I own both albums and have listened to them at least 10 times in a wide variety of settings (which is the case for pretty much all of the 500-plus CDs I own). Relapse was better than Recovery. Neither was good.

"30 Something" to me is one of the laziest songs Jay Z has ever recorded, but I am 20-something. So maybe that will change.

lol. youngins

you still my boy though @Certain Serpent

I mean do you get the subject matter? I was mid 20s when it dropped ... he basically telling young dudes to take his spot so he can stop doing it ... kings need to be uncrowned and nk one can do it ... jay won't leave until the gsmes in the shape he found it in ... you don't walk away from your hurt child you nurse him back to health and then sit back and watch him grow ... def not a lazy song ... he's telling young dudes how to live right and how to mature quick and contend for his spot

I do get the subject matter. I just didn't think his rap was particularly inspired. He was flowing the way he does on most of his guest spots, not putting his all into it. The subject matter was driving that. He was saying, I'm already the best. I sealed that with The Black Album. I don't need to go any further. I can be lazy now and sit in my beach chair and let that guy from Coldplay sing a shitty hook.

different tastes and opinions I guess ... I thought jay was on point the whole album and I even stated if I'd move one track it be beach chair not cause the songs terrible but because it doesn't really fit in its placement on the track listing ... to this day its his releast cd so real up until final pressing he was gonna drop it under his government name but last minute switched it back and I forget why

berserk, low quality ass rip.

http://www.audiomack.com/song/fashionably-early/berzerk


hmm

interesting, this is his single im guessing? i think the album is gonna be nuts, if this is a taste of whats to come from it... you can probably expect some illness for sure. id put this up there with his real slim shady and without me style of tracks.

idk what is worse

gow dickriding budden to death, frank metts acting like it's okay to spit subpar shit cause that's "Evolution" or genocide copying and pasting the same response to show his inner-Stan

That's the thing your looking for rap and mind blowing punchlines and metaphor snd wordplay ... its naturally for someone who reads text

The evolution is that these cats are making good overall music now, not just rap ... jay z is appealing to someone who might not like rap that much same with em

Your not gonns catch a kid wearing a cold play t shirt having a fabolous or nas cd in his arsenal but bet he has some em and jay z and maybe even some kanye

The evolution is making music for the masses ... not just for the hard core rap fan

Rock doesnt have all the complex material rap has but real good artist constantly make music that will last ... that gets played for decades

Rap songs last what a year .. very rarely does an artist make something that's timeless ... and usually its the same artists making those songs but you csn sprinkle the occassional one hit wonder in their


Music is a business and jay and em understand it ... hell even nelly understood it but tried to move to acting and hasn't really regained focus

Em makes music ... joe budden makes some music ... jay makes music ... kanye makes msuic ... even drake makes some music... 95% of the game just raps

Music is not a business. A business has been built around music. The business side of things have inspired some broad and universally appealing songs, but it's not true to the craft or the music. When musicians begin making music for universal appeal they become pop artists. It's a bad word, but it's really just a label for someone making music a wide audience can enjoy. Nothing at all wrong with that. It's upsetting, though, when a musician who is so aware of the craft and core of the music he's making ignores 'true' fans to appeal to the masses. Eminem is making music now. He's the soundtrack for sporting events, movie trailers and video games. His problem is that he's still trying to do both. For him personally, it's cool, but it comes off as him trying to be something he isn't anymore. Hip Hop is weird, because it's so new. I don't think people know how to judge aging rappers.

Music is a business to those who understand it

If music wasn't a business then artist wouldn't sign contracts, a & rs wouldn't exist and they wouldn't call labels record companies

Music is also an expression of art .. millions of people make music but few have the ability to realise or get to the point to see the business side

Any artist that gets heavy radio play can land on the pop chart ... pop is short for popular

Music also has categories and sub categories and then those have sub categories and so on

Music to some is a simple as grabbing a beat from uhoh and spitting some words to a track or playing a guitar riff

Music as a business is promotion, marketing, getting those songs in commercials or video games trademarking your name starting a clothing line open your own label all started with the BUSINESS known as the music industry

I think dull meant it started as an expression of art and became a business.

