Review Summary: Eminem is still searching for his signature style and this demo quality album proves it
Eminem was one hell of a lyricist back in 1996. Whether it was the clever punchlines and metaphors or some awesome battle raps from back in the day, Eminem was probably the best thing in Hip-Hop to come out of Detroit at that time. I mean, ICP and Esham weren’t doing Detroit any favors with their laughable horrorcore and terrible rapping skills. Eminem had some flavor back then, whether imitating the Beastie Boys with his obscure group
Soul Intent or doing his best Wu-Tang and Nas impersonations with D-12, he pretty much brought style and class to anything he was on. He was well respected in his community for being a white rapper. This is especially important because Eminem came at a time when white MC’s were considered impersonations of gangster rap(Everlast) or were just laughably bad(Vanilla Ice). Eminem decided to shift more towards the Nas and AZ style of lyrically drive alternative hip-hop. At the time, he was respected for his rapping ability, but many called him a Nas rip-off.
That’s essentially what Infinite is. Eminem was still struggling to find a signature style. The beats and flow are almost exactly the same as the ones on Illmatic. However, Eminem makes the music interesting enough for a full listen through. The title track has a great hook and some minimalistic horns that compliment the music perfectly. The hooks on this album are just really good.
Open Mic has a chorus that calls out other rappers and tells them they have no flow.
It’s Ok has a great chorus from former D-12 member Eye-Kyu. Speaking of Eye-Kyu, he delivers one of the most memorable verses ever recorded to tape. He outshined Em on his own track. Eye-Kyu delivered a verse full of witty punchlines and clever metaphors all of which was done without shaking up his flow. Eminem comes with clever lyrics of his own too like
“I rock a beat harder then you could beat it with rocks
I'm greeted with flocks, of fellow follower's singers
You couldn't make the fans throw up their hands if they swallowed their
fingers
But you can bring yours let's see what you got
But don't front and never try to be what you're not
Cause you can be quick, jump the candlestick, burn your back
And *** Jill on a hill, but you still ain't Jack”
Eminem pretty much raps like that for the rest of the album. It’s pretty decent stuff lyrically, but he never changes up his flow. He keeps the same mid-to-fast paced flow throughout. His voice doesn’t help either. On Infinite, he had a thin baby-ish voice that didn’t exactly command your attention. He had a more laidback sound to his voice with little to no aggression. He isn’t very memorable here like on later releases where his voice got deeper and the listener was more aware of his presence. Despite how awful most of the beats are, they suit Eminem’s voice here. The minimalist, drum, bass and horns combo lurks on every track and it sounds like it should just be background music. The rapping is the real upfront part of the album. Eminem has always had average to terrible beat selecting skills and Infinite is no exception. The only beats that boast a pulse are the ones on “Infinite” and “I’ve Been Searchin’” and quite possibly “313”. As said before, the only thing that saves this album is the rapping and some quality guest spots.
As great as he was, I can’t stress enough that he was a Nas imitator. He was still finding his style, but back in the older days of Hip-Hop, you got booed off stage for ripping someone off. Infinite as a lot of faults, but when it does shine it shines bright. There are some moments of the talent that was to be put on display when The Slim Shady LP came out, but overall a lack of originality and some terrible beat choices ruin the album. 2.5/5
