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Music to Be Murdered By

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For the Dan the Automator EP, see Dan the Automator.

Music to Be Murdered By
Eminem in a suit with a red background
Studio album by
Eminem
ReleasedJanuary 17, 2020 (2020-01-17)
Genre
Length64:22
Label
Producer
Eminem chronology
Kamikaze
(2018) 		Music to Be Murdered By
(2020)
Alternative cover art
File:Eminem - Music to Be Murdered By alt.png
Singles from Music to Be Murdered By
  1. "Darkness"
    Released: January 17, 2020

Music to Be Murdered By is the eleventh studio album by American rapper Eminem, released on January 17, 2020 by Aftermath Entertainment, Interscope Records and Shady Records with no prior announcement, in similar fashion to his previous album Kamikaze (2018).[3] The album was produced by Eminem and Dr. Dre, amongst other producers, and features collaborations with Black Thought, Q-Tip, Juice Wrld, Ed Sheeran, Young M.A, Skylar Grey, Don Toliver, Anderson .Paak, Royce da 5'9", King Crooked and Joell Ortiz among others.[4]

Alongside the album, Eminem also released a music video for "Darkness",[5] directed by James Larese.[6]

Artwork and title

A photo of Hitchcock holding an axe and a revolver to his temples
The 1958 album cover that inspired the covers to this release.

The album was released with two different cover designs; one featuring Eminem wearing a trilby hat and holding a shovel, and the other featuring Eminem, hatless, holding an ax and a gun to his head. Both versions credit Eminem under his "reincarnated" alter-ego name Slim Shady.

The album's title and cover art allude to the 1958 Jeff Alexander album, Alfred Hitchcock Presents Music to Be Murdered By. Eminem tweeted an image of the album cover featuring Alfred Hitchcock holding an ax and a gun to his head stating the album cover was "inspired by the master, Uncle Alfred!"[7][6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?5.7/10[8]
Metacritic65/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
The Arts Desk[10]
Clash7/10[11]
Consequence of SoundB−[12]
The Daily Telegraph[13]
Entertainment WeeklyB[14]
Exclaim!6/10[15]
The Guardian[16]
HipHopDX3.8/5[17]
The Independent[18]
musicOMH[19]
NME[2]
Rolling Stone[20]

Music to Be Murdered By received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 65, based on 13 reviews, [9] being better received than his previous two albums, Revival and Kamikaze [21].

Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis regarded Music to Be Murdered By as a "stronger" album than Kamikaze, whilst praising Eminem's delivery as "warp-speed and perfectly enunciated" with "constant shifts in tempo and emphasis".[16] Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph gave the album five-stars, and described it as "so lethally brilliant [that] it should be a crime".[13]

The song, "Darkness", about the 2017 Las Vegas shooting and told from the point of view of the shooter alternating with Eminem's own, has garnered particular attention and acclaim.[22]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Premonition" (Intro)
2:53
2."Unaccommodating" (featuring Young M.A)
  • Eminem
  • Tim Suby
3:36
3."You Gon' Learn" (featuring Royce da 5'9" and White Gold)
3:54
4."Alfred" (interlude)
  • Andre Brissett
  • Young
  • Parker
  • Alexander
  • Andre "Briss" Brissett
  • Parker
  • Dr. Dre
0:30
5."Those Kinda Nights" (featuring Ed Sheeran)
2:57
6."In Too Deep"
  • Mathers
  • Suby
  • Resto
  • O. Chanin
  • Sylvester Jordan
  • Eminem
  • Suby
3:14
7."Godzilla" (featuring Juice Wrld)
3:30
8."Darkness"
  • Eminem
  • Resto
  • Royce da 5'9"
5:37
9."Leaving Heaven" (featuring Skylar Grey)
4:25
10."Yah Yah" (featuring Royce da 5'9", Black Thought, Q-Tip and Denaun)
Mr. Porter4:46
11."Stepdad" (Intro)YoungDr. Dre0:15
12."Stepdad"
3:33
13."Marsh"
  • Mathers
  • Resto
  • Eminem
  • Resto
3:20
14."Never Love Again"
2:57
15."Little Engine"
  • Mathers
  • Young
  • Parker
  • Erik Griggs
  • Alexander
  • Lawrence
  • Parker
  • Dr. Dre
  • Erik "Blu2th" Griggs
  • Lawrence
2:57
16."Lock It Up" (featuring Anderson .Paak)
  • Parker
  • Dem Jointz
  • Dr. Dre
  • Griggs
  • Lawrence
2:50
17."Farewell"
4:07
18."No Regrets" (featuring Don Toliver)
  • Mathers
  • Doman
  • A. Olofsson
  • Kostov
  • J. Thomas
  • Eminem
  • D.A. Doman
3:20
19."I Will" (featuring Kxng Crooked, Royce da 5'9" and Joell Ortiz)
  • Eminem
  • Resto
5:02
20."Alfred" (Outro)
  • Brissett
  • Young
  • Parker
  • Alexander
  • Brissett
  • Parker
  • Dr. Dre
0:39
Total length:64:22

