Eminem
Report Card
Quick Background:
Marshall Mathers, Eminem or Slim Shady has been one of — if not — the most famous rappers to ever walk the planet and grab a microphone. Originally releasing his debut album, Infinite, in 1996; it wouldn’t be until his second and major label debut where everything took off for the Detroit rapper. Signing to Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment, Eminem released his debut single “My Name Is” and took both the Hip-Hop and Pop world by storm. His first album under the label, The Slim Shady LP, was a critical and commercial success. Commercial success is what would be a regular thing for Eminem, as he is the highest selling rapper of all time and the difference between him and second place isn’t even close. Known for his rhyme schemes and aggressive delivery, Eminem is regarded by many as one of the greatest MCs of all time, whilst many others view him as the greatest period. Today, I will be conducting a brand new report card on the Detroit MC and it’s safe to say I will be upsetting many Eminem fans.
Penmanship — 8.5 :
Lyricism, storytelling or song writing, Eminem has shown his talents with all three. If you want straight lyricism you can go to tracks such as “Who Knew” and “Square Dance” or if you want storytelling you can go for tracks such as “Stan” and “Deja Vu”. Eminem has created countless hit singles that are immensely catchy, whilst still showcasing his lyrical ability within his verses. Unfortunately not all of it hits well, especially certain records that he has made in the last 10 to 15 years. Tracks such as “Just Lost It” and “The Monster” featuring Rihanna, are successful singles but are also some of Eminem’s worst singles at the same time. Not to mention he does have his fare share of cringe worthy bars, even if they consist of many words rhyming together. You can hear many of them on Eminem’s 2017 album, Revival.
That being said, the good outweighs the bad and in his earlier years Eminem was a beast with the pen. Records such as “Just Don’t Give a F**k” and the already mentioned “Who Knew” are some of Eminem’s best work. Additionally, “Stan” his single from his third studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP is one of the best storytelling Hip-Hop songs of all time.
Flow — 7 :
In recent years, Em’s choices with his flow has been questionable to say the least. Before, he had one of the best flows in comparison to many other rappers. He was able to be both slow and fast for when the time was right, and simply he churned out the right flow for the beat and the type of song. Nowadays however, he has adopted an aggressive robotic flow and won’t steer away from it. Unlike how he used to match his flow with the type of beat he was rapping over, now it seems as if he doesn’t care what the beat is. No matter what, you will receive that robotic delivery, and this has brought his score down.
Delivery — 7 :
Mirroring the sentiments with his flow, Eminem’s delivery nowadays can be unbearable. His delivery during his peak years, which would be during his first three albums under Aftermath, are completely different to what it is now. His delivery on “The Way I Am” is a perfect example of it at its best, especially how he effortlessly glides over the bars “I sit back with this pack of zig zags”, where as now that delivery is nowhere to be found. It’s as if he is two different rappers. Evolution is good, however instead of improving or going in a good direction, delivery wise Eminem has completely deteriorated.
Beat Selection — 3 :
Production is so important for the creation of music, and to some it’s more important than the lyrics. You can lay down one of the greatest verses of all time, but if it’s rapped over a terrible beat many won’t give you the time of day. Artists from the likes of Jay-Z and Rick Ross are great examples of great beat selectors. They choose the right beat that goes with their style, voice and the particular content that they are rapping about. Nas who is one of the greatest rappers of all time, has been consistently criticised for his beat selection. In my opinion, I would disagree as for the most part I’ve always enjoyed the production on Nas’ albums. If there is a rapper who has a terrible track record of choosing beats for the high calibre of an MC that he is, that would be Eminem.
There aren’t many times where I’ve listened to an Eminem album and thought “wow I really went crazy for the production on this album”. Even with his best albums and having Dr. Dre production, the beats never really stand out. With his recent albums the production has been one of the biggest let downs, except for one. Kamikaze which was released a year after Eminem’s disastrous Revival album features production from the likes of Boi-1da, Mike Will Made-It and Tay Keith. Some of the album’s songs consist of the best production Eminem has rapped on in years. He sounds great over the Trap and 808 inspired production. I wish this would be more of the case, but instead it seems Eminem doesn’t care about the beats he raps over. Additionally, he likes to rap over production he made himself and he’s not a great producer or beat maker.
