Hell: The Sequel

Bad Meets Evil was a song and now is a duet

The joint project Bad Meets Evil formed by two brothers in hip-hop arms, Eminem and Royce da 5.9 (it would be easier to call him just Royce) is a new phenomenon although these two have known each other for quite a while and even have some experience working together. Bad Meets Evil is the title to a son they recorded for Eminem’s debut log player, The Slim Shady LP (1999). However, this never grew into a serious and lasting cooperation mostly because the world’s best pale-faced rapper ever has never been a great fan of joint music ventures. Still, Eminem repeatedly said that he and Royce did have a lot I common regarding music views and they even could record a whole album one day. This one day came in 2011, in the summer when the duet released a CD called Hell: The Sequel, as if saying they cherish and remember their old friendship. On the whole, the work poses a great interest because his majesty Eminem, ignoring options with more popular performers, preferred to team up with Royce. This guy is OK, has got five albums of his own, but we in no way can compare his popularity or style with those of Eminem. And this makes Hell: The Sequel even better.

Two dimensions of one rap

Of eleven tracks from Hell: The Sequel it is not that easy to single out the better and the worse because all of them are based on the same structure and made of the same components. Following the effective and somewhat darkened intro Welcome 2 Hell, comes the single Fastlane, a clear demonstration of almost perfect chemistry between the two rappers. Eminem’s more melodious and polished style is a nice counterweight to Royce’s rougher manner, with the latter as talented lyrically as the former. It pleases the ears to hear Eminem leaving enough space to his partner without pushing him out of limelight. Then goes The Reunion, a track similar to those that paved the way for the young Eminem to the glory. This one has two stories told separately by each rapper before they merge into one. The majority of the Hell: The Sequel songs are strictly rap-based material with only few exceptions. The biggest one is the center-located Lighters with Bruno Mars as a guest. The pop-oriented tune and the invited performer’s clean and sweet singing might make this track another candidate to chart-topper, but they also, probably, make it a stranger on the said album.

Hell: The Sequel is an inspirational work by both members of the duo

Hell: The Sequel show Eminem and Royce doing whatever they want and you can sense it particularly well in the second half of the album. Take From Me all of a sudden play acoustic guitar and piano, while Loud Noises engages the whole bunch of Royce’s fellows from his band The Slaughterhouse, making the listener completely lost in the sea of voices. But we can mercifully forgive them this kind of experiments because what lies behind these efforts is a great desire to seek and create. Besides, the artists apparently enjoy working together in this format. Of course, there will be a lot of those who would label this record as nothing but a commercial trick and a money trap for fans ready to lay in another sum. Still, there are variants of moments here which are interesting in terms of music as both rappers performs slightly beyond the frames of their comfort zones and try to find a common platform. Finally, this is fascinating to observe Eminem, the main figure here, no doubt. He does everything he can to let his companion feel comfortable, which favors the whole duet.