtle rhymes people may have missed: minutes/ Guinness/finished/bitches, start wilin'/smart eyein'/start drivin'/car pile up, co-pilot/go by it, no sign/smoke flyin', wind-up dolls/dinosaur, sit there ignorin'/shit every mornin'
Another thing I love about this song is how Eminem makes a reference at the beginning of the third verse to the instrumental, which contains a sound which sounds very similar to an empty bottle: "That's the sound of a bottle when it's hollow, and you swallow, wallow and drown in your sorrow." Sound familiar? Yep, Eminem rehashes almost an identical series of rhymes on Talkin' 2 Myself (Recovery):
Marshall, you're no longer the man, that's a bitter pill to swallow
All I know is I'm wallowin', self-loathin' and hollow
Bottoms up on the pill bottle, maybe I'll hit my bottom tomorrow
My sorrow echoes in this hall, though
Although, let's be fair: a significant portion of Eminem's memory was damaged after his 5-year drug haze, so he may have forgotten that he even penned those Drug Ballad rhymes.
And here's another metaphor Eminem goes to use later in his career: the whole idea of being high...metaphorically represented by being in space: "I'm in outer space, I just vanished without a trace." He uses the same metaphor on Deja Vu (Relapse): "All systems ready for take-off, please stand-by." And again uses the metaphor on Space Bound: "I'm a space bound rocket ship" (meaning he is high on drugs).
What else is there to say about the song? It's an undoubtedly great song but there's not a whole lot to say. His flow is on-point, his humor is on point ("you have the right to remain violent")...the beat is an F.B.T. production. Quite stripped down, but also got a great melody and a killer bassline. A nice appearance by Dina Rae on the chorus (the same girl in Superman). I have a feeling this was one of the first songs Eminem made for this album...his voice sounds closer to the SSLP nasally voice than the deeper MMLP voice.
But Drug Ballad isn't even a "love" song. It's an anti-love song. It's about how young people take ecstasy and they think they're in love with people ("I think I'm in love wit' you") but it's just drug-induced artificial love. It's more a parody of a love ballad, and it's a ballad to drugs, not women. Eminem later re-uses the same concept in Space Bound, the concept of a song that on the surface seems about women, but is actually about drugs. In fact, there are more examples I'll point out later in this review where Eminem has (probably unknowingly) taken elements from this song and re-hashed them in later songs
Throughout the song, Eminem muses on the effects of party drugs: "This ecstasy's got me standing next to you, gettin' sentimental as fuck, spillin' guts to you...we just met, but I think I'm in love wit' you..." He was on ecstasy while he made some of The Marshall Mathers LP, and on ecstasy a hell of a lot while on tour.
I suppose the main appeal of this song is not the themes/ideas, but rather the execution: the flows and rhyme patterns are intricate and focused:
Back when Mark Wahlberg was MARKY MARK
This is how we used to make the PARTY START
We used to, MIX HENN, with BaCARDI DARK
And when it, KICKS IN, you can HARDLY TALK
And by the, SIXTH GIN, you gon' PROBABLY CRAWL
And you'll be, SICK THEN, and you'll PROBABLY BARF
And my pre-...DICTION, is you gon PROBABLY FALL
Some subtle rhymes people may have missed: minutes/ Guinness/finished/bitches, start wilin'/smart eyein'/start drivin'/car pile up, co-pilot/go by it, no sign/smoke flyin', wind-up dolls/dinosaur, sit there ignorin'/shit every mornin'
Another thing I love about this song is how Eminem makes a reference at the beginning of the third verse to the instrumental, which contains a sound which sounds very similar to an empty bottle: "That's the sound of a bottle when it's hollow, and you swallow, wallow and drown in your sorrow." Sound familiar? Yep, Eminem rehashes almost an identical series of rhymes on Talkin' 2 Myself (Recovery):
Marshall, you're no longer the man, that's a bitter pill to swallow
All I know is I'm wallowin', self-loathin' and hollow
Bottoms up on the pill bottle, maybe I'll hit my bottom tomorrow
My sorrow echoes in this hall, though
Although, let's be fair: a significant portion of Eminem's memory was damaged after his 5-year drug haze, so he may have forgotten that he even penned those Drug Ballad rhymes.
And here's another metaphor Eminem goes to use later in his career: the whole idea of being high...metaphorically represented by being in space: "I'm in outer space, I just vanished without a trace." He uses the same metaphor on Deja Vu (Relapse): "All systems ready for take-off, please stand-by." And again uses the metaphor on Space Bound: "I'm a space bound rocket ship" (meaning he is high on drugs).
What else is there to say about the song? It's an undoubtedly great song but there's not a whole lot to say. His flow is on-point, his humor is on point ("you have the right to remain violent")...the beat is an F.B.T. production. Quite stripped down, but also got a great melody and a killer bassline. A nice appearance by Dina Rae on the chorus (the same girl in Superman). I have a feeling this was one of the first songs Eminem made for this album...his voice sounds closer to the SSLP nasally voice than the deeper MMLP voice.
If I Had (The Slim Shady LP)
Review of If I Had, by James McLean
What is If I Had? If I Had is one of Eminem's best songs of all time, a favorite of mine.
What is dope? Dope is this song. And saying it isn't dope is wrong.
What is stupidity? Stupidity is the point of view that this song has no validity.
I'm tired of people saying that this song isn't classic
I'm tired of people saying that this isn't fantastic
I'm tired of the lack of If I Had YouTube views
I'm tired of people saying they're tired of my reviews
I'm tired of other rappers who ain't bringing half the skill as Em
Sayin' they wasn't feelin' Em yet nobody's as ill as Em
You know what I'm sayin'? I'm tired of all this bullshit. Tellin' me to be positive? How am I supposed to be positive when I don't see shit positive? Eminem raps about shit around him, shit he sees. And right now I'm tired of everything. I'm tired of all this SSLP-hating that's going on in my own city. Never gets no airplay, you know what I'm sayin'?
If I Had is the song where Eminem, who at the time was a cook for $5.50 an hour at Gilbert's Lodge, fantasizes about being rich. The chorus (which I think might be based on "If I Had A Million Dollars" by The Barenaked Ladies) is:
If I had a million dollars, I'd buy a damn brewery and turn the planet into alcoholics
If I had a magic wand, I'd make the world suck my dick with a condom on while I'm on the john
If I had a million bucks, it wouldn't be enough 'cause I'd still be out robbing armored trucks
If I had one wish, I'd ask for a big enough ass for the whole world to kiss
He did none of these things when he went on to earn his first million after this album came out.
This is one of those few Eminem songs that I'd call a poem first and foremost. I love the "I'm tired of" repetition throughout the verses. I also love the mini-essay he does at the beginning of this song on Life: "What is life? I'm tired of life."
In terms of subject matter, I guess what separates this song from Rock Bottom (which was about his poor working-class depression) is the bitterness he feels at not getting the respect he deserves and not getting his big break yet: "I'm tired of not performing in a packed colosseum...tired of not being on tour...tired of people saying they're tired of hearing me rap about drugs." Sure, it touches on being poor as well but it's not a repeat. This is just an angry young man, pissed off at the world. This song was before all the fame and all the money, when he genuinely thought he was going to be a nobody and fade into obscurity. You can really feel that pain and resignation.
But then again...he's tired of not being a millionaire...but there came a point in Eminem's life where got tired of BEING a millionaire. The overall cynical nature of this song comes through in the chorus: if he had a million dollars, he would still do the same old shit...he'd waste it. All Eminem ever really wanted was respect in the rap game and enough money to send his daughter to college. He never really placed a whole lot of importance on money. I recall him saying in a 1999 interview that "if I had a billion dollars and I fell off, I'd be the most miserable man in the world." And that's why I respect him as much as I do. He's always been about the craft.
The rhyming and flow is typically superb. Friendly grins/many sins/Henny wins/any ends/skinny friends/mini-thins/when he spins. I like the creative rhymes like sorrow/Monte Carlo and millionaire/silverware/builder's square.
What is If I Had? If I Had is one of Eminem's best songs of all time, a favorite of mine.
What is dope? Dope is this song. And saying it isn't dope is wrong.
What is stupidity? Stupidity is the point of view that this song has no validity.
I'm tired of people saying that this song isn't classic
I'm tired of people saying that this isn't fantastic
I'm tired of the lack of If I Had YouTube views
I'm tired of people saying they're tired of my reviews
I'm tired of other rappers who ain't bringing half the skill as Em
Sayin' they wasn't feelin' Em yet nobody's as ill as Em
You know what I'm sayin'? I'm tired of all this bullshit. Tellin' me to be positive? How am I supposed to be positive when I don't see shit positive? Eminem raps about shit around him, shit he sees. And right now I'm tired of everything. I'm tired of all this SSLP-hating that's going on in my own city. Never gets no airplay, you know what I'm sayin'?
If I Had is the song where Eminem, who at the time was a cook for $5.50 an hour at Gilbert's Lodge, fantasizes about being rich. The chorus (which I think might be based on "If I Had A Million Dollars" by The Barenaked Ladies) is:
If I had a million dollars, I'd buy a damn brewery and turn the planet into alcoholics
If I had a magic wand, I'd make the world suck my dick with a condom on while I'm on the john
If I had a million bucks, it wouldn't be enough 'cause I'd still be out robbing armored trucks
If I had one wish, I'd ask for a big enough ass for the whole world to kiss
He did none of these things when he went on to earn his first million after this album came out.
