Kamikaze - The Rap God Reinvented
Kamikaze, the latest offering from the self-proclaimed “Rap God” is not the return to form that the rapper’s passionate fan-base would have you believe. Though Eminem’s bars and delivery are as untouchable as ever, the project suffers in the production department, with the majority of these new-age, skeletal trap beats leaving Shady sounding isolated and out of touch. This lack of creativity in production, coupled with Eminem’s cranky grandpa persona, leaves a little too much to be desired on Kamikaze.
The opening song, The Ringer, gets the album off to a pretty decent start. Ronny J’s thoughtful, oscillating instrumental gives Eminem the chance to get some things off his chest in regards to the reception of his last project, as if he didn’t say enough on the killer Chloraseptic (Remix) that he dropped earlier this year. He also takes the chance to throw shade at everyone from Lil Yachty to Mike Pence, by way of a particularly scathing metaphor in the case of the latter. Generally, Eminem utilizes the track’s five and a half minute runtime effectively, taking his time to ensure that he gets it all of his chest before launching into the rest of the album. Track two, Greatest, features the album’s best instrumental, courtesy of hip hop super producer Mike WiLL Made-It. The beat has a distinct D12 feel to it, combining chunky guitar chords and some airy synths, providing the perfect platform for Eminem to flex. ‘Greatest’ features one of the albums catchiest hooks, with Eminem proclaiming that he’s the best to ever do it. The track shows what Em can do when the instrumental is right, and serves as a reminder that Eminem is undoubtedly one of the greatest of all time. Joyner Lucas hops on the next track, Lucky You, to provide part in a much anticipated collaboration, one which fans have been waiting for since Eminem professed his admiration for the Massachusetts MC back in 2017. Lucas controls the song, providing the hook as well as a fully automatic verse, packed to the brim with flow switches and smooth analogies. Eminem, however, is still stuck on the same subject matter from the first track, and still can’t seem to get over the bad press. It was at this point that I began to worry that the entire album would revolve Eminem’s damaged ego from start to finish.
The album then goes into it’s first skit. The skit was once a staple of an Eminem project, and of Paul Rosenberg, Shady’s manager and mentor, as the skit’s focus will be sure to bring waves of nostalgia rushing over the long term Em fan. On the skit, Rosenberg is voicing his concerns in regards to Eminem recording an album purely in response to negative press of the last one, and asks whether there will be a Kamikaze 2 if this album also bombs. A sentiment that I share. We then launch into the album’s first stinker, Normal. The song details Eminem’s desire for a normal relationship, as opposed to the chaotic ones that we’ve made privy to over the last 20 years or so. The subject matter in itself it’s terrible, if a bit unsympathetic from a listener’s perspective. The main issues I have with the track is the lifeless instrumental and Eminem’s delivery. In the case of the latter, he seems to be doing his best Drake impression, with a bit of Lil Uzi Vert thrown in there. He’s already spent just under half of the album lambasting new age rappers, and is now effectively ripping off some of their main influencers’ styles. To be fair to Eminem, at least his crankiness has made for some for hilarious bars up to this point, but his delivery in Normal is so drab and forgettable, and the song is a solid skip, should I ever revisit the album.
After we then sit through the second skit on the album, we get Stepping Stone, a track on which Eminem apologizes to people he may have used to get bigger in the industry back in the early 2000’s, in particular D12. The song leans heavily on religious imagery to convey a message of repentance and retribution, much like “The River” on his last album. Though having a strong message, the song is once again flawed by shaky production. Additionally, Eminem’s poor singing on the chorus renders the song a difficult listen at best, and although the song may hold sentimental value for some out there, it didn’t really strike a chord with me. But the worst is yet to come.
Not Alike, a rework of Blocboy JB & Tay Keith’s Look Alive, features the worst Eminem performance in years. His bars on the first part are forgettable, his staccato flow is played out. Even if this is meant to be a parody in some respects, parodies are still meant to be entertaining. The song is somewhat saved by a Royce da 5”9 feature, who once again proves that he’s one of the most slept on rappers of the last 20 years, and outshines Eminem on the track (not for the first time in his career). However, further oversight in the production department allows the the beat to switch into the worst instrumental on the album. Though Eminem’s delivery improves drastically at the switch up, the 808’s sounds downright awful. It’s moments like this that make me wonder: why can’t Em just get Dre to do his beats? Or make his own? Why is he relying on producers he’s never worked with before? Eminem has, in the past, made or rapped over some of the most iconic rap instrumentals of all time. He made the beat to “Without Me” himself, and it shows. On songs like that, the chemistry between the wacky instrumental and Slim Shady’s eccentric delivery is perfect. This is because both inputs are coming from the man himself. The follow up track is the title track, Kamikaze, a song Eminem produced himself, and you can tell! This song is vintage Eminem, from the off-kilter bass to the tenacious energy, and it gives Em the chance to really throw us back to 2002, and remind us why he was such a big deal in the first place.
On the next track, The Fall, we’re catapulted back to the present. Eminem repositions his cranky grandad hat once more, to go on another tirade against anyone who even remotely criticised him. It’s pretty sad at this point, this is one of the greatest rappers of all time, one of the best selling artists of the new millennium, and he’s feeling the need to throw tantrum after tantrum because people aren’t treating him like a God anymore. It’s something that happens to every big artist in time, it’s all about how you respond to criticism that defines you. You think about Kanye West after 808’s and Heartbreak, the man went from one of the most respected names in hip hop to being assaulted by his fans and peers for turning away from rap’s formula. He then released My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, arguably his best record and one of the hip hops albums of all time. Once again, he pushed hip hops boundaries, and became a legend in the process. Nowadays, 808’s is known one of the most influential albums in modern pop music, and that probably wouldn’t have been the case if Kanye didn’t follow up the way he did, and he certainly wouldn’t be as relevant as he is today. Eminem, on the other hand, is responding in the worst way. He’s too busy telling people how wrong they are, and not showing them. Sure, he’s still rapping well, but that’s not something you lose. What changes is your ear, your attention to detail, and your self-awareness. All of which, Eminem has seemed to lose over time.
We then get Nice Guy, featuring Jessie Reyez. Reyez is an artist I’ve watched for some time, hoping that she’d eventually live up to her potential as a songwriter and an artist. On this song, and particularly on the pre-chorus, her whiney delivery is unfortunately difficult to listen to. She displays some swagger on her verse, but any chance for this song is thrown out the window by the horrible structure and flow to the song. Eminem’s contemplations on infidelity make him out to be more repugnant than sympathetic, and it’s one of the many moments on the album where he attempts to reclaim his place as hip hop’s prime provocateur, only to come across as bigoted at times. The next song, Good Guy, is a continuation from the last, and features some interesting metaphors between his relationship with his partner and his relationship with the music industry, shining a more sympathetic light on Eminem’s thought processes on the previous cut.
That being said, the album ends on “Venom”, a calculated banger which, believe it or not, features on the official soundtrack for Marvel’s new origins movie for the character of the same name. It’s a reminder, along with “Kill Shot”, the newly released rebuttal to Machine Gun Kelly, that beneath all this misguided rage there-lies one of the finest lyricists of our generation, and that we shouldn’t discount him just yet.
5/10
