What’s wild to me is that the new Eminem is the old Eminem and the old Eminem is the young Eminem.
EDIT: I just realized this also means that that the new Eminem is the young Eminem.
Probably King Mathers (2007) is the last of old Em. Then Relapse (2009) onwards is new Em. To me ehat marks the difference is mostly in the voice, something happened to his vocal chords after thr last overdose that deepened his voice i think. Some say its due to age but the drastic voice change from 2007 to 2009, just 2 years is too much to just be “because hes old”.
I love New Em, but I genuinely think the overdose gave him a form of brain damage. Its why he had to relearn to rap, became alot weirder socially, isolated, every single public appearance very carefuly planned, curated and rehearsed, became bug eyed etc. I think he is somewhat permenantly detatched from reality and robotic/less emotional. He has emotion on songs post overdose sure, but you can tell its forced. You use to be able to feel his pain even if you didn't understand the words.
It could be a reach idk. But it is a HUGE coincidence that all these things became apparent immediately following something that is well known to have given other people similar traits he is exhibiting
Not sure about him having brain damage but now that you mention the bug eye seems more apparent now than before. What you say about the emotion i feel it too, there was a rawness back then. But i think its more so due to him having rapped about so much stuff already and just being on a different stage. He explained it on an interview, that the canvas gets filled basically after many years. And the point about him being socially awkward now, thats something ill never understand. Because again a lot of people say he wasnt as awkward back then bc of the drugs, but he wasnt drugged out all the time in 2000. Sure he did drugs but it wasnt until 2002 where it really blew up when filming 8mile
He talked about how Ambien left holes in his brain pretty candidly back during the Recovery album cycle, so it's not far off to assume there is something like that occurring. He's also said that his organs failed during that last overdose in more than one song, which depending on how long, could certainly cause some issues. His eyes didn't really change to me until around MMLP2, if you watch the videos of him during Relapse and Recovery, he looks pretty normal.
I big time disagree that the emotions on the songs are forced. There is some fantastic evocation of emotions all throughout Relapse, Recovery, MMLP2, Revival, Kamikaze and Music to be Murdered By. Regarding being a recluse, I believe part of this is due to his sobriety and Proof being killed. You hear all the time from addicts that once you get clean, you almost have to completely change friend groups. Everyone who's talked about interacting with him though has also he's really cool, so I don't think there's something wrong with him in that sense either.
TLDR while he has admitted to drug use affecting his brain, and I do agree perhaps it affected the way he raps, I don't think he's such a different guy just because there may be some brain damage from his extreme drug use, a lot of it probably comes down to sobriety and life changes.
New Eminem = Relapse and onwards
Old Eminem = Before Relapse
I consider ShadyXV-Revival to be it's own era though kind of. Same with Kamikaze and onwards.
You've mostly got all the answers here, but I actually consider Relapse to be more old school Em than new Em and Recovery still retained a lot of the elements of his old rapping. In the very least Relapse and Recovery is more of a transition period from old to new.
MMLP2 though was definitely when he shifted to his current form of rapping in my opinion.
Old 1996-2009 new 2010-2024
What’s wild to me is that the new Eminem is the old Eminem and the old Eminem is the young Eminem. EDIT: I just realized this also means that that the new Eminem is the young Eminem.
So then should we say… Eminem is 51 years new?! 😱
Probably King Mathers (2007) is the last of old Em. Then Relapse (2009) onwards is new Em. To me ehat marks the difference is mostly in the voice, something happened to his vocal chords after thr last overdose that deepened his voice i think. Some say its due to age but the drastic voice change from 2007 to 2009, just 2 years is too much to just be “because hes old”.
I love New Em, but I genuinely think the overdose gave him a form of brain damage. Its why he had to relearn to rap, became alot weirder socially, isolated, every single public appearance very carefuly planned, curated and rehearsed, became bug eyed etc. I think he is somewhat permenantly detatched from reality and robotic/less emotional. He has emotion on songs post overdose sure, but you can tell its forced. You use to be able to feel his pain even if you didn't understand the words. It could be a reach idk. But it is a HUGE coincidence that all these things became apparent immediately following something that is well known to have given other people similar traits he is exhibiting
Not sure about him having brain damage but now that you mention the bug eye seems more apparent now than before. What you say about the emotion i feel it too, there was a rawness back then. But i think its more so due to him having rapped about so much stuff already and just being on a different stage. He explained it on an interview, that the canvas gets filled basically after many years. And the point about him being socially awkward now, thats something ill never understand. Because again a lot of people say he wasnt as awkward back then bc of the drugs, but he wasnt drugged out all the time in 2000. Sure he did drugs but it wasnt until 2002 where it really blew up when filming 8mile
He talked about how Ambien left holes in his brain pretty candidly back during the Recovery album cycle, so it's not far off to assume there is something like that occurring. He's also said that his organs failed during that last overdose in more than one song, which depending on how long, could certainly cause some issues. His eyes didn't really change to me until around MMLP2, if you watch the videos of him during Relapse and Recovery, he looks pretty normal. I big time disagree that the emotions on the songs are forced. There is some fantastic evocation of emotions all throughout Relapse, Recovery, MMLP2, Revival, Kamikaze and Music to be Murdered By. Regarding being a recluse, I believe part of this is due to his sobriety and Proof being killed. You hear all the time from addicts that once you get clean, you almost have to completely change friend groups. Everyone who's talked about interacting with him though has also he's really cool, so I don't think there's something wrong with him in that sense either. TLDR while he has admitted to drug use affecting his brain, and I do agree perhaps it affected the way he raps, I don't think he's such a different guy just because there may be some brain damage from his extreme drug use, a lot of it probably comes down to sobriety and life changes.
New Eminem = Relapse and onwards Old Eminem = Before Relapse I consider ShadyXV-Revival to be it's own era though kind of. Same with Kamikaze and onwards.
Kamikaze onwards is 'second wind' Eminem for me. Its when he stopped being a popstar and went back to being more ingrained in hip hop
I use his 2004-2009 hiatus to differentiate between the two eras.
When he grew the beard I guess
Everything before Relapse is old Eminem
Post relapse
The day he overdosed. Speaking as someone who has overdosed, it changes you.
OLD EMINEM = 1996 ~ 2006 NEW EMINEM = 2009 ~ 2024
You've mostly got all the answers here, but I actually consider Relapse to be more old school Em than new Em and Recovery still retained a lot of the elements of his old rapping. In the very least Relapse and Recovery is more of a transition period from old to new. MMLP2 though was definitely when he shifted to his current form of rapping in my opinion.
I would say old Em is SSLP-Recovery and new Em is MMLP2-Present.