This is one of those few Eminem songs that I'd call a poem first and foremost. I love the "I'm tired of" repetition throughout the verses. I also love the mini-essay he does at the beginning of this song on Life: "What is life? I'm tired of life."
In terms of subject matter, I guess what separates this song from Rock Bottom (which was about his poor working-class depression) is the bitterness he feels at not getting the respect he deserves and not getting his big break yet: "I'm tired of not performing in a packed colosseum...tired of not being on tour...tired of people saying they're tired of hearing me rap about drugs." Sure, it touches on being poor as well but it's not a repeat. This is just an angry young man, pissed off at the world. This song was before all the fame and all the money, when he genuinely thought he was going to be a nobody and fade into obscurity. You can really feel that pain and resignation.
But then again...he's tired of not being a millionaire...but there came a point in Eminem's life where got tired of BEING a millionaire. The overall cynical nature of this song comes through in the chorus: if he had a million dollars, he would still do the same old shit...he'd waste it. All Eminem ever really wanted was respect in the rap game and enough money to send his daughter to college. He never really placed a whole lot of importance on money. I recall him saying in a 1999 interview that "if I had a billion dollars and I fell off, I'd be the most miserable man in the world." And that's why I respect him as much as I do. He's always been about the craft.
The rhyming and flow is typically superb. Friendly grins/many sins/Henny wins/any ends/skinny friends/mini-thins/when he spins. I like the creative rhymes like sorrow/Monte Carlo and millionaire/silverware/builder's square.
Who Knew (The Marshall Mathers LP)
Now this is one of the funniest Eminem songs I've heard: dark, sarcastic and angry (like a lot of MMLP). The message of the song is that he never knew he would get so big and make such a splash. He never knew his music would make teenagers slit their wrists.
He quips: You want me to watch my mouth? How? Take my fucking eyeballs out and turn 'em around?
Eminem pins the blame on the way these teenagers and children are behaving on parents and the politicians: You want me to fix up lyrics while the President gets his dick sucked?
In the second verse:
Last week I seen this Schwarzenegger movie where he's shooting all sorts of these motherfuckers with an uzi. I see three little kids up in the front row screaming "go!" with a 17-year-old uncle. I'm like "guidance?" Ain't they got the same moms and dads who got mad when I asked if they liked violence? And told me that my tape taught 'em to swear, what about the make-up you allow your 12-year-old daughter to wear?
Here, Eminem's making the point that violence in his music is no different to violence in movies. Apparently Schwarzenegger killing people in his movies is more acceptable than Eminem doing it in his music. When he talks about him asking if they liked violence, that is a reference to the first line on My Name Is, Eminem's opening line to the world: "Hi kids, do you like violence?" So, to sum up the second verse...he's pretty much telling parents to take responsibility for their own children.
The third verse is pretty much the same idea bounced around.
Funny Lines
So tell me that your son doesn't know any cuss words when he's bus driver's fucking him up worse (sit the fuck down you little fucking prick!)
Eminem's voice for the bus driver...funny shit.
My life's like kinda what my wife's like (what?)/Fucked up after I beat her fucking ass every night, Ike
I remember falling out of my chair laughing when I first heard this. Such a shock to hear it. It also references Ike Turner beating up his own wife, Tina.
You want me to fix up lyrics while the President gets his dick sucked? (Ken Kaniff: erghghg)
Ken's voice in the background gets me every time.
Oh, you want me to watch my mouth? How? Take my fuckin' eyeballs out and turn 'em around?
I don't got that bad of a mouth, do I? Fuck, shit, ass, cunt, bitch, shibbidi do-op!
Some basic irony...but hilarious all the same.
Skibbidi bee-bop da Christopher Reeves, Sonny Bono skis, horses, and hittin' some trees!
He's just lost it by this point. Trying to offend as much as possible.
The beat for this song is produced by Dr Dre, and has about 5 keys just looped over and over again. It's dark, it's stripped down, and perfectly fits Eminem's lyrics.
Rhyming
In his prime (1997-2002), Eminem's rhyme schemes were so intricate/complex that I still discover new rhymes to this day. Here are some you may have missed:
White music/high school kids/drive like this
deck now/stretched out
circle around/furniture out
plastic/last week
Screaming "go!"/teen-year-old
movie/uzi
front row/uncle
cuss words/up worse
read up/free lunch/three months
He quips: You want me to watch my mouth? How? Take my fucking eyeballs out and turn 'em around?
Eminem pins the blame on the way these teenagers and children are behaving on parents and the politicians: You want me to fix up lyrics while the President gets his dick sucked?
In the second verse:
Last week I seen this Schwarzenegger movie where he's shooting all sorts of these motherfuckers with an uzi. I see three little kids up in the front row screaming "go!" with a 17-year-old uncle. I'm like "guidance?" Ain't they got the same moms and dads who got mad when I asked if they liked violence? And told me that my tape taught 'em to swear, what about the make-up you allow your 12-year-old daughter to wear?
Here, Eminem's making the point that violence in his music is no different to violence in movies. Apparently Schwarzenegger killing people in his movies is more acceptable than Eminem doing it in his music. When he talks about him asking if they liked violence, that is a reference to the first line on My Name Is, Eminem's opening line to the world: "Hi kids, do you like violence?" So, to sum up the second verse...he's pretty much telling parents to take responsibility for their own children.
The third verse is pretty much the same idea bounced around.
Funny Lines
So tell me that your son doesn't know any cuss words when he's bus driver's fucking him up worse (sit the fuck down you little fucking prick!)
Eminem's voice for the bus driver...funny shit.
My life's like kinda what my wife's like (what?)/Fucked up after I beat her fucking ass every night, Ike
I remember falling out of my chair laughing when I first heard this. Such a shock to hear it. It also references Ike Turner beating up his own wife, Tina.
You want me to fix up lyrics while the President gets his dick sucked? (Ken Kaniff: erghghg)
Ken's voice in the background gets me every time.
Oh, you want me to watch my mouth? How? Take my fuckin' eyeballs out and turn 'em around?
I don't got that bad of a mouth, do I? Fuck, shit, ass, cunt, bitch, shibbidi do-op!
Some basic irony...but hilarious all the same.
Skibbidi bee-bop da Christopher Reeves, Sonny Bono skis, horses, and hittin' some trees!
He's just lost it by this point. Trying to offend as much as possible.
The beat for this song is produced by Dr Dre, and has about 5 keys just looped over and over again. It's dark, it's stripped down, and perfectly fits Eminem's lyrics.
Rhyming
In his prime (1997-2002), Eminem's rhyme schemes were so intricate/complex that I still discover new rhymes to this day. Here are some you may have missed:
White music/high school kids/drive like this
deck now/stretched out
circle around/furniture out
plastic/last week
Screaming "go!"/teen-year-old
movie/uzi
front row/uncle
cuss words/up worse
read up/free lunch/three months
Stan (The Marshall Mathers LP)
Stan...a song people will remember for years to come. Probably the only song (along with Lose Yourself) that the general public will still remember in about 30 years' time, and that Eminem can perform in 30 years' time (assuming he hasn't died from a drug overdose by then...but that's being pessimistic).
Stan...a song that created a new term in the English language: "Stan." The term "Stan" seems to have many meanings: the most popular meaning is obsessed fan. A Lil Wayne Stan is an obsessive Lil Wayne fan...a Kanye Stan, an obsessive Kanye fan. And so on. The narrower definition is an obsessive Eminem fan. I am a gigantic fucking Stan, and there's no escaping it.
Stans drive themselves and their pregnant girlfriends off a bridge if Eminem doesn't answer their fan mail. Stans write blogs where they give in-depth reviews of Eminem songs. Stans have homosexual fantasies of being with Eminem ("we should be together too"). Female Stans (or Stanettes) have heterosexual fantasies of being with Eminem. Taylor Swift, the talentless hack who performed a cover song of Lose Yourself and verbally tongue-bathes Eminem whenever she gets the chance, is a classic Stanette.
Hell, even Eminem himself started using the term, in the clean version of Without Me: And Moby? You can get stomped by Obie, you thirty six year old bald-headed Stan, blow me. Another famous earlier use of the word "Stan" (probably what popularized the term the MOST) was Nas in Ether, when he dissed Jay-Z: You a fan, a phony, a fake, a pussy, a Stan. But I digress. The point is the song spawned a new word and that speaks volumes about its cultural influence.
First off, get this out of the way: wow. A concept song where each verse is a letter...this is the first of its kind. Ever heard of a concept song where someone raps in letter form? If so, you heard it after Stan, and it's probably influenced by Stan. This concept was so out of left-field and genius.
The song Stan is significant to me as being the first Eminem song I ever heard. I was in the car listening to the radio and this song came on...I liked Dido's chorus and thought it was haunting (this song pretty much resuscitated her career BTW). Even as 10-year-old I knew there was something different/unique to Stan. From the sound of Eminem's voice, I thought he was black. I also thought there were TWO people rapping: one guy who did Stan's voice and Eminem...but it was just Eminem changing his voice a bit and putting a bit of reverb on Stan's verses. I remember hearing the last two lines, when Eminem drops the bombshell: "And in the car they found a tape, but didn't say who it was to...come to think about it, his name was...it was you" and I remember being blown away by how brilliantly executed it was.
