A high-concept lyrical marathon blending Hitchcockian suspense with surgical technical rap. Dense, aggressive, and obsessed with the craft of the rhyme.
It's like a horror movie where the killer just happens to be the fastest rapper alive.
A high-tension blend of dark technical wizardry and somber social reflection.
Released as a surprise in early 2020, Music to Be Murdered By serves as Eminem's eleventh studio effort and a spiritual successor to the confrontational Kamikaze. The album is heavily inspired by the 1958 Jeff Alexander/Alfred Hitchcock project of the same name, utilizing Hitchcock's dry, morbid humor to frame a modern exploration of violence, addiction, and legacy. Produced largely by Eminem and Dr. Dre, the record features a diverse guest list ranging from new-school stars like Juice WRLD and Don Toliver to lyrical titans like Black Thought and Q-Tip. The album's centerpiece, 'Darkness', garnered significant media attention for its poignant and controversial commentary on the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. Critically, the album was viewed as a return to form in terms of production and technical focus, though some critics noted its 20-track runtime as a point of bloat. It solidified Eminem's record-breaking streak of ten consecutive number-one debuts on the Billboard 200.
Put this on for
Headphones on and jaw dropped during a third consecutive lyrical breakdownHeavy bag swinging in a garage gym with the volume maxedMidnight highway drive where the bass rattles the rearview mirrorTense silence after the final gunshot rings out on track eightBack-to-back technical analysis of rhyme schemes with a fellow headFriday night pre-game where the energy needs a sudden joltRain hitting the window while processing a particularly dark verse
Moments worth waiting for
The 30-second supersonic closing verse of Godzilla where the flow becomes a blur of percussive syllables.
The chilling realization in Darkness as the double entendre between stage fright and a mass shooting converges.
The vintage boom-bap chemistry on Yah Yah where four elite lyricists trade high-velocity verses over a chaotic beat.
Sounds like
2020s production with a 2020s soul
Sits beside
The Allegory - Royce da 5'9", Streams of Thought, Vol. 3 - Black Thought, King's Disease - Nas, Tha Carter V - Lil Wayne
Lyrical territory
storytelling, social_commentary, self_examination
03Deviation
Music to Be Murdered By · vs · Eminem
Artist
This Album
High Energy
Energy · ↓ −12% less than usual
On this album, high energy sits about 12% less prominent than across the rest of the artist's catalogue.
