A few days ago, I had a sudden urge to listen to one of my favourite artists, Eminem. What can I say? I'm a Michigan kid, and occasionally I feel a sudden need to indulge in some Slim Shady.
So, I plugged in my earbuds, and popped on some of the music I had downloaded on my phone. I jammed to him for a while, when all the sudden I realized there was some songs off of Marshall Mathers 2 that I really wanted to listen to. Unfortunately for me, however; I didn't have that album on my phone, so I went on spotify to listen to them, it wasn't until then, that I finally saw, Eminem had released a brand new track only a few days before.
Call it fate or something else, but it turned out to be the perfect tipping point for me to make an analysis on.
His new song, campaign, is 7 minute and 47 second long epic. If you haven't yet heard the song, I not only recommend it for this video, but, I recommend it in general.
When I first heard the song, I wasn't sure if it was a masterpiece, or a 7 minute exercise in insanity, albeit one with extremely well done bars. So, what's the verdict on Campaign speech? Psychosis, or beauty. Of course, the answer's not that simple, or this video would be pretty short. So, let's get cracking.
To go through every single theme in one single video would be nearly impossible, so, I'll be focusing less on the actual lyrical meaning, and more how it works in structure, and to how this song fits within Eminem's discography as a whole.
To start things off, many parts of this song are up to interpretation, but here's my initial take.
This song is the culmination of a career based on inciting anger in people, not based only on the content being offensive, but the fact that it was in tandem with extremely WELL DONE lyrics, production, flow, and imagery. Eminem has had a great history based on the concept of using an insane amount of talent against people. A huge portion what causes rage towards Slim Shady--whether people realize it or not--stems from the fact that instead of using his indisputable skill for something like traditionally listenable music (such as Lose Yourself) much of the time, through his character, he instead decides to use his talent for evil. Making songs about graphic violence, drug use, and approximately 1000x other offensive things.
This song is a culmination of all of that. That's campaign can be a migraine making masterpiece. Each stanza feels completely disconnected from the next, in a staccato fashion, the storm of words is almost constant from the first nanosecond of the song, Eminem carries a brash, almost violent voice throughout the song, and the beat--if it would even be considered anything different than an accompanying set of strings, and meaty synths--is irregular, and varying in length, style and usage. All of these things create a strong sense of confusion and unease with the listener, lending itself to the overarching anguish the listener will undoubtedly feel when first hearing this song.
The paradox of Campaign Speech comes from the clash between the extremely uncomfortable nuances, and what happens once the listener gets more in tune with the speed of the song. These points include Eminem's insanely well done lyrics, even with lack of context, the sheer speed, the rhyme scheme, syllable structure, and how exceptionally clever the longer form bars actually are.
In tandem with one another, the paradoxes within the heart of the song are the source of why at first listen, most people will be extremely conflicted.
For me, the tipping point that led me to this conclusion was the final long of the song.
"Why am I such a dick?"
To me, this line carries a huge amount of weight in a short period of time. It not only translates to an acknowledgement of exactly what Eminem is doing in this song, but it's also in the present tense, implying that he is like this in his core, and always has been. He's displaying the fact that he has the ability to produce something with a mind numbing 7 minute and 47 second price tag, a long commitment from a creative standpoint, that makes any listener get enraged at the way he has decided to expel his talent. So, why?
Why do people like Eminem decide that instead of focusing on serious things, that they want to pursue insane exercises in insanity with the commitment most people don't assign to their own work? Why?
Because they can. And you can't.
Written by: Merek Alam
11.09.16