Slim Shady Is Back & He's Pissed: Our Track-by-track Through Eminem's 'Kamikaze'

Detroit hip hop icon Eminem (aka Marshall Mathers) is in damage control after 2017's comeback, Revival, met with astonishingly negative reviews. He's firing shots on the defiant Kamikaze, which dropped as a stealth album on Friday. On Twitter, Mathers noted he "Tried not 2 overthink this 1."

While there was considerable pushback from Trumper Stans, Mathers was predominantly maligned for his lack of musical direction. Indeed, no sonic experimenter, he has long defaulted to blue-collar rock-hop. Yet there was some sublimated misogyny, with Mathers knocked for the number of female vocalists (Beyonce, Kehlani, P!nk) and pop bangers on Recovery. In late 2017, Joe Budden – nowadays primarily a hip hop commentator over rapper – delivered a huge takedown of Mathers and his otherwise woke Untouchable on Complex's Everyday Struggle. This was all the more OMG since Budden is a member of the supergroup Slaughterhouse, still (presumably) signed to Mathers' Shady Records. It didn't help Mathers' album campaign that he was overshadowed at Coachella by another headliner – his Walk On Water partner Beyonce, partly because his camp didn't allow it to be livestreamed. In fact, Revival was an intelligent and emotional transitional album for Mathers – one worthy of re-evaluation today. However, for Slim Shady, 'damage control' means inflicting damage. And that is what he does on Kamikaze, his 10th album.

Curiously, Mathers may have actually taken sly cues from constructive criticism of Revival. The beats on Kamikaze are more modish. Mathers slated techno on Without Me, the black music originating from his hometown of Detroit. Meanwhile, Vince Staples worked with Detroit techno kid Jimmy Edgar on the brilliant Big Fish Theory. On Kamikaze, Mathers liaises with the likes of Mike Will Made It and Boi-1da. (Alex da Kid has gone ghost.) Above all, Kamikaze wouldn't be an Eminem album without controversy. He's already copped heat for directing a homophobic slur towards Tyler, The Creator. Ironically, of Mathers' many targets here, Tyler is the most likely to retaliate – and powerfully. Popcorn?

1. The Ringer

Opening Kamikaze is The Ringer, which establishes the album as an apologia for Revival after it was lambasted by critics and (some) fans. "I feel like I wanna punch the world in the fuckin' face right now," Mathers rails. In fact, he foreshadowed his stance in January's embittered Chloraseptic (Remix) (with the addition of 2 Chainz). Clocking in at nearly six-minutes, The Ringer is a broody epic with extraordinary – if intense – wordplay by Mathers, determined to preserve his legacy in hip hop. He implicitly dismisses various rappers, including Lil Yachty and our own Iggy Azalea. Mathers also pursues reviewers. And he again baits Trump – aka "this evil serpent", suggesting that the Pres is bugging out from (his) rap offensive. "I know at least he's heard it/'Cause Agent Orange just sent the Secret Service/To meet in person, to see if I really think of hurtin' him/Or ask if I'm linked to terrorists/I said, 'Only when it comes to ink and lyricists.'" The track was co-produced by Ronny J, who's worked extensively with Florida's Denzel Curry.

2. Greatest

In Greatest, an energised Mathers specifically defends his GOAT status as an MC. There's more speed rapping. Mathers deploys a sing-song hook – a polarising trope of his. The track borrows from both Kendrick Lamar's HUMBLE. and the Playboi Carti and Lil Uzi Vert cut wokeuplikethis. Mike Will Made It is producer.

3. Lucky You (Feat Joyner Lucas)

Lucky You deals with clout and recognition in the hip hop biz. Mathers is joined by Joyner Lucas, the MC behind the socially-conscious I'm Not Racist. The track, co-produced by Boi-1da, has a trap bent. Lucas was lately meant to tour Australia but cancelled due to health concerns.

4. Paul – Skit

Mathers often has his manager (and old ally) Paul Rosenberg cameo in album skits via phone messages. Here, in his role of counsellor, Rosenberg questions whether Mathers is wise to answer critics of Revival. "Are you really gonna just reply to everybody who you don't like, what they have to say about you or the stuff you're working on?," he asks. "It's a slippery slope. I don't know if it's a really good idea." LOL.

5. Normal

Mathers always has some relationship dramz – the rapper's tumultuous union with Kim Mathers the hip hop equivalent of Wuthering Heights. Oddly, in Normal he yearns for domesticity. More introspective, the track samples Little Dragon. S1 has a studio credit.

6. Em Calls Paul – Skit

This is Part 2 to Paul – Skit. Mathers returns Rosenberg's call – only (ostensibly) in his horrorcore persona, Slim Shady. Dude is in his ride with the GPS audible. It turns out that Mathers has tracked down one of those posting negative commentators about Revival. Uh-oh. Stan Versus fan?

7. Stepping Stone

8. Not Alike (Feat Royce Da 5'9)

9. Kamikaze

10. Fall

In the jerky Fall, Mathers lashes out at (surprise!) critics and other MCs. He pumps up his Joe Budden feud, even alluding to domestic violence allegations, rapping, "The closest thing he's had to hits is smackin' bitches." But Mathers is being censured for his attack on Tyler, The Creator – who, while an Eminem fan, has expressed dismay with his later music on social media. Though Tyler himself has been accused of homophobia, many construed 2017's Flower Boy album as his coming out statement. Mathers censors the 'F' word, but it's implied. "Tyler create nothin', I see why you called yourself a f****t, bitch/It's not just 'cause you lack attention/It's 'cause you worship D12's balls, you're sacrilegious/If you're gonna critique me, you better at least be as good or better/Get Earl The Hooded Sweater/Whatever his name is to help you put together/Some words, more than just two letters." The song's hook comes from an uncredited Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver, whom Kanye West initiated into the hip hop realm. Apparently, Vernon's parts were cut with producer Mike Will Made It. Going by his Twitter exchanges, Vernon is unhappy to be associated with the song's content. Elsewhere, Mathers gives a shout-out to Hopsin, who geeked out in a Facebook video.

11. Nice Guy (Feat Jessie Reyez)

For Kamikaze, Mathers recorded no less than two songs with Jessie Reyez, a rising Colombian-Canadian soulstress. The cuts are so interconnected that Mathers might have conceivably linked them via a mega beat switch. In Nice Guy, he revisits the subtext of Normal, despairing that his romances don't last, while sharing his own insecurities. The track (co-produced by S1) feels like a trap-era Portishead.

12. Good Guy (Feat Jessie Reyez)

13. Venom (Music From The Motion Picture)

The final song on Kamikaze is a glorified bonus – and perhaps necessary given the album's brevity at around 45 minutes. Mathers has recorded a macho banger for the upcoming Marvel superhero flick Venom, which stars Tom Hardy as investigative journalist Eddie Brock, aka the titular Venom.