Eminem’s fans face the fact his time at the top is up
When I was 10 years old, Mum confiscated my copy of Eminem’s compilation, Curtain Call: The Hits.
Her hardline call came after she heard the horrifically derogatory song Fack .Iwas outraged but life went on, and Marshall Mathers didn’t re-enter my mind a whole lot until my 18th birthday, when Dad wrapped up the CD and gave it back to me.
Like a time capsule for the late 1990s and early noughties, retrospect shows just how genredefining those songs were.
My Name Is, Sing For The Moment, Lose Yourself, Without Me, Cleanin’ Out My Closet. Hell, if you didn’t have some kind of emotional meltdown to Stan can you even call yourself human?
But the gift of time also shows how little Eminem’s music has changed, and one month after the rapper released his 10th studio album Kamikaze, it seems he’s lost his edge.
Not edge in terms of popularity or public interest, but edge with regard to putting out anything fresh and exciting.
By contrast, the artists of that era still holding our attention have been forced to diversify, and taken it in their stride.
Jay-Z is calmly riding the Dad-wave, Kanye is reinventing himself for the umpteenth time, and Lil Wayne spent four years taking stock, getting everything just right, and returning with a bang. Eminem is just angry.
Angry the music he was making in 2002 doesn’t hold the youth like it did, angry at journalists and critics for talking about that, and angry other white rappers have moved in on his territory. That anger used to be shown towards authorities, power structures and ‘‘the man’’; now, it’s directed at his haters, a theme that reads as insecure and desperate.
Technically, Eminem is one of the most talented rappers to walk the Earth, if not the most talented. But technical ability can only get you so far.
The other major player is context, something Eminem is increasingly losing his grip on with every passing album.
There are very clear gems hidden among the post-2009 records, but more often than not, those singles include a superstar pop vocalist to make it commercial-radio friendly, and his verses come off largely unmemorable.
On 2010’s Recovery there was Love The Way You Lie featuring Rihanna, and motivational, rising-from-the-ashes gym banger Not Afraid.
In 2013, The Marshall Mathers LP2 gave us another Rihanna hit, this time The Monster ,as well as Berzerk, a song that paid homage to his early releases but sounded hugely out of place on the airwaves.
Last year, on Revival, the biggest names in pop culture –
Ed Sheeran and Beyonce – delivered the album’s biggest hits. Two artists capable of turning anything to gold, the chart success is a no-brainer. Could you recite Eminem’s verses on River or Walk On Water? I’m guessing the answer is no.
It’s this general dislike for anything he’s released of late that is now finding itself in conflict with his status as a legacy artist. Setting the bar with his flow, his rhymes and his stage presence, it’s a position artists who came after are acutely aware of.
In a recent cover story with Vanity Fair, Kendrick Lamar credited a big chunk of his career to Eminem’s unrelenting talent.
‘‘Eminem is probably one of the best wordsmiths ever. There’s a whole list of why, but just bending words... The Marshall Mathers LP changed my life.’’
A widely accepted fact, it seems Eminem is the only one refusing to accept that the Marshall Mathers golden era is the one that sells tickets.
An earnest position to take, the anger expressed on Kamikaze does also show a softening to the kid who built a name for himself not caring about anything.
In recent weeks he’s apologised to Elton John for calling Tyler The Creator a fa….. on diss track Fall, empathised with those Trump did a fast one on (‘‘I empathise with the people this evil serpent sold the dream to that he’s deserted’’), and is refusing to accept that his time at the top might be up.
But while many of us have no choice but to adapt over time, in our jobs and in our personal lives, Eminem has chosen to be the stubborn old man, set in his ways, still insisting fax machines are an efficient means of communication.
Until he makes radical changes to the style of his music, he’ll be left relying on pop features to stop him slipping into the world he’s trying so hard not to fall into – that of the nostalgia artist, wanted for their hits and nothing else.
When Mathers plays Westpac Stadium next year, fans can rest assured they’ll leave having received more than their money’s worth.
He’ll cover the back-catalogue from start to finish and wouldn’t dare not perform the hits.
Just don’t be surprised when the Kamikaze deep cuts drop in and the concert hits a lull. Love it or hate it, get schooled on it now. If only to boast you are, in fact, the greatest Eminem stan of them all.
If you didn’t have some kind of emotional meltdown to Stan can you even call yourself human?