Recovery is for suckers

[Jaydc]

I was all psyched for the new Eminem album, Recovery, but then I heard that song “Not Afraid,” and now I could give a rat’s ass. I’ll still DL and have a look, when the opportunity presents itself, but I won’t be furiously consulting the Google until it arrives, as if it was pr0n, the way I did the new National album. Which was so worth it, btw.

It’s not that “Not Afraid” is such a bad song. The rappin’ is about as strong as the rappin’ on anything else Eminem has done the past couple of years, which is to say stronger than a motherfucker. The production isn’t memorable in the least bit (I literally can’t recall how exactly it sounds, and I see the TIs had it pulled from this site’s Bangers section), but it’s not highly obnoxious or anything, which is about as much as you can ask from 2K10-era synthesizer-based rap music.

The part that’s really bothersome to me is the chorus. The line, “I’m not afraid to take a stand. Everybody come take my hand,” sounds like some shit Lenny Kravitz would write, if Lenny Kravitz tried to write the chorus to an inspirational rap song. (I don’t want to give Jay-Z any ideas.) Then there’s the fact that Em opted to sing the chorus himself, rather than bringing in Drake, or anyone who’s voice isn’t as white and whiny-sounding as his own.

But you know how Eminem is about doing things himself. Remember all of those shitty beats he made back in the early to mid ’00s? I wonder if that’s because he’s white. I went to high school with a guy - a cracka-ass cracka - whose father was always tinkering with his cars. Then you’d have to go pick him up from off the side of the road somewhere, when they broke down. There must be something about the white man’s psyche that leads you to want to do shit yourself, regardless of whether or not you’re capable.

Pro tip for black dudes who haven’t spent a significant amount of time around white people: If you go over to a white person’s house, and they offer you some meat they shot and killed themselves, tell them you would, but you just ate.

The fact that it’s cornier than a motherfucker hasn’t stopped “Not Afraid” from being remarkably popular. I read somewhere recently that it debuted at the very top of the pop charts, making it one of only a small handful songs to ever do so - and not just some obscure digital chart that that guy Sam Adams could probably buy his way onto. I’m talking the Billboard Hot 100. It took Jay-Z 46 years and more number one albums than the Beatles and Elvis combined to make it to number one, and Eminem did it with a song that’s not even that good.

But you never can tell what the pop charts mean these days. Maybe the fact that Jay-Z finally reached #1 doesn’t mean he finally came up with a song that was worthy enough, it means the charts have gotten that much easier to game. It’s not like Jay-Z hasn’t been making cynical concessions to the marketplace his entire career. For all we know, his cover of “I Know What Boys Like” by the Waitresses could have topped the pop charts, if it had been released in 2K10 rather than when I was in the 10th grade.

Then there’s the fact that people tend to like things with positive, uplifting messages. That’s why they stay showing Shawshank on the Superstation. (They still show Shawshank on the Superstation, right?) Book stores are filled with books about how to stay positive and get your life together. I was in a Barnes and Noble the other day - scanning the sex books, natch - and I saw where Russell Simmons has got a new one out. I don’t even think it was his first one. I hadn’t so much as heard of it, but you’d have to think he’s making a lot of money from it. Otherwise, why would he bother?

I’m sure Eminem understands this, and that’s why he decided to scrap Relapse 2, i.e. another album about the depravity and hence the hilarity of substance abuse, something I could enjoy, in favor of an album full of uplifting songs about joining hands and walking along the path towards clean living. (What part of the game is that?!) The original Relapse, much more along the lines of a classic Eminem album, didn’t sell nearly as well as he thought it would, so now he’s gonna do something way different, plus he’s gonna bring in a gang of producers to make him songs that sound like songs that are currently popular.

I’m not buying for a minute that this is a reflection of a genuine change in his point of view. He probably wasn’t on drugs back when he recorded Relapse. And I wonder how important drugs really were to his late ’90s - early ’00s-era classic material. So, he took a few drugs in his 20s. Who didn’t? It’s not like I copped the Marshall Mathers LP to find out what it’s like to be high. He could have been sober his entire life, for all I care. This is the Rick Ross era. Whether or not his music is an accurate reflection of his experience is beyond the point. I just think songs about getting fucked up and doing crazy shit sound more interesting than songs about not getting fucked up and not doing crazy shit. Call me crazy.
http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=80826

[NotoriousTDA]

who gives a fuck about this man's opinion?

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

Omg I thought this was actually you writing this until I got bored of reading this long-ass story and scrolled to the bottom and saw the XXL link.

I love this song.  It is my favorite song from Eminem since I can't remember..  A song off The Eminem show for sure..

It has a different sound, (I applaud the outsourcing of producers for this album), it has stronger subject content, it has positive and uplifting lyrics.   It sounds like a brand new Eminem.  A conscience Eminem, which only appears once an album and definitely not as the first single.   What more could you ask for?

This single epitomes "growth" to the fullest, and I encourage it, because no matter how good some of his past albums were, I don't wanna hear the same thing twice...  And frankly, I've grown tired of alot of it.

Welcome to Recovery, Eminem fans.  We'll do this together.

[Jaydc]

The more I hear not afriad the less I like it.People are praising it because its not the same eminem single that he always drops but that took what 6 tries to do?Thats not something to applaud.The beat is trash,it sounds like some soundclick shit,its seriously one of the worst beats Ive heard all year.Notice how not one person has jumped on the beat to spit on?The chorus is horrendous the only saving grace is the verses.

[LyRiCaL_G]

Yet id take this everyday over the previous attempts like just loose it and we made you etc. Hopefully we get a proper album this time around instead of that bullshit he been putting out in many years now.

