JOIN US‘Shady XV’ is a two-disc compilation that features both new and classic tracks from Eminem and other rappers featured on Shady Records, a label owned by Eminem. Besides tracks by Eminem, other acts include that of 50 Cent, Slaughterhouse, Yelawolf and D12. Eminem is either an anchor or is featured in a majority of ‘Shady XV’’s new tracks.
While the first disc of the mega album has new tracks, the second showcases the best of the artistes on the label. In addition to Eminem’s Lose Yourself and 50 Cent’s In Da Club, it includes tracks like 50’s Wanksta and I Get Money, Slaughterhouse’s Hammer Dance and Yelawolf’s Let’s Roll, featuring Kid Rock.
Eminem executes a rapid fire, chainshaw delivery, occasionally peppered by power-rock chorus. Unlike in the past, where Eminem had rhyme coupled with reason, this album does have rhyme, but no reason. He was a rebel with a cause and a pause in his lyrics. Now it is a non-stop arsenal. At times the lyrics are provocative. For instance, in Shady XV, Eminem talks about punching singer Lana Del Rey like he was Ray Rice. He then goes on to say, “I’ll slap Linda Ronstadt with a lobster,” and drops many other names: Mike Tyson, Anthony Hopkins, Magic Johnson, Kim Basinger, Madonna and Rihanna (his co-singer in the past). Perhaps the lyrics of Guts Over Fear explains this.
He raps: And I’m frozen, cause there’s no more emotion for me to pull from / Just a bunch of playful songs that I make for fun / So, to the break of dawn, here I go recycling the same old song.
Guts Over Fear features Sia, with whom Eminem had previously collaborated for Beautiful Pain, and this reunion gives more of the same: Eminem’s ferocious lines almost jarring against Sia’s powerful vocals.