Review: “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce)” by Eminem

Originally Posted on The Minnesota Daily via UWIRE

Eminem has fallen flat on his face with his twelfth studio album, “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce),” released on Friday. Eminem has become a shell of his former self in recent years, with his 2017 album “Revival” being his particular fall from grace, but he has somehow managed to dig his rap career even further into the grave with his latest LP.

The once-respected emcee, known for his unmatched inventive wordplay in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, has produced an album so horrible it almost discounts his great contributions to hip-hop. This album has constant lyrical blunders over mediocre beats that make this album extremely difficult to get through.

Former Radio K DJ Rogan Isbell, 23, is a fan of Eminem’s earlier work but says the rapper has fallen off considerably since his heyday.

“It just seems like, creatively, he hasn’t been there in almost 20 years,” Isbell said. “It’s hard for me to call him one of the greatest rappers ever when you see other guys that have been more consistent in finding ways to change with the rap game, whereas Eminem can kind of sound like an old man yelling at clouds.”

Isbell said Eminem should have retired by now.

“There’s no shame in calling it quits,” Isbell said.

Emimem’s lyrics are supposed to be edgy, but on this album, he consistently tries to be provocative in the laziest ways possible by repeating the same buzzwords and dated pop culture references. 

Just about everything wrong with the album can be heard on the second track, “Habits” featuring Singer-songwriter White Gold, one of many songs that show Eminem being out-performed by the featured artist as he pitifully tries to stir up outrage within the lyrics.

“Got the women pissed and it seems like men are just off growing a huge clitoris / Yeah, I probably annoyed a few feminists,” Eminem raps.

Even when the lyrics are not edgy, they are pathetically uninspired, like when Eminem raps “in Pakistan gettin’ chased by a pack of stans” on “Habits” — a far cry from the wordplay that made him legendary in the first place.

Later on the same track, he tops it off with some more cringeworthy bars, as he raps “Here come the censors, like the Avengers / And they assemble like Prince and then turn a word like ginger into the n-word / All these pronouns I can’t remember.”

There is not a compelling beat on the album until track seven, “Lucifer,” which was co-produced by Eminem’s mentor, Dr. Dre. Unsurprisingly, the song is ruined by Eminem’s lyrics from the outset, as he raps dull verses about being “kicked off Twitter and TikTok ‘cause they’re so damn ticked off.”

The first minute of the ninth track, “Fuel,” is surprisingly good, which is not a coincidence because Eminem does not utter a single word during it. Instead, Atlanta rapper JID takes the spotlight for one of the few good moments in the album.

Soon after is the album’s lead single “Houdini,” which contains one of Eminem’s laziest sample flips ever. The song miraculously feels like a breath of fresh air, a testament to just how terrible this album is, because this song is still pretty bad.

Eminem turns the cringe factor down and gets serious on track 15, “Temporary,” which features his frequent collaborator Skylar Grey. The song is a touching tribute to his daughter Hailie and stands out as a pretty good song within a sea of garbage.

One of the album’s other few and far-between good moments is on “Tobey,” in which Eminem gets outperformed by rising Detroit rapper Babytron as he cheekily raps “Tobey Maguire got bit by a spider / but see, me, it was a goat.” 

Eminem repeats the same line later in the song, and it just does not hit the same, hammering home the fact that Eminem is not funny on this album, no matter how hard he tries.

The rotten cherry on top of this album is its closing track, “Somebody Save Me,” which is doused in corny, sentimental 2010-sounding production. It amounts to a forced tender moment that is not even a quarter as good as “Temporary.”

The Eminem who made great records like “The Marshall Mathers LP” is nowhere to be heard on “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce).” The 51-year-old could not help but resort to ill-conceived lyrics throughout this 64-minute-long project as he desperately tries to make himself relevant again. 

Avoid this album at all costs.

Read more here: https://mndaily.com/284865/arts-entertainment/review-the-death-of-slim-shady-coup-de-grace-by-eminem/
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