Versatility — 7 :
Eminem has shown versatility in different ways throughout his career. In the early years we saw Eminem switch up his delivery and flow, to which we have mentioned previously has not been the case in recent years. However, he has become more open with his choice of features, whether that’s on his own albums or if he’s featured on someone else’s project. Before it seemed as if Eminem was much more selective with who he collaborated with, however by the turn of the 2010s that started to change. In terms of his content and subject matter, it’s shown some versatility to a degree. For the most part of his career, Eminem is known for his dark humour and witty lines rapping about his hatred for his wife, mother and would regularly poke fun at other celebrities. However there have been instances where he has stopped from doing that and rapped about real subject matters, whether it’s about his personal struggles, political stances or story telling tracks such as “Stan”.
Originality — 9 :
Is Eminem influenced by the likes of Redman, of course. Was his earlier work inspired by the horrorcore genre, that was introduced by the likes of Three 6 Mafia, yes. However, that shouldn’t take away from the fact that he came into the game not sounding like anyone else and was able to grab people’s attention. When he introduced himself to the world with “My Name Is”, both the song and music video were both unique and different in 1999. He has a history of being clever and witty with his lines and verses in ways other MCs haven't been.
Whether it has always worked out or not, Eminem tends to always stay in his lane and not hop on trends. He continues to rap how he wants to and doesn’t shift, because of this you have to give him respect even if you criticise his catalogue in recent years.
StoryTelling — 7.5 :
I’m sure many would view my score as still harsh, even though it’s high. Many would consider Eminem to be a top tier story teller and will point towards “Stan” as an example of this. Firstly, “Stan” is a phenomenal single and one of the best singles in Eminem’s catalogue. But “Stan” is arguably the only song in his catalogue that includes that level of story telling. Other tracks such as “Deja Vu”, “Yellow Brick Road” and “97 Bonne & Clyde” are all good and respectable tracks, but I don’t think they are evidence for Eminem to receive a higher score. Other rappers from the likes of Nas, Ghostface Killah and Andre 3000 have made phenomenal storytelling rap songs on a consistent basis. Saying all this, a 7.5 is still a high and respectable score, however I know Eminem stans will be expecting a straight 10.
Catalogue — 6.5 :
Coming out in 1996 with Infinite, to which many don’t count but it still does, Eminem still didn’t truly find himself as an artist. When you listen to the album it’s as if he’s doing his best to sound like Nas or AZ. It’s similar to what Miilkbone was doing around the same time in the mid-1990s, for example with his most memorable underground single “Keep It Real”, which funnily enough samples AZ from his feature on Nas’ 1994 classic single “Life’s A Bi*tch. Infinite as a whole is a mixed bag and besides the title track isn’t worth revisiting after your first listen. After signing with Dr. Dre and making his mark with his single “My Name Is”, Eminem would go on a fantastic and legendary three-album run. The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show are by far his best projects. The general consensus is that his sophomore album The Marshall Mathers LP is his best project. Though a good album, his debut and The Eminem Show are more cohesive and consist of a higher quantity of great tracks.
Encore which is Eminem’s fifth studio LP was a literal halt on the fantastic run that he was on. Encore in retrospect twenty years on from its release isn’t Eminem’s worst album, but in 2004 it certainly was. It lacked the focus of the previous three releases and it’s all over the place. Though it has bright spots, the album is stained with unfunny and cringe worthy tracks such as “Puke”, “A** Like That” and the first single “Just Lose It”. Released during the height of his addictions and having tracks initially leaked, it can bring some clarity as to why the album turned out how it did. After a long five year hiatus, Eminem was back with Relapse and it’s a polarising album to say the least. There are those who defend the album and view it as one of his best, whilst there are others - including Eminem himself - who can’t stand it. As a whole, Relapse is a good project and it consists of some great tracks such as “3 a.m.”, “Beautiful” and the already mentioned “Deja Vu”. Additionally, though I have criticised his production choices, Relapse is positively the most consistent production wise in Eminem’s catalogue.
