After listening to the entire album...
The majority of it bleeds together, making the album a bizarre mixture of serial killer horrorcore and drug tales. I guess the more violent tracks are interesting when you realize they work as drug metaphors too, just told from the perspective of the drug being the serial killer (Same Song & Dance especially). That being said the lyrical content is sophomoric and very repetitive. There's a skit on MMLP where a record exec complains that instead of rapping about bitches a blunts, Em focuses on homosexuals and vicodin. Ironically it applies perfectly to this album's content as well. I'm not asking for Eminem to preach or give his opinion on social issues but seriously, what the fuck. To make matters worse many songs feature annoying-as-fuck sing song choruses. The Triumph the Insult Dog voice doesn't bother me nearly as much as these embarrassing choruses do.
The production bleeds together as well, with a mixture of pianos, strings, and repetitive slow drums; I realize that's Dre's style but there's little to no energy here. There's a whole host of terrible ones - Medicine Ball, Stay Wide Awake. The production on My Mom sounds like something more fit for 50 Cent, or Detox. Old Times Sake sounds like a fucking In Da Club b-side. I like the production on Insane, Bagpipes From Baghdad, and Same Song & Dance. Beautiful is like Em's take on a cheesy, posthumous Tupac song
Overall the only songs that make any impression on me are
-Bagpipes From Baghdad
-3 AM (which has warmed up on me)
-Same Song & Dance
-Deja Vu.
I'm baffled by the Underground love. The entire song is a mess, from the desperate flow and shock lyrics to the over produced beat.
2.5/5. The flow is there, which is what keeps it from being an utter disaster. There's a line in 3AM where he manages to rhyme channel with Hanna Montana. Lyrically there are little to no memorable lines, although the second verse of Insane is well...insane lol.
