In case the title
Kamikaze didn't provide a clear tell in regards to
Eminem's state of mind, the cover art to this surprise 2018 album is an explicit parody of
the Beastie Boys' 1986 debut,
Licensed to Ill. True heads know that
the Beasties originally planned to call
Licensed to Ill "Don't Be a Faggot," which the label wisely realized was too antagonistic and homophobic, yet the album was still filled with enough questionable material that the trio spent a good portion of the '90s atoning for their juvenilia -- an understandable action from a group whose members were all entering their thirties. Inviting such comparisons to
the Beastie Boys may not be the wisest move for
Marshall Mathers.
Eminem was 45 when he released
Kamikaze, a record that positively seethes with slurs and is drowning in dick jokes. Where
the Beasties questioned their past,
Eminem finds comfort in it, relying on familiar themes while he celebrates the days that are gone. Coming after
Revival, the 2017 album where he grappled with questions of mortality along with the moral rot of the
Trump era, the retreat to spitting insults and reflexive anger is a bit of a disappointment, particularly because
Kamikaze isn't quite the jolt it was intended to be. Maybe it's because the genesis of the album lies in "Venom," a song
Em recorded for the anti-superhero film of the same name, but
Kamikaze often feels like an extended exercise in
Eminem hitting his marks. Apart from "Fall" -- a spectral cut co-written by
Bon Iver's
Justin Vernon that's also home to a homophobic swipe at
Tyler, The Creator (a lyric that made
Vernon disown the track) -- the music is direct, heavy, and claustrophobic. Its insularity suits the solipsistic worldview of
Eminem, and its monochromatic pulse also puts his astonishing verbal facility in sharp relief. As sheer performance,
Eminem's vocals remain a thing of wonder, which is why it's so dispiriting to hear him circling the drain, relying on old tricks instead of expanding his worldview. He has the musical skills to mature; he's just refusing to let himself act his age. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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