As many are now aware, legendary rapper Eminem has released a surprise album titled “Kamikaze.” The entirety of the album, excluding the track “Venom,” is Eminem brutally attacking young rap artists, the music industry, and those who have come after him. Essentially, he is going after anyone who he perceives has wronged him.

​

Although the album has risen to extreme popularity, it has been met with mixed opinions. Many critics oppose the album for the controversial use of homophobic slurs and making light of the topic of domestic abuse – all content that Eminem has used in the past. However, what critics today are asking is whether the rap community and our society should tolerate behavior that seems disgusting today. Although Eminem has always used homophobic slurs in his music, many believe has he gone too far this time by using a slur refer to Tyler the Creator in the track “Fall.” Tyler the Creator has alluded to being homosexual on his album “Flower Boy,” but has never explicitly confirmed it. If Eminem wants his critique to be taken seriously, then he might have lost some of his credibility with today’s audiences by shaming Tyler for orientation.

​

Despite the negative backlash, those who support Eminem say the album is the best he’s released in a long time. These supporters are doing so considering his previous album Revival, which was met by negative reviews.

​

So, what else does “Kamikaze” actually address? Not a great deal. The album is practically a giant diss at anyone and everyone that has ever remotely offended Eminem. In the opening track, “Ringer,” Eminem takes shots at rapper Vince Staples and Iggy Azalea for his critique on BET Freestyle. He then mocks a whole generation of “mumble rappers,” including: Lil Yachty, Migos, 21 Savage, and Lil Xan. “Mumble rap” being a derogatory term usually used to negatively describe the quality of newer music as incoherent. Eminem also attacks Lil Pump, and even parodies the flow of his song Gucci Gang. Eminem goes as far as attacking the Grammy Awards and refers to them as a “blood-sucking” organization that benefits off the talent of others. However, the whole track is just him bashing people, but Eminem does give praise to those he respects, like Kendrick Lamar and Joyner Lucas.

​

Whether you like Eminem or not, what he has done is voice the critique on young rap artists, but this isn’t anything new.

Of course, you can’t go around spewing hate speech without consequences. In particular, Machine Gun Kelly (MGK) has not taken kindly to the track, “Not Alike,” in which Eminem goes after the 28-year-old rapper due to an inapposite comment he made on Eminem’s daughter, who at the time was sixteen. As a response to Eminem’s song, MGK has replied on a track titled, “Rap Devil.” As the title might imply, MGK unleashes verbal assault on Eminem. He notably mocks the twelve years it took for Eminem to address what Kelly said. Kelly paints Eminem as an old successful rapper who is “always mad cooped up in the studio, yelling at the mic…sober and bored” going after new artists because he has nothing better to do. Kelly also suggests that Eminem should just retire: “Stop all the thuggery, Marshall, you[‘re] living in luxury.” As far as diss tracks go, MGK is probably right.

​

Is “Kamikaze” good though? Well, it is rather stale. Eminem has no shortage of technical skill, but all the music on the album sounds like music he’s made before, and he comes off more as an old curmudgeon than as a former rap titan.