Two new songs from Eminem’s forthcoming album, Relapse: Refill (out December 21), have leaked — “Elevator” and “Buffalo Bill” — and, for better or worse, the superstar rapper is up to his old tricks.
“Elevator” is the stronger of the two cuts, a schizophrenic romp through the mind of Slim Shady. The hook reveals the rapper’s softer side, with Em using a quieter, more plaintive voice to deliver nostalgia-laden lines about conversations he had back in the day with his late pal Proof.
“He said, ‘What if you went platinum?’ / I’d just laugh at ’em / ‘That’s not happenin’, that I can’t fathom.'” Then, Em offers a nifty line about his meteoric rise to superstardom: “80-some million records worldwide later / I’m living in a house with a fucking elevator.”
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But, in typical Eminem fashion, that sentimental vibe gets undercut by forays into the macabre and misogynistic, complete with a carnival-esque backing track that nods back to “The Real Slim Shady.”
Em’s boasting that he’d “throw a baby at another baby,” and lobbing homophobic slurs at Adam Lambert and Lance Bass. Gross.
“Buffalo Bill” feels a bit tossed off, with a repetitive loop of synthy strings underpinning an odd flow from Em that recalls Cypress Hill’s B Real — and not in a good way.
Check out the tracks below — but keep in mind they may be taken down at any moment.
