Yesterday’s unexpected release of Eminem’s tenth studio album Kamikaze is undoubtedly the biggest surprise in music of 2018. The first lines of ‘The Ringer’ read “I’m just gonna write down my first thoughts, see where this takes me, ’cause I feel like I wanna punch the world in the fuckin’ face right now”, setting the stage for the bomb Em is about to drop on the world. He continues the track by dissing just about every mumble-rapper out there, in addition to radio personality Charlamagne tha God and “Agent Orange”, aka Donald Trump, to name a few. Later in the album, Eminem adds the likes of Machine Gun Kelly, Migos, Drake, Tyler the Creator and many more to his diss-list. However, he also goes on to praise Joyner Lucas, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and Big Sean for keeping hip-hop new and fresh.
Now, this article isn’t about listing who Eminem is trying to start (or continue) his beef with, nor is it about dissecting each and every lyric because we are all already aware of the rap god’s ingenuity with words. A major theme in Kamikaze is how apparent the Revival critics affected Eminem’s state of mind. The rapper continuously refers to how poorly his 2017 album was received, while bringing back his signature flow that was lacking in Revival. Eminem is able to bring back the Slim Shady that fans fell in love with so many years ago, all while acknowledging his imperfections as an artist and human being. His flow in tracks such as ‘The Ringer’, ‘Greatest’ and ‘Lucky You’ are unmatched, and the lyrics throughout the project are always riddled with double entendres with unparalleled depth.
In Kamikaze, Eminem shows fans his vulnerability and his strength at the same time, criticizing himself as much as he criticizes the world around him. Paul Rosenberg also makes his return in two comical skits that prove Eminem’s sense of humour hasn’t changed one bit. Along with being the biggest surprise of the year, there’s no doubt that Kamikaze is also a massive comeback project. Stream it below and hear it for yourself.