From 2010 onwards, his discography has been incredibly disappointing. Since the turn of the 2010s, we’ve received five solo albums and only two have been good. The other three are easily Eminem’s worst albums in his whole career. The two that are good are Recovery and Kamikaze. With the former, it comes across as Eminem’s real first attempt at trying to target the Pop charts. Singles such as “Not Afraid”, “Space Bound” and “Love The Way You Lie” are the most accessible tracks Eminem has ever made. Recovery is a good album and that’s mostly because of the first half of the album and couple tracks from the second half. Kamikaze was a response album to the negative reviews he received on his previous effort, Revival. Kamikaze was a much better output and is Eminem’s best album since The Eminem Show. Filled with fresh production and better rapping.
The three that I mentioned that are his worst albums by far are 2013’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2, 2017’s Revival and 2020’s Music To Be Murdered By. The Marshall Mathers LP 2 and Music To Be Murdered By suffer from the same thing, that being terrible production, awful choruses, and multiple bad performances from both Eminem and multiple features. Revival suffers from the same flaws also, but on a much larger scale. Previously sharing personal views of the state of America and showcasing his political stance, on records such as “White America” and “Mosh”, Eminem took a further leap by creating a whole project that’s dedicated to those topics. Revival is suppose to be viewed as Eminem’s most mature and most serious album, and that would be respected if it wasn’t filled with some of the worst songs he’s ever made. Tracks such as “Untouchable”, “Heat” and “Bad Husband” made Revival an excruciating listen for both fans and critics. Additionally, it’s also hard to view the album as a mature project because it’s filled with so many bad bars by not just Eminem’s standards, but just general rapping standards. Comparing Encore to the three albums mentioned above, Encore was bad by Eminem’s standards in 2004, but the three mentioned above are just bad projects in general.
With all this being said, Eminem’s discography as a whole has suffered a lot in the last decade. His catalogue is now a mixture of some classics, some good, some okay and some awful albums, because of this it has somewhat stained his legacy as a musical artist.
Top 3 Projects
Impact — 10 :
The impact that Eminem has had on Hip-Hop is immense. From a commercial perspective, he changed the perception of white rappers within Hip-Hop and is credited for white rappers gaining acceptance within the genre. Prior to Eminem there were acts such as the Beastie Boys, plus MC Serch and Pete Nice from 3rd Bass, both groups being respected acts within the genre. However with the introduction of Vanilla Ice in the summer of 1990, it was the start of the destruction of the perception of white rappers. A clear clone of MC Hammer, who also garnered high levels of success earlier in the same year, Vanilla Ice was criticised by the Hip-Hop community for being a novelty act, a manufactured success, and with his commercial success he was cheered on by the same people who shunned Hip-Hop. His reign at the top wasn’t for long, as his lack of credibility didn’t help and people in general just moved on. However this short run would have a massive impact and it wouldn’t be until Eminem’s introduction were white rappers would finally regain some form of credibility in the mainstream world. I say the mainstream world, because El-P who also came out in the late 1990s, is arguably just as influential as Eminem in the underground world.
Unlike Vanilla Ice, Eminem was not only much more talented but he also had the co-sign of Dr. Dre, the most famous and respected producer within Hip-Hop. Since then Eminem has become the highest selling rapper of all time and opened the door for future white rappers to make a career for themselves. In addition, just like Vanilla Ice he introduced and brought Hip-Hop to many people who never listened to it before. All of this does sound positive, but it has also brought it’s fair share of negatives too. Eminem has never attempted to harm Hip-Hop, he has clearly shown respect to those who paved the way and shows respect to the craft of being an MC. However, being a highly successful white rapper who is considered the greatest of all time by individuals, that will raise a few eyebrows to say the least.
“Let’s do the math, If I was Black I would’ve sold half, I ain’t have to graduate from Lincoln High School to know that”
As mentioned previously Eminem brought Hip-Hop to an audience that never heard it before, that could be viewed as a positive thing. Some will be bothered by the notion though, because you could make the case it means people didn’t listen to or care for Hip-Hop until a white rapper did it well. To a degree this did happen, as there are many out there that have uttered the words, “I don’t like Hip-Hop, but I like Eminem”. Many will look at Eminem’s success commercially and will place emphasis that it’s one of the factors as to why he’s the greatest, then again even Eminem admitted that his skin colour has helped with his sales.
