Stanisland Magazine

Once a fine artist, Eminem is still a poster boy for elite rap; however, gaudy beat choices continue to drag his vocals down

Last updated: 31st August 2025

From his hip-hop inception, Eminem has been a powerhouse of the genre. Although lately, it’s all been stylistically downhill for the rapper. From The Eminem Show onwards, his music hasn’t been the same — though some promise was shown on Kamikaze.

Today, he dropped another song, Everybody’s Looking At Me, which documents the absurdity of fame and the pressures of working between his alter-egos. Though this joint was originally recorded in the 2000s, it has now been released as part of the Stans score. Arriving as a time capsule of sorts, we will treat it as new, given his contemporary releases offer a similar sound.

Low Grade Hip-Hop Beats

Dr. Dre seems to be steering the same ship, with a strange shift from his distinct sound. This echo from the past reverberates today. This was especially evident on his collaborative album with Snoop Dogg, Missionary, where the two captured an echo from their past — gracefully missing by miles. It sells to the masses, but many hip-hop heads threw it on in the background — white noise at best.

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On this new track, Marshall Mathers does well to stay afloat, though there’s only so much you can do with mediocre. Has Dre had his heyday? I hope not. From Compton and up, it’s all looking down. This new track, taken from the Stan soundtrack, feels more like trimmings than the producer’s A game.

Everybody’s Looking At Me

Eminem has ironically become the very thing he has dissed all his life — pop music. Though his lyrical capabilities remain on an upward trajectory, his odd choices for production arrangements limit the impact of each line, leaving him in a place where exhibiting his rhymes becomes difficult and less noteworthy.

There are some bars edging on gold, like: “Pull up like a Mac, jet black limos / Stretch so far back, can’t see the back windows” alluding to the expanse of his influence. Others underline the sensational weight of his headline impact: “Newsflashes travel faster than lightning rods”.

Verdict

Eminem still maintains his kill shot on words; it’s his compositional curatorial direction that misses among a sea of emerging artists. Put him in the booth, and he’ll smoke pretty much everyone. Put him on a track, and there’s a 30% chance he’ll create a memorable score.

Stay with me here, because it’s relevant: when posthumous albums of 2Pac and others are released, the first question many ask is, would they have chosen this track? That’s how I feel about Em’s production picks. The hook is especially jarring—a far cry from what I would personally consider intrinsic to his style. Once again, his rap skills are not up for debate; the music, however, is.