{"id":485410,"date":"2019-05-03T14:34:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T20:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=830447"},"modified":"2019-05-03T14:34:36","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T20:34:36","slug":"weve-heard-logic-and-eminems-homicide-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/weve-heard-logic-and-eminems-homicide-before\/","title":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve Heard Logic and Eminem\u2019s \u2018Homicide\u2019 Before"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cHomicide\u201d<\/a> is simple: Two self-righteous rappers walk into a room and, somehow, get more self-righteous. For Mountain Dew mafia circles and cream-colored cul-de-sacs Logic<\/a> and Eminem<\/a>\u2018s first collaboration is an event. It\u2019s also an amplification of the two patron saints of perceived persecution\u2019s worst, though arguably most lucrative, tendencies.<\/p>\n

On one side, Sir Robert Bryson Hall II spits anxiety raps about why no one thinks he\u2019s cool, why he\u2019s an \u201cinnovator\u201d and why AutoTune is lame. On the other side, Marshall Mathers nonsensically complains about rappers not writing their raps and being the air duct\/vampire of rap. In the middle, Logic and Em commiserate. They know how to save hip-hop, damnit, if only the teens would listen. As a song, it\u2019s a failure of imagination.<\/p>\n

Logic and Eminem devote their four-minute screed to the extremely original idea that they will rain down various acts of violence upon the rest of the rap game. Within three verses there are at least 30 mentions of a desire to kill, planning to kill and then doing the actual killing \u2014 all directed at an unknown set of musicians. Words like, \u201ckill, attack, snap, smacked, sizzle, hitters and triggers\u201d are thrown around, interspersed with irony-free phrases about \u201cBustin\u2019 like an addict with a semi-automatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHomicide\u201d is so devoid of self-awareness that Logic and Eminem\u2019s markers of quality \u2014 double-time flows, abundance of punchlines and \u201cintricate\u201d rhyme schemes \u2014 end up sounding worse than the rap music they\u2019re critiquing. At one point, Logic sings through AutoTune, \u201cI got bitches, I got hoes, I got rare designer clothes \/ No, we ain\u2019t fuckin\u2019 with that,\u201d before letting listeners know there is a \u201ctime and a place\u201d for those lyrics. It\u2019s offensive on two levels. First, Logic has built his career on repurposing and recycling styles (Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West) to the point it\u2019s hard to fathom why he thinks he\u2019s creatively above anyone. Second, no matter how much Logic claims he\u2019s an \u201cinnovator,\u201d he\u2019s yet to popularize a flow (Migos) or a vocal performance (Future) as well as the people he\u2019s ostensibly mocking. Logic, no matter how successful, is simply a synthesist who is great at spouting respectability politics at the masses over derivative beats.<\/p>\n

Eminem is still the same crotchety relic that haunted Revival<\/em><\/a> and Kamikaze<\/em><\/a>. His verses remain full of empty threats and senseless rhyming for the sake of rhyming (\u201cBig bills like a platypus \/ A caterpillar\u2019s comin\u2019 to get the cannabis\u201d). For some reason, Em is still complaining about rappers who don\u2019t write their raps, but it\u2019s difficult to ascertain why. During \u201cHomicide\u2019s\u201d ironic peak, Eminem complains that he\u2019s \u201cMakin\u2019 dog sounds \u2019cause I gotta keep breakin\u2019 these bars down.\u201d Symbolically, the reference rings true. Eminem\u2019s bark has lost all meaning, the bite absent for years. There is a sense that if you let him, his growl will grow eternal with the help of musicians like Logic.<\/p>\n

The bite Eminem\u2019s been warning us about never comes, because it was never there. \u201cHomicide\u201d isn\u2019t that scary when the people who were meant to be killed keep surviving.<\/p>\n