New Em: We Made You

One of the great questions in hip hop communities and message boards over the past 5 years has been which version of Eminem would return to the genre with his 2009 release Relapse? Would it be the deranged ecstasy popping psychopath of the late 90's that produced classic and original music such as The Way I Am and Stan? Or would the sympathetic, father figure, Eminem circa 2004 and Encore who released songs like Mockingbird be back? Crack A Bottle showed Em conforming to the industry standards and crafting a conventional club banger, albeit a banger with some ridiculously smooth Dre piano riffs, and is actually a pretty good song. Could Eminem have reinvented himself yet again? Not quite. It seems as if hes reaching way back to the Slim Shady days and pulling out some My Name Is throwaways. On the new single We Made You, Marshall is back to ripping on celebrities, spitting in that ear splitting voice, and riddling off multis in doubletime flow. This time around his shitlist includes Sarah Palin, Jessica Alba, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, and so on... Game catches a lot of heat for the namedropping in his raps, but Em really is no worse. The routine of using pop culture figurines as his verbal punching bags has become tired and old. Luckily for him, he is blessed with some of the best rapping abilities the world has ever heard, and is able to keep your attention on any track no matter the subject matter. Check it.

Back by popular demand,
Now pop a little zantax for antacid if you can,
You ready to tackle any task that is at hand?
How does it feel is it fantastic is it grand?
Well look at all the massive masses in the stands,
Shady Man no don’t massacre the bands

Yea, he's quite impressive, and those bars are outrageously good despite the fact that they are essentially nonsense. I just wish this wasn't such a blatant attempt at recreating his persona and singles of the 90's. Artists need growth, and there's nothing worse than a stagnant rapper stuck in his ways who refuses to change one bit (see: 50 Cent). Hell, I'd rather an artist evolve so much that they venture into new genres, even if it comes at the cost of the quality of their music (see: Kanye West).

Moving onn, the production on this record is really nothing to write home about. Biff would probably be better suited to describe the beat as he is a budding underground hip hop producer, but I'll give it my best shot. The beat features some boasting horns topped by scattered piano loops. It certainly doesn't sound like a Dre beat, but who the fuck knows. This song just warrants a resounding whatever.

We Made You- Whatever