As a connoisseur of anything and everything Eminem, I simply would not be doing my job if I didn’t bring this brand new Marshall freestyle to your attention. As he has done with recent projects including his latest album “Kamikaze,” Em dropped this from the clouds out of nowhere. At 11 minutes though this is going to take a while to comb through so lets get to it.
It’ll take LAPD
And me laying in the street
To see Shady beat And I’d bet you they need cleats
Because I’d have to be stomped by 40 men to suffer a defeat.
With all of the bad press and bizarre behavior we’ve seen from Kanye West over the past several months a lot of his actual work has flown under the radar. He dropped his latest album “Ye” over the summer and his new album “Yandhi” is supposed to come out before the end of the year. But I haven’t heard much buzz about his latest project Kids See Ghosts, which is a full on super group he formed with Kid Cudi. Kids See Ghosts is similar to throwback Cudi and 808 Kanye, with a much subtler production value than what we’ve seen from Kanye in recent years.
The two actually performed together for the first time as Kids See Ghosts at the Camp Flog Gnaw festival the other night, which you can watch below.
Where Kanye is loud, boastful, and brash, Cudi was always the more reserved crooner who put out some incredible music particularly his two Man on the Moon albums. As Cudi is on Kanye’s GOOD Music label we’ve seen the two work together on bangers like All of the Lights, Erase Me, and Welcome to Heartbreak.
So any time these two are in the studio together I am ALL ears.
Chance the Rapper had been everyone’s favorite unknown rapper for a long time with multiple mixtapes including my personal favorite “Acid Rap” in 2013 before really blowing up with his album “Coloring Book” in 2016, winning 2 Grammys in the process.
I’m sure you heard one of his most recent singles “I Might Need Security” popping on the radio for a bit when it first came out over the summer. Chance is a really intelligent guy and one of the most socially conscious rappers out right now and that really comes out on some of the topics he tackles here like police brutality in Chicago,
And Rahm, you done, I’m expectin’ resignation An open investigation on all of these paid vacations for murderers
he tackles subtle instances of racism he experiences himself,
I got a hit-list so long I don’t know how to finish I bought the Chicagoist just to run you racist bitches out of business Speaking of racist, fuck your microaggressions I’ll make you fix your words like a typo suggestion
and then of course touches on why he’s the most famous and successful unsigned rapper of all time.
I’m the real deal Who taught all these rappers that a big deal’s not a big deal?
While theres no hard release date for Chance’s new album, which was supposed to come out over the summer, I know I’ll be lined up to get that when it finally does drop on Day 1.
It’s cold, it’s raining, it’s an overall shitty day outside so what better time to just slow it down with some chill #RushHourRap. Press play and enjoy a little new Atmosphere with Virgo, the single off their newest album Mi Vida Local.
So first things first, if you, like me, willingly live in Boston, New York, or LA then you are a sucker of the highest order. The rent is too high, theres too many people, and the traffic is soul crushing. The only thing you can do is just put on something that goes hard and turn it up to 10. Run the Jewels does that better than most.
Does anyone in the game right now put out great music more consistently than Logic?
Logic is back with YSIV, the fourth iteration in his Young Sinatra series, and it is a heater led by the first single, The Return. He even has a 7 minute song featuring the entire Wu Tang Clan. So stop what you’re doing right now and check out YSIV.
This comes after not releasing a new album since allll the way back in March of 2018 with Bobby Tarantino II. Seriously this guy is a machine when it comes to putting out music, and it’s all been very, very good. Take a look at this resume:
Logic: The Mixtape (2009)
Young, Broke & Infamous (2010)
Young Sinatra (2011)
Young Sinatra: Undeniable (2012)
Young Sinatra: Welcome to Forever (2013)
Under Pressure (2014)
The Incredible True Story (2015)
Bobby Tarantino (2016)
Everybody (2017)
Bobby Tarantino II (2018)
Young Sinatra IV (2018)
Obviously thats not all studio albums as a large chunk of those are mixtapes, but most of those mixtapes are better than a lot of what artists put out today. Logic just recently blew up in the mainstream with his mega-hit 1-800-273-8255 in 2017, which became a Suicide awareness anthem. As he’s shown over the past couple of years with 4 albums released, Logic will sleep when he’s dead.
PS – If you haven’t watched Logic’s episode of Rapture on Netflix, it is an absolute must watch for any rap fan.
I was at TD Garden on Saturday night when Drake finished off his concert that had already featured him rocking a glow in the dark bullet proof vest, a floating Lamborghini, and a Tron-style basketball court with Terry Rozier, before he finished it off by bringing out his former rap beef nemesis Meek Mill. The roof blew off as people went ape shit while Meek rapped Dreams and Nightmares to the sold out crowd and it. was. awesome.
