Eminem's been back, front and centre of music fans minds for a while now. Ever since he came clean, after being hooked on pain pills, he's been making up for lost time. He's been a man on a mission trying to stay relevant in the ever developing world of hip hop, unfortunately with Shady XV he does none of that.

The album is of course a collection of Eminem's current comrades on Shady Records - Slaughterhouse, Yellawolf and there's a D12 appearance as well as Skylar Grey. Slaughterhouse are lyrical beasts, but the current Shady Records roster doesn't really compete with Shady Records of the past. Not to mention they're all the same, there's no real variety offered when someone steps up to the mic. They all adopt a similar flow and style on the mic, it's rapid fire lyricism that resembles a machine gun. Which is cool, but there's many rappers currently doing the rounds who serve up the funk, switch things up and keep you engaged.

Eminem himself hasn't changed at all, which is the weird thing. The content he raps about and his shock method resembles Slim Shady in his prime, but now he's a kinda old dude and it's kinda weird. I don't really want to hear a 42 year old guy rapping about the same stuff he did when he was young. 'Las Vegas' is apparently a bit of a diss towards Iggy Azalea ... so Eminem's just doing the whole beef with a female thing again? 

Everyone can spit bars, that's a given. Eminem's still got all the skills, it's more just the content that I find a little weird, and we know what Slaughterhouse and Yellawolf offer. There's a heavy focus on word play and lyricism, enough to make you stop and wonder how on earth they put those words together to a beat, but a bit too much. Guys like Royce Da 5"9 and Crooked I are pleasures to listen to, but to be honest I'd rather listen to them by themselves or solely as Slaughterhouse in a Slaughterhouse project - eg. Royce Da 5"9 has me sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for his collabo with DJ Premier (PRhyme).

I didn't really want to write this, but it was such a big drop that I felt obliged. It just isn't for me, I can understand why avid Eminem fans will like it because the word play and quick spitting descriptive style that is Eminem, is all there. But for me, it does absolutely nothing for me. There's too many youngsters doing their thing multiple levels above Eminem, more varied sounds and just more options in today's hip hop climate that fill me with more excitement.

Go get it yourself and make up your own mind.

Bang up banger? It's gotta be Detroit vs Everybody. Royce, Danny Brown, Big Sean and Em going in on a beat ... on a beat that sounds like all the other beats on the album. But yeah, it's a bit of a Detroit anthem so big up to Detroit.

What is it? A collection of songs from Shady Records that have been lumped together.