What's the best Eminem song?

[J Dog]

9 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

I just never got on with that sort of stuff in rap, some artists can do it but...generally speaking that shit is for Bon Jovi i think.  A lot of the imagery around it is very cliched, 'take my hand' and all that fuckin bollocks.  

Oh I'm with you. The only reason I give Relapse a pass, and really there isn't much on there like that now that I think about it, but the whole drug relapse thing had so much to do with his comeback I just thought it worked. But actually, Beautiful is the only shit song like that on there.

Beautiful and Not Afraid and Monster and stuff like that, I can't fuck with it.

[J Dog]

I like him in full Slim Shady mode like this. One of his best verses.

 

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

19 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

I just never got on with that sort of stuff in rap, some artists can do it but...generally speaking that shit is for Bon Jovi i think.  A lot of the imagery around it is very cliched, 'take my hand' and all that fuckin bollocks.  

oh please do not mention Em with Bon Jovi i beg of you! 

after this song ( which i like ) it was pretty much all downhill for them IMO:

 

[Jane M.]

Without Me and Love The Way You Lie. 

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

good ones @Jane M.

[Lies They Tell]

8 hours ago, Len Cnut said:

There are rappers who grew up a lot rougher in rougher circumstances that dont go on about it half as much.  

I never really understood that kind of thinking. I never judge art based on who the creator is. I don't give a rats ass about how much Eminem has suffered in his life. Art is art and it's a completely separate thing from the artist. If Hitler had composed Für Elise, it would still be just as good of a composition. If Justin Bieber had written California Love, it would still be just as good of a song. I judge a song based on it's own merits. Who ever wrote it and what he has gone through in his life has nothing to do with it. But that's just me. Each to their own.

All I know is that in general survivor songs are much more interesting than all those songs about banging bitches or whatever. And I don't really care how much the artist has actually suffered, as long as it sounds genuine to me. But of course it's always a shame if some artist starts to repeat himself too much. So in that sense I agree and hope Eminem comes up with some new stuff to rap about.

[Len Cnut]

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I never judge art based on who the creator is.

I do.  And hip hop especially constantly and consistently is, it's sort of a big part of the culture, or was more so in days gone by, absolutely pivotal that an artist have a grounding in the sorts of situations he was speaking about on wax or he would not exist, KRS would not be KRS and Criminal Minded would not be taken seriously as an album if he weren't from where he was, Tupac would not have been taken seriously rapping about what he was rapping about if he was some Chinese kid from Germany speaking on the things he was speaking on in America in and of that day and time, no matter how accurate the tales were.  Also, i think it's a stretch to call pop music art.  

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I don't give a rats ass about how much Eminem has suffered in his life. 

I was kinda saying the same thing   Joke!

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Art is art and it's a completely separate thing from the artist.

I'm not sure I agree with that.  Art is necessarily informed by its creator and if, as in many instances, understanding the artist assists in understanding the art then they're link intrinsically surely?  Though once again, we're talking about pop music.

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If Justin Bieber had written California Love, it would still be just as good of a song.

I completely disagree   California Love is a good song because Tupac Shakur is performing it, he is not interchangeable from that song, his manner of performance is what makes it a good song, his gusto, his delivery is what makes it a good song, it the writing of it is pretty average, on paper it is not evidence of prodigious rhyming or anything particularly exceptional, it is who it's coming from and the way it's rapped and the grounding of that persons real life in the words he is rapping that makes it come across like it does...which is not to take away from Dre and his composing of it musically, which was also pretty fuckin' fantastic. 

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I judge a song based on it's own merits.

I judge each instance on its merits because each instance is case specific and each genre is case specific and different details inform what makes things work, there aren't across the board rules about this stuff to me.

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All I know is that in general survivor songs are much more interesting than all those songs about banging bitches or whatever. And I don't really care how much the artist has actually suffered, as long as it sounds genuine to me. But of course it's always a shame if some artist starts to repeat himself too much. So in that sense I agree and hope Eminem comes up with some new stuff to rap about.

