EP Review: Yelawolf & Ed Sheeran- The Slumdon Bridge EP

Average Rating: 8.3/10

Overall Rating: 9/10

        1. London Bridge (8/10)

         2. You Don’t Know (9/10)

         3. Faces (10/10)

         4. Tone (6/10)

    Soft Pop and Southern Hip-hop put together? It’s a combination that has never been done before, it’s a combination between two genres of music that have very far and very distant styles, so having both genres in one song by its self is considered something hugely experimental, how about an entire EP? That’s what we will find out with this short, but experimental project, collaboration between Southern rapper Yelawolf, and soft Pop singer Ed Sheeran, so how did the EP work out? Does the style prevail?

   The Slumdon Bringe EP had a very clear and a very direct concept, which was experimenting and showing clear and thick diversity. Yelawolf brought his style of rap, which could be described as long bars and strong content in a southern accent, and Ed Sheeran brought his own style of singing with a calm, soft voice over an aquistic guitar, so the collaboration had a lot to bring with strong concepts tied to calm rhythm, which actually worked out very well on a four track ratio.

    The Slumdon EP opened with the track “London Bridge” which was a slow, folk-inspired track which was basically about personal downfalls and demotivation, Yelawolf provided some clever lyrics presented in long bars, however sometimes they felt too long, and Ed Sheeran provided a calm but entertaining hook to compliment the production and the concept perfectly. London Bridge was a great track, and a clear indication that Ed and Yala have chemistry together.

   “You Don’t Know” was a more old school hip-hop track. It talked about creativity and the process of making good music. Yelawolf had some smart lyrics, and Ed Sheren had a chance to show off some of his rhyming skills, his smooth flow complimented Yela’s fast flow and It also complimented the hook perfectly; “You Don’t Know” was an excellent track. It was definitely a highlight.

    “Faces” was a rock inspired track which talked about the rise and the process of reaching fame. Yelawolf did his usual job in the EP, which was the rapping, he mentioned some of the most crucial moments of his life and explained how they lead to his fame, and Ed Sheeran was just here for the hook this time, it was my favorite track on the EP, mainly because of its aggressive rhythm mixed with its soft hook, as well as the song’s strong meaning.

    “Tone” was the song that closed the EP. It mainly talked about dealing with audiences and using music to communicate with them. The entire track mainly featured Yelawolf rapping over Ed Sheeran playing the guitar. Tone was a decent track, however, it was short, Yelawolf’s flow felt a bit broken and I think Ed Sheeran should have had a singing role in the track.

    The Slumdon Bridge EP was a good collaboration. It had some great tracks and had some very strong points. It showed that southern hip-hop and soft pop can easily make some good calm music, I mean, Yela did have some personal downs which made the album lose a bit of its value, but really, it’s not that much of an error. The Slumdon Bridge EP was overall a strong project, and a strong indication that two very different genes of music can come together to make a strong and lasting piece of work. 

Album Review: Yelawolf- Radioactive

Average Rating: 7.4/10

Overall Rating: 6.5/10

1. Radioactive (7/10)

2. Get Away Ft. Shawty Fatt & Mystical (6/10)

3. Let’s Roll Ft. Kid Rock (9.5/10)

4. Grown’ Up In The Gutter Ft. Rittz (10/10)

5. Hard White (In The Club) Ft. Lil Jon (3/10)

6. Throw it Up Ft. Eminem & Gangsta Boo (0/10)

7. Good Girl Ft. Pooh Bear (8/10)

8. Made in the USA Ft. Priscella Renea (9/10)

9. Animal Ft. FeFe Dobson (8/10)

10. The Hardest Love Song in the World (7.5/10)

11. Write Your Name Ft. Mona Mona (8/10)

12. Everything I Love The Most (9/10)

13. Radio (10/10)

14 Slumerican Shitizan Ft. Killer Mike (6/10)

15. The Last Song (9/10)

16. Whip It (9/10)

17. In This World Ft. Eminem (7.5/10)

18. I See You (6/10)

     The number of white rappers have been increasing since Eminem reached unbelievable levels of critical and commercial success, and honestly, most of the time I felt like Eminem was the only white rapper who could rap until the 2009-2010 era, where two white rappers, from two very different districts started gaining attention, one of the two was Yelawolf from Alabama, which belongs to the south region, and the other is Mac Miller who is from Pittsburg, which is in the northern reason, they both got albums this year, Mac had a pretty decent debut with “Blue Slide Park”, let’s see how Yela does with his debut, “Radioactive”.