I just skimmed through that bullshit piece...a hardcore fan im guessing? lol but having read the conclusion, he basically saying  ''I just think songs about getting fucked up and doing crazy shit sound more interesting than songs about not getting fucked up and not doing crazy shit. Call me crazy''....well go listen to some earlier eminem material if his the only spitter u heard of or keep relapse on grind if u want shitty music about crazy shit. Or go check a bizzare cd.

I'll take a nas cd anyday over a cd just about getting fucked up and doing crazy shit. And there will be stuff for that too within the album, just not the main topic. Id dudes that worried, maybe dude should widen his horizons abit and realise there is more to music than eminem and check some other cats than. Try a luda cd, dudes got game. TI...theres too many.. younger cats who can be taken abit more serious about doing crazy shit than a 36+ year old clean from drugs and tryna raise his daughter and trying to come with a different attempt this time around after the response he has had for encore and relapse.

Who know whats the final product will be like till we hear it, because dude could be about to drop a wack cd but he could be about to drop some a dope cd too. And there will probably always be some crazy weird shit on an eminem album anyway.

Wack piece.

[LyRiCaL_G]

The more I hear not afriad the less I like it.

And i agree with this too. I havent actually heard it in a while but i remember when i first heard it i was like this is very solid and then i heard it again and i liked it more and was like this is going to be huge. And it is. But then i heard it again a few times and i got bored. Its summer coming up...Rides, parties, bitches, ice cream, thats what it at right now


Someone needs to drop a genesis sort of cd lol

[Chamillitary Click]

my only beef with "Not Afraid" is the beat, kind of.

but i don't even think about it because like Slaughterhouse, i don't listen to Eminem for production reasons; although productions made Relapse easier to listen to.

he's a lyrical rapper, i don't need a iconic beat to enjoy.

as for this guy who wrote the article, i would assume he isn't a big fan of Eminem; i mean, how can you critique an entire album, call it "an album for suckers" when he's only heard the lead single (which has been his best since "Without Me") & his beef with it was the beef & the singing, which wasn't that bad; i mean, it wasn't good, but it wasn't untolerable.

he also said, "he could of got a guy like Drake to sing the chorus"; right there, he lost my interest in what he was saying.

[Action!]

I don't like I'm Not Afraid because of it's production and it's over the top hook.  It's all kinds of corny.  Like other comments have noted I thought it was strong when I first heard it but after a second round it wasn't impressive.

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

The more I hear not afriad the less I like it.People are praising it because its not the same eminem single that he always drops but that took what 6 tries to do?Thats not something to applaud.The beat is trash,it sounds like some soundclick shit,its seriously one of the worst beats Ive heard all year.Notice how not one person has jumped on the beat to spit on?The chorus is horrendous the only saving grace is the verses.

You don't like the beat?   Or the chorus?   Wtf man...  Go listen to that shit on headphones and walk in the rain.. You'll see the light!

Corny hook?  This is as real as you can get, humble yourselves, shit.  This is hope music.   The message of this song easily shits on any single that came out since Live Your Life  by T.I.

"you aint feel what the pencil scripts, 9 times outta 10 u aint been thru shit" -Joe Budden

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

Remember when XXL tried to  disrespect Eminem during the Slim Shady LP days, and they claimed he was like a culture stealing Vanilla Ice?   This article is almost as stupid as that one was, the only difference is that Eminem's career is no longer as relevant as it used to be, yet the message is the same... blatant racism and bitterness towards a very talented artist.   

[Action!]

The more I hear not afriad the less I like it.People are praising it because its not the same eminem single that he always drops but that took what 6 tries to do?Thats not something to applaud.The beat is trash,it sounds like some soundclick shit,its seriously one of the worst beats Ive heard all year.Notice how not one person has jumped on the beat to spit on?The chorus is horrendous the only saving grace is the verses.

You don't like the beat?   Or the chorus?   Wtf man...  Go listen to that shit on headphones and walk in the rain.. You'll see the light!

Corny hook?  This is as real as you can get, humble yourselves, shit.  This is hope music.   The message of this song easily shits on any single that came out since Live Your Life  by T.I.

"you aint feel what the pencil scripts, 9 times outta 10 u aint been thru shit" -Joe Budden

Really? It just couldn't be I thought it was corny and I'm not feeling it?  NO!  That's too absurd!

In the words of Common,

If I don't like it, I don't like it, that don't mean that I'm hating

I'm glad he released this single instead of We Made You material.  This at least might motivate somebody but it doesn't work for me.  

[Lucifuge]

Damn..when he rap about killing people they say "he raps sam shit like before 10 years ago",now when he try somthing new they want him to take back 10 years ago ..fuck you haters,just enyoy in good music. thats it

[doggfather]

who gives a fuck about this man's opinion?

+1

[Elano]

who gives a fuck about this man's opinion?

and jaydc

[Jaydc]

The more I hear not afriad the less I like it.People are praising it because its not the same eminem single that he always drops but that took what 6 tries to do?Thats not something to applaud.The beat is trash,it sounds like some soundclick shit,its seriously one of the worst beats Ive heard all year.Notice how not one person has jumped on the beat to spit on?The chorus is horrendous the only saving grace is the verses.

You don't like the beat?   Or the chorus?   Wtf man...  Go listen to that shit on headphones and walk in the rain.. You'll see the light!

Corny hook?  This is as real as you can get, humble yourselves, shit.  This is hope music.   The message of this song easily shits on any single that came out since Live Your Life  by T.I.

"you aint feel what the pencil scripts, 9 times outta 10 u aint been thru shit" -Joe Budden

the chorus is really cheesey.And the beat is flat out terrible.Those snares ruin the beat.It sounds like half a beat,it sounds like the producer found a bassline and then started hitting tin cans every 3 seconds.I cant even listen to the beat I turn the song off in the first tne seconds.