And this is basically what i was getting at...when all you've suffered is your Mum being a bit of a slag who done a lot of pills and you lived in a trailer there's only so much mileage you can get out of that.  And also, i think you misunderstand my post, word for word it said 'there are rappers who grew up in a lot rougher circumstances that don't go on about it half as much' isn't so much saying that Eminem needs to have suffered more to have the right to go on about it, it's more saying that, OK, look at someone like...Ghostface, grew up the grimiest kind of poor, like fuckin' wipe your arse with the newspaper and beg the neighbours for food poor, 5 in a bed poor, looking after his brother with muscular dystrophy...yet you NEVER hear about this shit from him but in the one song...and thats after like 9 or 10 albums of shit, what I was saying with that comment was not that it was some kind of requirement for him to suffer more but rather than hip hop is not a genre that lends itself to self pity much and it comes off as really quite tiresome after a while.  And that was one of the great things about it.  Rock has always been a great genre, particularly 1980s and onwards, which was kinda when the birth of hip hop came, where a lot of self pitying music came about, from goths, to shoe-gazers and later grunge and certain offshoots of punk and hip hop was brilliant in that sense that though they could write about woes and troubles there was overall a swagger and a insolence and a 'fuck it' attitude that always overpowered that shit.

[Gordon Comstock]

You're all wrong. His best song is obviously Rabbit Run.

[J Dog]

Kill You is up there too. Always thought that song summed up Slim Shady perfectly.

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

2 hours ago, J Dog said:

I like him in full Slim Shady mode like this. One of his best verses.

 

i like the brass instruments makes me think of a deranged merry go round or something...

[Gordon Comstock]

@Len Cnut is right about those SSLP songs. It's his best album IMO, then MMLP is the commercial favourite, and then Eminem Show completes the trilogy that cemented his legacy. Nothing he's done since TES has been very good, but MMLP2 could have been a pretty good album.

[J Dog]

1 minute ago, Gordon Comstock said:

@Len Cnut is right about those SSLP songs. It's his best album IMO, then MMLP is the commercial favourite, and then Eminem Show completes the trilogy that cemented his legacy. Nothing he's done since TES has been very good, but MMLP2 could have been a pretty good album.

I agree about the SSLP, MMLP, TES trilogy. That's a hell of a three album run. 

Relapse is good and catches too much shit.

[Silverburst80]

8 hours ago, J Dog said:

I am, whatever you say I am

If I wasn't, why would I say I am

In the paper the news everyday I am

I dont know that's just the way I am

Yeah have to be one of his best.

[Silverburst80]

Eminem fell off in a big way but he was on fire those first two albums. always liked this one, killer beat killer rhymes.

 

 

[Gordon Comstock]

8 minutes ago, J Dog said:

I agree about the SSLP, MMLP, TES trilogy. That's a hell of a three album run. 

Relapse is good and catches too much shit.

 

Relapse is another 'could have been good' album IMO.

[Gordon Comstock]

Just now, Silverburst80 said:

Eminem fell off in a big way but he was on fire those first two albums. always liked this one, killer beat killer rhymes.

 

 

 

SSLP only has 1 or 2 songs I might skip but is otherwise 10/10. Role Model, As The World Turns, Brain Damage, Just Don't Give A Fuck, Still Don't Give A Fuck, just a great album. It's the only album of his I have on vinyl too, unless you count the Shady XV boxset (which I bought because I saw it for under $25 new)

[Lies They Tell]

2 hours ago, Len Cnut said:

I do.  And hip hop especially constantly and consistently is, it's sort of a big part of the culture, or was more so in days gone by, absolutely pivotal that an artist have a grounding in the sorts of situations he was speaking about on wax or he would not exist, KRS would not be KRS and Criminal Minded would not be taken seriously as an album if he weren't from where he was, Tupac would not have been taken seriously rapping about what he was rapping about if he was some Chinese kid from Germany speaking on the things he was speaking on in America in and of that day and time, no matter how accurate the tales were.  Also, i think it's a stretch to call pop music art.  

Of course if you've actually lived through all the shit that you sing about, it gives credibility to you as an artist. I agree that KRS, Criminal Minded, Tupac and all those other artists back then wouldn't have been taken seriously if they hadn't actually lived through the kind of situations that they rap about. It gives credibility to them as artists, BUT if they had lived in a completely different environment and written the exact same song, the song itself would still be exactly as good. It wouldn't have been received nearly as well. In fact people would have laughed at a song like Straight Outta Compton, if it was made by a Chinese kid from Germany, even if it would've sounded exactly like the NWA version. To me that's a bit of a shame actually. To me it's a shame that it's so hard for some people to look at art without looking at the artist.

Cause that's how I personally look at any art really. I don't care who made it. If it's good it's good. If it's bad it's bad. Of course a nice story behind a song or any piece of art is always a bonus. It's fascinating to know that Beethoven was pretty much deaf when he wrote his 9th symphony. But it doesn't make the symphony any better or any worse.

Oh and pop music is art. To me there's no question about it.