    Let’s take a look at how Yela really blew up his career, he gained a lot of recondition releasing his mixtape “Trunk Muzik 0-60”, ever since he’s been working with big shot artists and rappers as big as Big Boi and Game, after that he got signed to Eminem’s label Shady Records, so clearly Yela waited for the right moment for his debut, but the question is, did Radioactive bring what Yelawolf’s past work brought? Did Radioactive bring out what Yelawold wanted to bring? Was Radioactive worth all its hype and anticipation given its history as well as it’s concept?

     Radioactive mainly focused on one major huge topic, which where the pros and cons of his life style and the American life style. Yelawolf went into many details that go around concepts like general lifestyle, poverty, gang wars, the radio in his home country, as well as his home state, however, Radioactive cannot be called a political album, because it did not really go deep into politics, but it went more into lifestyles in general. Radioactive is more of a social commentary than anything else, which was very experimental, because a lot of artists normally don’t do stuff like that, especially for their debut album.

     Yelawolf talked about so much in Radioactive, and mostly on his personal life and lifestyle, “Let’s Roll” was a great track, it talked about mainly getting up and Yelawolf going up from the bottom, “Animal” talked about Yelawolf’s rap style and aggression, it had a strong beat, a strong flow, but a bit of a cheesy hook though, “Everything I Love The Most” talked about how Yelawolf loves all the wrong stuff for him, it was a personal and honest track and that showed with Yelawolf’s strong lyricism on this track, and “The Last Song” talked about Yelawolf’s father and how he left him, it was a personal and emotional track, one of the best on the album.

    Yelawolf talked about woman and love on this album too, “Good Girl” talked about how Yelawolf, and other guys are not treating the girls that they love right, the result? A honest track straight from the heart, and “The Hardest Love Song in the World” talked about how if Yelawolf loves a girl he would basically show it to her with a well-focused, well-made real love song and that not many guys would put a lot of emphasis into doing that, it was a good track, it had a great concept, but it did feel a bit commercial though.

    Yelawolf also talked about how the music industry is slowly turning to turmoil in some tracks, “Throw it Up” talked about how mainstream music became so generic and simple, and it had potential to be a great track, except it was a total failure, it had a boring beat, poor verses from Yelawolf and Gangsta Boo, and the man who could have saved the song, Eminem, actually made the song the potential worst song of the year with his enormously terrible verse, and “Radio” talked about the limited amount of content being played in the radio recently, it was one of the best tracks on the album and a lot of the emotion and honesty was really showed on this song.

      Yelawolf opened up about what he thinks about the US as a whole as well, “Growing Up In The Gutter” was a very creepy track, it was an opposition to what a lot of people assume how ‘cool’ living in the ghetto is but really it’s worth suicide, it was a creepy track, the lyrics where the best on the album and it was a really convincing track, “Made in the USA” was a very honest track that was about all the social problems in the country, it was a great track and one of the best on the album, and “Write Your Name” talked about how many Americans try masking there true selves while there true selves is what matters and that only there real selves will solve the country’s problems, it was a good track.

     Radioactive did have it’s share of flaws though, a lot of the hooks on the album where really corny, generic and made for the radio, the album had poor tracks “Hard White (Up in the Club)” and “Throw It Up”, but it also had some minor concept related issues, for one thing, the concept was very loose filled therefore giving the album potential to have a lot of filler, and it did, “Whip It”, “I See You” and “In This World” had nothing to do with this album, and all they did is fill it up, also, the album had an extensive number of guests, which I normally wouldn’t mind, but as for a debut album, I expected a lot more Yelawolf, but none the less, those flaws are minor.

     The bottom line is that Radioactive had a good, but unstable concept, a large group of good tracks, and some poor tracks, and a handful of features, sometimes a little too much. It had a lot of diversity in style and substance, Radioactive was overall a good album, it stood out as a strong debut and a little preview of big things that could happen in the future of Yelawolf’s career, the album did have it’s clear flaws, and I mentioned them, but I think I underestimated Yelawolf‘s music, Radioactive was nothing that I expected and had almost nothing I feared, it was an enjoyable album, but I don’t think it will be remembered as one of the best debuts to come out though.

Single Review: Yelawolf Ft. Kid Rock- Let's Roll

Single Rating: 8.5/10

   How does an artist come back from a non-successful debut single? That’s a tough question to answer, because normally, an artist’s career’s fate normally depends on the success rate or at the very least the successful response of the debut single, Yelawolf didn’t have any of those with his debut single “Hard White (Up In The Club)” which was really just a hard to enjoy club track wannabe. But with a new single called “Let’s Roll”, can Yelawolf build something off his flop? Especially given the high expectations he had since being sighed to Shady.

