Eminem ‘Kamikaze’ Album: 20 of the Best Lyrics
In hip-hop, facing criticism comes along with being one of the game's biggest stars. This is especially for artists who are deep in their career, standing defiant in the face of a changing musical landscape. Eminem experienced this resistance upon the release of last year's Revival, which received harsh reviews from some of the culture's most prominent voices. This all resulted in the Detroit native returning to the drawing board and unleashing Kamikaze, an album that finds Em hitting on all cylinders.
While Revival was full of shock value, Kamikaze, his 10th solo studio album, finds Eminem putting a focus on the lyrics. He delivering an onslaught of bars that require multiple rewinds to grasp. He fires shots at naysayers early and often, at guys like Joe Budden and Tyler, The Creator. But he explains the album title and concept in this line from the title track: "Kamikaze pilot, I wrote my suicide note/Here come the guys in white coats tryin' to stop me/'Fore I jump behind the controls and try to fly into foes."
The album boasts guest appearances from singer Jessie Reyez, rap partner Royce Da 5'9, younger lyrical gun Joyner Lucas and Justin Vernon. Boi-1da, Fred Ball, IllaDaProducer, Jahaan Sweet, Jeremy Miller, Lonestarrmuzik, Luis Resto, Mike WiLL Made-It, Ronny J, S1, Swish Allnet, Tay Keith, Tim Suby and Eminem himself all handle production. The album finds Slim Shady one returning to form, delivering 13 tracks that remind listeners of why his status as a rap god is without reproach.
With Eminem's latest currently capturing the hip-hop world's attention, XXL takes a deep dive into Kamikaze to pick out 20 lyrics that rank among the best from the album.
"The Ringer"
Eminem"Yeah, let me explain just how to make greatness/Straight out the gate, I’m 'bout to break you down/Ain't no mistakes allowed, but make no mistake I'm 'bout/To rape the alphabet, I may raise some brows/If I press the issue just to get the anger out/Full magazine could take Staples out/Savage, but ain't thinkin' 'bout no bank account/But bitch I’m off the chain like Kala Brown" —Eminem
"The Ringer"
Eminem"While I take my ball sack and flick it like a light switch/Like Vice President Mike Pence/Back up on my shit in a sidekick as I lay it on a spike strip/These are things that I'd rather do than hear you on a mic/Since nine-tenths of your rhyme is about ice and/Jesus Christ man, how many times is someone gonna fuck on my bitch?/You will never see Em icy, but as cold as I get on the M-I-C/I polarize shit so the Thames might freeze/And your skull might split like I bashed you upside it/Bitch I got the club on smash like a nightstick" —Eminem
"The Ringer"
Eminem"So finger bang, chicken wang, MGK, Iggy ‘zae/Lil Pump, Lil Xan imitate Lil Wayne/I should aim at everybody in the game, pick a name/I'm fed up with being humble/And rumor is I'm hungry, I'm sure you heard bumblings/I heard you wanna rumble like an empty stomach/I heard your mumblin' but it's jumbled in mumbo jumbo/The era that I'm from will pummel you/That's what it's comin' to/What the fuck are you gonna do? Where you runnin' to?/I'm gonna crumble you and I'll take a number two/And dump on you if you ain't Joyner/If you ain't Kendrick or Cole or Sean then you're a goner" —Eminem
"Lucky You"
Eminem Featuring Joyner Lucas"I ain't no gangster but I got some bangers/Some chains and some blades in and a couple of knives/Choppers and jammies, a partridge in a pear tree/My 12 days of Christmas was nothin' but lies/Why don't you holla like a sumo/They say I talk like a chulo/I live in Mars, I'm not Bruno/Bitch I'm a dog, call me Cujo/You play your cards, I reverse on you all/And I might just drop four like an Uno/Cállate boca mejor, maricón, little puto, and all of you culo" —Joyner Lucas