Background to Stan
Eminem is on tour in 1999. He is cycling through a bunch of beats given to him from producer The 45 King when suddenly he hears a heavy bassline with Dido's voice sampled from "Thank You" over it. Eminem has said that as soon as he heard her say the words "your picture on my wall" he thought "this is about an obsessed fan." So it was Dido's voice that inspired this famous story.
At the time, there was a lot of controversy surrounding Eminem's lyrics. Eminem was being blamed for all sorts of atrocities, like fans committing suicide and murder. Eminem figured he'd use the story of a crazed fan to make the point that fans/critics should not take his lyrics at face value. The song serves as a cautionary tale to warn against literal interpretation. Stan actually believes Eminem slits his wrists because he rapped about it on The Slim Shady LP: And what's this shit about you like to cut your wrists too? I say that shit just clowning. He thinks Eminem encourages his listeners to drink-drive on the album ("I just drank a fifth of vodka, dare me to drive?" - My Name Is), so Stan drink-drives. Stan also thinks Eminem is being serious when he talks about slitting his girlfriend's throat and dumping her in the trunk in '97 Bonnie & Clyde: Hey Slim, that's my girlfriend screaming in the trunk but I didn't slit her throat, see...I ain't like you. I just tied her up.
In a broader sense, the song comments on the phenomenon of para-social relationships: the celebrity doesn't even know the fan exists, but the fan acts like they're best buds: I loved you Slim...we could've been together, think about it. And even if a celebrity does NOTHING in response to the fan's action, the fan perceives it as a reaction. Stan thinks Eminem "just said no" directly to Stan and his brother while he was waiting out "in the blistering cold." Stan is so blinded by his love for Eminem he can't even fathom that Eminem is a busy star and can't respond to every letter straight away.
One great thing about Stan are the effects added to the song: the thunder claps build tension (they grow louder and louder as Stan gets angrier and angrier), and the sounds of the pen scratching the pad are a nice touch. Everything about this song builds: Stan's voice is calm and casual in the first verse. In the second verse...there's a hint of anger/impatience. His anger finally explodes in the third verse.
Stan is a very well-linked and detailed song. Everything Stan says either foreshadows something that is said later, or it is linked later. For example, Stan doesn't say he's going to name his daughter Bonnie for no reason...because Eminem later links back to it: I'm really flattered you'd call your daughter that. He doesn't say his girlfriend is pregnant for no reason, it is linked: You said your girlfriend's pregnant now/He has his girlfriend in the back, and she was pregnant with his kid. He doesn't say "We should be together too" for no reason, as that is later linked: and what's this shit about us meant to be together? That type of shit will make us not wanna meet each other.
Stan mentions his girlfriend's irritability with Stan's obsessive behavior, misinterpreting it as jealousy: My girlfriend's jealous because I talk about you 24/7. But she don't know you like I know you. Eminem later addresses Stan neglecting his girlfriend: I really think you and your girlfriend need each other, or maybe you just need to treat her better. Stan's self-mutilating confession ("sometimes I even cut myself") is also linked to Eminem's response: And what's this shit you said about you like to cut your wrists too? ... I hope [this letter] reaches you in time before you hurt yourself. Stan's brother wanting a signed autograph from Eminem in verse 2 ("you didn't sign an autograph for Matthew") is also linked: And here's an autograph for your brother, I wrote it on the starter cap., along with linking the concert anecdote Stan mentions.
And then of course, the genius link: Stan's third verse where he drives off a bridge is linked with Eminem's anecdote about watching the news: I saw this one shit on the news a couple of weeks ago and it made me sick.
Rhyming
Okay, so a lot of the rhyming in this song seems to sail over people's heads. Let's not forget that Eminem has poetic license to NOT rhyme in this song, since it's in a letter form. He can afford to sacrifice some rhymes so it's more realistic. I mean...in a song where he raps the words of a letter, you shouldn't even be worrying about multi-syllabic rhymes, you should be worrying about whether it sounds like a letter, and what you're saying follows a story and what you're saying sounds like something an obsessed fan would say. But he managed fine:
at the bottom/back in Autumn
probably a problem/sloppy when I jot 'em
Biggest fan/did with Skam/get this, man/this is Stan
Reaches you in time/be doin' just fine
inspire you but Stan/why are you so mad/try to understand
father neither/mom and beat her
sayin' in your songs/'way and put 'em on
much it bleeds/rush for me
Have a chance/answer fans
no one does/growin' up
daughter that/Autograph/starter cap
musta missed you/just to diss you/cut your wrists too/fucked up is you
treat her better/read this letter
crazy shit/made me sick
ever lose/'gether too
Stan...a song that created a new term in the English language: "Stan." The term "Stan" seems to have many meanings: the most popular meaning is obsessed fan. A Lil Wayne Stan is an obsessive Lil Wayne fan...a Kanye Stan, an obsessive Kanye fan. And so on. The narrower definition is an obsessive Eminem fan. I am a gigantic fucking Stan, and there's no escaping it.
Stans drive themselves and their pregnant girlfriends off a bridge if Eminem doesn't answer their fan mail. Stans write blogs where they give in-depth reviews of Eminem songs. Stans have homosexual fantasies of being with Eminem ("we should be together too"). Female Stans (or Stanettes) have heterosexual fantasies of being with Eminem. Taylor Swift, the talentless hack who performed a cover song of Lose Yourself and verbally tongue-bathes Eminem whenever she gets the chance, is a classic Stanette.
Hell, even Eminem himself started using the term, in the clean version of Without Me: And Moby? You can get stomped by Obie, you thirty six year old bald-headed Stan, blow me. Another famous earlier use of the word "Stan" (probably what popularized the term the MOST) was Nas in Ether, when he dissed Jay-Z: You a fan, a phony, a fake, a pussy, a Stan. But I digress. The point is the song spawned a new word and that speaks volumes about its cultural influence.
First off, get this out of the way: wow. A concept song where each verse is a letter...this is the first of its kind. Ever heard of a concept song where someone raps in letter form? If so, you heard it after Stan, and it's probably influenced by Stan. This concept was so out of left-field and genius.
The song Stan is significant to me as being the first Eminem song I ever heard. I was in the car listening to the radio and this song came on...I liked Dido's chorus and thought it was haunting (this song pretty much resuscitated her career BTW). Even as 10-year-old I knew there was something different/unique to Stan. From the sound of Eminem's voice, I thought he was black. I also thought there were TWO people rapping: one guy who did Stan's voice and Eminem...but it was just Eminem changing his voice a bit and putting a bit of reverb on Stan's verses. I remember hearing the last two lines, when Eminem drops the bombshell: "And in the car they found a tape, but didn't say who it was to...come to think about it, his name was...it was you" and I remember being blown away by how brilliantly executed it was.
Background to Stan
Eminem is on tour in 1999. He is cycling through a bunch of beats given to him from producer The 45 King when suddenly he hears a heavy bassline with Dido's voice sampled from "Thank You" over it. Eminem has said that as soon as he heard her say the words "your picture on my wall" he thought "this is about an obsessed fan." So it was Dido's voice that inspired this famous story.
At the time, there was a lot of controversy surrounding Eminem's lyrics. Eminem was being blamed for all sorts of atrocities, like fans committing suicide and murder. Eminem figured he'd use the story of a crazed fan to make the point that fans/critics should not take his lyrics at face value. The song serves as a cautionary tale to warn against literal interpretation. Stan actually believes Eminem slits his wrists because he rapped about it on The Slim Shady LP: And what's this shit about you like to cut your wrists too? I say that shit just clowning. He thinks Eminem encourages his listeners to drink-drive on the album ("I just drank a fifth of vodka, dare me to drive?" - My Name Is), so Stan drink-drives. Stan also thinks Eminem is being serious when he talks about slitting his girlfriend's throat and dumping her in the trunk in '97 Bonnie & Clyde: Hey Slim, that's my girlfriend screaming in the trunk but I didn't slit her throat, see...I ain't like you. I just tied her up.
In a broader sense, the song comments on the phenomenon of para-social relationships: the celebrity doesn't even know the fan exists, but the fan acts like they're best buds: I loved you Slim...we could've been together, think about it. And even if a celebrity does NOTHING in response to the fan's action, the fan perceives it as a reaction. Stan thinks Eminem "just said no" directly to Stan and his brother while he was waiting out "in the blistering cold." Stan is so blinded by his love for Eminem he can't even fathom that Eminem is a busy star and can't respond to every letter straight away.
One great thing about Stan are the effects added to the song: the thunder claps build tension (they grow louder and louder as Stan gets angrier and angrier), and the sounds of the pen scratching the pad are a nice touch. Everything about this song builds: Stan's voice is calm and casual in the first verse. In the second verse...there's a hint of anger/impatience. His anger finally explodes in the third verse.
Stan is a very well-linked and detailed song. Everything Stan says either foreshadows something that is said later, or it is linked later. For example, Stan doesn't say he's going to name his daughter Bonnie for no reason...because Eminem later links back to it: I'm really flattered you'd call your daughter that. He doesn't say his girlfriend is pregnant for no reason, it is linked: You said your girlfriend's pregnant now/He has his girlfriend in the back, and she was pregnant with his kid. He doesn't say "We should be together too" for no reason, as that is later linked: and what's this shit about us meant to be together? That type of shit will make us not wanna meet each other.
