Bad Meets Evil - Hell: The Sequel Album Review

Artist: Bad Meets Evil (Royce Da’ 5’9” & Eminem)
Album: Hell (The Sequel)
Label: Shady/Interscope Records
Executive Producers: Eminem & Denaun Porter (Kon Artist/Mr. Porter)

In the late 90’s a young up and coming Detroit rapper named Eminem met another young rapper called Royce Da’ 5’9” and the two Detroit natives formed a bond and chemistry over their shared love for hip hop that led to a fan favorite off of Eminem’s major label debut “The Slim Shady LP” called “Bad Meets Evil.” Royce went on to write for Eminem’s mentor Dr. Dre’s 1999 classic “Chronic 2001” and was expected to sign with Shady/Aftermath following his successful “Rock City” album and fans also clamored for a Bad Meets Evil album, but neither ever happened after Eminem and Royce had a falling out. The falling out led to physical altercations between Eminem and his group D12 with Royce and the two friends not speaking for over 10 years. Since then the two men's careers have taken very different routes to get to where they are now. Eminem became arguably the biggest star in all of Hip Hop and even music in general while Royce Da’ 5’9” has mainly been an independent and underground star and fan favorite. In 2009 Royce formed the super group Slaughterhouse alongside Brooklyn MC Joell Ortiz (and former Aftermath artist), California MC Crooked-I, and New Jersey MC Joe Budden. The groups debut album garnered much interest from major labels across the country, most notably Eminem and his Shady Records imprint. Royce and Eminem squashed their beef in 2008 and Royce even toured with D12, but the two still hadn’t recorded together. Then, in 2010 Royce and the rest of Slaughterhouse were featured on a bonus track on Eminem’s album “Recovery.” Then in 2011 the group officially signed with Eminem’s Shady/Interscope imprint and soon Royce and Eminem were back in the studio together. Those studio sessions resulted in the recording of a brand new EP, the long awaited Bad Meets Evil project which was aptly titled “Hell: The Sequel” (which is a nod to the Royce line from their first “Bad Meets Evil” track: “he’s evil and I’m bad like Steve Segal, against peaceful, see you in hell for the sequel.”) .

The EP opens up with a ominous, dark beat produced by Mobb Deep’s Havoc & Magnedo7 called “Welcome 2 Hell.” Eminem and Royce waste no time in going in on this EP, as the two go back and forth showing off their flows, wordplay, and tongue twisting syllables. Havoc’s dark production meshes perfectly with Bad Meets Evil and is about as perfect a way as the duo could start the EP off as possible. Next up is the lead single from the album, “Fast Lane”, produced by SupaDups & Eminem himself. After hearing Royce’s opening verse it’s hard to think that Eminem would outdo it but then Eminem combines his weird humor along with a flow that starts slow and speeds up as the verse continues. Royce then shows of his own version of a machine gun-like flow on his 2^nd verse followed immediately by another double time Eminem verse. The hook sung by Sly Jordan is one of the best on the EP as well.

Next up is “The Reunion” produced by super producer duo Sid Roams (Joey Chavez & Bravo) & Eminem. On “The Reunion” Eminem and Royce tell a fictionalized (and extremely entertaining) story of how they reunited. Royce recites a hilarious conversation he had with a “skeezer”:

“she said, “I’m mad at you”/
I said, “why?”/
she said, “why you never make songs for chicks, as if it’s hard to do?”/
I said, “I make songs for me, leave the studio, and F*CK the b!tch who belong to who making songs for you”/
she said, “I’m feeling your whole swagger and flow, can we hook up?”/
I said, “hmmm, you just used the word swagger so NO!”

This whole story and song will give Eminem and Royce fans flashbacks to the Slim Shady & Marshall Mathers LP days. Next up is the Mr. Porter produced “Above The Law” (featuring a chorus from Claret Jai) in which Eminem and Royce go back to showcasing their crazy multi-syllables and flows over the thumping beat. Mr. Porter returns with the Mike Epps sampled “I’m On Everything” which is another old school Eminem throwback to the old drug ballads that Eminem was so known for back in the day. Royce really loses his mind while Eminem conjures up Slim Shady for his drug induced rhymes. Producer Bangladesh stops through for “A Kiss” with a thumping beat that is most definitely a different take for Eminem. Eminem and Royce ride the beat seamlessly and take turns poking fun at the likes of Lady Gaga (Eminem: “tell Lady Gaga she can quit her job at the Post Office but she’s still a MALE LADY/wouldn’t f*ck her with her d!ck, you heard it, the verdicts in” D*MN!) and Katy Perry among others.

