Editor’s be aware: The next article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the creator’s personal. Learn extra opinions on theGrio.
I really feel like I’m experiencing deja vu. I suppose that’s the purpose, although, of Eminem’s new single “Houdini,” the place the now 51-year-old digs proper again into his 2002-era bag for a tune that within the 13 hours it’s been stay has amassed nearly seven million views on YouTube. Eminem is … again.
With frequent collaborator Dr. Dre in tow, Eminem does that factor that he used to do when he’d drop a brand new single purely supposed to drum up controversy; he takes photographs at pop stars (extra on this later), talks about how of us can’t stand him and incessantly tries to push the envelope of simply how inappropriate he will be whereas offering some kind of social commentary about his place on the earth.
All that was cool again in 2002 when Eminem did have a goal on his again. Again then, Eminem was incessantly used for instance of how music can lead folks, particularly “the youth,” astray. It’s for that motive that his very uneven album, 2000’s “The Marshall Mathers LP,” is commonly thought of a basic album — the great songs actually shined a lightweight on simply how ridiculous society’s penchant for trying to blame artwork for parental and private deficiencies.
It’s not 2000. Eminem may nonetheless garner consideration, and he’s nonetheless fairly clearly a really gifted wordsmith and goes to maneuver items, however Eminem is now not a boogeyman; Eminem was all the time greatest when his again was towards the wall. Eminem and Ice Dice shared this identical trait — the extra folks appeared to hate them, the higher their artwork.
Eminem’s artwork stopped being universally worthy of be aware years in the past (sooner or later, even his most ardent detractors stopped being attentive to him and moved on), however that just about doesn’t matter. Eminem has such an enormous fan base that even unhealthy Eminem releases prime the pop charts upon their launch. Eminem is a infamous studio rat and has launched a minimum of 10 commercially profitable studio albums. The haters don’t matter financially, however apparently, Eminem has been listening, and properly, Slim Shady — his most outrageous and obnoxious alter ego — has one final run in him.
Leisure
Perhaps that’s how we ended up with a tune like “Houdini,” which doesn’t sound very like Eminem’s latest initiatives however extra just like the opening salvo of a type of monster albums from his early profession. It’s filled with schtick, accompanied by a very outlandish, cartoonish video primed for MTV’s TRL … which led to 2008. It was in songs like “Houdini,” which samples The Steve Miller Band’s hit 1982 tune “Abracadabra,” the place Eminem would have his inappropriate enjoyable taking photographs on the pop music darlings of the day. Christina Aguilera, Limp Bizkit, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey (who both he did or didn’t date), and Britney Spears all caught stray photographs from Eminem. Ironic, since Eminem appeared to typically mock their enormous success whereas additionally actually being of the identical ilk. To be clear, a few of these photographs have been in jest, however the barrage of disses on the pop stars of the early 2000s was in earnest.
Besides, these folks don’t even exist anymore. The boy bands and the machine-driven pop star are sort of a factor of the previous. Positive there are enormous artists on the market however are they the identical artists his viewers will immediately acknowledge? Perhaps, perhaps not. Eminem determined to hedge that guess with a wildly pointless bar about Megan Thee Stallion being shot within the foot. He raps, “If I used to be to ask for Megan Thee Stallion if she would collab with me, Would I actually have a shot at a feat?” Clearly, feat is a homonym for ft. To name that lazy and beneath even Eminem can be an understatement. Eminem is a rapper who had bars that have been worthy of learning. This was a low-hanging fruit bar for the sake of doing this on his enormous comeback single as an example that he’ll say something he appears like. And it falls flat. It’s simply dumb.
Additionally, there was a time when stuff like that may simply be annoying, however everyone must transfer on. It’s 2024, and Twitter fingers are a factor. And a white boy that the tradition has given a cross to due to his co-signs and expertise isn’t more likely to get the identical ho-hum response as he as soon as may need. Particularly contemplating that Megan Thee Stallion actually has been by means of fairly the ordeal through which she was really shot. Why Eminem would waste a punctuating bar on that is as nonsensical as Drake doing it. I might wager the bar doesn’t harm Meg’s emotions or change her life, but when I have been her, I’d be like, “Simply … why?”
Perhaps Eminem is trying to find an enemy in Black girls to present him one thing to rap about once more. He wouldn’t be the primary white man to disrespect Black girls simply because he might. It’s simply an odd alternative; however then once more, I don’t actually anticipate legions of Black male rappers to query Eminem so she’ll simply must take it and transfer on. Even LeBron James chimed in and shouted out Eminem for the tune; le sigh.
Hopefully, Eminem will include higher work than this on his soon-to-be-released album, “The Demise of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)” although it most likely received’t matter. I solely listened to “Houdini” due to the reference to Meg. I’m not even his target market anymore. It’s 2024 in spite of everything.
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio and host of the award-winning podcast, “Expensive Tradition” on theGrio Black Podcast Community. He writes very Black issues, drinks very brown liquors, and is fairly fly for a lightweight man. His greatest accomplishment thus far coincides together with his Blackest accomplishment thus far in that he obtained a telephone name from Oprah Winfrey after she learn one among his items (greatest) however he didn’t reply the telephone as a result of the caller ID mentioned “Unknown” (Blackest).