Stan mentions his girlfriend's irritability with Stan's obsessive behavior, misinterpreting it as jealousy: My girlfriend's jealous because I talk about you 24/7. But she don't know you like I know you. Eminem later addresses Stan neglecting his girlfriend: I really think you and your girlfriend need each other, or maybe you just need to treat her better. Stan's self-mutilating confession ("sometimes I even cut myself") is also linked to Eminem's response: And what's this shit you said about you like to cut your wrists too? ... I hope [this letter] reaches you in time before you hurt yourself. Stan's brother wanting a signed autograph from Eminem in verse 2 ("you didn't sign an autograph for Matthew") is also linked: And here's an autograph for your brother, I wrote it on the starter cap., along with linking the concert anecdote Stan mentions.
And then of course, the genius link: Stan's third verse where he drives off a bridge is linked with Eminem's anecdote about watching the news: I saw this one shit on the news a couple of weeks ago and it made me sick.
Rhyming
Okay, so a lot of the rhyming in this song seems to sail over people's heads. Let's not forget that Eminem has poetic license to NOT rhyme in this song, since it's in a letter form. He can afford to sacrifice some rhymes so it's more realistic. I mean...in a song where he raps the words of a letter, you shouldn't even be worrying about multi-syllabic rhymes, you should be worrying about whether it sounds like a letter, and what you're saying follows a story and what you're saying sounds like something an obsessed fan would say. But he managed fine:
at the bottom/back in Autumn
probably a problem/sloppy when I jot 'em
Biggest fan/did with Skam/get this, man/this is Stan
Reaches you in time/be doin' just fine
inspire you but Stan/why are you so mad/try to understand
father neither/mom and beat her
sayin' in your songs/'way and put 'em on
much it bleeds/rush for me
Have a chance/answer fans
no one does/growin' up
daughter that/Autograph/starter cap
musta missed you/just to diss you/cut your wrists too/fucked up is you
treat her better/read this letter
crazy shit/made me sick
ever lose/'gether too
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Kim (The Marshall Mathers LP)
Here comes another behemoth of a post as I review, for my money, one of the greatest songs of all time.
I can't even begin to describe how out-of-the-box this song was...how original. I've never heard another song so daring and so bizarre. But it's a good bizarre. I'm confident in saying nobody else has made a rap song quite like it...it's amazing how he makes the dialogue sound so realistic yet it rhymes at the same time.
It's like a movie/rap musical...where instead of acting out a violent domestic scene between husband and wife, the two characters rap it. The song is an Eminem puppet show, with Eminem playing his own wife and doing all the sound effects himself. Apparently he made the sound of the leaves rustling in the woods in the third verse by getting some leaves from outside the studio and stomping on them.
But the thing about this song is that I rarely play it. And that's not because it's bad...it's just too intense. I normally want to play something easy to digest. This is far from it...it's a song that demands your full attention. You can't have it playing in the background while you watch TV. It's too good for that. So let's go through it:
So here's some background for this song (some of this might be inaccurate but fuck it):
Around about 1996, Eminem had just released an album called Infinite which didn't do too well and didn't make much money. So he went back to being a cook at Gilbert's Lodge, earning $5.50 an hour at his dead-end job, barely able to provide for his daughter. I think at this point, Kim was getting sick of it all. So in 1997, she cheated on Eminem and married another guy. Now obviously they weren't married so it wasn't adultery but still pretty bad, since Hailie was only 1.
So this other guy Kim married, already had a son. This enraged Eminem, who was doing everything he could to make Kim/Hailie's life better. So he went and wrote two songs. The first one was Kim.
At the beginning of the song, Eminem babytalks to his daughter Hailie. Then he takes his wife Kim out to the car and drives her to the woods. During the drive he reveals he's already killed her new husband and step-son (who is a 4-year-old boy). He reveals he slit the boy's throat in the living room (and presumably did the same thing to Kim's new husband). So they're laying dead in his house while he takes his wife out to the woods to kill her. In the third verse he reveals his plans to frame Kim for the murder of the husband and step-son, and for taking her own life afterwards ("so now it's double homicide and suicide with no note"). He slits Kim's throat and the song ends when he dumps her in the trunk.
Now, the sequel, '97 Bonnie & Clyde, begins, chronologically, a little later. Because between the events of the two songs, Eminem needs to drive back home with Kim in his car, get the husband and step-son's bodies from the living room, and dump THEM in the trunk too. Then, he says to his daughter, who is still in her cot, "C'mon, hey hey, we goin' to the beach."
So yeah...he wrote Kim and '97 Bonnie & Clyde in probably the same time period (1997). He put '97 Bonnie & Clyde on his Slim Shady EP, but kept Kim locked away from the world until his second album (I don't know why he did this but it was a good decision).
The song has a very dark, gothic instrumental from the Bass Brothers/Eminem production team...and a great chorus from Eminem. It's just the one voice...no digital alteration of his voice (he doesn't hit the notes properly...but I like that sort of imperfection...lends well to the emotional feel of the track).
Highlights of Kim, for me:
SIT DOWN BITCH YOU MOVE AGAIN I'LL BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU
A hilarious shock. Was NOT expecting this when I first heard Eminem sweet-talking his daughter.
Aw, what's the matter Kim, AM I TOO LOUD FOR YOU?!
Laughed at this irony as well...just sick.
What are you doing? CHANGE THE STATION! I hate this song!
He's talking about the quality of songs on the radio during an obvious mental breakdown where he's about to kill his wife. Guy had a warped sense of humor. This is some Tarantino shit...except Tarantino didn't make his characters rhyme. Eminem: 1, Quentin: 0.
What the fuck's this guy's problem on the side of me? Fuck you asshole, yeah, bite me!
I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard this. A hysterical reminder that he's in a car with Kim...referencing the traffic outside.
Kim, KIM! Why don't you like me? You think I'm ugly, don't you? No, you think I'm ugly
Get the fuck away from me! Don't touch me!
I just love this kind of childish response, amidst all the chaos/turmoil. Made me laugh.
That was funny, wasn't it? "Yes." THAT WAS FUNNY, WASN'T IT? "YES!!!"
Kim is forced to reminisce about Brian's party at what I assume is knife point.
Go ahead, yell! I'll scream with you: AHHHH SOMEBODY HELP!
Wow. Just...amazing piece of voice-acting. He actually makes you feel like you're in the woods with them, and this is happening. And just really perverted humor from Eminem when he's about to commit the unthinkable.
BLEED, BITCH, BLEED
Hands down one of the most brilliant pieces of voice-acting Eminem's ever done. Apparently he made this song while he was on ecstasy, so that would have aided/facilitated his emotional delivery since it gets you all lovey-dovey.
Well, that concludes the review to Kim.
I can't even begin to describe how out-of-the-box this song was...how original. I've never heard another song so daring and so bizarre. But it's a good bizarre. I'm confident in saying nobody else has made a rap song quite like it...it's amazing how he makes the dialogue sound so realistic yet it rhymes at the same time.
It's like a movie/rap musical...where instead of acting out a violent domestic scene between husband and wife, the two characters rap it. The song is an Eminem puppet show, with Eminem playing his own wife and doing all the sound effects himself. Apparently he made the sound of the leaves rustling in the woods in the third verse by getting some leaves from outside the studio and stomping on them.
But the thing about this song is that I rarely play it. And that's not because it's bad...it's just too intense. I normally want to play something easy to digest. This is far from it...it's a song that demands your full attention. You can't have it playing in the background while you watch TV. It's too good for that. So let's go through it:
So here's some background for this song (some of this might be inaccurate but fuck it):
Around about 1996, Eminem had just released an album called Infinite which didn't do too well and didn't make much money. So he went back to being a cook at Gilbert's Lodge, earning $5.50 an hour at his dead-end job, barely able to provide for his daughter. I think at this point, Kim was getting sick of it all. So in 1997, she cheated on Eminem and married another guy. Now obviously they weren't married so it wasn't adultery but still pretty bad, since Hailie was only 1.
So this other guy Kim married, already had a son. This enraged Eminem, who was doing everything he could to make Kim/Hailie's life better. So he went and wrote two songs. The first one was Kim.
At the beginning of the song, Eminem babytalks to his daughter Hailie. Then he takes his wife Kim out to the car and drives her to the woods. During the drive he reveals he's already killed her new husband and step-son (who is a 4-year-old boy). He reveals he slit the boy's throat in the living room (and presumably did the same thing to Kim's new husband). So they're laying dead in his house while he takes his wife out to the woods to kill her. In the third verse he reveals his plans to frame Kim for the murder of the husband and step-son, and for taking her own life afterwards ("so now it's double homicide and suicide with no note"). He slits Kim's throat and the song ends when he dumps her in the trunk.
Now, the sequel, '97 Bonnie & Clyde, begins, chronologically, a little later. Because between the events of the two songs, Eminem needs to drive back home with Kim in his car, get the husband and step-son's bodies from the living room, and dump THEM in the trunk too. Then, he says to his daughter, who is still in her cot, "C'mon, hey hey, we goin' to the beach."