The mood shifts on the Bruno Mars assisted “Lighters” produced by Eminem himself. This record has garnered the ire of some hardcore Eminem & Royce fans (much like Eminem’s “Love The Way You Lie” and “I Need A Doctor” did) primarily because of the Bruno Mars chorus. Regardless Bruno’s crooning fits the production perfectly alongside the personal lyrics from Bad Meets Evil.

EMINEM:
“I love it when I tell em shove it/
because it wasn’t that long ago/
when Marshall sat flustered, lacked luster/
cause he couldn’t cut mustard/
muster up nothing, brain fuzzy cause he’s buzzin/
woke up from that buzzer/
now you wonder why he does how he does it/
wasn’t it cause he had buzzards/
circling around his head waitin for him to drop dead, was it?/
or was it cause them b!tches wrote him off, little hussy a** scuzzes/
f*ck it, guess it doesn’t matter now does it?/
what difference it make, whats it take to get it through your thick skulls?
That this aint some bullsh!t people don’t usually come back this way/
from a place, was dark as I was in just to get to this place/
now let these words be like a switchblade/
to a haters rib cage/
and let it be known from this day forward, I wanna just say…THANKS/
cause your hate is what gave me this strength/
so let them bic’s raise/
cause I came with 5’9” but I feel like I’m 6’8”!/”

ROYCE:
“by the time you hear this, I’d probably already be outtie/
I advance like going from tote’n iron/
I end up buyin 4 or 5 of the homies the Iron Man Audi/
my daddy told me slow down boy, you goin to blow it/
and I aint got to stop the beat a minute to tell Shady I love him/
the same way that he did Dr. Dre on The Chronic/
tell him how real he is, or how high I am/
or how I will kill for him, for him to know it/
I cried plenty tears, my daddy got a bad back/
so it’s only right that I write til he can march right into that post office/
and tell’em to hang it up/
now his career is Lebron’s jersey in twenty years/
I stop when I’m at the very top/
you sh!tted on me on the way up, it’s about to be a scary drop/
cause what goes up, must come down/”

“Lighters” ends up being one of the most personal records on the album and one of the highlights. The personal mood continues on “Take From Me” featuring an incredible string and horn laced beat from Mr. Porter (one of the stronger beats on the album) and Claret Jai returns for the chorus. Bad & Evil talk about what the fans give to them and also take (stealing music for example) and Eminem completely O.D.’s on his verse obliterating the beat. Bad Meets Evil follows up that with the final song of the regular version of the EP “Loud Noises” featuring the rest of Royce’s Slaughterhouse buddies. Mr. Porter & Eminem helm the production on this one while Slaughterhouse & Em take turns going off on the song showcasing the groups crazy lyrics and flows.

The Deluxe version features two other songs that had previously been leaked to the internet (in unfinished/un-mastered versions). First is the Mr. Porter produced “Living Proof” in which Eminem & Royce trade bars over the nasty Mr. Porter beat. Em & Royce say they are “living proof” that god gives & takes away. The title of the song is obviously a nod to the two men’s fallen friend, Proof. DJ Khalil helms the boards on “Echo” where Em & Royce once again take turns playing lyrical gymnastics over the beat.

Overall “Hell: The Sequel” is a extremely entertaining and just flat out good rap album, but this will only make the hardcore fans fiend for a full length LP. Though it has been refreshing over the last couple of albums to hear Eminem working with different producers, at least on beat produced by Dr. Dre would have been nice to hear at least here. Otherwise the production was top notch especially Mr. Porter’s production and the lyrics were incredible as usual with these two. This one should hold over Eminem and Slaughterhouse fans until the next Shady project comes out (which will likely still beat “Detox” to store shelves).