Eminem might not be great anymore. He entertains that very thought on his new single "Walk On Water."
But what "Walk On Water" is and what Shady will also be is lyrical.
And there will always be a place in Hip Hop for a lyricist. But we're also in a time in which you can score a Hip Hop hit by repeating a few words over and over, and rappers who don't enunciate in a way the average listener can readily understand aren't punished for their lack of clarity.
Rick Rubin, who produced "Walk On Water", discussed Eminem's opinion of mumble rap during the Broken Record podcast with Malcolm Gladwell.
According to the super producer, Shady is "frustrated" by mumble rap and has been struggling with this new wave of Hip Hop. In fact, Rubin said "Walk On Water" is in part about that frustration.
"For him, it's a little bit of culture shock because there's a new wave of hip-hop that's not really what he's about, so he was just talking to me about how that felt," Rubin explained.
You can check out the whole interview below. In it, Rubin -- who's worked with Shady a lot over the years -- gets into Eminem's creative process.
Do you agree with Em on mumble rap?