So yeah...he wrote Kim and '97 Bonnie & Clyde in probably the same time period (1997). He put '97 Bonnie & Clyde on his Slim Shady EP, but kept Kim locked away from the world until his second album (I don't know why he did this but it was a good decision).
The song has a very dark, gothic instrumental from the Bass Brothers/Eminem production team...and a great chorus from Eminem. It's just the one voice...no digital alteration of his voice (he doesn't hit the notes properly...but I like that sort of imperfection...lends well to the emotional feel of the track).
Highlights of Kim, for me:
SIT DOWN BITCH YOU MOVE AGAIN I'LL BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU
A hilarious shock. Was NOT expecting this when I first heard Eminem sweet-talking his daughter.
Aw, what's the matter Kim, AM I TOO LOUD FOR YOU?!
Laughed at this irony as well...just sick.
What are you doing? CHANGE THE STATION! I hate this song!
He's talking about the quality of songs on the radio during an obvious mental breakdown where he's about to kill his wife. Guy had a warped sense of humor. This is some Tarantino shit...except Tarantino didn't make his characters rhyme. Eminem: 1, Quentin: 0.
What the fuck's this guy's problem on the side of me? Fuck you asshole, yeah, bite me!
I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard this. A hysterical reminder that he's in a car with Kim...referencing the traffic outside.
Kim, KIM! Why don't you like me? You think I'm ugly, don't you? No, you think I'm ugly
Get the fuck away from me! Don't touch me!
I just love this kind of childish response, amidst all the chaos/turmoil. Made me laugh.
That was funny, wasn't it? "Yes." THAT WAS FUNNY, WASN'T IT? "YES!!!"
Kim is forced to reminisce about Brian's party at what I assume is knife point.
Go ahead, yell! I'll scream with you: AHHHH SOMEBODY HELP!
Wow. Just...amazing piece of voice-acting. He actually makes you feel like you're in the woods with them, and this is happening. And just really perverted humor from Eminem when he's about to commit the unthinkable.
BLEED, BITCH, BLEED
Hands down one of the most brilliant pieces of voice-acting Eminem's ever done. Apparently he made this song while he was on ecstasy, so that would have aided/facilitated his emotional delivery since it gets you all lovey-dovey.
Well, that concludes the review to Kim.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
The Real Slim Shady (The Marshall Mathers LP)
Probably the best of all his lead singles.
While My Name Is is a funny song and Without Me is cool, The Real Slim Shady actually has a message in the lyrics (about the double standards when it comes to censorship) so it gets bonus points. He was actually using the poppy single to put out thinly veiled criticisms. He's pretty much saying what he says/does is no different to what anyone else says/does ("there's a Slim Shady in all of us") yet he gets censored and people like Tom Green don't. Somehow he managed to get these anti-censorship messages through the censors by making the song catchy/poppy. Genius, in a way.
Then there's the whole idea of...if he's so bad, why is everyone trying to be like him? He's kind of expressing disgust at his own celebrity...how he's become a fad/trend.
But even with all these serious messages, he still manages to be funny:
"Will Smith don't gotta cuss in his raps to sell records...well I do. So fuck him and fuck you too."
I love the way he annihilates people who were talking shit about him. He lets Christina have it on this song. Oh, and there are some nice, subtle rhymes you might not have picked up on: he rhymes "Burger King" with "circling," he says "you-know-what" and "you-know-who" because the "you know" part rhymes with "cute, though," he rhymes "return of the" with "furniture," he rhymes "course they" in "of course they gonna know what intercourse is" with "fourth grade."
And who could forget that chorus? Immortalized in rap history. Everybody knows the words...one more time...loud as you can...how does it go? He says in his autobiography he vocally tried to imitate a chainsaw sound at the beginning of the hook: "I'mmm Slim Shady!"
While My Name Is is a funny song and Without Me is cool, The Real Slim Shady actually has a message in the lyrics (about the double standards when it comes to censorship) so it gets bonus points. He was actually using the poppy single to put out thinly veiled criticisms. He's pretty much saying what he says/does is no different to what anyone else says/does ("there's a Slim Shady in all of us") yet he gets censored and people like Tom Green don't. Somehow he managed to get these anti-censorship messages through the censors by making the song catchy/poppy. Genius, in a way.
Then there's the whole idea of...if he's so bad, why is everyone trying to be like him? He's kind of expressing disgust at his own celebrity...how he's become a fad/trend.
But even with all these serious messages, he still manages to be funny:
"Will Smith don't gotta cuss in his raps to sell records...well I do. So fuck him and fuck you too."
I love the way he annihilates people who were talking shit about him. He lets Christina have it on this song. Oh, and there are some nice, subtle rhymes you might not have picked up on: he rhymes "Burger King" with "circling," he says "you-know-what" and "you-know-who" because the "you know" part rhymes with "cute, though," he rhymes "return of the" with "furniture," he rhymes "course they" in "of course they gonna know what intercourse is" with "fourth grade."
And who could forget that chorus? Immortalized in rap history. Everybody knows the words...one more time...loud as you can...how does it go? He says in his autobiography he vocally tried to imitate a chainsaw sound at the beginning of the hook: "I'mmm Slim Shady!"
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Criminal (The Marshall Mathers LP)
In the intro, Eminem maps out the concept for this song:
"A lot of people think that what I say on record, I actually do in real life, and that I believe in it. Or if I say that I wanna kill somebody, that I'm actually gonna do it, or that I believe in it. If you believe that, then I'll kill you."
He's basically saying: "if you paint me as a fag-bashing criminal, then I'll be one." For the rest of this song, he personifies this "menace" to society: "Hates fags? He answers 'yes'." But even though he's in-character, he plants clues that he's just joking and baiting people: "Relax guy, I like gay men! Right Ken? [Ken Kaniff is his gay alter-ego] Give me an amen!" He also says later in the song "Half the shit I say I just make it up to make you mad so kiss my white, naked ass!"
Yet most people still point to Criminal as an example of Eminem's homophobia. Idiots. Anyway, here are some great parts of Criminal:
"I drank malt liquor to fuck you up quicker than you'd wanna fuck me up for saying the word (nigger)." Thought this was clever. He doesn't say it.
The entire song, Eminem criticizes the hypocritical people who run this country: both the State (my morals went pfffft when the President (Clinton) got oral sex in the oval office" and the church ("please lord, this boy needs Jesus...heal this child, help us destroy these demons...oh and please send me a brand new car and a prostitute"). He's hinting that the church are all uppity and moral yet they take advantage of their faith for their own self-gain and they're hypocritical. The "preacher, preacher" Eminem addresses is telling him he shouldn't be bashing gays, even though the church is notoriously homophobic.
"A lot of people think that what I say on record, I actually do in real life, and that I believe in it. Or if I say that I wanna kill somebody, that I'm actually gonna do it, or that I believe in it. If you believe that, then I'll kill you."
He's basically saying: "if you paint me as a fag-bashing criminal, then I'll be one." For the rest of this song, he personifies this "menace" to society: "Hates fags? He answers 'yes'." But even though he's in-character, he plants clues that he's just joking and baiting people: "Relax guy, I like gay men! Right Ken? [Ken Kaniff is his gay alter-ego] Give me an amen!" He also says later in the song "Half the shit I say I just make it up to make you mad so kiss my white, naked ass!"
Yet most people still point to Criminal as an example of Eminem's homophobia. Idiots. Anyway, here are some great parts of Criminal:
"I drank malt liquor to fuck you up quicker than you'd wanna fuck me up for saying the word (nigger)." Thought this was clever. He doesn't say it.
The entire song, Eminem criticizes the hypocritical people who run this country: both the State (my morals went pfffft when the President (Clinton) got oral sex in the oval office" and the church ("please lord, this boy needs Jesus...heal this child, help us destroy these demons...oh and please send me a brand new car and a prostitute"). He's hinting that the church are all uppity and moral yet they take advantage of their faith for their own self-gain and they're hypocritical. The "preacher, preacher" Eminem addresses is telling him he shouldn't be bashing gays, even though the church is notoriously homophobic.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Kill You (The Marshall Mathers LP)
A dark, funny, sarcastic song...The Marshall Mathers LP in a nutshell.
This song is quintessential Eminem. A memorable chorus (it's amusing to see young girls sing along to it), a sparse-but-awesome beat from Dr Dre. Apparently Eminem heard this beat playing in Dre's studio while he was on the phone from Amsterdam, on tour.
It's this song which is used by most idiotic feminists as evidence for Eminem's misogyny.
One of the most stupid beliefs surrounding this song is that it is about raping his mother. You hear this all the time from the misinformed: "Kill You is the song about Eminem raping his mother." It's ONE line:
Shut up slut, you're causing too much chaos/Just bend over and take it like a slut, okay Ma?
Eminem even bothers to clarify in the next line that he's clearly trying to piss you off when he mimics a critic's response to that line: "Oh, now he's raping his own mother/abusing a whore, snorting coke and we gave him the Rolling Stone cover?" The abused whore he's referring to is the whore he mentions at the very beginning of the song: "Think I won't choke no whore, 'til her vocal chords don't work in her throat no more?" The "snorting coke" part refers to "they ain't say I can't rap about coke no more!"
Yet people STILL think the song is about him raping his mother? Holy shit...again, it is one line. Maybe they're confused because he mentions his mother in the singing intro.