I was at TD Garden on Saturday night when @Drake finished off his show by bringing out his former rap beef nemesis @MeekMill. The roof was blown off as people went ape shit while Meek rapped Dreams and Nightmares to the sold out crowd and it. was. awesome. #RushHourRappic.twitter.com/Bjj6xpMd7x
People forget that Meek and Drake used to work together a lot with songs like Amen and RICO.
If we’re being honest here, I never stopped liking Meek Mill. Even when he was getting body bagged by Drake. When Back to Back dropped in 2016 it was probably a top 3-5 diss track that was legit getting played on the radio. It was superb; the perfect diss track. It essentially buried Meek in the public eye plus he then went to jail not long after that so he was out of sight for a while. Meek of course recently got out of the clinker with a little help from none other than Mr. Robert Kraft, which was ironic because Meek’s music was basically the theme song for the Eagles ripping out the Patriots’ hearts in Super Bowl LII.
But if we’re being honest here, I never stopped liking Meek. The dude has put out some bangers and I think a lot of people forgot just how good he is after the Drake beef. It was too easy to clown Meek and forget about jams like
Monster
Ooh Kill Em
Levels
So I just hope now that Drake has buried the hatchet with Meek the rest of us can all openly admit how much we enjoy Meek’s music.
I went to bed last night after another victory on the battlefield that is beer league softball only to wake up this morning to see Eminem released a new album, Kamikaze.
No warning. No hints. No viral marketing campaign as he tends to do. Nope. Just a brand new album to close out the summer. I haven’t listened to it yet so we’ll be in this together, but the Spotify link is embedded below to put some flava in ya ear.
The only heads up was a tweet from Em featuring a sample of a song he made for the new Venom movie. Dope, but did not prepare me for 13 new tracks from Marshall.
I thought Em’s last album, Revival, was pretty good, nothing amazing. It was enjoyable, but it didn’t have the unforgettable raps that you’ll save to your memory bank. A tall task for a guy with so many classics over the years for sure. The surprising collab with Ed Sheeran on “River” was my favorite track of the album and the one I revisit the most. There was the anti-Trump anthem “Like Home,” the Cranberries’s Zombie sample “In Your Head,” the tributes to his struggle with addictions and his relationship with his daughter on “Castle” and “Arose” back to back, the Pink feature “Need Me” and of course the opening track “Walk on Water” featuring Beyonce.
All pretty good, but nothing to get people buzzing as critical reception of the album was lukewarm. I think Em took that to heart too. Rather than go on the campaign trail promoting the new album, he dropped it in the middle of the night with a brief and seemingly unburdened tweet.
Here’s to hoping this album is a smash and it inspires Em to go back on another world tour. I saw Marshall at Boston Calling, which was an amazing experience watching the GOAT rapping under steady rainfall.
It was his first time performing in Boston in nearly 20 years with the only other time I’ve seen Eminem live being at MetLife after a 5 hour drive back in 2013.
Do the right thing people, buy the album and force Marshall’s hand.
I can’t do basic math, I’m bad at directions, and I’m terrible with names, but I can still rap Jay-Z’s verse on Frontin’ word for word in my car 15 years later.
A much more somber and reflective Eminem than we’re used to is on full display in “Walk On Water.” Its something that every artist grapples with as they get older and further removed from their biggest hits. Em is a rap legend, but as he has referenced in several songs in the past few years, he’s not as big as he once was, which is something he’s coming to grips with.
“Walk On Water” is a much more mellow song than you normally hear from Em, which is why I worry most people won’t give it the proper attention and actually listen to it. Its not a heavy ass beat like Rap God, its not full of blind rage like Stan, and its not full of jokes like Without Me, but its definitely one of his deeper tracks. It also explains why we don’t hear much and why this track came out of nowhere. He seems to be struggling with trying to create perfection as he battles the perception of being older and past his prime, which is exactly what Dr. Dre struggled with for years in search of the unachievable “Detox.” Not a huge Beyonce fan, but this is a damn good song with some great wordplay and her chorus pairs well with the somber tone of the song. Pumped for the full album to drop, hopefully sooner than later.
It’s the curse of the standard That the first of the Mathers discs set Always in search of the verse that I haven’t spit yet Will this step just be another misstep To tarnish whatever the legacy, love or respect I’ve garnered? The rhyme has to be perfect, the delivery flawless And it always feels like I’m hittin’ the mark ‘Til I go sit in the car, listen and pick it apart Like, “This shit is garbage!”
The 300s 