"Lucky You"
Eminem Featuring Joyner Lucas"'Cause even if I gotta end up eatin' a pill again/Even ketamine or methamphetamine with the Manidon/It better be at least 70 to 300 milligram/And I might as well 'cause I'ma end up bein' a villain again/Levels to this shit, I got an elevator/You could never say to me I'm not a fuckin' record breaker/I sound like a broken record every time I break a record/Nobody could ever take away the legacy, I made a navigator/Motherfucker never got a right to be this way/I got spite inside my DNA/But I work 'til the wheels fall off, I'm workin' tirelessly, ayy" —Eminem
"Normal"
Eminem"She's heartless/No wonder we're partners/Both got hundreds of charges/Domestic disputes but we've always/Swept it under the carpet/Even when 911 gets the call that/I slipped up and busted her jaw with/A Louisville Slugger 'cause all's it really does is make our love for each other grow stronger/She won me over the second she tried to run me over/Told her I'd keep it a hun', we over/Kicked her out, called her back now she's coming over" —Eminem
"Normal"
Eminem"I love you but I hope you fuckin' die though/In our business your friends like to pry so/You've got 'em all undercover just like moles/Hopin' they'll come back with intel/But I'm the one who's thrown into the spiral/'Cause now the roles are reversed so here I go/Thinkin' I'm sly as I scroll through your iPhone/Who the fuck's Milo?/The guy at work who drives a hi-lo/I put a tracking device on your Chrysler/And follow you while you drive home" —Eminem
"Not Alike"
Eminem Featuring Royce da 5’9”"I don't do Jordans and Audemars/I do explosions and Molotovs/Y'all blowin' smoke as if y'all ain't washed/I blow the smoke from the car exhaust/Flyin' to a party I am not invited to, feelin' like the streets need me/I ain't gotta dance long as my Ferrari Spyder move like C. Breezy/I don't gotta hire goons, I'd rather try to buy the moon and breathe freely/The sky is blue, the tie is new, the Masarati white and cool like G-Eazy" —Royce Da 5'9
"Not Alike"
Eminem"You say you're affiliated with murderers, killas/The people you run with are thuggin'/But you're just a wannabe gunna/Like you was gonna do somethin'/Actin' like you catchin' bodies and you got juice, lil young'un, you're buggin'/You ain't never even been charged in connection with battery, bitch, you ain't plugged in to nothin'" —Eminem
"Not Alike"
Eminem"And I'm talkin' to you, but you already know who the fuck you are, Kelly/I don't use sublims and sure as fuck don't sneak diss, but keep commentin'/On my daughter Hailie,
I keep on tellin' motherfuckers, bitches, in case you forgot really/I need Ja memories, jaw like strawberry or pineapple, apricot jelly/I respond rarely, but this time Shady 'bout to sound off/Like a fuckin' cocked semi Glock, demigod/Let me put a silencer on this little non-threatening blond fairy cornball takin' shots at me" —Eminem"Kamikaze"
Eminem"Stuck up in my rectal crack, kiss my disrespectful ass/I'll ride through your cul-de-sac, window cracked, bumpin' your reference tracks/You collab on a referent rap, I have never said his raps/Overstayed my welcome, stepped in crap and ruined your welcome mat/So spit that shit from the heart, you didn't write like you wrote it/While I T-bag the microphone 'cause I go nuts on it/Like a fighter jet lined with explosives that'll strike any moment/Headed right at opponents and I'm the fuckin' pilot that flown it" —Eminem
"Kamikaze"
Eminem"I turned to rap 'cause it made me feel tough when I wasn't/From the moment I heard rap was cussin', I was in/Which is why I identify with the guy/Who I was invented by, Dre's Frankenstein/Energized like a nine-volt, ice cold/Like Snake Eyes, twice in a row on a dice roll/But if the only reason I blow is 'cause I'm white though/Why don't every other white rapper sell what I sold?/Kamikaze pilot, I wrote my suicide note/Here come the guys in white coats tryin' to stop me/'Fore I jump behind the controls and try to fly into foes" —Eminem