As for the lyrics...some dope rhyming and the way he rides that beat is incredible. I feel like this was when his angry voice was at its best, as was his delivery.
I particularly like a part where he pretty much does 4 two-syllable rhymes, one after the other:
"I don't even believe in breathin' I'm leavin'..."
This song is quintessential Eminem. A memorable chorus (it's amusing to see young girls sing along to it), a sparse-but-awesome beat from Dr Dre. Apparently Eminem heard this beat playing in Dre's studio while he was on the phone from Amsterdam, on tour.
It's this song which is used by most idiotic feminists as evidence for Eminem's misogyny.
One of the most stupid beliefs surrounding this song is that it is about raping his mother. You hear this all the time from the misinformed: "Kill You is the song about Eminem raping his mother." It's ONE line:
Shut up slut, you're causing too much chaos/Just bend over and take it like a slut, okay Ma?
Eminem even bothers to clarify in the next line that he's clearly trying to piss you off when he mimics a critic's response to that line: "Oh, now he's raping his own mother/abusing a whore, snorting coke and we gave him the Rolling Stone cover?" The abused whore he's referring to is the whore he mentions at the very beginning of the song: "Think I won't choke no whore, 'til her vocal chords don't work in her throat no more?" The "snorting coke" part refers to "they ain't say I can't rap about coke no more!"
Yet people STILL think the song is about him raping his mother? Holy shit...again, it is one line. Maybe they're confused because he mentions his mother in the singing intro.
As for the lyrics...some dope rhyming and the way he rides that beat is incredible. I feel like this was when his angry voice was at its best, as was his delivery.
I particularly like a part where he pretty much does 4 two-syllable rhymes, one after the other:
"I don't even believe in breathin' I'm leavin'..."
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Marshall Mathers (The Marshall Mathers LP)
Amazing song. I've always thought of this song as the diss song aimed at everybody.
Perfectly encapsulates who he was back then, and his whole "fuck the world" mentality.
The way he completely annihilates everybody on this song is unreal: groupies, dipshit underground fans who think he sold out; his sue-happy family who only bother to contact him when he's famous; his mother, her lawyer, Tupac/Biggie impersonators, shitty popstars, Vanilla Ice, ICP, XXL Magazine.
I read in his autobiography that he just decided to go all-out with the word "faggot" to really piss people off. I can definitely see that in this song. He uses it 6 times on this song alone.
Perfectly encapsulates who he was back then, and his whole "fuck the world" mentality.
The way he completely annihilates everybody on this song is unreal: groupies, dipshit underground fans who think he sold out; his sue-happy family who only bother to contact him when he's famous; his mother, her lawyer, Tupac/Biggie impersonators, shitty popstars, Vanilla Ice, ICP, XXL Magazine.
I read in his autobiography that he just decided to go all-out with the word "faggot" to really piss people off. I can definitely see that in this song. He uses it 6 times on this song alone.
Role Model (The Slim Shady LP)
This was one of the singles from The Slim Shady LP. A sick emceeing song, but also with a subtle implication that he shouldn't be seen as a role model to children: "My middle finger won't go down, how do I wave? And this is how I'm supposed to teach kids how to behave?", "Follow me and do exactly what the song says: smoke weed, take pills, drop out of school, kill people and jump behind the wheel like it was still legal."
Opens up nicely with a diss to Canibus. Canibus asked Eminem to come to his video shoot just so he could interrogate him about writing LL Cool J's diss song to him (they were beefing). Eminem, realizing Canibus is a stupid asshole, let him have it on the first few bars of Role Model:
I'm cancerous, so when I diss, you wouldn't wanna answer this
If you responded back with a battle rap you wrote for Canibus
To add to the Canibus-bashing, Eminem also drops a bar aimed at another white rapper Cage, who accused him of biting his style. In amusing fashion, Eminem sarcastically admits he did:
'Cause when I drop this solo shit, it's over with
I bought Cage's tape, opened it and dubbed over it
Some more notable lines are the hilarious Sonny Bono (died by hitting a tree)/OJ Simpson (killed Ron Goldman) lines:
I get too blunted off of funny homegrown
'Cause when I smoke out, I hit the trees harder than Sonny Bono (oh no!)
Me and Marcus Allen went over to see Nicole
When we heard a knock at the door, must've been Ron Gold
Jumped behind the door, put the orgy on hold
Killed 'em both and smeared blood on a white Bronco
This song is Eminem in his prime...just a fun song with witty lines:
I get a clean shave, bathe, go to a rave, die from an overdose and dig myself out of my grave
Opens up nicely with a diss to Canibus. Canibus asked Eminem to come to his video shoot just so he could interrogate him about writing LL Cool J's diss song to him (they were beefing). Eminem, realizing Canibus is a stupid asshole, let him have it on the first few bars of Role Model:
I'm cancerous, so when I diss, you wouldn't wanna answer this
If you responded back with a battle rap you wrote for Canibus
To add to the Canibus-bashing, Eminem also drops a bar aimed at another white rapper Cage, who accused him of biting his style. In amusing fashion, Eminem sarcastically admits he did:
'Cause when I drop this solo shit, it's over with
I bought Cage's tape, opened it and dubbed over it
Some more notable lines are the hilarious Sonny Bono (died by hitting a tree)/OJ Simpson (killed Ron Goldman) lines:
I get too blunted off of funny homegrown
'Cause when I smoke out, I hit the trees harder than Sonny Bono (oh no!)
Me and Marcus Allen went over to see Nicole
When we heard a knock at the door, must've been Ron Gold
Jumped behind the door, put the orgy on hold
Killed 'em both and smeared blood on a white Bronco
This song is Eminem in his prime...just a fun song with witty lines:
I get a clean shave, bathe, go to a rave, die from an overdose and dig myself out of my grave
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Rock Bottom (The Slim Shady LP)
One of the most well-written songs ever, period. It should be noted that Eminem wrote this song in 1997 when he was literally at rock bottom: fired from his job as a cook, and unable to support his 1-year-old daughter. He tried to kill himself by swallowing a bottle of pills but it didn't work. From one of the lowest points of his life comes one of the highest points of his career: Rock Bottom.
We'll start where the song does: with the introduction. This is Eminem at his most fed up ("had it up to here"). You can hear the bitterness in his voice that you also hear in "If I Had:" This song is dedicated to all the happy people...all the happy people who have real nice lives...and have no idea what it's like to be broke as fuck. So I guess the song is dedicated to me. I can't relate to this shit...but I can still see, from a technical standpoint, that this is one of the best things Eminem has ever done.
Rock Bottom is probably my favorite chorus of his, ever:
That's rock bottom.
When this life makes you mad enough to kill
When you want something bad enough to steal
When you feel like you've had it up to here
'Cause you're mad enough to scream but you're sad enough to tear
That's rock bottom
All throughout the song, he discusses being "mad enough to kill:" I'm running up on someone's lawn with guns drawn, wanting something "bad enough to steal:" them rings you're wearing look like they got a few rocks on 'em...I could be taking them to shops to pawn 'em..
Then there's the beat. A hauntingly dark F.B.T./Eminem production. Whenever I hear that beat, I think "depression."
I feel like I'm walking a tightrope without a circus net
Poppin' percoset, I'm a nervous wreck
I deserve respect but I work a sweat for this worthless cheque
'Bout to burst this tech at somebody to reverse this debt
The first line is such a great simile, with vivid imagery. You immediately know how "nervous"/anxious he feels.
The rhyming: circus net/percoset/nervous wreck/deserve respect/work a sweat is incredible. How can a guy be rhyming this well while saying something that is crystal-clear to the listener? Another great example of Eminem's ear for English, with some more brilliant rhyme schemes:
I want the money, the women, the fortune and fame
That means I'll end up burnin' in hell, scorchin' in flames
That means I'm stealing your checkbook and forgin' your name
Lifetime bliss for eternal torture and pain
The way he delivers the lyrics, which are so heartfelt, moving and honest, is in such a shockingly controlled fashion. He only starts to sound emotional in the third verse: "my daughter's FEET ain't got no shoes or socks on 'em!" I feel like this is when he was a lot more subtle with his emotion, with his "angry voice" being used sparingly (only in third verse). In later albums, the emotion bordered on excessive and was a lot less subtle.
Only one person on the planet could have written a song as good as this.
We'll start where the song does: with the introduction. This is Eminem at his most fed up ("had it up to here"). You can hear the bitterness in his voice that you also hear in "If I Had:" This song is dedicated to all the happy people...all the happy people who have real nice lives...and have no idea what it's like to be broke as fuck. So I guess the song is dedicated to me. I can't relate to this shit...but I can still see, from a technical standpoint, that this is one of the best things Eminem has ever done.
Rock Bottom is probably my favorite chorus of his, ever:
That's rock bottom.
When this life makes you mad enough to kill
When you want something bad enough to steal
When you feel like you've had it up to here
'Cause you're mad enough to scream but you're sad enough to tear
That's rock bottom
All throughout the song, he discusses being "mad enough to kill:" I'm running up on someone's lawn with guns drawn, wanting something "bad enough to steal:" them rings you're wearing look like they got a few rocks on 'em...I could be taking them to shops to pawn 'em..
Then there's the beat. A hauntingly dark F.B.T./Eminem production. Whenever I hear that beat, I think "depression."
