So, towards the beginning of last year, Eminem gave us one of his most tolerable albums in years, Music to Be Murdered By. It was a bit all over the place, and there were some serious duds on it, but for the most part I thought it was okay. On December 18th last year, he decided to give us this “Side B” to the album, which is kinda bullshit to be honest. He definitely recorded these new songs after the original album was already done. Anyway, the reason I didn’t write about Side B until now is because this project got a lot of negative reception. Obviously it’s not as hated as Revival, but still. I just didn’t feel like listening to more bad Eminem music at the time of this project’s release. It does bother me that my Eminem Marathon doesn’t include this project though, so that’s why I’m getting it out of the way now.
This shit is not good. There’s only one song that I actually like, so I’ll write about that before getting into why I think this project is so terrible. The one song that I think is actually pretty good is the closing track, Discombobulated. I wish I knew what was different when Eminem recorded this song. Why did this one track turn out so much better than the rest of the album? What went right? Seriously, if you have an idea let me know because I’m confused as shit. First of all, this track has like one of two good instrumentals on the whole project. I seriously don’t get how people can call Nas the worst beat picker of all time when an album like this exists. I’m getting ahead of myself. Discombobulated has like 300 producers credited, so maybe that’s why the beat is so much better than the others. It has placements from Dr. Dre, S1, Mark Batson, Dawaun Parker, LoneStarrMuzik, Trevor Lawrence Jr., and franO. Sonically, it actually sounds like something from Relapse. I thought Relapse was pretty bad, but compared to this it might as well be Illmatic. Okay, maybe that’s a bit harsh. Still though, Relapse was a lot better overall. Anyway, I think another reason that I may like Discombobulated so much more than the others is the content. Eminem isn’t whining about cancel culture, the current state of Hip Hop, his inability to maintain a stable relationship, or anything like that. The content is a bit more autobiographical here, at least in the first verse. I love how he referenced Eye-Kyu. I always wondered what happened to that guy. I think Eye-Kyu is a pretty cool stage name. Anyway, the sung hook on this song isn’t particularly good, but I can stomach it. I really like the way the beat switches up for verse two. I think the diss to Ja Rule was pretty funny too.
Just flew the coop, the cops are in hot pursuit
But the day they catch me is the day 50'll call a truce
And quash the feud with him and Ja and Ja'll actually spit a bar
That's not from a Dr. Seuss book and they'll start a group
I thought the Posdnuos double entendre punchline was a little corny, but it wasn’t bad enough to ruin the verse. However, the “I was you / au jus” double entendre was a lot doper to me. The final verse of this track is pretty nonsensical, but the rhymes are on point. That’s the one thing that Eminem pretty much can’t fail at. He’s always gonna jam as many rhymes as possible into each bar, for better or worse. Anyway, overall I think it’s a pretty good song, and easily the most tolerable track on the project. Well, I kinda lied when I said that that was the only track I liked. I still think the Alfred skits are pretty cool. However, aside from that, the rest of this album is trash. It starts off with Black Magic, which is the same kinda Poppy collaboration with Skylar Grey that was all over MMLP2. The production is generic mainstream bullshit. I don’t think the song is that bad though. I mean, it’s pretty wack, but it’s just not for me. I never liked these kinda Poppy songs that Em always went for around the Recovery era. The content doesn’t interest me at all either. These songs about Em’s unstable, toxic relationships are just kinda lame to me. I don’t give a fuck about Eminem’s love life. I don’t even think this is based on his own love life. It’s just some made up bullshit if I’m not mistaken. Overall, I think the song is fine for what it is. However, I don’t like what it is, so it’s wack to me. The following track, Alfred’s Theme, is even worse. What in FUCK’s name is this production, man? I think it’s funny that Em completely produced this track all by himself, and it ended up being one of the worst instrumentals on the project. It sounds like a fucking audible circus-freak. This is the kind of instrumental that I would expect the Insane Clown Posse to use. I’m not the biggest fan of Eminem’s production personally, but I know he can do better than this. The dude just has a really odd taste in music. I can’t believe shit like this sounds good to him. It’s like if somebody tried to make a Poppy, more polished version of the beat to EAST by Earl Sweatshirt. The rapping from Em is just painful on all fronts. I want Eminem to be good so bad, but there are just so many corny bars in here. It’s really indefensible.
Went from punchin' a time clock to getting my shot
Then treated it like a cyclops
Like it's the only one I got
I don’t even feel the need to quote the shitty lines because my friend David Rowe made a whole video in which he highlights the wackest bars. If you’re familiar with Em’s writing style, you probably can imagine what the lines are like. I think Alfred’s Theme is terrible, but what’s even worse is the following track, Tone Deaf.
This is the worst song on the album solely due to the introductory line. This man really said… I can’t even bring myself to type this shit out…
I have an ear infucktion, and I cunt finger it out
Come on, man. Come on. Y’all are killin’ me here. I’m really sitting here wondering why I’m even covering this. Y’all know I don’t like this shit. This review is unnecessary because it shouldn’t be a surprise that I don’t fuck with this shit at all. I’m offended by how bad this shit is. Tone Deaf is fucking dogshit. Book of Rhymes is another super disappointing moment just because I thought we were gonna hear Eminem over a DJ Premier beat. That’s not what we got though. This man really just got DJ Premier to put some scratches on his song. As if that’s the best thing DJ Premier can offer. Fuck off. I’m not gonna discuss every single track because this album doesn’t really deserve that much of my attention. I’d much rather discuss music that I actually enjoy. Anyway, the only moment on this album that I think is arguably worse than Tone Deaf is the Key skit. This track gave me flashbacks to Encore. It really reminded me of Ass Like That. Basically, Eminem is doing a Peewee Herman impression and singing really horribly. What is the point of this shit? Why is he wasting my fucking time with this bullshit? Fuck outta here with this dumb ass shit, man. This is horribly annoying to listen to. What in fuck’s name was he thinking? The man is nearly 50 years old. It’s hard to imagine him in the studio for that session. How is he not embarrassed? Jesus… Alright, I think that’s pretty much everything I have to say. There are zero good beats on any of the tracks aside from Discombobulated. Well, I thought These Demons was just tolerable enough to be considered mediocre. Same goes for Gnat. One more of the shittiest songs on the album that I wanna mention real quick is Favorite Bitch. This track is disgusting. I never wanna hear Eminem work with someone like Ty$ ever again if it’s gonna sound like this. I get what they were trying to do, but the concept just made it feel like a Hopsin song. I think it’s wack af.
This album is fucking terrible. Em at the very most should’ve put like three of these songs onto the original album as bonus tracks, but 16 new tracks is just too much, especially since almost none of them are worth returning to. Eminem sounds like a parody of himself on this album. I think this is his second worst album, right behind Revival. I want him to put out a good album, but I frankly don’t think he has it in him anymore. These weak ass similes and unbearably cringy punchlines are tearing his legacy apart. Hopefully he can bounce back in the future, but my expectations will remain low. This shit is wack af.
Favorite Song: Discombobulated
Least Favorite Song: Tone Deaf
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Watch the videos below for more thoughts on this album.
Focus Hip Hop 