Rappers have always roasted rivals. But one of the most amusing byproducts of a genre more than 30 years on from its inception is a fortysomething lyrical ninja like Eminem taking aim at the current crop of laid-back, mumbling, Xanax-ed MCs. In contrast to his previous, more thoughtful outing, Revival, Kamikaze finds Marshall Mathers revelling in his Slim Shady rabid underdog role, fulminating at critics, boggling at Lil Yachty, and sneering at the Migos flow on Not Alike.
How riveting all this finger-wagging is probably depends upon your birth date. Hip-hop has moved on from Mathers’s high-speed, foul-mouthed wit. Perhaps it’s for good – he hasn’t read the Twitter notification about about phrases such as “raping the language”, and Bon Iver has distanced himself from his guest spot on Fall because of a homophobic slur.
But perhaps it’s for ill too: Mathers is right about Yachty. For all his moral chiaroscuro, this underdog can still give tongue like few others. Although there’s scorn for Trump here, the lyricism of a new civil rights era seems to have passed Mathers by, the antidote to all the lifestyle rap he derides.