I feel like I'm walking a tightrope without a circus net
Poppin' percoset, I'm a nervous wreck
I deserve respect but I work a sweat for this worthless cheque
'Bout to burst this tech at somebody to reverse this debt
The first line is such a great simile, with vivid imagery. You immediately know how "nervous"/anxious he feels.
The rhyming: circus net/percoset/nervous wreck/deserve respect/work a sweat is incredible. How can a guy be rhyming this well while saying something that is crystal-clear to the listener? Another great example of Eminem's ear for English, with some more brilliant rhyme schemes:
I want the money, the women, the fortune and fame
That means I'll end up burnin' in hell, scorchin' in flames
That means I'm stealing your checkbook and forgin' your name
Lifetime bliss for eternal torture and pain
The way he delivers the lyrics, which are so heartfelt, moving and honest, is in such a shockingly controlled fashion. He only starts to sound emotional in the third verse: "my daughter's FEET ain't got no shoes or socks on 'em!" I feel like this is when he was a lot more subtle with his emotion, with his "angry voice" being used sparingly (only in third verse). In later albums, the emotion bordered on excessive and was a lot less subtle.
Only one person on the planet could have written a song as good as this.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
The tutorial to writing like Nicki Minaj
You're Nicki Minaj (or any Young Money rapper) and you have to write a 16-bar verse in 5 minutes.
Simple.
You're writing 16 lines, so that's 4 rhyme series.
Lines 1-4: Rhyme Series A, 5-8: Rhyme Series B, 9-12: Rhyme Series C, 13-16: Rhyme Series D
Now the good thing about this is that your rhymes can be really simple because you're Nicki Minaj.
You might notice that the rhymes I use in this tutorial aren't simple enough for Nicki Minaj.
Let's do A first.
Step 1: Think of 4 things that rhyme. They don't have to relate to each other. List them all:
Go to bed
Overfed
Loaf of bread
Motorhead
Step 2: Place a phrase before each rhyme that links with it.
Now these rhymes have nothing to do with each other but we can link them together poorly (because we're Nicki Minaj) with some boasting cliches. Let's start with "go to bed":
N*ggas always sleep on me... go to bed
Now for "overfed." Ah, that's to do with eating, so we can recall another boasting cliche: being hungry.
No one as hungry in this game... overfed
Now "loaf of bread." How can "loaf of bread" be turned into a boasting cliche? Ah, bread is made of dough. Nicki Minaj is known for witlessly boasting about her money (see: Monster).
N*ggas know I got the dough... loaf of bread
Now "motorhead." Well, she's bragging about money... may as well brag about cars. "Coat of red" could work as an internal rhyme.
Coat of red on the rims... motorhead
Yes, it really is as simple as that. Just pause after the phrase, and say the rhyme. The antecedent phrase is there to confuse listeners into thinking it's well thought-out.
Here are the 4 lines in all their glory:
N*ggas always sleep on me, go to bed
No one as hungry in this game, overfed
N*ggas know I got the dough, loaf of bread
Coat of red on the rims, motorhead
There's a quick tutorial on how to quickly write 4 Nicki Minaj bars. Just repeat that process 3 more times and you have a verse written in under 5 minutes. I call it the "Young Money Method."
You can see Nicki Minaj applying this formula in her Roman's Revenge verse:
4 rhymes:
Cacklin'
Panickin'
Vatican
Mannequin
Link them together with boasting phrases and then have a pause before the rhyme.
4 rhymes:
Overnight
Overwrite
Motorbike
Overbite
Link them together with boasting phrases and then have a pause before the rhyme.
You can also see Drake applying this formula in his "Forever" verse:
Nino
Nemo
Chemo
Simple.
You're writing 16 lines, so that's 4 rhyme series.
Lines 1-4: Rhyme Series A, 5-8: Rhyme Series B, 9-12: Rhyme Series C, 13-16: Rhyme Series D
Now the good thing about this is that your rhymes can be really simple because you're Nicki Minaj.
You might notice that the rhymes I use in this tutorial aren't simple enough for Nicki Minaj.
Let's do A first.
Step 1: Think of 4 things that rhyme. They don't have to relate to each other. List them all:
Go to bed
Overfed
Loaf of bread
Motorhead
Step 2: Place a phrase before each rhyme that links with it.
Now these rhymes have nothing to do with each other but we can link them together poorly (because we're Nicki Minaj) with some boasting cliches. Let's start with "go to bed":
N*ggas always sleep on me... go to bed
Now for "overfed." Ah, that's to do with eating, so we can recall another boasting cliche: being hungry.
No one as hungry in this game... overfed
Now "loaf of bread." How can "loaf of bread" be turned into a boasting cliche? Ah, bread is made of dough. Nicki Minaj is known for witlessly boasting about her money (see: Monster).
N*ggas know I got the dough... loaf of bread
Now "motorhead." Well, she's bragging about money... may as well brag about cars. "Coat of red" could work as an internal rhyme.
Coat of red on the rims... motorhead
Yes, it really is as simple as that. Just pause after the phrase, and say the rhyme. The antecedent phrase is there to confuse listeners into thinking it's well thought-out.
Here are the 4 lines in all their glory:
N*ggas always sleep on me, go to bed
No one as hungry in this game, overfed
N*ggas know I got the dough, loaf of bread
Coat of red on the rims, motorhead
There's a quick tutorial on how to quickly write 4 Nicki Minaj bars. Just repeat that process 3 more times and you have a verse written in under 5 minutes. I call it the "Young Money Method."
You can see Nicki Minaj applying this formula in her Roman's Revenge verse:
4 rhymes:
Cacklin'
Panickin'
Vatican
Mannequin
Link them together with boasting phrases and then have a pause before the rhyme.
4 rhymes:
Overnight
Overwrite
Motorbike
Overbite
Link them together with boasting phrases and then have a pause before the rhyme.
You can also see Drake applying this formula in his "Forever" verse:
Nino
Nemo
Chemo
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Brain Damage (The Slim Shady LP)
Hands down one of Eminem's most well-written songs about being bullied in school. This will be a monster of a post since it's such a dense song.
Let's get some of the powerful messages of this song out of the way.
Eminem uses a personal story from his childhood about being bullied and generalizes his message to pin the blame subtly on the parents and the teachers, rather than the bully (D'Angelo Bailey) himself:
Eminem: But don't you wanna give me after-school detention?
Teacher: Nah, that bully wants to beat your ass and I'ma let him
Here, Eminem knocks the teachers in American schools for not doing anything about bullying in the yard.
The principal walked in and started helping him stomp me.
This is of course NOT true...but the message is clear: the staff have just as much to do with it as the kids themselves.
Then, the parental blame...Eminem's mother apparently doesn't care that he is hemorrhaging from the brain after being beaten senseless by D'Angelo, caring more about her rug:
Mother: What are you, on drugs? Look at you...you're getting blood all over my rug.
And some more parental blame:
This kid D'Angelo Bailey...an eighth grader who acted obnoxious because his father boxes so every day he'd shove me in the lockers.
Now, enough with the messages in the song. Let's get to the story itself.
Is the story real? Yes, for the most part. Eminem really was beaten up in the urinal by D'Angelo Bailey...he really did go home later that day and try and fail to read comics because he bled from his ear (a brain hemorrhage). In fact, he received about 10% brain damage from this and the snowball incident. He's had a twitch in his eye ever since.
What ISN'T real? Some parts are exaggerated for comic/dramatic effect...some parts are fictional for the sake of showing his Slim Shady side (the guy that lashes out at the world).
The principal part is of course, not true.
The part where Eminem runs to the janitor's storage booth and beats D'Angelo over the head with a broomstick is not true. This is basically just his "Slim Shady" character taking over...getting his revenge on those who have wronged him.
The part where his mother hits him over the head and his brain falls out is obviously not real and just a bit of cartoonish violence to make light of a very serious incident.
Now, turning our attention to the lyrics/storytelling Eminem does in this song. I've always said that if you sat down at a bar and told this story, it would sound perfectly realistic and smooth, and only after a few seconds would the people in the bar realize you're rhyming as well (in a complex manner). Just imagine this being an anecdote in a bar:
My first day in junior high...this kid said, "It's you and I. Three o'clock sharp this afternoon ya die."
I looked at my watch...it was one twenty. "I already gave you my lunch money, what more do you want from me?"
He said, "Don't try to run from me, you'll just make it worse." My palms were sweaty and I started to shake at first.
It's mind-boggling how effortlessly detailed he makes the story. Here are some of the brilliant examples of linking in this song. The way his mind made connections between various elements of this story/concept and rhyming words is genius:
This kid said, "It's you and I...three o'clock sharp, this afternoon ya die"/"I looked at my watch, it was one twenty"/"I already gave you my lunch money"/"What more do you want from me?" (1:20 is during lunch time in most junior high schools)
"Something told me 'Try fake a stomach ache, it works!'"/"I screamed 'Ow! My appendix feel like they could burst!"/"Teacher, teacher, quick, I need a naked nurse"/"'What's the matter?' 'I dunno, my leg it hurts!'"...Your leg? I thought you said it was your tummy!"/"Oh I mean it is...but I also got a bum knee"
And then, Eminem, trying to get out of getting beat up at 3 o'clock (reminds me of 3 O'Clock High, LOL), asks for detention: "Don't you wanna give me after school detention?" Then the teacher says "Nah, that bully [the bully who threatened to beat him up at 3, mentioned earlier] wants to beat your ass and I'ma let him."
