Eminem Became A Parody Of Himself And Everybody's Laughing
The hardest thing about being a hip-hop fan in 2018 is watching legends turn into cannibals. Not to suggest that rap should ever be above self-critique – that's always been a major tenet of the genre. But certain artists seem to have forgotten what it's like to be young, dumb and numb. In their hunger for lasting relevance, some have even begun to feast on their own babies.
On Aug. 31, Eminem surprise released Kamikaze, his appropriately-titled 10th studio album. And by industry accounts he pulled off a successful suicide mission. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week, pushing 434,000 equivalent album units. But those receipts don't even begin to reflect the LP's divisive reception. In the digital age, even numbers lie. Or, as Mark Twain legitimately put it, "Lies, damned lies, and statistics."
Welcome to the era of hate streams. A close cousin to hate clicks – the metric beloved by media outlets that troll readers into submission with contentious clickbait — hate streams are the music world's zero-sum equivalent. And Eminem is the latest to benefit in a year defined by hip-hop's mega stars releasing subpar albums to debut atop the Billboard charts despite it earning a critical beatdown; to Nicki Minaj, whose tweetstorms in the weeks prior to and following earned more coverage than the actual music, which debuted at No. 2. Even an artist like Drake, who is practically guaranteed to sit atop the charts for weeks with each new release, gets a boost from curiosity seekers on Spotify who can partake without having to purchase. It's partly why Pusha T's pre-release diss ("Story of Adidon") could be considered a win-win for Drake. Forget the battle rap; for a pop phenomenon, winning the war means prioritizing mass consumption over credibility.
