Have you heard Eminem’s new album – Kamikaze? His last album seemed to signal that he was heading in a bit of a different direction than his typical confrontational self. But now that we’ve heard Kamikaze, it makes me wonder. That statement isn’t necessarily a criticism. Revival was about taking a stand in relation to the politics that we’re dealing with in the United States right now. His previous album before Revival was about atoning for his sins. So I was definitely a bit shocked when Kamikaze dropped, as Eminem seems to be going back to his roots.
None of this is a criticism, truth be told. Eminem has a way of firing off some pretty heated lyrics in a way that I would argue, few others can. But when I say we’re seeing more of the old Eminem, take this lyric for example. In the song “Fall”, he states “Don’t tell me about the culture. I inspired the Hopsins, the Logics, the Coles, the Seans, the K-Dots, the 5’9s, and, oh, brought the world 50 Cent.” He’s not wrong, but he is kind of boasting his own abilities. Some might even label him the GOAT.
Eminem returning to his roots, like I said, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I would argue that it’s who he is, so why not go back to what you’re good at. While I loved The Marshall Mathers LP 2, it felt a bit introspective. This one doesn’t. In this album, Eminem is saying that he can’t be beaten. Further, his sometimes goofy lyrics demonstrate that hip-hop, in many ways, is getting stale and it’s changing a lot. Kamikaze is a bit catty, but in a good way, since it brings Eminem back to his early days where he wrote a diss track about his own mother.
Today’s hip-hop, as I said, isn’t what it used to be. Eminem takes no prisoners when it comes to the “Lil’s” – Lil Xan, Lil Pump. He even seemingly rips Lil Yachty a new one. What’s funny about this album, but not surprising is that Eminem gives a big shout out to Kathy Griffin. Why? Well, she might dislike Donald Trump even more than Eminem does, although that’s debatable.
That said, Eminem is known for being a bit of a misogynist. What we don’t see in this album is him coming to this realization on his own. Sure, there’s undertones of the fact that maybe he coming around to that fact and understanding that the types of relationships he engages in aren’t exactly healthy, but he’s not quite there yet.
My favorite part of the album is when he spits the verse “What I’ll never be is flawless… all I’ll ever be is honest”. And I think that’s all we can ask of him or anyone for that matter. I personally like this side of Eminem. I like the fact that he goes after people and calls them out on their garbage in a way that is also entertaining. Sure, there are times when innocent people become victims of his rants (Khloe Kardashian), and I’m not necessarily on board with that, but this album does take us back to Eminem’s roots. This album shows us that he hasn’t gone anywhere, and even LeBron thinks its great. What more could you ask for?