Now for the second verse:
"One day he came in the bathroom when I was pissin"/"Banged my head against the urinal 'til he broke my nose"
"Grabbed me and choked my throat"/"He kept choking me and I couldn't breathe"/"Holding my breath for like 5 minutes before they finally left"
"Then I got up and ran to the janitor's storage booth"/"Kicked the door hinge loose and ripped out the four-inch screws"/"Grabbed some sharp objects, brooms and foreign tools"/"...Cocked the broomstick back and swung hard as I could"/"Beat him over the head with it until I broke the wood"
"This is for every time you took my orange juice"/"Or stole my seat in the lunch room or drank my chocolate milk"/"Every time you tipped my tray and it dropped and spilt"
Let's get some of the powerful messages of this song out of the way.
Eminem uses a personal story from his childhood about being bullied and generalizes his message to pin the blame subtly on the parents and the teachers, rather than the bully (D'Angelo Bailey) himself:
Eminem: But don't you wanna give me after-school detention?
Teacher: Nah, that bully wants to beat your ass and I'ma let him
Here, Eminem knocks the teachers in American schools for not doing anything about bullying in the yard.
The principal walked in and started helping him stomp me.
This is of course NOT true...but the message is clear: the staff have just as much to do with it as the kids themselves.
Then, the parental blame...Eminem's mother apparently doesn't care that he is hemorrhaging from the brain after being beaten senseless by D'Angelo, caring more about her rug:
Mother: What are you, on drugs? Look at you...you're getting blood all over my rug.
And some more parental blame:
This kid D'Angelo Bailey...an eighth grader who acted obnoxious because his father boxes so every day he'd shove me in the lockers.
Now, enough with the messages in the song. Let's get to the story itself.
Is the story real? Yes, for the most part. Eminem really was beaten up in the urinal by D'Angelo Bailey...he really did go home later that day and try and fail to read comics because he bled from his ear (a brain hemorrhage). In fact, he received about 10% brain damage from this and the snowball incident. He's had a twitch in his eye ever since.
What ISN'T real? Some parts are exaggerated for comic/dramatic effect...some parts are fictional for the sake of showing his Slim Shady side (the guy that lashes out at the world).
The principal part is of course, not true.
The part where Eminem runs to the janitor's storage booth and beats D'Angelo over the head with a broomstick is not true. This is basically just his "Slim Shady" character taking over...getting his revenge on those who have wronged him.
The part where his mother hits him over the head and his brain falls out is obviously not real and just a bit of cartoonish violence to make light of a very serious incident.
Now, turning our attention to the lyrics/storytelling Eminem does in this song. I've always said that if you sat down at a bar and told this story, it would sound perfectly realistic and smooth, and only after a few seconds would the people in the bar realize you're rhyming as well (in a complex manner). Just imagine this being an anecdote in a bar:
My first day in junior high...this kid said, "It's you and I. Three o'clock sharp this afternoon ya die."
I looked at my watch...it was one twenty. "I already gave you my lunch money, what more do you want from me?"
He said, "Don't try to run from me, you'll just make it worse." My palms were sweaty and I started to shake at first.
It's mind-boggling how effortlessly detailed he makes the story. Here are some of the brilliant examples of linking in this song. The way his mind made connections between various elements of this story/concept and rhyming words is genius:
This kid said, "It's you and I...three o'clock sharp, this afternoon ya die"/"I looked at my watch, it was one twenty"/"I already gave you my lunch money"/"What more do you want from me?" (1:20 is during lunch time in most junior high schools)
"Something told me 'Try fake a stomach ache, it works!'"/"I screamed 'Ow! My appendix feel like they could burst!"/"Teacher, teacher, quick, I need a naked nurse"/"'What's the matter?' 'I dunno, my leg it hurts!'"...Your leg? I thought you said it was your tummy!"/"Oh I mean it is...but I also got a bum knee"
And then, Eminem, trying to get out of getting beat up at 3 o'clock (reminds me of 3 O'Clock High, LOL), asks for detention: "Don't you wanna give me after school detention?" Then the teacher says "Nah, that bully [the bully who threatened to beat him up at 3, mentioned earlier] wants to beat your ass and I'ma let him."
Now for the second verse:
"One day he came in the bathroom when I was pissin"/"Banged my head against the urinal 'til he broke my nose"
"Grabbed me and choked my throat"/"He kept choking me and I couldn't breathe"/"Holding my breath for like 5 minutes before they finally left"
"Then I got up and ran to the janitor's storage booth"/"Kicked the door hinge loose and ripped out the four-inch screws"/"Grabbed some sharp objects, brooms and foreign tools"/"...Cocked the broomstick back and swung hard as I could"/"Beat him over the head with it until I broke the wood"
"This is for every time you took my orange juice"/"Or stole my seat in the lunch room or drank my chocolate milk"/"Every time you tipped my tray and it dropped and spilt"
Thursday, September 2, 2010
As The World Turns (The Slim Shady LP)
Another great Eminem track.
Like My Fault, this is a story track.
The first verse is the story of Eminem killing his guinea pig, seeing counsellors, and then, at school, picking on a fat girl in gym. She gets angry and puts him in a headlock, people cheer...but Eminem grabs her by the hair and takes her up to the highest diving board and chucks her off.
Just an amusing little story. Here are a few examples of SSLP-Eminem's meticulous linking:
"She was too fat to swim laps, she needed Slim Fast", "Yeah bitch you so big you stepped on Jenny Craig," "She picked me up to snap me like a skinny twig"
"I murdered my guinea pig and stuck him in the microwave", "Put my in a headlock, then I thought of my guinea pig"
"Only class he'll ever pass is phys ed", "Maybe true, til I told this bitch in gym class", "Sorry coach, it's too late to tell me stop"
"She was too fat to swim laps", "Took her up to the highest diving board", "Drop this bitch face-first and watch her belly flop"
But we aren't even at the brilliant part of the song yet (the 2nd verse). The second verse is the story of Eminem meeting a fat girl at the laundromat. He tries to rob her, but she gets away, so he chases her home and basically rapes her to death with his Go-Go gadget dick.
Here are a few examples of the brilliant linking in THIS verse:
"Hypochondriac, hanging out by the laundromat", "Hit me with a basket of laundry", "Slid across the floor and flew right into a washing machine"
"Saw the house she ran up in and shot her fucking porch up", "Kicked the door down", "see the bedroom door shut"
"Where all the raunchy, fat", "You know you're stinkin' ass is too fat to try to outrun me", "she swallowed my fucking leg whole like an egg roll", "Stuffed that shit in crooked and fucked that fat slut to death"
"Spread across the bed, naked, watching gay porn", "Sliced off her right nipple", "Fucked that fat slut to death"
"Twisted my ankle and sprained it", "With one leg left..."
"Plus I'm a rapist", "All I wanted to do was rape the bitch"
"So give me all your money", "All I wanted to do was rape the bitch and snatch her purse"
"Where all the raunchy, fat, white trashy blondes be at", "Still trying to nail a trailer park bitch"
Add to this the amazing rhyme scheme and you have a classic Eminem song.
Like My Fault, this is a story track.
The first verse is the story of Eminem killing his guinea pig, seeing counsellors, and then, at school, picking on a fat girl in gym. She gets angry and puts him in a headlock, people cheer...but Eminem grabs her by the hair and takes her up to the highest diving board and chucks her off.
Just an amusing little story. Here are a few examples of SSLP-Eminem's meticulous linking:
"She was too fat to swim laps, she needed Slim Fast", "Yeah bitch you so big you stepped on Jenny Craig," "She picked me up to snap me like a skinny twig"
"I murdered my guinea pig and stuck him in the microwave", "Put my in a headlock, then I thought of my guinea pig"
"Only class he'll ever pass is phys ed", "Maybe true, til I told this bitch in gym class", "Sorry coach, it's too late to tell me stop"
"She was too fat to swim laps", "Took her up to the highest diving board", "Drop this bitch face-first and watch her belly flop"
But we aren't even at the brilliant part of the song yet (the 2nd verse). The second verse is the story of Eminem meeting a fat girl at the laundromat. He tries to rob her, but she gets away, so he chases her home and basically rapes her to death with his Go-Go gadget dick.
Here are a few examples of the brilliant linking in THIS verse:
"Hypochondriac, hanging out by the laundromat", "Hit me with a basket of laundry", "Slid across the floor and flew right into a washing machine"
"Saw the house she ran up in and shot her fucking porch up", "Kicked the door down", "see the bedroom door shut"
"Where all the raunchy, fat", "You know you're stinkin' ass is too fat to try to outrun me", "she swallowed my fucking leg whole like an egg roll", "Stuffed that shit in crooked and fucked that fat slut to death"
"Spread across the bed, naked, watching gay porn", "Sliced off her right nipple", "Fucked that fat slut to death"
"Twisted my ankle and sprained it", "With one leg left..."
"Plus I'm a rapist", "All I wanted to do was rape the bitch"
"So give me all your money", "All I wanted to do was rape the bitch and snatch her purse"
"Where all the raunchy, fat, white trashy blondes be at", "Still trying to nail a trailer park bitch"
Add to this the amazing rhyme scheme and you have a classic Eminem song.
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