Rating: 4/10

Track Amount: 16

Running Time: 1 hour and 8 minutes

Genre: Rap

Personnel: Various artists, as listed

Producer: Eminem, Chucky Thompson, Dante Ross, DJ Premier, Guru, Jeff Bass, John Gamble, J-Praize, Kellin Manning, Luis Resto, Martin Pradler, Mel-Man, Mike Elizondo, Mr Porter, Nas, Red Spyda, Sha Money XL

Record Label: Shady Records via Interscope

Recording Location: Various

Art Direction: N/A

Best Tracks: Lose Yourself, Wanksta

Quick Verdict: A rushed and disappointing listen just to make some money

This is the iconic film soundtrack for the 8 Mile film, which was a huge hit among fans of rap music in 2002. The film itself was a semi-autobiographical, semi-fictional story of Eminem’s rise to fame, with some notable alterations. This release was a large commercial success at the time, heading to #1 on the Billboard 200 album charts list. More importantly, however, it did have some very iconic music from not just Eminem himself, but many like-minded rappers and other similar musicians out there. In any case, it would be foolish not to cover this album as it is an essential part of music history. Let’s go back to 2002 and take a listen to this album, and hopefully it should be good to hear.

1. Lose Yourself is an Eminem track and the main single from this album. It begins with vinyl hiss and the sound of a moving and sad piano part. This is very deep-sounding. Soon enough, electric guitar enters, and Eminem raps about having no fear to do what you need to do in life. A fantastic listen, and this relates directly to the movie itself. A fantastic and symphony Rap tune that sounds really great, with an anthemic chorus. For anyone who is an aspiring musician, give it your best and don’t give up. Eminem raps nicely throughout, and he sounds like a real expert on the tragedy and disappointments that life can bring. An absolutely fantastic tune that even those who aren’t huge fans of Rap Music can relate to. One can easily appreciate the music and lyrical sentiment throughout. A truly motivating song to hear, especially for those of you who have little hope or faith in life. Eminem raps with emotion, viciousness and intelligence, which is rare for Rap Music. A fantastic song that is beautiful, hard-hitting and dramatic. A truly great listen. The instrumental outro is sweet.

2. Love Me is by Obie Trice, 50 Cent and Eminem. It has a basic sort of murky sound, which is dramatic and dark to listen to. This is a good tune, even if it has the usual Rap talk and some rather low-key audio sounds. The guests sound fantastic throughout, yet the chorus isn’t exactly pleasant to listen to. Talk about loving guns, money and alcohol is here. Eminem’s appearance is certainly fantastic, however. This is Eminem delivering a much more serious and solid statement musically overall. The guests do their job just as well, and this tune sounds symphonic and dramatic throughout. This music is certainly different, even for Gangsta rap-style music. This isn’t perfect, but Rap fans in particular will enjoy this tune. A rather trashy tune, but nonetheless, it fits the album well. The outro is a bit lengthy, but in all seriousness, this is okay to listen to.

3. 8 Mile is an Eminem tune. It goes for six minutes in length and begins with the sound of a train horn. Soon enough, this tune gets going nicely. With piano loops and bombastic beats, Eminem pours his fears and anxieties into this tune. Nonetheless, this is good but definitely not great. This is a brutally honest and dark tune about having the sight and vision of Eminem wanting to leave his home neighbourhood and to make it big as a Rapper. This music is seriously good to listen to, in a moralistic sort of way, if it makes sense to you. Sure, there are profanities galore, and this is unrealistic Rap Music bravado, but to be fair, it is a good effort overall. The chorus in particular is quite catchy to listen to. A solid effort, and it unravels Eminem and his fears musically, and he does very well looking back to the past, where his life wasn’t so good. All in all, this tune is a great lyrical display of the hardship and poverty that one can experience in the worst parts of the USA today. A great song that should give young people hope in their lives if they have ever been through a homeless shelter, or worse. Never boring or a waste throughout this six-minute-long piece. The outro has some interesting sounds and loops.

4. Adrenaline Rush is by Obie Trice. It is a much shorter tune with some interesting sounds and massive beats to match it all. It does sound very good for what it is. Obie Trice makes for an interesting appearance on this album with awesome sounds and samples to match it all. Some of the Rapping and sounds are very much in line with what is being made at the time of writing in today’s contemporary Pop Music. This tune proves that you don’t need loud guitars and amplifiers to necessarily make powerful music. Although this tune wouldn’t sound right anywhere else, it is a decent and powerful and awesome piece of music that has some powerful kick drum beats to match. A seriously inflammatory and direct tune lyrically, matched with powerful production to match it all. Seriously cool.