    

    Yelawolf tried a different approach this time for Radioactive’s second single. Instead of having a mainstream inspired track, he decided to put in a personal track for his second single. Radioactive’s second single was a motivational track called “Let’s Roll” which featured Kid Rock, and as a result, it was a great track track, it was an excellent comeback, and really the song that Yelawolf should have debuted his career with in the first place.

    

    Let’s Role had a very motivational and self-reflective theme and concept. It was about Yelawolf rising up to the point where he is now, and really just doing it all by himself. He went into various details about where he lived, how he decided to get up and rap, how he felt about his raps, and how he felt about his new found fame, putting all of those factors together would normally make a song like this a story about rising up to success, the only difference between Let’s Roll and other motivational tracks was simple, Let’s Roll was written in a more self-reflective style than the usual ‘once apon a time style’, which is something that is used a lot on motivational tracks, and honestly, that was really something that really gave the concept some strength, and was something that made the concept stronger than what it normally is on other tracks.

     
    Lyrically Let’s Roll was about almost as good as the concept. The track was presented in a more reflective way then a story telling way, but that wasn’t the only upside of the lyricism on this track, lyrically, this track had smarter lines than what Yelawolf normally has on his tracks, and despite having a few bad lines, Let’s Roll was written in a very strong way, it had a lot of punchlines, a lot of clever lines and so much more. Let’s Roll was a great track lyrically, and hopefully something that Yelawolf would grow on to and keep on his debut album and future albums.

    Yela isn’t the best rapper when it comes to flowing and really balancing his lyrics to the rhythm and the beat, but Let’s Roll proved otherwise, the track did have some off-bar lines, but even with those lines Yela’s flow and balance worked very well with the track. He was fast and he was smooth at the same time. Flow wise this song was excellent, it was just one of the many real reasons why he was signed to Shady in the first place.

    The hook on Let’s Roll was sung by Kid Rock, and like the track’s mood and feeling, the hook felt very personal and motivational, despite it having a generally lucrative rhyme scheme it flowed very well, and more importantly is sounded catchy and excellent, which basically cancels out the lucrative rhyme scheme and really made it look like something that wasn’t a big deal, which basically made the hook a generally successful and catchy hook, and maybe even a hook to remember.

    Now for the rapping of the gift: the production/ Let’s Roll had a great beat produced by Eminem and the Audiables, so already it’s shown that it’s production had a lot of star power put into it, but does star power always work? Obviously not, but in this song it did, the beat is always the motive of the track’s concept, and thanks to this song’s strong beat, it was lyrically a very motivational and reflective song, and that’s what matter with the beat, not how cool it sounds or how dancy it is, but the mood that it brings, and the beat here certainly brought the right motivational type of mood for the track.

   So how does an artist make a successful single after having his or her debut single a complete flop? With a track like this, let’s look at this song as a whole, first of all, Let’s Roll did have its share of flaws, but there was no denying that as a track it was really strong when it comes to so many things such as concept and production, and honestly, this is what people where wanting for from Yelawolf, not a mainstram inspired track, but a more personal track that shows why he is where he is, and this track showed that exactly, thus making it a stand-out single for this quarter if not the second half or the year.

Album Review: Eminem- Relapse

Average Rating: 5.9/10

Overall Rating: 4/10

 1. Dr. West (Skit)
2. 3AM (8.5/10)
3. My Mom (5.5/10)
4. Insane (8/10)
5. Bagpipes From Baghdad (1/10)
6. Hello (7/10)
7. Tonya (Skit)
8. Same Song and Dance (5/10)
9. We Made You (2/10)
10, Medicine Ball (3/10)
11. Paul (Skit)
12. Stay Wide Awake (7/10)
13. Old Time's Sake Ft. Dr. Dre (8/10)
14. Must Be The Ganja (1/10)
15. Mr. Mathers (Skit)
16. Deja Vu (7/10)
17.  Beautiful (10/10)
18. Crack A Bottle Ft. Dr. Dre, 50 Cent (7/10)
19. Steve Berman (Skit)
20. Underground (9.5/10)
21. Kenn Keniff (Skit)

   Eminem generally had a strong career. It was full of memorable moments, both good and bad, it all started when he released his debut album in 1999, The Slim Shady LP which was huge success critically and commercially, in 2000 and 2002 he released two of the best albums in hip-hop history, The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show, then in 2004 he made a more or less mediocre album, Encore, a year after that we thought he left us forever, but in 2007, it was announced that he is working on a new album, and now, it’s finally here, Relapse is what it’s called, but was it worth the wait?

