Eminem in a revival

That was quite a splash that Eminem made to herald the release of his new album late last year. He released a single titled Walk On Water, featuring vocals by the one and only Beyoncé, who is actually wife of another great rapper, Jay-Z. That was nice of Jay-Z and also nice of Beyoncé to agree to this. Rappers in the realm of hip-hop are actually one happy family, so why not help out Eminem, who has no qualms about lending his rap to many others.

Now, why would the biggest selling rapper of all time need help at this point in his career? Easy, there comes a time in anybody’s life when one can use a boost or two. Eminem first came out in 1996 and then spent the ensuing years in the middle of one success after another. Diamond-certified and platinum selling albums like The Slim Shady LP, The Eminem Show, Encore and hit singles like Love The Way You Lie with Rihanna, Berzerk, Lose Yourself, The Monster.

 He has since the beginning already sold over 172 million records. He experienced no let up in the age of streaming and can now boasts of 42 million tracks streamed. All great going for a 20-year-old career. But Eminem is now 45 years old. He is no longer the young man with the loose tongue and an opinion about everything. If he were a rocker, he would be referred to as a middle-aged statesman.

Then, it has been four years since his last album, even if that one was the four-time platinum seller, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 that came out last 2013. Most of all the hip-hop arena is constantly undergoing changes with today’s big names like Drake and Kendrick Lamar preferring a soft, laid-back introspective style. This judging from their massive sales sits very well with the market. So is there still room at the top for Eminem?

Executive producer Dr. Dre, plus producers Rick Rubin, Skyler Gray and others made sure there is. Revival is a follow-up to two previous albums, Relapse, Recovery and now Revival, which obviously says that he is here to take back his leading rapper status. He openly wonders if he still can in the opening cut, Walk On Water, and he just might. Revival leaves no stone unturned. It is a grand production of 19 tracks. That means almost an hour and a half of sounds, the lushest of arrangements, stellar collaborations and straight to your face talk that matters from Eminem.

He does give the feeling that he must revive his career again with every track and he takes on everything. Donald Trump and all Republicans. Racism, police brutality, segregation, the bias against transgenders. He is also misogynistic and offensive when he tackles sex in his rhymes. And then tired and all-expended, he comes up with these lines towards the end, “I’ll put out this last album/then I’m done with it. One hundred percent finished/fed up with it. I’m hanging it up/fuck it.”

Is he really? Is Revival, the final album by Eminem? Or is he just feeding the insecurity that his years away have given birth to? While it is nice to retire while one’s career is on top, Revival is already a Gold seller and will surely reach Platinum soon, it would be unfortunate to lose an artist as clever and as daring as Eminem. Besides as he shows in Bad Husband and those two final tunes, he can also do the confessional bit as well as Jay-Z or Drake or other rappers today.

Bad Husband featuring the X Ambassadors tells of his regrets about having been such a bad husband. Then two close, the last two cuts are addressed to his daughter. There Eminem is a failure as a father and he apologizes for being so. It is a touching finale that says, this rapper still has something to say and he is worth listening to.

Revival by Eminem is made up of the following cuts: Walk On Water featuring Beyoncé; Believe; Chloraseptic featuring Phresher; Untouchable; River featuring Ed Sheeran; Remind Me; Revival Interlude; Like Home featuring Alicia Keys; Bad Husband featuring X Ambassadors; Tragic Endings featuring Skylar Grey; Framed; Nowhere Fast featuring Kehlani; Heat; Offended; Need Me featuring Pink; In Your Head; Castle; and Arose.