Eminem, The Rap God [Part II]

Hey guys. I'm trying to get a friend (who doesn't listen to rap) into Eminem so I decided to write him an email and list a few of my favourite songs for him to check out. Well, the email quickly turned into a 10,000 word essay on why Eminem is my favourite rapper, including an in depth analysis of his rapping technique and song recommendations from all his albums. With that being said, I must point out that I'm not versed in music theory and probably have no idea what I'm talking about. This is the rambling of someone who has been listening to Eminem since he was 9 (I'm 22 now) and just appreciates the fuck out of his music. If I'm wrong about anything, I would love some constructive criticism.

[Part I](http://www.reddit.com/r/hiphopheads/comments/2dw714/xpost_from_rmusic_eminem_the_rap_god_part_1/)

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Although violence and misogyny make up a large portion of his albums, he raps about other topics too. In some of his best songs he talks about more serious things like raising his daughters, being stuck in an inescapable bubble of fame, his drug addiction and struggle to get clean and his shitty childhood. He’ll often use comedy to cope and deal with the shittier aspects of his life, such as he did on the album Relapse. This album was released a while after his friend Proof died during a period when Eminem was struggling with drug addiction. The whole album is a concept album, one where he pretends to be a serial killer and raps in a Pakistani-sounding accent. He’ll often poke fun at his drug addiction throughout the album too, although it does contain a few serious songs about it. It’s funny though because even Relapse (an album believed to be one of his worst, even by Eminem himself, produced at a time when Eminem was clearly off his game) contains higher quality rhyming schemes and technical rapping ability than the majority of albums produced by mainstream rappers. Take the first few lines from the song 3 A.M. for example and look at how well this verse is constructed:

>You're walking down a *horror corridor*

>it's almost *four* in the *mor*ning and *you're in a, nightmare it's horrible*

>*right there's* the *coroner*, waiting *for ya to*

>turn the *corner* so he can *corner ya*, you're a *goner,* he's *onto ya*,

>out the *corner* of his *cornea*, he just saw *ya run*

By rapping with this weird accent, he can stretch different syllables and words that don’t normally rhyme and make them rhyme.

**Rapping technique/Style:**

Eminem’s ability to rap well is obviously one of the main reasons that he stands at such a high spot in hip hop. He can string words and syllables together that no other rapper would even dream of, and he does it CONSISTENTLY. He uses a mixture of complex rhyming schemes and wordplay that he mixes together with a smooth sounding flow to create his own unique sound that not many other rappers can match. Some rappers can emulate certain parts of his style and make a few good songs, but I haven’t heard of anyone who is able to do it consistently for 8 albums. His consistently good music is what sets him apart. I’m going to break down his style into multiple sections to help you understand fully all that is Eminem. I’ll include some verses from other rappers to compare and contrast multisyllable/word rhyming, flow, speed and wordplay.

**Multi Syllable/Word Rhyming:** Eminem rhymes multiple syllables in almost each line. Let’s take a look at the song "Headlines" by Drake for an example of a simple rhyming pattern.

>I might be too strung out on *compliments*

>overdosed on *confidence*

>started not to give a fuck and stopped fearing the *consequence*

>drinking every night because we drink to my *accomplishments*

>faded way too long, I'm floatin' in and out of *consciousness*

Now I’ll admit to the fact that Drake is a far better rapper than this verse implies; I’m just using these lines as an example of a popularly used simple rhyming scheme. As you can see, he’s rhyming only one word with one word, each word being 3 syllables.

>*Compliments Confidence Consequence Accomplishments Consciousness*

This is probably one of the easiest patterns to use, although it’s commonly done with 2 syllables instead of 3. Before we go on, I should define what a perfect rhyme and family rhyme is. A perfect rhyme has these characteristics (take from grahamenglish):

1. The rhyming syllables have the same vowel sounds 2. The consonant sounds after the vowel (if any) have the same sounds 3. The rhyming syllables begin differently

A family rhyme is the same except for one point:

2. The consonant sounds after the vowel are phonetically related

Frog/dog would be an example of a perfect rhyme, while rich/wish and fun/sung would be examples of family rhymes. They rhyme, but you can tell they don’t perfectly match up. In the above example, compliments and confidence are perfect rhymes while accomplishments and consciousness can be considered a family rhyme, especially since the syllables -ments and -ness don’t rhyme perfectly. Eminem (and a lot of rappers in general) utilizes a lot of family rhymes in his songs, which allows him to rhyme together a wider selection of words and syllables. I’ll go into more depth on his use of family rhymes in a later segment.

Let’s look at another rhyming style that is a bit harder to implement but is still popularly. This verse is taken from Lil Wayne's “She Will”:

>Niggas is *jealous*, but really I could *care less*

>I'm in Hell's Kitchen with an apron and a *hairnet*

>devil on my shoulder, the Lord as my *witness*

>so on my Libra scale I'm weighing sins and *forgiveness*

>what goes around comes around like a *hula hoop*

>karma is a bitch? Well just make sure that bitch is *beautiful*

Lil Wayne’s specialty is not his technical ability to rhyme, but let’s take a look at the rhyming scheme here. As you can see, he’s rhyming the last two syllables in each line, whether those syllables are contained in one word or two. This is also a very popular style in rap and isn’t too difficult to do. Let’s now look at another Lil Wayne verse that is a bit more complex, from the song “A Milli”:

>A *millionaire*,

>I'm a Young Money *millionaire* tougher than *Nigerian hair*

>my *criteria compared* to your *career just isn't fair*

>I'm a venereal *disease* like a menstrual *bleed*

See the way he uses two words (*nigerian hair)* to rhyme with *millionaire*? The *-gerian* in *nigerian* is a family rhyme with *million-* while hair rhymes with *-naire* as a perfect rhyme. He also switches it up in the next line:

>My *criteria compared* to your *career just isn't fair*

*Criteria compared* is at the beginning of the sentence yet is a family rhyme with *nigerian hair* which comes at the end of the last sentence. Let’s look at some other lines from this song to highlight another important style:

>I go by them goon rules if you can’t beat 'em then you *pop 'em*

>if you can’t *man 'em* then you *mop 'em*

>if you can’t *stand 'em* then you *drop 'em*

>you *pop 'em* cause we *pop 'em* like Orville Reden*bacher*

See how *man ‘em* and *stand ‘em* both come at the beginning of the second and third line while *mop ‘em* and *drop ‘em* both come at the end? This style really differentiates an amateur rapper with a more talented rapper, but is still quite common in rap.

Now let’s take a look at an Eminem verse to see how he utilizes these different techniques. This is part of a great verse on the song “Bitch Please II”:

>*Gimme the mic, let me recite* til *Timothy White*

>pickets outside the Interscope offices *every night*

>what *if he's right*

>I'm just a *criminal* making a *living off* of the world's misery