    Eminem brought back Slim Shady in this album, but this time it’s a bit different, Instead of having an overreactive, more violent alter-ego, he made Slim Shady a celebrity bashing, serial killing rapist, which could have been a good change, but it didn’t work at all on this album. Eminem overdid the serial killing, raping and celebrity bashing, plus he had a really annoying accent, and since it’s Eminem first album after his drug addiction and hiatus you would think he would have a lot to open about, and not just constant talks about which celebrity he wants to rape or murder. 

    As I mentioned, one really huge problem with the Relapse album as the whole are the annoying accents. Almost every track on Relapse had an annoying accent that was felt really stupid and overused, again, since this was Eminem’s return it kinda hurt more, because this was expected to be a serious album that will not only keep the hardcore Slim Shady fans, but also reel in new fans, Relapse really failed to do that, and it also failed to keep the hardcore fans waiting and wanting more new Eminem music.

      Relapse was kinda a long album, it has 21 tracks, 15 songs, and 5 skits. Most of the songs on Relapse faced more of the same issue, an annoying accent along with constant celebrity raping and killing, but honestly, none of them were really tracks, because Eminem’s strong flow kinda saved most of the songs from being stuff worth spitting on, songs like “We Made You” the most disappointing first single of all-time, “Must Be The Ganja” one of the worst songs on the album, “Bagpipes From Baghdad”, one of the worst most disappointing diss tracks of all-time and “Medicine Ball” a song that’s welcoming people to hating Eminem again, but even failed to make people hate him for the reason he wanted them to hate him for.

     Despite all that rough listening, combined with poor concepts and dumb accents on Relapse, The album did have some positives from saving it from being a really poor and ugly album, his flow was pretty much excellent on the album, and in some tracks it’s felt like the real Eminem is still somewhere around all those accents and celebrity shots, and his flow was really constant which proved that the real Eminem is still somewhere in there.

      The album did have a small amount of great tracks though. “3AM” and “Stay Wide Awake” where the only tracks on the album about serial killing and celebrity bashing track that felt creative and good. “My Mom” talked about Eminem’s drug addiction, and how his mom was part of the reason, I only wish he didn’t use an accent, and then it would have been a great song. “Hello” was a generally good party track; again, it would have been better without the accent. “Old Time’s Sake” was a stoner track; it had an excellent flow, as well as strong verses by Dr. Dre. “Crack A Bottle” had a generally strong flow, and was a decent song lyrically. “Underground” felt like a Marshall Mathers LP era track. “Deja-Vu” talks about Eminem’s tough time with his drug addiction, but I only wish the accent wasn’t used, it never went with the album, but particularly this song, and “Beautiful” which was easily the best track on the album, and one of the best tracks of Eminem’s career, it dealt with depression, and the fact the people should believe in themselves in every situation, it’s rhymes, flow, lyrics, and message where all touching and wonderful, there really there is nothing to hate about Beautiful.  

     Relapse can easily be summarized as the biggest disappointment anyone could ever ask for. It wasn’t Eminem’s worst album, it’s better than Encore, but the album has so many negatives that only the really Eminem fans, or in other word hardcore Stans can see that this is actually a mediocre album. The problems with Relapse where over-the top constant, the positives where very few, and really what hurts more about all of this is that the greatest rapper of all-time returned to the music industry in a way that nobody would want him to come back, a deep, emotional album was expected, not a drugged-up high album which includes Slim Shady having an identity crises.   

Album Review: Eminem- Recovery

Average Rating: 9.8/10
Overall Rating: 9.5/10

          1. Cold Wind Blows (9.5/10)

          2. Talkin’ To Myself Ft. Kobe (10/10)

          3. On Fire (8.5/10)

          4. Won't Back Down Ft. Pink (10/10)

          5.W.T.P (9/10)

          6. Going Through Changes (10/10)

          7. Not Afraid (10/10)

          8. Seduction (10/10)

          9. No Love Ft. Lil Wayne (10/10)

          10. Space Bound (10/10)

          11. Cinderella Man (10/10)

          12. 25 To Life (10/10)

          13. So Bad (9.5/10)

          14. Almost Famous (10/10)

          15. Love The Way You Lie Ft. Rihanna (10/10)

          16. You're Never Over (10/10)

          17. Here We Go (10/10)

    Coming back after a slump is never easy. NAS barely came back to his legendary status since Illmatic came out, Jay-Z couldn’t return to his golden days no matter how hard he tries, 50 Cent is having almost as hard of a time as Jay-Z, and Eminem was slumping since Encore came out. But for Recovery, Eminem decided to take on a different direction and concept; he wanted to make a more serious, mature album, showing a much different and better side of himself.  So can a new concept bring Eminem back to his golden age? Only the quality on his second album after his hiatus “Recovery” can tell.

