Rap Suggestions Based on Specific Eminem Tracks

Cafe Society
1

But, first, an overly involved introduction!

I grew up on country, abandoned it wholesale for rock / nu-metal about five years ago, and have grown bored with it recently and have been trying a bit of everything for the six months or so. In that time, I’ve discovered some new favorites (mostly female singer-songwriters like Sarah Bettens [the lead singer of my current favorite band, K’s Choice], Imogen Heap, PJ Harvey, and Vienna Teng) but have also rediscovered an appreciation for Eminem.

I only have so many songs, though, and those are starting to wear thin so I’m hoping if I name my favorite songs of his, someone could give me suggestions based on the music, style, and, most importantly, overall theme. While I like some hip hop that’s about rims, bling, and/or hos (Shake That being an example.), I much prefer the cathartic vitriol found in songs such as:

Business
Criminal
Drug Ballad
Soldier
Square Dance
Stan
The Way I Am
Till I Collapse
White America

…and even though it’s a D12 song, let’s include How Come since Eminem is featured prominently, it fits with the overall theme, and it brings the list to an even ten. I like round numbers.

Any suggestions?

2

You should check out the Robert Christgau article from this month’s Believer magazine. Very interesting article about Eminem, and you could probably pick up some suggestions from that, too.

As for specific recommendations, you should definitely check out Eminem’s track with Jay-Z, Renegade, because it’s a great song and it really is one of Em’s best verses ever. It is a double edged sword though, since its rather an ignominious introduction to Jay-Z; as Nas said, “Eminem murdered [him] on his own shit.” But that is really more due to the fact that Eminem’s rapping is so amazing on the track - if you listen, you hear that Jay-Z’s verses are perfectly fine, just nowhere near as good as Eminem’s in that song. However, if you like that track, you should check out some other Jay-Z, because he’s earned the title of “Best Rapper Alive,” and is almost certainly better than Eminem. He’s definitely more consistent.

For other listening, you can do worse than listen to Eminem’s own recommendations in"Till I Collapse"

And apart from Kurupt, who has his moments but isn’t anything special, that’s a pretty good primer for contemporary rap.

As for specifically “cathartic vitriol”… hmm… kind of tough. Eminem has a peculiarly helpless style of anger - probably related to the fact that he’s a white guy in a black industry, although the Christgau article I linked to expands on this better than I could - that isn’t very common amongst other hip hop artists. For instance, NWA’s angry, but it’s a very different anger to Em’s. The best I can suggest off the top of my head is Ill Bill, who has a lot in common with Eminem. Then maybe Atmosphere, who is very much at the Undie emo end of the spectrum, but if you appreciate Eminem’s catharsis, you might like Atmosphere’s stuff. Start off with the track “Trying To Find A Balance” or “Smart Went Crazy.” If you like the Shady gothic production style, there’s a whole lot of Dr.Dre work out there - The 2001 album, for a start, and going a bit further afield, Three 6 Mafia, out of Memphis, has been doing a similar, although completely unique, style of gloomy, claustrophobic keyboard driven horror movie beats for a long time now.

3

Hmm, this is a tough one. I agree that Eminem raps about some stuff that not a lot of other rappers do. I like the Atmosphere recommendation, though I don’t think they’re quite as raw in their anger. Nas has some gritty tracks that are not about hos and bling (e.g. “One Mic”, or “New York State of Mind”), but they’re not very introspective.

For an obscure recommendation, maybe Chino XL. Specifically his '96 album Here to Save You All (I’ve heard his '01 album I Told You So is good as well, but I haven’t listened to it personally). Some of the tracks on that album, like “What Am I?”, are both angry and cathartic.

4

I own The Black Album (which I love) but am otherwise not so well acquainted with Jay-Z. I’ll check him out further. Atmosphere and everyone else suggested as well but I have to ask, what is undie (underground?) emo rap? Like N.E.R.D? 'cause I’m definitely not on that bandwagon.

5

I also like Atmosphere, which consists of rapper Slug (who happens to be white) and producer Ant (who happens to be Hispanic). Slug has really good flow, and I’ve heard more knowledgeable hip-hop fans compare his style to a cross between Eminem and Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg in the ubiquitous “Lazy Sunday” video from a recent Saturday Night Live. You might also like MC Paul Barman, who is a fast-spitting white wiseass like Eminem, but is more nerdy and less angry.

6

Without getting too much into the tricky issue of race, I’ll just say that, from what I’ve read, Slug tends to self-identify as “mixed” or black. See his wikipedia entry.

7

I. LOVE. Atmosphere. He is teh gr8.

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OK, I was misinformed by my friend, the hip-hop aficionado who introduced me to them. My bad, dawg.

9

Have you listened to Fort Minor or Chris Classic?

10

If you love the Black Album, definitely get Jay-Z’s The Blueprint. The Black Album is great, but The Blueprint is about a million times better. You know “Moment Of Clarity,” from the Black Album? That was produced by Eminem, and “Renegade,” which I referred to in my last post, is also produced by Eminem, and it leaves “Moment Of Clarity,” for dead, good as MoC is.

Undie means underground. It’s probably called undie because undie sounds like indie, and underground rap tends to have a similar aesthetic and audience to indie rock. Atmosphere is often described as emo because Slug raps about his feelings a lot. Similar artists would be Buck 65 or Sage Francis.

I wouldn’t describe N.E.R.D. as undie rap at all. To my ears they make clever pop music, though neither as clever nor as essential as the Neptune’s output when they’re behind the mixing desk rather than performing.

11

…What no Busdriver recommedations?

This thread is bullshit.
:slight_smile: