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May I have your attention, please? May I have your attention, please?

Will the real Slim Shady please stand up? I repeat, will the real Slim Shady please stand up?

We’re going to have a problem here.

In early December, Eminem’s ninth studio album, Revival, made its long-awaited debut. The album features several of today’s biggest stars including Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, P!nk, Kehlani and X Ambassadors.

Noteworthy songs include No. 9, “Like Home.” which features Alicia Keys and has made headlines for the powerful lyrics from Eminem regarding President Trump. Eminem goes as far as comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler. Ed Sheeran’s appearance in No. 5, “River,” compliments Eminem’s colorful lyrics detailing one-night stands and the guilt that follows.

Other tracks that deserve attention are No.2, “Believe,” where Eminem exposes his thuggish-Midwestern style on a drum heavy and contemporary beat. He adapts well to the different style of music.

Lastly, No. 2, “Framed,” is presented over a simple and slick guitar/drum loop. Eminem gives advice on how to get away with homicide, which is hopefully metaphoric for something much less atrocious. It sounds pretty good though.

Music media outlets have been harsh on Eminem after the release of Revival. SPIN.com, which is a member of Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, offers this conclusion: “No one has made the real time devolution from impossibly famous superstar to singular case study like Eminem has.”

Chase McMullen, a review writer for The 405, a music and culture magazine, titled his piece, “Eminem has made the worst album of his career with Revival. It’s a well-intended, tragically haphazard mess.”

However, not all reviews were bad. Music critic Neil McCormick writes: “Revival represents Eminem on top form, which is to say unstoppable, unbeatable yet often indefensible. He may be a deeply flawed and reprehensible character, but when it comes to pure unadulterated rap skills, Eminem is still the boss.”

While listening to Revival, I considered the possibility that this was a really bad album. But it’s not. It’s just different compared to what we’re used to.

Eminem’s current album shouldn’t be compared to his old albums. The name Revival is symbolic of him coming back into the rap game. For Eminem to name it Revival, he had to come to the conclusion that his current presence in rap music was dying.

One of the main reasons I enjoy this album is because Eminem addresses issues that have been part of his character for years. If you’re familiar with Eminem, you have heard him rap about his troubled relationships with his ex-wife and daughter, his upbringing and his lack of guidance in life. No. 10, “Bad Husband,” is a reflection of his relationship with his ex-wife and daughter. It has a flow similar to what people would call “old Eminem,” and features X Ambassadors for the chorus.

The last track on the album, “Arose,” is a track where Eminem embodies his ability to tell a story with his songs. He flows for about three and a half minutes from the perspective of a patient in a hospital bed and reminisces on all of the things he was absent for in life. He verbalizes the struggle that he has felt throughout his career. At the 3:30 mark, the beat changes pace, and he yells, “I don’t want it!” For the last minute of the song, he essentially declares his retirement and steps back out of the rap game. His exact words are, “I’ll put out this last album then I’m done with it, one hunnid percent finished fed up with it.”

My conclusion is that Eminem got what he wanted out of this album. He clearly had some messages that he wanted to communicate to people, and he did that. He didn’t do this album for the fans as much as he did it for his legacy. Twenty years from now, when we look at Eminem’s career as a whole, rather than looking at it in its current state, Revival will be a meaningful cap to his collection of work.