Many great artists from the likes of Tyler, the Creator and Kendrick Lamar, have credited Eminem as an influence and I’ve mentioned that he opened the door for other white rappers to make a name for themselves. On the other hand, these names include the likes of Logic, Post Malone and Tom MacDonald. Rappers who are despised and not respected within Hip-Hop, especially Post Malone and Tom MacDonald. Post Malone has been accused of using Hip-Hop to make a name for himself and when he did he disregarded the genre and criticised it. Whilst, Tom MacDonald is essentially a right-wing MAGA hat wearing rapper. Is it Eminem’s personal fault that these rappers came out after him, no. However, it is his impact that has allowed for these artists to make Hip-Hop music, and in the case of Malone and MacDonald negatively profit from it.
Eminem’s impact is divisive, difficult to digest and accept by many people, mostly his fanbase. It’s hard to tell if his impact was either more positive or more negative. Yet, his impact is evident and huge to say the least. I will end this section, by mentioning that there is a positive aspect of Eminem’s impact that isn’t mentioned enough. Without Eminem, who knows where Dr. Dre and Aftermath Entertainment would have ended up. After leaving Death Row Records, many were counting out Dr. Dre after unsuccessful projects such as Dr. Dre Presents: The Aftermath and The Firm’s only studio album, The Album. With the success of Eminem and The Slim Shady LP, it helped Dr. Dre’s career and Aftermath as a label, leading to the signings of Kendrick Lamar, The Game and 50 Cent. Without Eminem, that may not have happened.
Total — 65.5 :
Of course Eminem's die hard fanbase will be raging and will want my head on a stick for not giving him a much higher score. Then again, Eminem arguably has one of the most obnoxious fanbases and will fight for him no matter what.
In recent times, Eminem has received heavy amounts of criticism and a lot of it can be valid, but some of it has also been ludicrous. Comments such as “Eminem was never good for his whole career” are just lies and these people are jumping on a “hate Eminem” bandwagon. To summarise my score and grade, simply Eminem is really good at one thing which is rapping, but has been in a downward trajectory with something else, which is making music. There's a difference. From a skill, lyricism and MCing perspective Eminem is without a doubt one of the greatest of all time. In a cypher with other great MCs there is a high chance that he will standout and compete well with the rest. However, just rapping on a microphone isn't the only thing that a rapper is graded on. Other factors include beat selection, your catalogue to song writing. Essentially, the factors involved with making music. This is what effects Eminem's score. Whilst he has great lyricism and wordplay, as a musical artist Eminem has been in a steep decline for quite sometime. Nowadays it seems that he places a much bigger prioritisation on just his lyrics, and everything else such as choosing good beats, good features to creating great choruses isn't important to him anymore. This is reflected with many of his albums in the last decade.
For those who adamantly believe Eminem is the best of all time, they are either stans or are people who put more of an emphasis on Eminem’ s prime and don’t fairly look at his career holistically. To call him the greatest of all time is unfair to those who are just as good as he is rapping wise and have been more consistent as musical artists. At the same time, those who say he is completely trash and that he was never good at all are just lying to themselves, and as said previously jumping on a bandwagon to hate on Eminem in an unfair manner. Essentially that’s what happens nowadays, firstly people will draw up fair criticism and then afterwards the whole discourse and conversation will become ludicrous as more people join in overtime.
In the most fair conclusion, Eminem is still one of the greatest of all time. There are other MCs who have put out less great work or don't have classic albums at all, and are considered one of the greatest to ever do it, so it would be completely unfair to take that title away from Eminem. Essentially, he has just fallen down the pecking order, but maybe if he goes on a run of great albums in the future then he can climb back up. Perhaps if Eminem could get in the studio with just one producer, and did a run like Nas and Hit-Boy then I am sure he can be reinvigorated as a musician. My choice would be either The Alchemist or Boi-1da. The Alchemist has been on an incredible run these last few years and has produced phenomenal work with a whole host of various rappers. Boi-1da has produced great records for Eminem previously, and if Eminem wants to go for a more mainstream sound then Boi-1da could work well with him.