References

  1. ^ "Eminem's 'Music to be Murdered By': Album Review". January 18, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Bassett, Jordan (January 17, 2020). "Emimem: 'Music To Be Murdered By' review: shock rapper continues to grow old disgracefully". NME. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  3. ^ Eustice, Kyle (January 16, 2020). "Eminem Drops Another Surprise Album 'Music To Be Murdered By'". HipHopDX. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  4. ^ Minsker, Evan (January 17, 2020). "Eminem Surprise Drops New Album Music to Be Murdered By: Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  5. ^ Rettig, James (January 17, 2020). "Eminem Surprise Releases New Album Music To Be Murdered By". Stereogum. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Espinoza, Joshua (January 17, 2020). "Stream Eminem's Surprise Album 'Music to Be Murdered By' f/ Juice WRLD, Ed Sheeran, Royce da 5'9", and More". Complex. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  7. ^ Marshall Mathers [@Eminem] (January 17, 2020). "Inspired by the master, Uncle Alfred! #MusicToBeMurderedBy" (Tweet). Archived from the original on January 17, 2020 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ "Eminem: Music to Be Murdered By". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Music to Be Murdered By by Eminem". Metacritic. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  10. ^ Hasted, Nick (January 18, 2020). "Album: Eminem - Music To Be Murdered By". The Arts Desk. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  11. ^ Abou-Setta, Ramy (January 20, 2020). "Eminem - 'Music To Be Murdered By'". Clash (magazine). Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  12. ^ Weiss, Dan (January 21, 2020). "Eminem's Music to Be Murdered By Hardly Kills It: It's as though the hip-hop icon is figuring out from scratch how to be compelling again". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  13. ^ a b McCormick, Neil (January 17, 2020). "Eminem, Music to be Murdered By, review: 'so lethally brilliant it should be a crime'". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  14. ^ Weingarten, Christopher R. (January 21, 2020). "Eminem's hit-and-miss Music to Be Murdered By is still his most solid work in years". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  15. ^ Lowers, Erin (January 22, 2020). "Eminem: Music to Be Murdered By". Exclaim!. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  16. ^ a b Petridis, Alexis (January 17, 2020). "Eminem: Music to Be Murdered By review – potent force in search of targets". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  17. ^ Glaysher, Scott (January 21, 2020). "Review: Eminem Orchestrates A Purposeful Massacre On 'Music To Be Murdered By'". HipHopDX. Retrieved January 22, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ O'Connor, Roisin (January 17, 2020). "Eminem review, Music to be Murdered By: Rapper's bitter diatribes show he is incapable of moving on". The Independent. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  19. ^ Devlin, Ben (January 22, 2020). "Eminem – Music To Be Murdered By". musicOMH. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  20. ^ Dolan, Jon (January 20, 2020). "Eminem Tries a Little Harder, With Mixed Results, on 'Music to Be Murdered By'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  21. ^ [1]
  22. ^ Romano, Aja (January 17, 2020). "Eminem's new song "Darkness" tries to enter the mind of the Las Vegas shooter". Vox. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
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