Eminem's new album 'Music To Be Murdered By' takes aim at gun violence, calls for political action
Guess who's back? Back again? Shady's back! Tell a friend! Yup, that's right, everyone's favorite acid-tongued rapper, Eminem, just surprised us all by dropping a brand-new album called 'Music To Be Murdered By'. The star-studded album produced by Dr. Dre features guest spots from the late rapper Juice WRLD, besides other amazing artistes like Q-Tip, Ed Sheeran, Black Thought, Young M.A, and Anderson.Paak.
In what is turning out to be an amazing weekend for hip-hop lovers, rapper Marshall Mathers aka Eminem also decided to join the album release party train, along with J. Cole and Mac Miller. And just like his 2018 'Kamikaze' album, the announcement came out of the blue! He clearly wasn't interested in keeping us in suspense-mode.
Which is ironic, since Em's new release 'Music To Be Murdered By' is clearly inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 album of the same name. Besides sampling his work, this new record also features artwork that pays direct homage to the legendary British horror film director's album. And the incendiary new album is filled with dark and thrilling subject matter, just like the legendary master of suspense's movies from back in the day!
One of the tracks on the album, 'Darkness' samples Simon and Garfunkel's classic 'Sound of Silence' and has been accompanied by an official music video as well. It depicts a concert shooting and also includes footage from the tragic 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. As the sobering video ends, there’s one last plea that encourages people to register to vote. “Make your voice heard and help change gun laws in America,” says the closing text, asking viewers to register at Vote.gov.
Check out the official music video for 'Darkness' below:
But the darkness doesn't end there! On the track 'Unaccommodating', Eminem drags up his feud with Machine Gun Kelly (remember the incredible Killshot?) before going "bombs away” and referencing the 2017 Ariana Grande concert bombing that killed 22 people in Manchester. It seems as if the bombings are still on Slim Shady's mind as he also mentioned it in his 11-minute freestyle called 'Kick Off' in 2018.
On another song 'No Regrets', Eminem apologizes to the talented OFWGKTA members Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt for the homophobic slurs he had previously hurled at them on his 2018 song, 'Fall'. Eminem has clearly matured a lot since then, going "Thinking I run shit/Misplacing my anger enough to give Earl and Tyler, the Creator the brunt/Should’ve never made a response, should’ve just aimed for the fake ones and traitorous punks."
All in all, this seems like a sharp, provocative, pretty dope and unsurprisingly woke new album from Eminem, who still remains one of the smartest and best rappers of his generation. To listen to the entire album, you can click here.