5. Places To Go is by 50 Cent. It begins with some mock brass section, before launching into quite a good tune with some excellent digitised sounds and has 50 Cent rapping very nicely along with this track. All in all, this music is seriously good. Sure, it is for Rap fans and fans of the 8 Mile movie, but it still retains most of its quality. This is not music for kids, however. There are profanities and graphic imagery galore on this tune. A seriously cool tune that makes sense to listen to in retrospect. An absolutely strong and punchy music statement that encourages one to make a better life through music and to remain inspired. Does everyone really want to be a drug dealer? Definitely not. A great tune that has some awesome sounds and direct lyrics. Very serious music. The outro is quite long, however.

6. Rap Game is by D12 and 50 Cent. It begins with some melodic and dramatic pseudo-Classical Music instrumentation, launching into a piece of music about the nature of Rap Music itself. A different-sounding piece of music with some pinpointed rapping and brutally profane lyrics throughout. This sounds very out there and powerful. Eminem is here as well, and he sounds very raw and direct throughout. This is a good and interesting listen, but like the rest of the album, it sounds a bit off musically. The chorus is about holding onto one’s soul and character in the world of Rap Music. This tune has not dated very well, and the album presents itself as a mixed bag to most listeners. It’s okay, but despite the variety of appearances, this tune is lacking. The music sounds like drivel, and the lyrics aren’t very good, either. Also, this is fairly lengthy for a tune of this sort. Even so, this is listenable but barely so. The variety of rappers from D12 is good to hear, however. Nonetheless, this is difficult to get through.

7. 8 Miles And Runnin’ is by JAY-Z and Freeway. It begins with the sound of a car driving past, and launches into more of the same musically. At least it is lyrically better than what came before it. JAY-Z delivers a good Rap section over music that is depressing and repetitive. Despite this, this is a good listen, especially in the chorus. It seems that Eminem and co. needed to be a bit more upbeat and consistent about this Rap Music project. Unfortunately, this did not happen here. This is okay, but it is quite clear by this point of the album that the music present is a mixed bag. Freeway need not be here either, to be honest. JAY-Z makes for a good appearance, looking back at his own successes in the music industry, all the same. A rather uninspired and ordinary tune, once again. The outro could have been trimmed down, once again.

8. Spit Shine is by Xzibit. Fortunately, this tune is much shorter. It sounds rather naff, with wah-wah sounds and electric guitars to match the Rap Music present here. This is definitely not an appealing listen, and it has more pretentious rapping about having guns and knives galore. Doesn’t the USA and UK have enough problems with knives and guns today? In any case, this rather try-hard listen isn’t a breath of fresh air, but rather just filler on this album. The backing track is extremely repetitive as well. Preaching mass murder is also fairly questionable. All in all, a track that sounds stupid and makes one feel stupid upon listening to it. This is an ordinary listening experience, and this was the first real misstep that Eminem made with this compilation release. Simply not good enough to want to listen to. An extended outro is here, once again.

9. Time Of My Life is oddly a Macy Gray tune. It sounds completely different to the rest of this compilation. It has upbeat sounds, lush guitars and other sounds that are completely different. Macy Gray has an almost inaudible, bad singing voice that sounds grating. Honestly, why is this here? Macy Gray proves herself to be a terrible singer, and she can barely hold a note on this tune. This definitely needs to be taken off the album in retrospect. Nothing special here, folks. At least it sounds upbeat and cheerful throughout. Macy Gray sounds like a 70-year-old singer in the first place, and this song is appalling. By now, you should want to skip ahead this rubbishy tune, and so you should. This drags on unnecessarily and poorly, and is the longest four-minute-long song you will ever hear. Just pure junk. Avoid this bomb of a tune.

10. U Wanna Be Me is by Nas. It is much better than what came before it, but it is another fairly bland and ordinary listen. Nas comes across as a better rapper, as such, but this is a rather uninspired and brutally profane tune that is super selfish upon hearing it all. The backing track is not that good, and Nas had his best moments earlier in his career. All in all, this is barely passable. For Rap Music to work, it has to be a good mixture of intelligent lyricism and great based beat music. This is not that, however. This is another rather average listen that makes the album increasingly a cash-making release, rather than a compilation of worth. The tune is over soon enough.