     Recovery generally went on a very different direction than Eminem’s last album Relapse, it was far more serious, the tracks where a lot smarter, it was more open, and really the tracks on Recovery where the tracks that people would want from a returning Eminem album. In a nutshell, Recovery was smart, open, and honestly nothing what Relapse was, even Slim Shady was removed most of the album, which honestly gave it a really positive effect.

     Recovery was Eminem’s longest album, it had 17 tracks, and no skits, therefore making it long enough for him to open up about what he experienced during his recent years, and have many of the subject matters we’ve been wanting Eminem to talk about since he came back from his drug addiction and hiatus.

     Eminem opened up about so much on this album. He talked about his tough time around music and how he almost killed his own career in the strong, rock-influenced “Talkin’ To Myself”. He talked about how he planned to change his life and how he tried to get out of depression in the deep and strongly emotional track “Going through Changes”. He talked about starting a new life after his drug addiction, and finally beating his demons in the uplifting first single of the album “Not Afraid”. he talked about his reasons why he’s still rapping in the metaphorically strong “25 To Life” where he talks about hip-hop like it was a girl, and he talked about Proof in the late tribute to him on the album’s best track “You’re Never Over”.

     Eminem talked about other subject matters on the album. He talked about domestic violence in “Love The Way You Lie” which featured Rihanna and was one of the best tracks on the album. he talked about how he’s over his haters in “No Love”, one of the most rhythmic tracks on the album, thanks to his, and Lil Wayne’s verse. He talked about his trust issues while being love struck in the guitar-based “Space Bound” a great track for the radio, and one of the best of Eminem’s career, and he talked about his rise to fame in some very hardcore and strong metaphors with a banging beat in the track “Almost Famous”.

    Eminem had some battle-oriented tracks on the album too, where he’s just constantly spitting punchlines and rhyme after rhyme after rhyme. “Won’t Back Down” was one of them, it was very intense, and one of the best lyrical tracks on the album. “On Fire” was just rhyming, but it was the worst on the album, it could have had a better beat, but still it was a great track and “Cinderella Man” also plays a role as one of the best tracks on the album, it had a very strong beat, as well as some strong battle oriented lyrics to complement its production.

     With all those serious and the battle oriented tracks, it’s hard to believe that Eminem still had some fun on the album. He brought Slim Shady in the album for two tracks with “Cold Wind Blows”, which just kept taking shots at celebrates, it felt like a song that should have been on Relapse due to its content, and “Here We Go”, which was just plain old classic Slim Shady. Eminem also talked about pimping girls, sex with them and generally was just bragging on himself in “So Bad” and talked about a white trash party in the album’s only party oriented track, “WTP”.

     Recovery was definitely one of hip-hop’s most polished albums, and possibly nearing Eminem’s best album. I think that this was more or less the Eminem people where waiting for, he was serious in some tracks, he had fun on some tracks, and he went back to his sources in some other tracks, what more can be wanted? The album was well balanced, well concepted, well thought of, and possibly flawless, or at least almost flawless. I think that this was overall the return Eminem wanted and needed, and it was the return that the fans wanted too. Recovery was an opener to a new chapter in Eminem’s career, let’s see if he can keep this chapter on track with how it started.

Single Review: Bad Meets Evil- Lighters Ft. Bruno Mars

Single Rating: 9.8/10

    Bad Meets Evil as a duo are not known for doing the more emotional type of music that only one half of the duo, Eminem has been known for doing most of his career. Bad Meets Evil has mostly been known for making horrorcore or hardcore hip-hop, but on Lighters, they had a chance to diversify a bit. So how did they do with their new single “Lighters” which featured Bruno Mars? So was Lighters able to get some strong emotional credit? Was It able to be a great track considering that It was something different for Eminem and Royce as a duo? Only the song it’s self can answer those questions.

