Eminem famously rapped on The Real Slim Shady that he had a million imitators who “might just be the next best thing but not quite me”. And that was verifiably true – he opened up a space in the mainstream for animated rabble-rousers who appealed to suburban white kids.
Nearly two decades on up-and-comers still cite him as a key inspiration. Duly, Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly has gone as far as calling Eminem his idol and adopting his angry Slim Shady persona. He's also dropped his name in freestyles and become caught up in a social media snafu with a tweet about his daughter.
What’s most frustrating is that this impersonation lacks the humour and sense of irony that made Eminem so appealing in the first place. If anything, Kelly is more interested in emulating his hero’s mawkish material of recent years.
His third album, ‘Bloom’, is packed with platitudes and sappy choruses about “reaching goals” and “breaking through”. Think Macklemore without the social commentary and you’re on the right path.
As his name suggests, though, Kelly’s marketed aesthetic is also that of a cavalier tough so upholding a sense of authenticity is a constant challenge. On At My Best he opines: “Life is about making mistakes / it’s also about trying to be great.”
While his lyrics are sub-standard, Kelly at least has a passable rapping ability. He vaguely understands multi-syllabics and internal rhyming, enthusiastically showing this off on tracks like Moonwalkers like it’s a revolutionary technique he discovered in his studies.
Unfortunately, some other attempts to be creative are so embarrassing you wish he hadn’t bothered. On the dissonant Can’t Walk, he tries to evoke a drunken state by using a ‘slow flow’ and shifting his vocal pitch ala A$AP Rocky. He might as well have made Microsoft Sam read his verse for all the difference it makes.
The album’s not terrible from start to finish, though. Opening track The Gunner kicks off with an intense and aggressive delivery from Kelly over a moody piano beat. He also sounds more at home on southern-influenced tracks Trap Paris and Golden God, even if they feel contrived in places (for example, the use of slang like ‘finna’).
But these moments are heavily outweighed by multiple pop-rap songs featuring out-of-place guests. It’s hard to point a finger on the musical front – ‘Bloom’ features no less than 13 producers – but some of the guest contributions are obnoxious.
The low point is Go For Broke, which features former X Factor winner James Arthur crooning over a lazy guitar phrase while Kelly lectures about working hard and “aiming for the stars”. Elsewhere, on Wake + Bake, he raps about telling his boss he quit “because he’s a boss and shit”. You lose track of whether he’s trying to be a role model or not.
Irrespective of these inconsistencies, ‘Bloom’ is a boring record that tries to appeal to the lowest common denominator and probably misses even that. It’s not the worst hip hop record ever made, but it might be the worst album by an Eminem mimic ever made – and that’s no easy feat.
Machine Gun Kelly Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed June 07 2017 - LONDON KOKO
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