For the first time when we experiment anything , we always opt for the ’’saccharine’’ stuff.To eloborate on the saccharine part , when I first started hearing english music my favourites were(even though I hate to admit it now) Elton John , Chris De Burgh , all lovey-dovey pop stuff and when I look back I scream myself to wonder how could I have ever digested it! Similarly talking of booze, I never know anyone who liked beer on the first go , but ask any newbie his first choice would be Smirnoff , but offer the same thing the chap a year down the line he would consider it to be a ladies drink !(Sorry no offense intended for ladies out there!)
Btw why am I talking about this in the context of this review? I believe Eminem in this release has sprinkled some ’’Saccharine’’ rap to attract the huge huge teen-boyband pop fans out there! For example consider his first single (video) release of ’’Without Me’’, which I just hate.I shrieked when I first heard it, how come Eminem is changing his musical genre? This particular song in my view is purely popish & does not fall in the category of either ’’pure’’ hip-hop or rap.(Dont go by the categorisations in the award ceremeonies like GRammy , they will even nominate Norah Jones for Best Female Pop Vocal along with the crazy chick Avril Lavigne , crazy ! Pop and Norah Jones, what is the connection ??)This song is more of a catch for pop fans to introduce into rap or hip-hop!The hook line ’’Na Na , na nana...’’ makes it feel more like some rhyme from Kylie’s record!Ofcourse this song has lot of rap etc , but the whole feel of this song right from the flowery cartoonish video to the flow of this particular song was mainly to cater to the commercial needs and can be never be categorised as hardcore rap or hip-hop! Infact the whole album in my view has more of this commerical tinge and has many soft-rap/hip-hop for eg :.consider songs like ’’My Dad’s Gone Crazy’’ , ’’Hailies Song’’ (I strongly believe this will be the next singles video release), ’’Superman’’ etc! Why I consider this to be a soft-rap by eminem’s standard is because, whenever you compare his earlier records he has colloborated with Dr Dre , D-12, Tupac etc the intensity of rapping can be considered to be very lukewarm here or syrupy.For example compare the 8 mile album it simply rocks when compared to Eminem Show !
Let me club both the albums(8 Mile and Eminem Show) in this review here .
Most of the songs in ’’Eminem show ’’ has lots of reference to his own life, family members like his parents, daughter and his ex and he digs most of his detractors or picks on those who had passed obnoxious comments on him in some tabloid interviews like Moby , N Sync (in the song ’’buisness’’ ) and ofcourse has political overtones with his lashing criticism on Bush(in Square Dance) and racism in song White America thereby ruffling many feathers and keeping the tag of controversy firmly attached to this name.
My favourite picks from this album is :
White America :I heard that this song is banned from music stations in US as anything racial is very senstive in that country and he is critical of his nations attitude towards him and also lashes out against the COngress!
Cleaning out my Closet: Wicked track , eventhough the lyrics are a bit disturbing and is more of a very personal song and maybe justifies his outrage against his upbringing and his vehement dislike for certain of his close family members and so on!
The Kiss: This song is based on his real life incident when he caught his Ex making up with some guy and eminem was jailed for sometime for threatning the guy with an empty gun!
Saying goodbye to Hollywood: About the secluded life that Fame brings along with it and how he misses he being himself because of all the sudden adulation and celebrity life!
Sing for the moment : Presently the new video of this song is aired on music channels and topping all the charts!There is a catchy hook from an Aerosmith song (’’Dream On’’)sung by Steve Tyler running all through the song and a guitar solo by Perry.A fabulous song!
Hallie’s song: If you ever want to hear a romantic number from Eminem then this is the one which he dedicates to his daughter Hallie and is a very very soft number by his standards.
The most outrageous song of the album:
Has to be ’’Drips ’’ .Figure out it for yourself!
Continuing with the soundtrack of the awesome ’’8 Mile’’, this is way brilliant compared to Eminem show and has some great hip-hop tracks.Some personal favourites from this album:
Loose yourself : Eminem is in his true serious rapping self in this record, brilliant track!Thats more like the whippy rapping I like !
Love Me by Eminem+Obie TRice+50 Cent: This number is quite different , has a very cool slow hip-hop , lots of rap and lots of variation in between.
8 Mile: The title track of the movie and this fabulous song had me hearing it over and over again for many many days !
Other tracks which grows over time are :
Time for my life by Macy Gray , Wanksta -50 cents ( another favourite), Spit shine by Xzibit , Rabbit Run by Eminem and Rap Game by D-12 !
YO!