    Lighters was one of those tracks that really rely on its own lyrical strength and presentation, so both sides of the duo, Eminem and Royce both had to pull off their usual strong lyrical efforts here, and they both had to give the right emotional and sympathetic feelings to the stories they were telling in this somewhat different track then what they are used to doing together. So given the strong and different setup here, where Eminem and Royce able to pull this track off? I mean, we all know Eminem can easily do it himself can because he was doing this for a long time, but Royce isn’t into the emotional stuff at all, while he had some potential based on some tracks he made. So based on all that information, and the song itself, it was really interesting to see both of them do something that they aren’t used to while they are both together on the same song.

     “Lighters” was mainly divided into two major parts. Eminem’s verse was the first major part, and then Royce’s verse was the second major part. There was a huge difference between both verses, which was actually not normal for the duo because Bad Meets Evil are normally Eminem and Royce going at the same pace as each other and talking about the same thing, along with using a really similar flow. But here, on Lighters, they both talked about different things, and each of them used a really different flow comparing to the other, so again, it was interesting to see both Eminem and Royce both have different styles on the same track, it made the track sound like less of a completion, in a way, and it was more of both of them just trying to do really different things together and expand their skills as a duo.

        The first major part was Eminem’s verse. In that verse, he mainly talked about his return to the rap world after his drug addiction. In the song he really went in depth on how he felt during that period, in contradiction with how he feels now, so basically his verse was on how he feels about his return, not to the rap world, but more of a return into his real self, all the way back, before he was addicted to drugs or had any personal issues, and as a result, his verse was really honest, emotional, and one of his best verses since he came back.

      The second major part was Royce’s verse, and in this verse he goes into a more different and a more widely spread direction than Eminem’s verse. His verse was mainly about his rise to where he is now. He talked about his struggles, his way up to the point where he is now, and the fact that he deserves more credit for his talent, especially after climbing this high, and honestly, I agree with him, he does deserve a lot more recondition for his skills, plus it was nice to hear Royce do something really different compared to his older work, it may not be the best verse he recorded, but it does look like it might open up to something bigger and better.

      Eminem’s flow was more of a speedy style than anything else. He got straight to the point in his verse, he just kept going and going without stopping for punchlines or anything like that, and as a result, I liked that flow. I like punchlines, but honestly Eminem somewhat overdid them in his post-Recovery features and tracks, so it was good to hear him just straight up rap on this song. So clearly, to complement the content on his verse, he had an outstanding flow and honestly, that just added to the emotional value of this track.

       Royce’s verse had more of a complex flow, and honestly that was a bit of a downer on this track, because probably only hip-hop heads, like me will really enjoy his verse. I mean, it’s normally a really good thing to see someone do something different, but that was a little too much, but still though, it did shine in the content, he did give the information straight and direct, and honestly, the complex rhyming pattern just adds to the strength of the content here, because Royce used this strongly complex flow to explain a complex feeling he had.

     Bruno Mars was on the hook here, and it was something really different, because again, Bad Meets Evil are not into that kind of stuff, they are more into the hardcore, more underground styled music, but it seemed like they were trying to get closer to a mainstream audience right here, as a result it worked, not only Eminem and Royce had strong verses to catch the ears of fans, and get new fans. But Bruno Mars also deserves a lot of credit for his soulful voice, and honestly, I know it and you know It, the song will not be the same strong piece of music without him.

      The production on this track sounded a lot like something Bruno Mars would sing over, and honestly, that was a big highlight of the track, because honestly, out of these so many mainstream artists doing a bad job, Bruno Mars actually does a good job, and a big thing that helped him was the production of his music. In Lighters, the beat reminded me a lot of Just The Way You Are, which was good, because I wanted to hear Eminem or Royce rap over a beat like that, and they did not disappoint at all with Lighter. When it comes to the general production, it shows that there was a lot of work put into this track, a lot more work than the rest of the EP in my opinion.

     Lighters will easily be known and remembered as one of the best tracks to come out this year. I don’t think it will not be remembered as a classic, I can tell you that, but it will be remembered in the next few years for sure. I mean, look at Lighters, or hear it, the production was great, Eminem and Royce both gave the song a strong emotional feeling, the flow was excellent, despite Royce being too complex, and overall, this track was the best track on Hell: The Sequel, and probably one of the best songs Eminem did after Recovery, and a usual great job for Royce.

