He’s not Axl Rose — yet — but it has been four years since Eminem had an album at the top of the charts. “Number One” — which might be unfinished; some YouTube commenters even write that Eminem runs through a verse intended for Dr. Dre — suggests he’s angling for that old success, but even with this solid beat, it doesn’t sound like he’s even up to the faded glory of Encore. His rhymes are clunky and embarrassing (“So crack a bottle, let your body waddle / Don’t act just like a sloppy model, you just hit the lotto”), and when he sings, we wish he’d borrowed Kanye’s Auto-Tune. Eminem’s forthcoming album is called Relapse, but finished or not, this track just feels like a hangover.
Download “Number One”: Hip Hop Music
