Read the review of Eminem’s new “Music To Be Murdered By” album from one of our authors, Katerina Malik. It’s in the #34 special edition of our EJ magazine.

What distinguishes a winner from a loser? The leader from the followers? Talent? Maybe. Luck? Sometimes. Work ethic? Almost always. But there is one feature inherent to all successful people – the ability to get up and move forward after failure, or in Marshall’s case, after what many consider failure.

Revival showed the world that Eminem has matured and wants to share his wisdom and life experience. Kamikaze showed that he was not quite ready to let go of his furious and aggressive alter ego. MTBMB, in turn, is an act of a leader, an act of a winner. As R. Kipling said:

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken / Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, / Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools.

Em’s tools aren’t so worn out, and once again he has revealed their sharpness to everyone. The third album in such a short period of time, and not only does his pen never run out of ink, it seems the ink is just getting brighter with every new stroke. Once again Eminem dives deep into personal issues. This time, however, he does not draw a line between his different shades of personality, this time they are all bound together in synergy. This, in my opinion, makes the album interesting for a much broader audience.

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Marshall talks about mass shootings and the gun control problem, drug addiction, personal family issues, and other pertinent topics. The good old Slim is present throughout the album. Sometimes going over the top, provoking people to pick up on some old scandals. Somewhere along the lines, he becomes today’s mature version of himself. What unites all of the facets of his amazing personality is the enormous skill of a true lyricist and his punching delivery.

Bringing together established and emerging artists (the list of guests on the album is impressive), Em has molded a work of art with the potency to change our perception and consciousness, and of course, an undeniable potency to entertain. The cunning Mr. Mathers does not intend to lose ground, he not only remains relevant but also ahead of the game, anticipating coming trends. He speaks in a language of shock-value and suspense, as always using irony, satire, sometimes going too far, but always remaining true to himself.

Eminem is an inner voice that I would love to have and guide me. A voice that can ask me inconvenient questions, make taboo jokes, tell me a scary story, and, in the end, make me think about topics that usually I would try to avoid.

And yes, even having such a voice, I would still choose to listen to Eminem’s new album, because taking aside the social, political and psychological depths of his work, there’s still damn good music to listen to, making you laugh, with subtle and smart lyrics from the master himself, accompanied by impressive collaborations.