EP Review: Bad Meets Evil- Hell: The Sequel

Average Rating: 9.2/10
Overall Rating: 9/10

    

     

1. Welcome To Hell (9.5/10)

         2. Fast Lane Ft. Sly (9/10)

         3. The Reunion (10/10)

         4. Above The Law (10/10)

        5. I’m On Everything Ft. Mike Epps (10/10)

         6.  A Kiss (10/10)

         7. Lighters Ft. Bruno Mars (10/10)

          8. Take From Me (10/10)

          9. Loud Noises Ft. Slaughterhouse (8/10)

          10. Echo Ft. Liz Raudregez (10/10)

          11. Living Proof (7/10)

   Eminem and Royce Da 5’9” where two rappers who defined the game. They both worked together in 1999 as a duo called ‘Bad Meets Evil’ and as a result they released a few tracks which where lyrically very powerful, along with a very strong flow, and some controversial subject matters. But in 2002, the two broke up, had a feud, and it generally looked like Bad Meets Evil was really the hip-hop duo that almost officially happened, but could have been the very best. But in 2008, the two finally made up, and slowly started making music together. Therefore finally randomly and unknowingly creating a Bad Meets Evil EP, called “Hell: The Sequel”. So was the EP worth the wait? Or should they stop Bad Meets Evil again and just stick to making simple collaborations?

    

   There are a few things to keep in mind before hearing this collaboration. Eminem said that this EP was made completely for fun and completely out of nothing. Therefore knowing that unlike any other Eminem or Royce Da 5’9” albums, this EP will not have a theme or a concept. As Eminem describes it it’s “just songs we recorded”, so the thing to look at here is if they can make an EP good enough for people to want an album, or to see if they can make music that can go up to each of their potential. But however you look at it, there are some very high hopes for this EP to be something really big.

   

   The EP is made out of 11 tracks. Some of them consist of the classic horrorcore and concept less Bad Meets Evil tracks, or in other words the album generally rebrought energy that they both lost in making horrorcore tracks. While all of these tracks not being exactly perfect, they still where the songs I really wanted Eminem and Royce to continue on.

   “Welcome To Hell” and “Fast Lane” where both great tracks to open the album with. The lyrics on both of those tracks were random, but at the same time clever and entertaining. There beats where really great, especially on “Welcome To Hell” and the flows where fast and really both of them had excellent chemistry together on those songs, and the rest of the EP as well.

    

    "Above The Law” was another great track on the album, it was still very strong when it comes to the beat, flow, and wordplay, and “The Reunion” feels like a Marshall Mathers LP track. It was clearly a Marshall Mathers LP style track lyrically. Eminem and Royce both used the right tones to match the style of the beat, and it had the best flow out of all the songs on the album.

    

   The duo do talk about other things aside from horrorcore topics on the EP though. “Lighters” was the best track on the album, and it was probably the most surprising due to the Bruno Mars feature. The lyrics on the track talk about self-confidence and motivation. Eminem mostly concentrated on his return to the music industry, and Royce talked about the rise to his success. Overall both members of Bad Meets Evil had great verses, as usual, but this time with the addition of a beautiful hook by Bruno Mars.

    

   

    “A Kiss” was another great track on the album. It was produced by the Amilli and 6’7” producer Bangladesh. It was generally one of those hardcore rap songs with senseless lyrics in a way, but with Bad Meets Evil it had more of a horrorcore twists, there were more hardcore lyrics here. It had Royce talking about getting drunk,  going to strip clubs, getting into fights and stuff like that, and Slim Shady taking shots at celebrities like Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry, something that I have honestly been waiting for. Now really, what more can you want from a Bad Meets Evil song? It was funny, offensive, and made Eminem and Royce look like complete jerks. What more could you want from a duo like Bad Meets Evil?

   

   “I’m On Everything” was a song that just talks about drugs, and obviously using them. Really it was just a fun and funny track to listen to, with a great party-type/hardcore beat, strong flows from both rappers, and a really fun and random hook. I’m On Everything is another certified winner on this EP in my opinion.

   

   “Take From Me” talks about the leaks that are taking place. It’s a topic that nobody ever talked about, or never thought of talking about, and now, finally, Eminem and Royce both talked about leaks and hackers stealing their music, and the song really made me understand why they don’t want their music to leak. Royce made me feel like an ass hole for listening to the leaks, and honestly made me feel really bad about listening to them, and Eminem honestly made me feel like a real traitor for listening and downloading these leaks. The track was full of raw emotion; it was smart, reasonable, and honestly one of the very best on the album.

