Following 2018 album Kamikaze, Eminem returns with his new album Music To Be Murdered By (MTBMB). Eminem’s MTBMB was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 album of the same name. Eminem’s album even features samples from the original and includes various references to Hitchcock. The album cover also pays homage to Hitchcock’s album although the cover shown on streaming services is slightly different, perhaps to feature less weapons.
Inspired by the master, Uncle Alfred! #MusicToBeMurderedBy pic.twitter.com/ilXAjJtqzV— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) January 17, 2020
Music To Be Murdered By seems to be a concept album, at least that’s what the album’s outro seems to suggest. “Portions of the proceeding were recorded. As for the rest of it, I’m very much afraid it was all in your mind,” Hitchcock says. The album is a long one with 20 songs and running in at just over an hour.
“Cause, see, they call me a menace and if the shoe fits, I’ll wear it. But if it don’t, then y’all will swallow the truth, grin and bear it” #Renegade #MusicToBeMurderedBy pic.twitter.com/2aIFk2kz8a— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) January 23, 2020
The other type of murder that Eminem enacts on the album is musical. That’s perhaps best exemplified by “Godzilla”. Although it’s not the album’s greatest song but Eminem and the late Juice Wrld work well together on “Godzilla”. The song ends with Eminem’s blasting a phenomenal amount of words out at a crazy speed, most of them (to a normal person’s ear) sound like they’re rhyming.
Eminem Set a New World Record Spitting 229 Words In 30 Seconds On “Godzilla” pic.twitter.com/OsDSUjbqxr— DatPiff (@DatPiff) January 22, 2020
On “Never Love Again” it seems like Eminem is talking about a relationship with a former lover on but infact he is talking about drugs. Bars like, “I can only take so much of you all at one time/ Because too much of you’s just too much to swallow sometimes.” The song ends with Eminem pledging that his relationship with drugs is over, flushing them down the toilet and saying, “we’re done.”
Songs like the Ed Sheeran assisted “Those Kinda Nights” are a missed opportunity to fully utilize the skills of the artists involved. The same goes for “Yah Yah” which features a heavy weight ensemble of rappers – Royce da 5’9’’, Black Thought, Q-Tip. Unfortunately the Busta Rhymes’ sampling beat is poor and the bars are forgettable. Is nice of Eminem to shout out many of rappers that he grew up listening to at the end of his verse. There’s also the usual Eminem stuff like trouble with his parents “Stepdad” difficult relationships “In Too Deep”.
Rating: 2.5/5
Ultimately there are some good artistic ideas on the album. Music To Be Murdered By is certainly better than Eminem’s previous album Kamikaze. But this is an album that would perhaps be best enjoyed by Eminem’s core fans rather than casual listeners of his. The murder at times is too much and bars like, “I’m contemplating yelling ‘bombs away’ on the game/ like I’m outside of an Ariana Grande concert waiting,” on the Young M.A. assisted “Unaccommodating” are in bad taste.
By @OscarWrites
Eminem’s new album, Music To Be Murdered By, is out now on Apple Music aswell as Spotify.
