Eminem, along with his Shady Records friends and collaborators, is presented on the mid-year list of the most impressive hip hop records.
The third on the list of the best hip hop projects dropped this year, “Music To Be Murdered By” is presented with the following entry:
Eminem thrives as an underdog. We first saw it in 2010, when he followed the commercial disappointment of Relapse with Recovery. And again in 2018, when he dropped Kamikaze in response to the overwhelming critique of his previous LP, Revival. Now in 2020, the Detroit MC followed the success of Kamikaze with the surprise release of a concept album titled Music to Be Murdered By, which plays off Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 spoken word album of the same name. Em enlists a slew of guests for this LP, crossing multiple generations. Young M.A owns her spotlight on “Unaccommodating,” contrasting perfectly with Eminem’s bars on the track’s second half. “Godzilla,” which served as Juice Wrld’s first posthumous verse, shows just how versatile Em can still be after all these years. “You Gon’ Learn” features Royce 5’9″ and White Gold is a standout moment from everyone involved. Old friends like Dr. Dre, Royce and Mr. Porter assist with production along with D.A Doman and Ricky Racks, among others. Spitfire flows, razor-sharp lyrics, substantial metaphors and plenty of eyebrow-raising lines support the notion that Em is back in his bag. Shady may be 47 years old, but he’s proving he can still bring the heat without breaking a sweat.
It is also satisfying to see that rappers who Eminem loves and supports have found recognition on this list, as well as basically all similar lists so far. There are well-deserved mentions of Royce 5’9” with his self-produced “The Allegory”, Westside Gunn with “Pray For Paris” and The Alchemist with three records on the list: “Alfredo” with Freddie Gibbs, “Lulu” with Conway The Machine and “The Price of Tea in China” with Boldy James.
