by Alex Goode
At this point, I don't think Eminem needs an introduction. He's widely regarded as the greatest rapper of all time, he's one of the biggest-selling artists ever, you definitely have heard of him. Irregardless of whether or not you like him, I know you've heard of him. Well, he's back with yet another surprise release. I'm just gonna be honest and say that it's getting a little predictable. It was pretty cool with Kamikaze cause it made sense. The title, the themes, it was a good idea to just drop it without announcement. After three of those, though, it's getting a little stale. But whatever, that's besides the point. This new album is a deluxe edition of Eminem's eleventh studio album, Music to Be Murdered By. The original was released on January 17th of 2020, and this deluxe version (title Side B) dropped on December 18th of 2020. Side B keeps all 20 of the original album's songs, and adds on 16 more, which rounds the tracklist out to a whopping 36 tracks. The average Eminem fan is probably going crazy right now, but I am in a different boat in the sense that I'm not a fan of his. Not a superfan, at least. I like some of his songs, but I'm not crazy about most of his discography (especially the newer stuff). I missed the chance to review MTBMB when it first came out, so I figured I'd use this time to talk about both discs on this new deluxe LP as opposed to just the new tracks. Who knows, maybe this album will turn me into a Stan! I doubt it very highly, but we'll see. This is the longest album I've ever reviewed, so let's just get this over with.
To start with, there's three tracks on here that have the "Intro" title. The first is a 17-second-long sample of Alfred Hitchcock talking, not much to comment on there, and the second one is "Premonition". This honestly isn't a bad song, I like it quite a bit. I'm not too big on the fact that he's still riding the "My newer albums are hated and I'm pissed off about it" angle, but it's a pretty cool song if you can look past that. The beat is fire, Em's flow is good, Nikki Grier's chorus is pretty (I just wish she had been credited), the "coming after U like the letter V" line is nice. I like this song. The third intro track is "Stepdad (Intro)", which is probably the most uncomfortable sixteen seconds of my life. I will leave it at that and just move on. On the topic of uncomfort, there's the song "Unaccommodating", which features Young M.A. I'm not the biggest fan of her verse, to be honest. Her flow, especially towards the end, is very sloppy. She has some good bars, and I really enjoy the rhyme scheme she pulls off to end her verse, but I otherwise feel like her verse could've been cut and it not hurt anything. Eminem comes on and just does his thing after that, and it's pretty cool for the most part. Fast flows, puns, dissing people, the usual for him. Gotta give special mention to one specific line, because it pisses me off to no end. This is the uncomfort I mentioned earlier: He makes a joke about the 2017 Manchester bombing that happened after an Ariana Grande concert, and it's honestly disgusting. The fact that he helped raise money for a charity on Twitter after it happened is great, but that kinda makes him joking about the event (more than once, I might add) even grosser to me. I know he's known for his unapologetically offensive style, but Jesus. And, while we're getting all the worst stuff out of the way, let's talk about "Those Kinda Nights". It features Ed Sheeran, making this the third time that these two artists have collaborated, but this honestly is the worst of the trilogy. The beat is catchy, Sheeran's vocals on the chorus sound good, and there's a handful of genuinely funny punchlines here and there (like the "addy" line, for instance). I can't overlook that Eminem jokes about sexual harassment as if it was just a normal part of his club routine very early into the track, however. That, along with the aforementioned Manchester line, are two things that really hold back my enjoyment of current Eminem. The fact that he's still making those kinds of jokes this late into his career is baffling to me.