"Kamikaze"
Eminem"In my therapy chair, my dick is the hair length of Cher/Each nut is the chair width of an acorn, beware of me/Lyrically I'm terrible, better get your lyrics prepared/Richard Ramirez is here, serial killin' every beat there is/Wait, wait, got the eeriest feelin', somethin' evil is lurkin'/I'm no conspiracy theorist, but somethin' here is afoot—oh yeah, it's my dick/Get the measurement stick, 12 inches of wood/Wait, but I've been goin' for your jugular since Craig G Duck Alert/And I've come to pay respects, 'cause if you sleep you're fucked: other words/You get laid to rest and I hope your butt is hurt/Put me on a track, I go cray on it like a coloring book" —Eminem
"Fall"
Eminem Featuring Justin Vernon"One last time for Charlamagne/If my response is late, it's just how long it takes/To hit my fuckin' radar, I'm so far away/These rappers are like Hunger Games/One minute, they're mockin' Jay/Next minute, they get they style from Migos, then they copy Drake/Maybe I just don't know when to turn around and walk away/But all the hate, I call it 'Walk on Water'-gate/I've had as much as I can tolerate" —Eminem
"Fall"
Eminem"Somebody tell Budden before I snap, he better fasten it/Or have his body baggage zipped, the closest thing he's had to hits is smackin' bitches/And don't make me have to give it back to Akademiks/Say this shit is trash again, I'll have you twisted like you had it when you thought you had me slippin'at the telly/Even when I'm gettin' brain, you'll never catch me with a thot, lackin' with it" —Eminem
"Nice Guy"
Eminem Featuring Jesse Reyez"I hop in your whip and take a sip, then I gun it/I don't, I don't got much self-control, I hope that you run it/I'm bipolar with the switch up just as quick like you cummin'/I don't, I don't got much self-control, I hope that you run it" —Jessie Reyez
"Nice Guy"
Eminem Featuring Jessie Reyez"I'm an emotional wreck, weak, everything over-affects me/When you joke it upsets me, you say I'm no good at sex/And you think I'm gross and unsexy/I need Scope 'cause my breath stinks/You hope I choke on a Pepsi/Bitch, you was supposed to correct me!" —Eminem
"Good Guy"
Eminem Featuring Jessie Reyes"Pull a Vincent Van Gogh, just to convince a damn hoe to be a housewife who outright lies/She's blackout drunk, now she's backin' out my drive/I ran outside, why's she tryna act out?/She's just about my size, hit me in the mouth twice/Guys, when someone you'd die for/Sticks a steak knife in your heart, do you try more?/Another late night in, she stumbles through my door/Lets the daylight in and all we do's fight more" —Eminem
"Venom (Music From The Motion Picture)"
Eminem"Liquid Tylenol, gelatins, think my skeleton's meltin'/Wicked, I get all high when I think I've smelled the scent/Of elephant manure—hell, I meant Kahlúa/Screw it, to hell with it, I went through hell with accelerants and blew up my-my-myself again/Volkswagen, tailspin, bucket matches my pale skin/Medal win, went from Hellmann's and being rail thin/Filet-o-Fish, to Scribbles and Rap Olympics '97, Freaknik, how can I be down?/Me and Bizarre in Florida, Proof's room, slept on floor of the motel then" —Eminem
"Venom (Music From The Motion Picture)"
Eminem"Held against your will like a hubcap or a mud flap/Be strangled or attacked/So this ain't gonna feel like a love tap/Eat painkiller pills, fuck a blood track/Like, what's her name's at the wheel? Danica Patrick/Throw the car into reverse at the Indy, end up crashin'/Into ya, the back of it—just mangled steel/My Mustang and your Jeep Wrangler grill" —Eminem