"This was hip-hop playing the long game, taking its presence and acceptance as an achievement, conceding that the gatekeepers want a level of assimilation with their authenticity" - Pitchfork looks into the Super Bowl, the first-ever hip-hop halftime show. Rolling Stone calls it "a triumph", whereas BBC asks "did too many hooks spoil the broth?". Watch it here.
Eminem’s 'Mom’s Spaghetti' restaurant opened in Detroit on Wednesday, and Slim Shady himself manned the takeout window, Detroit Free Press reports. The rapper worked the walk-up window at the alley-set eatery when it first began serving customers at 5PM. Em served the first 10 customers their takeout containers of spaghetti and meatballs (with a vegan option available!). The line for the opening day celebration stretched for blocks around Detroit’s Foxtown neighborhood.
Nikki Patterson, of Aberdeen, has set a Guinness World Records for the most tattoos of Eminem - she has 16 portraits of the American rapper tattooed on her body, according to BBC. She got her first Eminem tattoo at 19, now, aged 35, she has 52 tattoos in total and 28 - including the 16 portraits - are based on The Slim Shady.
34-years-old Nikki Paterson from Scotland has 47 tattoos, 23 of which are of Eminem, The Sun reports. She hopes this will get her into the Guinness World Book of Records. Paterson said she has been listening to Eminem since she was 14, and that she fell in love with him after hearing 'Stan', a song about a crazy fan.
'Expected to Fly' by Eddy Lee Rider is a big-rock song about losing a friend; Illuminati Hotties' awesome titled 'Will I Get Canceled If I Write a Song Called, 'If You Were a Man You'd Be So Cancelled' is a minute-and-something noise-rock and punk attitude blast; Michael Kiwanuka's dance song? - yes, when remixed by Bonobo; Mexico City's Mint Field go shoegaze psychedelia on 'Contingencia'; an average Kid Cudi and an awesome Eminem on their collaboration 'The Adventures Of Moon Man & Slim Shady'; it's more of the old stuff, but it's still great celebratory & happy Sufjan Stevens in 'My Rajneesh'; Kaytranada doesn't go wrong with his dance-pop - 'Look Easy'; Calabashed is a sort-of jazz-supergroup delivering smooth soul-jazz in 'Ode To Jazzman John Clarke'; Bettye LaVette remade songs by mighty women, one of these is timeless and powerful 'One More Song'; Avenue Beat don't appreciate this year particularly, but 'F2020' is huge on TikTok; Pallbearer go trad-doom on 'Forgotten Days'; 'Midnight Watch' by Burt Bacharach and Daniel Tashian is, well, just lovely; Greg Puciato formerly of Dilling Escape Plan is back with post-hardcore sludge combo - 'Do You Need Me To Remind You'.
Eminem listed his selection of the best rappers of all time on Twitter, saying that "in no particular order" it was a "toss up between" Lil Wayne, 2Pac, Royce Da 5'9", Jay-Z, Redman, Treach, Kool G Rap, Biggie, and Kxng Crooked, XXL reports. In a second tweet, he added, among others, a few younger ones - LL Cool J, Nas, Joyner Lucas, Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Andre 3000, Rakim, and Big Daddy Kane.
Eminem detained an intruder in his home April 5 - the star was awoken by a security alarm in the early hours of the morning, after someone broke into his gated Detroit-area home, ET reports. The 47-year-old found the intruder in his living room. His security guard arrived shortly afterwards, followed by the police.
Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Blink-182, and Cypress Hill are among the high-profile names who star in the new trailer for the upcoming Netflix documentary 'LA Originals' about tattoo artist Mister Cartoon and photographer Oriol. Directed by Estevan Oriol and set for release on April 10, 'LA Originals' is billed as “an exploration of the culture and landmarks of the chicano and street art movement".
Eminem managed to outpace himself in his new song 'Godzilla' to deliver what may be his fastest rap verse to date - his speed run through the end of his third verse on 'Godzilla' clocks in at around 31 seconds, during which he raps 224 words containing 330 total syllables. This comes in at 10.65 syllables per second and 7.23 words per second. Yesterday, he called his loyal followers to partake in the #GodzillaChallenge, rapping that third verse as fast as they can. They were quick to hop on the trend, and they nailed the rapid-fire challenge
No big new albums were out last week, so "older" albums took a chance to rise to the top of Billboard 200 chart. Roddy Ricch’s 'Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial' returned to No. 1 on the American albums chart for a third nonconsecutive week, after earning a little under 95,000 equivalent album units with vast majority of 92,000 SEA in units (streaming equivalent albums). Billie Eilish climbed to the No. 3 spot with her album 'When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?' sold in 62,000 equivalent album units, thanks to her big night at the Grammys. Eminem’s 'Music to Be Murdered By' falls to No. 2 with 89,000 equivalent album units in its second week.
Eminem climbs the Billboard 200 chart for the historic 10th time with his latest release, 'Music to Be Murdered', with 279,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 23. Of the total starting sum 154,000 are in SEA units, 117,000 are in album sales, and 8,000 are in TEA units. Eminem is just the sixth act with at least 10 No. 1 albums. He joins The Beatles (with a record 19), Jay-Z (14), Bruce Springsteen (11), Barbra Streisand (11) and Elvis Presley (10). Back on the new Billboard 200, Halsey’s 'Manic' debuts at No. 2, with 239,000 equivalent album units earned, and Mac Miller’s first posthumous album, 'Circles' debuts at No. 3 with 164,000 equivalent album units earned.
Eminem said his new album is not intended for people who are "easily offended or unnerved", and that it was "not made for the squeamish", answering to criticism of his lyrics (in song 'Unaccommodating' he references the Manchester bomb attack that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert). Eminem said in a Twitter message that some lyrics on the album were "designed to shock the conscience, which may cause positive action".
Today at midnight Eminem surprise-released his 11th studio album 'Music to be Murdered By', and the first video from it is a very dark song 'Darkness', about mass shootings. It shows a loner in a hotel room who turns to tablets and booze, before he takes a gun and starts shooting at people - a direct remake of the night in 2017 when Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd of music fans in Las Vegas, taking 58 lives (not including his own). Video wraps up with a compilation of news items from mass shooting in the USA, being shown on TV-screens assembled in the geographical shape of the US. The leitmotif through the song is the piano riff and opening lyrics from 'The Sound of Silence' - "Hello darkness my old friend".
"Writing a song like that’s ['Tiny Dancer'] a bit like having a wank, really. You want the climax to be good, but you don’t want it to be over too quickly – you want to work your way up to it" - Elton John answered Bob Dylan in a Guardian interview. The song he wished […]
The U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that iconic film composer Ennio Morricone may reclaim the copyrights to six of his film scores from the late ’70s and early ’80s. In another copyright case, Eminem' publishing company Eight Mile Style filed a massive copyright infringement lawsuit against Spotify. The lawsuit claims that Spotify has no […]
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary added Eminem's definition of the word "stan", a derivative of his 2000 song, Pitchfork reports. In Webster it appears as both a noun - "an extremely or excessively enthusiastic and devoted fan”, and a verb - “to exhibit fandom to an extreme or excessive degree” or “to be an extremely devoted and […]
'The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack' was the best-selling album globally in 2018 with 3,5 million copies sold. South Korean boyband BTS take both the second and third chart positions with the albums 'Love Yourself 結 'Answer' released in August 2018, sold in 2,7 million copies, and 'Love Yourself 轉 'Tear', released in May […]
