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Guess who's back? Back again. Eminem just released his new single "Houdini" today. It's billed as a kind of return to form to his old Slim Shady character. The music video is filled with references to his classics like "Without Me" and "My Name Is." Even his voice sounds like a younger version of himself in parts of the song. Is this just memberberries getting to me? Maybe. I did enjoy it in that early 2000s way though.
I haven't listened to Eminem or the rap genre since around 2010. I've tangentially heard about him in the years (I'm glad he felted MGK so hard that MGK had to change genres). Is the song as good as his late 90s to early 00s era? Maybe this is nostalgia talking, but I don't think so. Something about the song just feels like it's not as raw or groundbreaking as his early work. The lyrics are not as unleashed as they were in the early days. The music video, while good, paused too much in the middle of the song. Now all that being said, it's good. I enjoyed it. The lyrics, while not as hard hitting, are what you'd expect from Eminem. His rhyming is still crisp. He still raps like Eminem, or Slim Shady in this case.
While I'm just someone who used to listen to Eminem in high school or whatever, I think the song is good enough to stand on its own even without the callbacks to his classics. Is this his best work? No. Is it as completely rancid as Relapse? Definitely not. It's good. And that's more than I can say for a lot of the shit that gets released these days.
If any more serious Eminem or even rap fans would like to weigh in, I'd love to hear other opinions.
I had a whole post written here but the gist of it is: this is bad, I dislike listening to it, but for a rap song it's pretty good because I merely dislike it. Generally rap especially of the thug type, especially if originated in Europe makes me feel downright genocidal.
Wondering if rap music fans feel that way about any genre.
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He's just too old at this point. I liked his old music because it was funny and relatable since he was in his early 20s. Hasn't been the same since for me at least.
It's amazing what a 180 I've done on rap. True, there's a lot of artists and genres I listed to in my teens and early 20s that I've nearly dropped in the time since. I'm not without angst, but I can't really vibe along with Trent Reznor screaming about killing himself the way I used to, y'know. But I could still throw on an old NIN or Korn album for a long road trip and 'get into it' for a nostalgic romp with a friend or my brother.
I can't do Rap any more. I want it turned off immediately. I used to give Country a lot of shit for being unlistenable. And while I still think it's mostly shit, I have more tolerance for it now. It's like the polarities reversed.
I'm with you that my favorite Eminem was when he was young and funny. I think I liked the Slim Shady LP because it was so bizarre compared to The Chronic 2000 or whatever old Coolio album I had previously begged for because of 'Gangsta's Paradise'. Everything after that just felt too self-serious to me, like he had to prove something. TBF, I guess he had to. I can't argue with the man's career and success that followed with his maturation.
Weird I find country increasingly feels self referential and unlistenable. My dad was listening to country radio, and Cowboys and Plowboys came on, and it just made me want to gag. A whole song built on a fake distinction between fake identities of people who don't exist. It just felt so manufactured.
I think part of it is exposure. Obviously I had genre preferences I actively sought out when I was younger, but the general media landscape would give you a more balanced diet of different types of music. There were popular Rock songs, Rap songs, Country songs as well as obvious Pop hits. I'm sure Country has also gone downhill, but it was kinda easier for me to turn my nose up at it as a selective kid/teen.
Now that it seems everything is so heavily Rap dominated, I've kinda made a peace with other genres (like Metal, even). Like, please play anything that doesn't have that monotone rhythmic cadence and that fucking repetitive stuttering hi-hat trick! I know that's supposed to be a 'trap' thing, but Lord it seems to show up everywhere in influence. Please stop putting it in so many soundtracks and trailers where literally any other choice of music would be more appropriate.
I asked Google Home to play some 'easy listening' music and it defaulted to some midtempo mumbling rhyming about pussy sweat among other things. I am not a prude, and my own audio catalogue has its share of depravity. But come on. I want George Michael (sexual t-rex that he was), not this.
I listen to very little new music overall, so you're probably right: if I listened to more unfiltered Top-40 I would probably hate most of that much more than I hate a lot of modern country. Music essentially gets added to my library from the local college radio station, from my gym friends, from my wife. The only time I'm listening to unfiltered new music is when my father is listening to country radio while we drive somewhere.
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