    

   

   "Echo” was a song that talked about coming back to hip-hop, and dominating the game again. It had a really good guitar based beat that fitted with the song lyrically, and a really strongly held on to and a strongly made hook, overall it was really one of the highlights of the EP. “Living Proof” was generally the worst track on the album, the beat was honestly mediocre, but lyrically it was a strong track, and “Loud Noises” was a good track, the flow was generally good, the beat was a bit of a downer, and the annoying ‘slaughterhouse’ screams where really was annoying.

   Eminem and Royce both showed that they can easily hold on each other for an entire EP with nothing but there chemistry, given that there were barely any guest appearances. Despite the EP not being completely up to their potential, the EP was generally strong enough to touch at least almost reach it. Overall I think that this is an excellent reunion for the duo, the way Slim Shady should have returned instead of releasing the forgettable and mediocre “Relapse” album, and based on the music here on the EP, I think Eminem and Royce should make a full length album together as soon as possible.

Album Review: Royce Da 5'9" - Success is Certain

Average Rating: 8.7/10
Overall Rating: 8.2/10

1.  Legendary Ft. Travis Barker (4/10)

2. Writer’s Block Ft. Eminem (10/10)

3. Merry Go Round (10/10)

4. Where My Money (10/10)

5. ER Ft. Kid Vishis (10/10)

6. On The Boulevard Ft. Nortzz & Adonis (9/10)

7.  I Ain’t Coming Down (10/10)

8. Security (8/10)

9. Second Place (7/10)

10. My Own Planet Ft. Big Sean (8/10)

11. I’ve Been Up, I’ve Been Down (10/10)

12. My Own Planet (Remix) Ft. Joe Budden (8/10)

      Royce has never got the credit he deserved commercially. He always has a superb flow, incredible lyrical ability, really strong wordplay, and he seems to choose the right type of beats and the right people to work with for his music. But things might change right now, for two reasons, the first is because he was just signed to Emienm’s label Shady Records, which will for sure give him some help, if not a lot of help, and the second was the Bad Meets Evil EP, which debuted as #1 on the US Billboard hot 100, and is still an ongoing strong and successful project, so with that said, can Royce build up his best music quality for what’s possibly going to be his biggest album commercially?

     

     Success is Certain is, in a way, loosely a sequel to one of the best albums I have ever heard, and one of the best albums of modern day hip-hop, “Death Is Certain”, which was about failing and going down in life, which generally gave that album a really dark theme, and now, seven years later, the sequel to Death Is Certain, “Success is Certain” came out, and it was about Royce’s road to success, his struggles and generally just getting to the point where he is right now, so with a strong theme and concept set for this album, can it live up its hype as to being a sequel to the great Death is Certain?

     The songs on the album strongly stick to the theme of the album. There were some songs that where simply just Royce bragging on his lyrical skills, like “Second Place”, “ER” or “Legendary”.  Some songs on his feelings on his success, like the two My Own Planet tracks. Some songs on his road to success, like “I’ve Been Up, I’ve Been Down”, “Merry Go Round” or “On The Boulevard”. Some songs where about how he wants to keep that success, songs like “Writer’s Block” or “Where My Money” are great examples and lastly, a song that is simply just a raw and emotional track during his road to success, which was the Proof tribute “Security”.

       The album keep’s Royce’s strong rhyming style and his strong wordplay, particularly in songs like “Writer’s Block” one of the best songs on the album, “ER” a song on how Royce is saving hip-hop, “Merry Go Round” the best track on the album, “Where My Money” another standout track, “I Ain’t Coming Down” and “I’ve Been Up, I’ve Been Down “ which was about the best and worst time periods during his road to success, those where really the biggest highlight of the album, and some of the best songs Royce recorded in his entire career.

    The album did have one big flaw though; it was that some songs went off beat. “Second Place” was good, but it went off beat too much, especially in that victory laugh line. “Security” was good, but a bit disappointing because of it going off beat at some point, and “Legendary” was the worst track on the album, and possibly the worst track of Royce’s career, it had a good beat and hook, but Royce’s verses where far too offbeat to make this song successful, or an enjoyable song at the very least.

       Success is Certain is overall not nearly as good as Death is Certain, and honestly it’s his second worst album to “Independence Day”. It was a bit of a disappointment and it didn’t really live up to what Royce did in most of his previous albums, and what he really can do. But still, it was generally a great album, while it was a flawed album, and probably not the way he would have wanted to debut in Shady, especially When comparing this album to his older work. But still, it was a great enough album to attract a fairly good group of new, music hungry Shady fans, or any fans close to that.