11. Wanksta is a 50 Cent tune. It is a surprisingly good listen, showcasing one of the better Rappers from this album. This has some repetitive loops, punchy lyricism and expensive-sounding production to match it all. This music sounds dumber than a child who is failing primary school, and it has not aged well at all. Even though this is only three and a half minutes long, it is so repetitive-sounding that it feels like it goes on for 15 years. All in all, a good listen but far and away from being a great one. This tune reeks of a pretentious attitude throughout. This music is not the best. Talk about a lack of respect towards other musicians, which is pretty stupid. In any case, this eventually ends. Not the best.

12. Wasting My Time is a Boomkat tune. It begins with some murky symphonic sounds, which sound a lot like the Nine Inch Nails album The Fragile (1999) in some ways, on which Dr Dre worked on one of the tracks. This is a rather chilled tune that sounds different. Boomkat sings beautifully on this song, but it quite clearly does not fit here with the rest of the album. Having said this, this is definitely a good listen. A good but not a great listen about being taken advantage of by a lover. This is a good song, but it definitely isn’t on the right album here. Quite clearly, Eminem needed to give this project somewhat of a rethink with its songs. Even so, this is appealing to those of you who like female singers as such. A very pretty and different listen overall. The string section is just gorgeous. A better listen from this album.

13. R.A.K.I.M. is a Rakim tune. It launches into a really bad piece of music with TB-303 Acid sounds, and it is a rather selfish tune about…Rakim himself. This is another rather throwaway piece of music that you can quite clearly avoid. It is just more of the same Rap drivel that one can expect to hear from this album. This album gets more disappointing as it goes along. This tune is one of the most selfish and self-centred songs ever released. It has little appeal to anyone but hardcore Rap Music fans, and it is real drivel. Again, you can probably skip ahead at this point in time. This music is just dull and drivel. In any case, this music lacks imagination and consistency, and it is a real shame that this is the case. A really lacking tune.

14. That’s My Nigga Fo’ Real is by Young Zee. It begins with some similar sounds from the previous track, and Young Zee has a weak-sounding Rap voice throughout. The chorus is absolutely awful and is definitely worth skipping ahead. This is likely the worst track on this entire compilation. Young Zee is no talent, and this music is a really off-sounding listen throughout. It is the Rap Music equivalent of fingernails down a blackboard. Sadly, music has done even worse since this listen. A very, very poor track that sounds uninspired and a retrograde step on this album. This music is really awful. Just do yourself a favour and avoid this track. This is nearly five minutes of absolute trash to listen to. A bad composition with nothing wonderful about it at all. The backing vocals in the course are absolutely horrible to hear as well. Very terrible music.

15. Battle is a Gang Starr track. Fortunately, it is much shorter and quite a lot better-sounding as well compared to the track before it. The loops and beats are seriously quite good on this tune. It is a Rap music moment that sounds quite a lot better compared to some of the tracks before it. Gang Starr has some direct lyrics over some repetitive horn loops, and this does sound like an improvement. Even so, this tune could have been better overall. It just sounds so repetitive and dumbed down that few can really enjoy this music. The editing on this track is quite neat, though. Good but not great.

16. Rabbit Run is the final track on this compilation and is an Eminem tune. It begins with a dramatic and intense, moody string section. Eminem launches into an equally intense and moody tune that is very, very ordinary listening. This is not an easy listen, and it sounds really trashy and terrible. This is one of the most uncomfortable listening experiences in the history of music. It finishes off this rather misstep of a compilation on a bad note. Fortunately, this is only three minutes long, but it sounds really drivel and dark. This is not Eminem at his best, and this signs off the compilation on a bad note. By this point, one feels like they have a headache listening to this release. Dark and depressing.

This release is not really recommended for most music listeners out there. It is a good idea on paper, but just like the film itself, it was a remarkable failure long-term, even if it was somewhat commercially successful. This is not a great Rap album, not even by Eminem’s own standards. Instead, it is a poorly thought-out and executed compilation that deserves to be avoided. Don’t listen to this release unless you genuinely wish to have a headache.