To go back to the newer tracks for a second, the song "Gnat" is currently poppin' off with YouTube reaction channels, and it's honestly not hard to see why. I actually love this song. It was inevitable that Em was gonna make corona jokes eventually, and it finally does happen here, but I think it was handled with more care than how it usually is when he talks about current events. I love Em's more laid back tone of voice, there's some solid rhyme schemes and punchlines throughout, the beat switch in the middle is great. The immediate next track, "Higher", is also really good. The heavy, distorted beat is great, Sly Pyper's feature is nice (I just wish he had been credited), the "take a foe out like fee-fi-fum" bar is probably my favorite thing Eminem has ever said in a song, and I can always get behind an "I made it" story. The only thing holding it back is the chorus. It's well-written and the melody is catchy, but the vocals on it aren't the best. In stark contrast to how positive I just was, "Tone Deaf" is a song I'm very perplexed by. The beat is bland, the chorus is equally as uninteresting, most of the punchlines are groan-worthy at best (I'm looking at you, "Ornana"). However, the award for worst line on this song, as well as a very strong contender for worst line on the whole project, goes to "You heard of Kris Kristofferson? Well, I am Piss Pissedofferson". I want to die. The following track, "Book of Rhymes", which features DJ Premier, is a decent step-up from that mess. The second half is largely better than the first, mostly in part to the beat switch. I don't like his multiple uses of the word "retard", him taking shots at Bon Iver for speaking out against Em's use of gay slurs feels tasteless, and there's a very weird part where he spits a bunch of valid critiques against his current style and then doesn't do anything at all to invalidate them. Other than those things, the song isn't bad. It's passable. And what did DJ Premier do for this track other than the record scratches? You'll give someone title credits for additional production, but you won't credit Nikki Grier and Sly Pyper for actual guest vocals? That's kinda strange. Not as weird as that "Key" skit, though. I don't understand why that's there. It's 58 seconds long, it's not funny, and it partially interpolates a song Eminem made years ago (meaning it isn't even fully new material). The voices he's doing are entertaining, but that's all this skit does for me. There's another short Hitchcock sample in the form of the "Thus Far" interlude, but I will say that I really love her perfectly it transitions into the immediate next track, "Discombobulated". I might as well talk about that song now, then, and I like it for the most part. It feels like a classic Em track that you'd hear on albums like The Eminem Show or The Slim Shady LP, which is a fun throwback. The beat is catchy, the lyrics made me genuinely laugh out loud on more than one occasion, I like Em's more playful inflections and flows. I think the "no yes no" bit in the chorus is almost "Those Kinda Nights" levels of horrible, but I'm guessing people are gonna write that off as just Em leaning on his past styles. I don't think that makes it right, personally.
You might've noticed that there's a lot of features on this album. Young M.A, Ed Sheeran, Sly Pyper, DJ Premier, all of those are ones I've already covered, but there's a lot more to talk about. I don't think that an album having a lot of features is a bad thing, not at all. It's a great way to spice up a tracklist by adding in other talent, just as long as the artists blend well together. For the most part, I think this album pulls that off pretty nicely. For starters, there's "You Gon' Learn", which features Royce Da 5'9" and White Gold. White Gold handles the chorus and Royce takes a verse, and they do so very well. Gold's vocals are nice, the chorus is well-written, he has good energy. My only complaint is that the beat sometimes drowns out his voice. Royce's verse is dope, also. His flow is super smooth, it's mixed perfectly, the way he ended his verse was pretty cool. I loved his inclusion onto this track, both him and Gold make very good use of this beat. Eminem's verse is pretty solid, also. Good flows, fun punchlines, a nice jovial energy to it all. This is a good song. White Gold comes back for the song "Zeus", Gold once again handled the chorus whole Em takes the verses, and, like before, his inclusion is good! I really like his singing voice, his vibrant energy is very infectious, he sounds very confident. I'm probably gonna end up listening to more of his stuff when I'm finished with this. Eminem is once again back on his "I'm gonna diss people" lane with this song, which I guess is cool if you like rap beefs. He takes shots at 6ix9ine, Machine Gun Kelly, and even Snoop Dogg. I don't know why he dissed Snoop, I guess there's some lore that I'm not caught up on, but I'm curious to see where that goes. I gotta give him props on two things, though. First, he earnestly apologized to Rihanna for an alternate version of one of his past songs, in which he appears to take the side of Chris Brown, leaked on the internet. And secondly, he takes a direct stance against the rampant police brutality that America has been facing and name-drops people like Breonna Taylor, Dominique Clayton, Eric Garner, and a few others. I really respect him for that. I just wish it wasn't in the same album as a sexual assault and concert bombing joke. Along with White Gold making a reappearance, there's also two more guest spots from Royce Da 5'9". The first one is "Yah Yah", which also features Black Thought, Q-Tip, and dEnAun. First and foremost, him getting a former D12 member on this song is pretty cool. I can get behind that. This song has easily the most hype instrumental on the whole album, and all five of these artists ride it nicely. Q-Tip's vocals on the chorus sound kinda awkward, but the three verses are solid. Royce starts off strong with a ferocious flow, Black Thought keeps it going with some slick punchlines, and Eminem ties a nice bow on top of it with great rhyme schemes. dEnAun only comes into it to say yah yah a bunch, so I'm not too sure why he was there, but it's still cool that he was. This song is very good. The final Royce appearance, which rounds out to three guest verses on this album, comes in the song "I Will", which also features Joell Ortiz and KXNG Crooked. Royce, Joell, and Crooked take verses, while Eminem takes the chorus and also gets a verse in. Like before, all of these artists show their skills nicely. I even like EM's singing on the chorus, which is something I've previously disliked in other projects of his. This track also leads nicely into the "Alfred (Outro)" track to end the album, so that's cool.