I'm cool with people who do it purely for business as long as they don't try to pretend otherwise, I haven't felt like Em has been all about business at any point in his career and still don't but you can definitely see he is making a visible and conscious effort to appeal to a wider audience...which is cool, I just hope for someone who has always been about the art that it doesn't change him for the worse, I'm gonna reserve judgement on that until I hear the new album....I haven't disliked an Em album to date, but honestly wasn't feeling the small snippet of a preview from his new album's single.

the funny part is you said that from kendrick lamars lap

Dead at the accuracy of this

Did you at least tell kendrick what you wanted for christmas?

Gone @ inner stan.
Ur a funny guy, congratulations death.

@Genocide they just wasn't around for the original magic ... they prob first heard older em was better on s message board and now that is their opinion .. end of story

Em said it best himself

Every CD critics gave it a 3, then 3Years later, they'd go back and re-rate it
And call the Slim Shady LP the greatest
The Marshall Mathers was a classic
The Eminem Show was fantastic
But Encore just didn't have the caliber to match it
I guess enough time just ain't passed, yet
A couple more years, that shit'll be ill-matic
And eight years later, I'm still at it

Now this isn't taken in a literal sense he mean he never gets his due when its due... people want to go by the consensus and say his music was and is subpar when critics were just scared to say they liked sn album that has some of the subject matter he has

Then after he sells 10 mill they say fuck it ten million heads can't be wrong

But he has even poked fun at himself for some of the subject matter and songs on encore snd relapse but at the end of the day their are grammys on his shelf for best rap album so it couldn't of been that bad

When Em' first came out he projected himself as someone who would judge himself based off of what other lyricists and rappers he respected thought of him. No one worth a fuck thinks Encore was good. Relapse and Recovery received Grammy's, and I liked both albums despite their flaws, but to say the Grammy's give them legitimacy is like saying that (whoever won American Idol) is good because they won American Idol. Yea, I'm old, and yea, I was one of those elitist underground types in the late '90s. No one can argue that mainstream and independent genres haven't blended, but Eminem came out of the underground scene and it's what made him good, imo. I think 50 Cent sucks. Never have liked him. When Eminem signed him I cringed. (I love you like a fat kid loves cake) There were tons of good rappers he could have signed, but he signed 50 Cent. It showed what kind of taste he had, and what he was trying to do with his label. He hasn't put out a good record in over a decade (The Eminem Show), and that one was a lot less gritty than his previous two. The Eminem Show saw Eminem go from being raw to being more typical and 'gangster'. He went from serial killer, to packing guns. His persona changed. I'm not saying it wasn't dope, but there was an obvious shift for him style wise, even in his personality. Then he had those seriously thug years where he put out his Benzino disses and acted like an offshoot of his previous persona. His beats became less dark. Then he drops Encore. His style is fucking weird. He reminds me of Michael Jackson at this point. All closed off in his big house with his money and yes men. Eminem is a mimic. Growing up the way he did, you kind of have to be. Most people are, he's just a little better at it. Infinite was nothing like SSEP. His rhyming ability has always been there, but over the years his style has been all over the place, and that's whatever. Technically, he's still amazing, so he'll always SOUND good, but I don't think he has a good grasp on what's dope anymore. He's old and out of touch. Tastes have changed.

leaned

I agree with most of what you said dull but I do think you're giving a little too much credit for ems self analysis and awareness.

Eminem show was great. Haven't been bothered to relisten to anything else's he's dropped since after the first listen

Devil's Night was dope. I also liked 8 mile and a couple tracks off the re-up.. Also refill was dope minus that faggot drake/Wayne track..