Review Summary: It's not exactly a return to form, but we'll take it.
Not long after his ill-received Revival, Eminem fires back at his detractors with Kamikaze. At thirteen tracks, with two of them being short skits, it’s rather small when compared to Revival, which has a whopping 19 songs. It’s short, much like Eminem’s temper. His new record comes to everyone at such short notice, being released without any sort of promotion whatsoever.
On this effort, it’s all about the burning and the roasting of anyone who disagrees with him. “Revival didn’t go viral,” he claims at one point, and then goes on to make even more not-so-subtle jabs at the press. Almost all the content here is a reflection of one famous rapper’s destructive ego. There’s one clean, positive moment here where Paul Rosenberg, the voice of reason, tries to convince Em that this will fail miserably. His attempt eventually backfires, as Em calls him back and makes it clear that he doesn’t care. Dissing his critics and mocking the mumble rappers of today is obviously going to get him attention. People love nothing more than to watch entertainers get back at their haters, but is it really enough to make this album worth anyone’s 45 minutes?
Despite being more cohesive, what Kamikaze really needed was more inspired production and better guests. The majority of the songs here lumber along with the same wooden trap beats that have been dominating hip hop music for the last few years. The only exceptions to this trap-like production are “Stepping Stone,” the only true throwback to his early 00s albums, and the title track, which throws in jumpy brass instruments for good measure.
It’s not clear whether Kamikaze is supposed to be a satire of modern rap or not. In the opening cut, “The Ringer,” he mimics the rhythm of “Gucci Gang” by rhyming it with Burger King and Charlemagne, among others. However, whenever there’s a featured rapper, it no longer feels like a clever rip on other musicians. “Lucky You” feat. Joyner Lucas and “Not Alike” feat. Royce Da 5’9’’ sound like generic trap songs with no wit or character of their own, and they really bring the album down, especially the latter. No, there’s no pop stars like Beyonce, P!nk, or Ed Sheeran on this record like there were on the previous one, but if Eminem wants to feature other rappers, he should limit it to those who have as unique a style as he does. Perhaps he should also pick some people who don’t have an annoying singing voice, like Jessie Reyez, whose style is more suited for cartoon voice acting rather than singing. The juvenile, profanity-filled refrain she does on “Nice Guy” doesn’t help matters much.
It can’t be that bad, though, since Kamikaze was an unexpected surprise release. The fact that nothing was being built up to in the music press suggests that expectations really shouldn’t be so high. Eminem even said himself in a tweet that he “tried not to overthink it.” If anything, it’s nice to have new material from him again, and it still manages to be better than other new hip hop releases.
Track Picks:
“The Ringer”
Both skits
“Stepping Stone” (BEST TRACK)
“Kamikaze”
Overall Rating: 2.5- Average