2 hours ago, Len Cnut said:

I completely disagree   California Love is a good song because Tupac Shakur is performing it, he is not interchangeable from that song, his manner of performance is what makes it a good song, his gusto, his delivery is what makes it a good song, it the writing of it is pretty average, on paper it is not evidence of prodigious rhyming or anything particularly exceptional, it is who it's coming from and the way it's rapped and the grounding of that persons real life in the words he is rapping that makes it come across like it does...which is not to take away from Dre and his composing of it musically, which was also pretty fuckin' fantastic.

Yeah, of course the song would suck, if Justin Bieber would be performing it. That's why I talked about writing and by that I also meant composing. Well of course in reality any song written by Bieber pretty much sucks. But hypothetically speaking, if Bieber had composed the song California Love exactly like Dre, it would be just as good. Now you could always argue that no one can compose stuff like Dre or write and rap like Tupac Shakur, if they haven't lived in their shoes. And that's true. But that's why I was speaking hypothetically.

2 hours ago, Len Cnut said:

And this is basically what i was getting at...when all you've suffered is your Mum being a bit of a slag who done a lot of pills and you lived in a trailer there's only so much mileage you can get out of that.  And also, i think you misunderstand my post, word for word it said 'there are rappers who grew up in a lot rougher circumstances that don't go on about it half as much' isn't so much saying that Eminem needs to have suffered more to have the right to go on about it, it's more saying that, OK, look at someone like...Ghostface, grew up the grimiest kind of poor, like fuckin' wipe your arse with the newspaper and beg the neighbours for food poor, 5 in a bed poor, looking after his brother with muscular dystrophy...yet you NEVER hear about this shit from him but in the one song...and thats after like 9 or 10 albums of shit, what I was saying with that comment was not that it was some kind of requirement for him to suffer more but rather than hip hop is not a genre that lends itself to self pity much and it comes off as really quite tiresome after a while.  And that was one of the great things about it.  Rock has always been a great genre, particularly 1980s and onwards, which was kinda when the birth of hip hop came, where a lot of self pitying music came about, from goths, to shoe-gazers and later grunge and certain offshoots of punk and hip hop was brilliant in that sense that though they could write about woes and troubles there was overall a swagger and a insolence and a 'fuck it' attitude that always overpowered that shit.

 I think I understood your point very well. I understand that you respect rappers like Ghostface who've gone through all kinds of shit and don't even complain about it. Eminem does seem very whiny compared to them. I don't necessarily understand why hip hop as a genre wouldn't lend itself to self pity just as well as any other genre though? I tend to prefer songs with a fuck it attitude, but I also like variety in my music, so now and then I also enjoy these so called survivor songs and I don't care what genre those songs are. And I don't care what the artists have actually gone through. If I relate to the song, that's all that matters to me. But yeah, I do think I understand your point. It's just that I disagree on certain points.

Edited May 13, 2017 by Lies They Tell

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

6 minutes ago, Silverburst80 said:

Eminem fell off in a big way but he was on fire those first two albums. always liked this one, killer beat killer rhymes.

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Silverburst80 said:

Eminem fell off in a big way but he was on fire those first two albums. always liked this one, killer beat killer rhymes.

 

 

nice one Silver!  

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

12 hours ago, wasted said:

I'm going with Monster. I know it's half Rihanna but I see it as Em's Under Pressure or Miss You. It has everything. 

great topic wasted! 

[Silverburst80]

46 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

SSLP only has 1 or 2 songs I might skip but is otherwise 10/10. Role Model, As The World Turns, Brain Damage, Just Don't Give A Fuck, Still Don't Give A Fuck, just a great album. It's the only album of his I have on vinyl too, unless you count the Shady XV boxset (which I bought because I saw it for under $25 new)

Yeah i probably prefer Slim Shady over Marshall Mathers.

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

i like them both  typical Libra!

[J Dog]

One of your better posse tracks that actually lives up to the names.

 

[wasted]

13 hours ago, Len Cnut said:

If i have one criticism of Eminem, and there is just one, the moaney songs get on your tits a bit after a while...as do the sort of 12 step recovery survivor songs, the uplifting songs, Tom Hanks tracks I call em, I've made it out the other end and I'm a stronger person, all that bollocks.  There are rappers who grew up a lot rougher in rougher circumstances that dont go on about it half as much.  

Headlights is kind of good though as just a rock song.

White America is also good in a Marilyn Manson way. 

[J Dog]

2 minutes ago, wasted said:

Headlights is kind of good though as just a rock song.

White America is also good in a Marilyn Manson way. 

Oh I forgot about White America. That's a good one.

[wasted]

I haven't heard Recovery or Refill.