Another guest that gets multiple spots is Skylar Grey. Firstly, there's "Black Magic". Skylar's chorus is gorgeous, the dumbbell line is nice, the beat is catchy, but I'm not really feeling Em's verses on this. Aside from the odd zinger here and there, he isn't saying much. I like the Imagine Dragons scheme in the second verse, but that's the only memorable part. Also, there's a bit towards the end that's supposed to sound like someone's getting stabbed in the stomach, but it just sounds like a sample of someone stomping on a puddle of water. Skylar comes back later on for the song "Leaving Heaven", which is notable in the sense that Skylar is also credited as a producer. Unfortunately, this is the weaker of her two choruses, with a vocal melody that really sounds like she freestyled it the first time she got up to the mic to record it. Alternatively, Em's part is better on here than it was on "Black Magic". Ain't it funny how life is sometimes. Special mention goes to the section in the third verse where he goes off on his recently deceased father. There's clearly a lot of bad blood there, and it's really chilling to hear Em go as aggressive as this (even if it likely is deserved). Ty Dolla $ign shows up on the song "Favorite Bitch", he handles the chorus. And he's probably one of the weaker features. The way his vocals are mixed, it sounds him and Em were in different rooms when it was recorded. Em's parts aren't much better. He makes yet another joke about the Manchester bombing, time time going as far as to compare himself to it. Even the beat is kinda bland on this one. This is not one of the better tracks, in my opinion. The way it smoothly transitions into "Guns Blazing" is pretty nice, though. Let's talk about that one next, I guess. That one features the return of Sly Pyper (he actually gets a credit this time), and Dr. Dre also hops on it. Dre, of course, is the producer that helped make Eminem what he is, so it's nice to see him on this song. His verse is viscous, where he talks about his ex-wife and leaves all his dirty laundry out in the open. It makes for a good diss track, even if I'm not the biggest fan of publicizing personal issues. Eminem does the exact same thing, which is something I've come to expect at this point. I don't really care much for Sly's part here, though. Same goes for the refrain, it just doesn't blend well with the rest of the song. Then there's "These Demons", featuring MAJ. It's yet another "everyone who has genuine criticism is a hater" song, which is a very tired concept at this point. The second verse is great, though. He stands behind Colin Kaepernick, condemns the cops that killed George Floyd, slams the cops that are conducting police brutality again, all while having one of his cleanest flows on the while project. MAJ's vocals on the chorus are okay. Kinda forgettable, but not bad. I just finished listening to this song a few minutes ago and I already can't remember a single thing he said.
"Lock it Up", with Anderson .Paak, is another track I feel kinda indifferent about. .Paak takes the chorus and the first verse, and he does a pretty good job. His voice is nice, he sounds great against this beat, his vocal melody on the chorus is very catchy. It's Eminem that under-performs on this track. His flow isn't all too memorable, there aren't nearly as many notable one-liners (though i do like the "give me the Q like I'm ScHoolboy" bar), his vocal inflections sound lifeless and phoned in. Didn't really care too much for this one, unfortunately. And I feel the same about "No Regrets", which features Don Toliver. Eminem gives a much better showing on this one, and I love that he expresses genuine regret for calling Tyler the Creator a homophobic slur on Kamikaze, but it honestly doesn't do much for me apart from that. Don's verse was reportedly recorded like two days before the album launched, and boy does it feel like it. The beat isn't very memorable, either. Just another meh at best track, I'm afraid. And, of course, there's "Godzilla", featuring the late Juice WRLD. This track is great. The beat is super hype, Em's rhyme schemes and punchlines are top notch here, he tackles a wider variety of flow switches and they mostly all work, Juice's vocals on the chorus are great. It really, really sounds like he's saying the N word at one point, but one look at the lyrics will tell you that he isn't. And the outro is great. Em's fast rapping is really smooth, and his enunciations are surprisingly clear given the speed he's going at. It's arguably the most popular track off the album, and for a good reason. That's all for the title-credited features, so I'll talk about Em's solo tracks for a while. "Stepdad" is a mixed bag. On one hand, the chorus on this song is easily the worst one on the whole project. God, it's so cringy. "I-I HAAAAAATE MY-MY STEPDAAAAD!!!", like really? That's your big emotional hook? I can relate, but it honestly brings the song down. What he talks about in the verses is dark stuff, he obviously has some well-deserved resentment against his stepfather, and it;s a very healthy thing that he's venting it all out like this, but did you really have to pick this Blink-182 vocal line for the chorus? "Never Love Again" has a pretty interesting concept, a statement against his past drug usage under the guise of a typical love song. The beat is funky, the chorus isn't too bad this time, I like the vocal layering when Em sings, the laid back tone and flows are always appreciated, there's more solid rhyme schemes that Em usually has. This is a nice track. I like "Killer", too. The beat is a little bland, but I like the chorus quite a bit. There's an odd missed punchline here and there that kinda sours the track, but it's a fun listen all in all.
