I was a bit struck by this song.
I really like both 50 Cent and Eminem. 50 is monotonous, yes, he only ever seems to rap about shooting people or banging hot bitches but he had and still has an ability to make concise hip-hop in a way that no other rapper ever had. Eminem is arguably the greatest rapper of all time, on the other hand.
Both are somewhat inspirational figures. Both obviously have alot of sick thoughts going on in their head and alot of demons that made those thoughts happen. Both never knew their father and had serious issues with their mothers. Both have tried hard to get past those demons in their life and move forward despite being generally fucked up.
Both were also really successful - about ten years ago. "My Life" is a strange song - both 50 and Eminem are actually putting more effort in to this song than either did on "Patiently Waiting," back when both were the "juggernauts of this rap shit."
50 has been forgotten and he says it flat out on this song. "I sold 40 million records and niggas act like they forgot what I did." People dramatically seemed to stop caring about 50 Cent once Kanye West beat sales of his third album Curtis. Gangsta rap is no longer in vogue, it seems, and 50 isn't good at much else. You can see he is really trying - one video for a song called "OK You're Right" had him dressed as the Joker from The Dark Knight. One track, "Respect It Or Check It," off a recent mixtape called Forever King had him saying, "'03 Get Rich, nigga, you remember me." Ooooh.
Eminem, on the other hand, is better than ever. He has tamed down his rhymes dramatically. They are almost corny and nowhere near as violent as when he started. Like 50, though, he is old hat. It's not as bad for Marshall, though, because he has the ability to be really inspirational. "Not Afraid" was a song that got this writer through some real dark spots.
The vocals by Adam Levine are really out there for a 50 Cent track - when you hear it, it's hard to believe this is the same song guy who made "My Gun Go Off." 50 is a really intelligent guy and an articulate one too. He deserves to remain in the music world - but he may need to switch up his style to do so.
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