Not Afraid (Busby's Review)

Well after a year of waiting and anticipating Em dropped his 1st single from Recovery entitled, Not Afraid. Em decides to do something a little different and NOT drop a goofy first single like he is notoriously known for on his last 5 albums. He even decides to NOT have Dr. Dre behind the boards as producer for this record. Behind the boards this time around is Drake's protege producer Boi-1da.

My thoughts on this record is that it came COMPLETELY left field, I always wanted Em to stop dropping all those goofy comedy records because it was getting REALLY played out. He completely did a 360 and came at you with some deep shit. It's almost like a toned down Just Don't Give A Fuck mixed with Beautiful. Boi-1da did an alright job i guess, didn't really like the beat at first but after a few listens it kinda grows on me.

The hook is kinda corny too me too, I don't know I was never a big fan on Em's singing abilities, i was kinda cringing when he was singing the bridge especially the "Time to put my life together RIGHT NOW!" dude was trying his best to hit them high notes lol.

Em's lyrics were intact like always...

You can try and read my lyrics off of this paper before I lay em
But you wont take this thing out these words before I say em
Cause aint no way Im let you stop me from causing mayhem
When I say em or do something I do it, I dont give a damn
What you think, Im doing this for me, so fuck the world...

Em even gives an apology to the fans about Relapse and the "accent"


"And to the fans, Ill never let you down again, Im back
I promise to never go back on that promise, in fact
Lets be honest, that last Relapse CD was ehhhh
Perhaps I ran them accents into the ground
Relax, I aint going back to that now..

Now in my honest opinion Relapse was a good album despite all the bullshit everybody says about it. Em should REALLY apologize for that half ass album Encore, that was the ONLY Em album i was REALLY disappointed in. Em said himself that Relapse was mainly for his die hard Stans **ahem** I mean FANS, and it was a 'one trick pony'. Which means u can listen to it all the way through and then get over it. Kinda like watching a horror movie, like u would watch it once and then when u go see it again the shock and gore has no effect on ya. Now with me, I liked Relapse mainly for the lyrical display he was doing with his flow and his words. And also he went back to the Slim Shady content that made me a fan in the first place. Now everybody is not that sick and demented (like myself) and people get really tired of hearing all that serial killer shit, ao i can see where he is coming from on that stand point. Pretty much Relapse might be the final time we get to hear from the Slim Shady character, and from now on we are getting Marshall Mathers and Eminem.

But overall the track is not that bad and I can see it crossing over. Shit i wont be surprised if they made this the theme song for the NBA finals. I had to listen to the track a few times for the song to grow on me, but overall it is a hit. Out of all the Eminem albums this one is going to be the most interesting one because Em is venturing out of his realm and getting producers like Just Blaze and DJ Khalil. With this 1st single coming a few days after that monstrous freestyle, Slim is making a statement that he is back (for the millionth time) and he is here to stay.

~~Mr. Busby~~