"Darkness" is the next one I wanna talk about, so here's a heads-up that the subject matter is pretty heavy. This is a song about a shooting that is written from the perspective from the shooter, specifically referencing Stephen Paddock and the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. It starts off feeling like another "artist has stage fright" song, but then it very sharply takes a turn into some of the darkest territory imaginable. That being said, he still manages to almost ruin everything with some corniness. The "double entendre" ad-lib, the John Travolta line, the Keyser Söze comparison. None of that was needed, and I don't understand why they were there. The rest of this song is very difficult to comment on, but I need to say that I think the "Sound of Silence" sample was perfect. The chorus is pretty nice, too. But the outro, with all the news samples, was extremely hard to listen to. That's not a complaint, by the way. That's exactly the way it should be. This isn't a very easy subject to talk about, which is why it's best to dive into it if you're going to. I can respect Eminem for doing that. I'm gonna move on now, before I get too sad. The song "Alfred's Theme" is a showcase of Eminem's lyrical ability more than anything else, and it does a fairly decent job of it. There's a good number of legitimately funny punchlines, but there's also a lot that just fall flat on their faces. And then there's "In Too Deep", which is a pretty cute "follow your heart" love story. The beat is nice, Em's flows are solid, and the chorus actually isn't bad. The verse-to-chorus transition that leads into the first verse is super sloppy, but that's ultimately a minuscule complaint. "Marsh" is another track I'm not too sure about. Firstly, the ad-libs are super annoying. They aren't a problem in any other song except for this one, which I think is odd. Secondly, I don't know if I love or absolutely despise the "ginger bread man" line, but I think I'm leaning more towards hatred. I gotta give credit to the ALF line, though, he needs to be name-checked in more songs. The song overall is okay. The flows are nice, the beat is decent, it's got more punchlines that most of the time land. It's alright. "She Loves Me" is a pretty harmless love song that sounds like it deals with love that stems only from material things. It does what it's supposed to nicely. I basically have the same thoughts about it that I did about "Marsh", to be honest. There isn't really much else to say. "Little Engine" starts with another Hitchcock sample, but then it continues and ends up being a pretty good song. I love the beat a whole lot, Em busts out a nice wide variety of different flows, the chorus is catchy. I enjoyed this one a bit. And that brings me to "Farewell". It isn't the last track of the album, but I felt it was fitting to close out this review my talking about it, mostly due to the title. I think it's pretty decent all things considered. It has another poorly-sung chorus, but the verses are nice. It kinda reminds me of "Never Love Again", except not as clever with it's concept. Just a straightforward "will they, won't they" song. Not bad, but not particularly memorable either.
And that is the end of it. "Alfred (Outro)" is just another Hitchcock sample track that ultimately adds nothing to the album, and I really don't think it's worth mentioning further than being named, so I am going to cut it off there. I apologize that this one was longer than the reviews usually are, but I had 36 tracks to get through. It wouldn't have been this long had I gotten the initial review out in January like I wanted to, but it's fine. It's here now, warts and all. And, speaking of warts, this album has a lot of them. I generally found myself enjoying the new sixteen tracks more so than I did the original twenty. Not to say that there weren't any hits out of those twenty, there definitely were, I just felt like the added Side B portion of the record was superior. I would've given the initial twenty a 6/10, and I think I'm feeling a 7/10 for the new sixteen, so I'm gonna meet myself halfway and say that Music to Be Murdered By, as a complete 36-track experience, is a 6.5/10. Yep, that's what I'm going with. Just deal with it, I don't really care. I just listened to 36 songs by the same artist in a row, my brain is friend and I need something to drink. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. You probably all stopped reading three paragraphs in, but it's okay. This album didn't turn me into a Eminem Stan by the way, I still very much think he's passed his prime. I hope all of you have a safe and easy rest of your day/night.
