Eminem's Reliance on Sampling Throughout "Berzerk" Drives Me Crazy

I have a great deal of respect for Eminem. Though controversy is natural in his universe he does have some of the best rap delivery that ever was. The leadoff track from his forthcoming effort "The Marshall Mathers LP 2" demonstrates he's just as committed to pushing the throttle down as ever. He's in full on party mode encouraging his disciples to say fuck it before we kick the bucket. There's a mantra in there somewhere, right? He lends his two cents to the notion that, as he puts it, "Life's too short to not go for broke." His ways with a rhyme certainly have kept him from being broke. I owe the man some debt of gratitude for demonstrating that we as white people can do better than Vanilla Ice. Sad day for white people when "Ice Ice Baby" became the first rap song to reach #1 on Billboard's Singles Chart. Sad precedent. However since that time, whether with the brazen love it or leave it affirmation of self in "The Way I Am", the twisted one sided pen pal cool ghoulishness of "Stan", the one man show ringmaster flair of "Without Me", or the ambitious to the point of night sweats intensity of "Lose Yourself" Eminem has conducted a master class on how to scramble brains with your rhymes. That's the upbeat portion of this blog. The finger wagging, and unfortunately condemning part of this blog concerns the not one but two conspicuous samplings from '80s artists that weave their way through the beats. The first verse is top heavy with the opening "Kick it!!" portion of the Beastie Boys defiant anthem "(You Gotta Fight) For Your Right (To Party)." From "kick it" to "crickets" to "pick it" to "stick it". Each one copping that familiar Beastie feel. It's true that Eminem sampled "Thank You" from Dido very liberally for "Stan". He also sampled Aerosmith's "Dream On" in order to give "Sing For The Moment" some vigor. One's artistic embellishment. Two is the song equivalent of a small child stacking two chairs on top of each other so he can reach the cookie jar on the high cupboard shelf. What's two you ask? Good question and let me not beat around the bush with the answer. The other sampled song is "The Stroke". To all you Gen Xers out there whose bread and butter of musical entertainment was '80s music that title ought to provide a knowing smirk. It was a macho romp from Billy Squier, the guy who music insiders think committed career suicide with the decidedly non-masculine video for "Rock Me Tonite. The music video time warp book "I Want My MTV" dedicates an entire chapter to spelling out just how awful it was. "Turd" is one leave nothing to the imagination description. The key riff from "The Stroke" is prominent in the hook portion of the song, the self same fuck it, kick the bucket section. Eminem's perfectly capable of dishing out the kidney punches without resorting to '80s archives. He's a biker in the big boy lane who I thought gave the fuck you finger to training wheels ages ago. Unless I am sorely lazy in getting my facts straight, "The Real Slim Shady" doesn't borrow big hair age bombast to bang out the beats. Neither does "Cleaning Out My Closet" which to be sure has more of delicate, somewhat tragic smell to it. Still, the man name drops Public Enemy "Been Public Enemy since you though PE was gym, bitch". He also clears up any confusion that MC Ren is not the same cat as Ren Hoek of Ren & Stimpy fame whose twisted friendship saw him linked up with a cat: "The art of the MCing mixed with da Vinci and MC Ren and I don't mean Stimpy's friend, bitch". Does he paid a million dollars every time he says "bitch"? Not likely but he uses that put down so much it begs the question. Frankly the bridge lyrics are phoned in. They found some deep bass voice to keep "The Stroke" swagger going. The spotlight needs to stay on Em. Even as I say that, he doesn't do himself any favors with the listless way he name drops Kid Rock and his lethal rap/rock cannonball "Bawitaba". That the Beastie Boys show up in this song is understandble. They were '80s rap pioneers, not to mention the other white rap act that hit the nail on the head. Eminem is the current pioneer whose legacy extends from the late '90s on. "Yessiree Bob" sounds like something someone's Grandpa would utter when telling one of his heavily detailed stories. Trying that Macklemore "Thrift Shop" hand-me-down type of antiquated speech on Eminem makes it sound like he's resting on his laurels a bit. Then, back at the hook, he swallows some Jolt Cola (Yes, you can still buy it. Go to Amazon.com if you don't believe me.) and we're back to letting yourself go because life's too short not to cut loose. Did Marshall Mathers show up to nonchalantly fire off Verse 2? Slim Shady's the guy steering the hook. The voyage would be nicer if it didn't include a disgraced '80s rocker whose inclusion here is a puzzler to me. Was it to light the fire on a partying mood. Did Em simply think the riff was too amazing to pass up. Did Billy plead with Eminem to help him avoid a slide into permanent cultural irrelevance. You know, for a man solidly planted in the rap camp, Eminem sure has had his moments where he's peeled back that layer to reveal his inner rocker. Sampling Aerosmith could be forgiven because Aerosmith and Run DMC made music history in 1986 with the rap makeover of "Walk This Way" Kid Rock has his crossover appeal for both rappers and hard rock, tattoo sporting types. Billy however doesn't straddle the fence like that. Back to scratching my head in utter bemusement I go. As of this blog "Berzerk" has already debuted at #3 on the Billboard chart alluded to earlier. That pretty much means it's Eminem's star wattage that's rocket fueled his initial success. Can't say it comes close to being his best work. Radio accessible for sure but when he had more of a junkyard dog mentality I enjoyed it more. "Berzerk" goes crazy on sampling which detracts from the power of his presence. Billy Squier really ought to send Eminem a thank you text though. Don't know when the last time his name came up in artistic conversation. "I Want My MTV" opened the door. For some bizarre reason Eminem pried it wider. Not that Eminem's persona has ever been short of way off the spool. Let's hope whichever single he or his label opts to release next puts the focus 100% on Eminem and not on artists who can get along just fine on their own.