In the recent podcast episode, the crew praised Eminem’s new album, “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)”, while Joe Budden explained why he is not interested anymore.
Parks started by declaring that he loved the album’s throwback vibes. It felt fresh and fun, with Eminem taking aim at cancel culture and just letting loose. It is a welcome change from the serious tone of his recent projects, thinks Parks.
Officially Ice agreed. For him, the album reminded a rap version of Dave Chappelle’s comedy – pushing boundaries for free speech. However, the track that moved him the most was not about controversy at all. “Temporary” brought tears to his eyes. Officially Ice goes on to praise the album for its overall quality, ranking it second only to “Music To Be Murdered By” in Eminem’s post-Recovery work.
Joe Budden, however, didn’t share the sentiment of his crew. Moreover, he didn’t even listen to the album, and he was not in a hurry to do so. While he acknowledges the album’s success and will listen eventually, Joe admits he hasn’t felt the urgency to dive in yet. He’s grown beyond the music that initially resonated with him during his struggles with depression. While Joe respects Eminem’s skills, his music doesn’t hold the same appeal for him anymore. And he tries hard to show how much he doesn’t care about it:
I will eventually listen to this, but I have not yet. I ain’t even thought about it yet. Maybe my life is litter than yours, guys. In my younger years, I couldn’t imagine a day where I didn’t run to an Eminem project, excluding him dissing me, “Kamikaze”, whatever. An Eminem project — you rush to it. I know where he stands as an MC. I know what he does. I didn’t feel that urgency with this. Have nothing to do with him or with music. I don’t care about none of the Slim Shady shit. I don’t care about fucking Jennifer Aniston or whoever he’s dissing, Nick Storm or Nick Fury, or whoever he’s dissing. It’s enough for me. For me, Slim Shady helped me to live and stay alive and deal with depression. Back then, that’s what he did for me. I was never into that funny shit, but “Guess who’s back, back again”, I liked that. I’mma check out the Em album, but I felt good that I have outgrown the urgency of having to rush to it.
This episode highlights the diversity of responses to Em’s latest project. Whether you’re a fan of the old-school Slim Shady or prefer the more serious direction, there’s something to unpack on “The Death of Slim Shady”. Unless you deliberately turn your back on it.
