Three years later and Eminem is back as Slim Shady only with Rick Rubin producing and “Berserk” is really good, though not as good as Sunday’s teaser let me think it might be. A mix of the young and the old Eminem, with a sample from one Billy Squire’s only hit “The Strokes” for which, I assure you Billy is a happy camper.
The beats are really great and the sample works, the chorus an admonishment to party that is really kinda cool: “Say fuck it before we kick the bucket” are words to live by and Eminem, who sounds his usual but not unusual nasty self on the choruses where he seems to be aiming at the usual throw darts, himself, drug addiction, celebrityhood, and, hey this is new, the new hip hop.
Starting with the desire to bring things back to the beginning, the beginning is way too well and Mathew Mathers 2 won’t do that, if only because Rubin (if not Dre) ain’t gonna let him .
Still, the man can spit out a rhyme and the beats are fine and the chorus could come from a Kiss song circa 1973s. Not bad at all and really, as Freedy recently said, he has to write about something and if his subject matter can involve into yet another string of Eminem type cliches, it adds up to a good slab of excitement.
Grade: B+