With a surprise drop that no one saw coming, Eminem delivers his tenth studio album, “Kamikaze.” It may be a clever play on the word “kamikaze,” as it is nothing short of a literal translation of the word. Swooping in with astonishment while being strategically impressive and provocative, Eminem’s new album will have fans jamming out and going crazy for an album that hits its target on point. With amazing lyrics and an immersive beat, the only things stopping “Kamikaze’ from being a full on hit are two unneeded songs that should have stayed grounded.
One of the best tracks so far which most fans will agree on is “Lucky You,” featuring the talented Joyner Lucas, best known for his hit single “I’m not a Racist.” The song features a beat that is so simple and sleek. The background beat hymn, which is filled with small chimes and some stellar soft and quiet chords from a piano, makes the loud angry booming voices of Eminem and Lucas so rhythmically insane and nicely mixed together that it may be one of Eminem’s top five songs of his career.
Another hit of “Kamikaze” is not a song but rather a skit entitled “Em Calls Paul.” Without giving too much away, it deals with a phone conversation that Eminem has with one of his producers regarding the public’s opinion on his last album and Eminem’s frustration with some of his fan base. It is dark, interesting, tells a really great story and just is so humorous in taking the allegory of his persona and mocking it in a way that is ridiculously amazing and funny.
What is holding this album back in some regards are two unnecessary tracks, the first being “Fall.” The main verse really doesn’t belong; it is too fast and just messy. It sounds like it was put together in five minutes, and the lyrics have no rhythm and rhyme that Eminem uses in the rest of the album. The other track is “Venom” from the highly anticipated film “Venom.” The track starts out with an amazing first few verses, but it goes down after that with very muddled lyrics that sound like just jumbled up words with the word “venom” being repeated every other second. It is a bad excuse to promote an upcoming movie and needs to just be ignored.
Overall, “Kamikaze” is what you have when you combine the best of old Eminem and a little of the less successful aspects of new Eminem. It is very distinct and amazingly recorded, but some things are better on pen and paper. Eminem shows that he can still be the best of the best and honestly sounds more enthusiastic than ever in this surprise album. Fans will be wowed, as it proves to be an amazing addition to Eminem’s already diverse discography. At the end of the day, I have a love and hate relationship with “Kamikaze”; it is great but two unnecessary tracks kill what could be a true comeback for Eminem.
“Kamikaze” is now available on all music streaming services as well as is available for purchase.
