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READ THIS if you expected a huge gamma squeeze today after close above $320
OG poster u/PlayFree_Bird Alright, I hate to say it, but there is some less-than-ideal information circulating out there, particularly about the famed "gamma squeeze" we hear so much about these days. I'll get to that. Let's go through the questions you simpletons want to know, as explained by a mouth-breathing fool who has managed to convince you he knows what he's talking about:
Did we win today? Is it endgame?
Kind of. Be patient.
In what ways did we win?
First, there was the obvious victory of bouncing back 65% today after the worst market manipulation I've ever witnessed. We kept the upward momentum going. Secondly, every day you finish higher is another day the shorts are underwater. If you are perpetually going up, the walls are closing in on them. Finally, a lot of put options expired worthless today while a number of call options expired in-the-money. It's always good to make put holders lose money because you drain the bank accounts of people betting against you.
Yes! Call options! We finished above $320 and get a gamma squeeze to infinity now, right?
No. That's not how this works. Too many people don't quite understand what a gamma squeeze is. A gamma squeeze happens when call option sellers (or "writers") have to hedge their naked calls by buying stocks. They do this because the risk of selling naked calls is theoretically infinite if they don't. It's called delta hedging. You don't need to know all the fancy math ("delta" and "gamma" are those greek symbols for nerds), just understand this: as it becomes more probable that the call option you sold will cost you money, you hedge more. This is a continuous PROCESS, not a discreet moment in time. The market makers and hedge funds and institutions selling you calls don't wake up on Friday morning and think, "Shit! I think I'm going to lose everything if these stocks keep going up! I have to BUY NOW!!!" That would be stupid. They are hedging all the way up. I guarantee you that most of the calls that were exercised at $320 today were already covered. They already went out and bought those shares and most of the upwards pressure that places on the market is priced in already.
So, no gamma squeeze?
Probably not significantly. They're not going to be madly rushing out on Monday to buy shit they already own for the most part.
Why are people talking about a gamma squeeze at $320, then?
We did have a gamma squeeze at $320. On Wednesday, two days ago. The price exceeded $320 (then the highest strike price on the books) and promptly surged to $371 before coming back down to around $320. That's what a gamma squeeze is: a frenzied rush by call sellers to cover calls. It typically happens BEFORE expiration, not after. It's rare for market makers to get so caught with their pants down that they have to get squeezed for the previous week's calls on a Monday. I don't know where this idea of a gamma squeeze now at $320 is coming from.
This hurts my feelings. So, what's so great about the $320 threshold, anyway? Did it matter at all?
It's still a good thing. There may have been a few lingering naked calls to cover. And, like I said, it's always good to make put-holders lose money because stick it to the 🌈🐻, that's why. $320 was a significant level because there were quite a few open call options at that strike. You can see the entire option chain here: https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/gme/option-chain Go through and count up all the January 29th options that were in-the-money at today's close. I think maybe 90,000 or something? Screw it, I didn't count. Somebody who can figure out how to use a calculator can add those up. Multiply that number by 100 (because option contracts are sold in groups of 100) and that's how many shares need to change hands thanks to contracts expiring ITM. It may be that with so many shares needing to change hands and so little liquidity in this market, some weird things could happen.
What weird things?
Well, if nothing else, a lot of shares will need to be tied up as the process of settling calls plays out. You have to remember that when somebody says they own shares, they don't necessarily own own the shares right at that moment. When you press "buy" on your phone and it says your order was filled, that doesn't mean that the process happens instantaneously. For all intents and purposes as far as you are concerned, sure, the process looks instant. However, there's a lot of messy stuff that happens on the back-end of the system between the brokers and the clearing houses. The clearing houses are where the daily tab gets settled: who owes whom and what they owe and at what price, etc. Monday could be interesting as this tab for millions of stocks (in a market with only 50-something million shares actively circulating) gets settled. It might not be crazy, but it could. We'll see. Michael Burry (Christian Bale, for all you noobs) seems to think that all the naked short-selling above the float will result in a shit-storm when people actually go to get their shares back: https://twitter.com/michaeljburry/status/1355221824661983233 Liquidity crunch + lots of shares being moved around + nobody knows where they all are currently = potential nightmare for Wall Street.
I just want my infinite short squeeze and my tendies, so how do we get the MOASS?
Something needs to be the catalyst. Something needs to get the short sellers really underwater, so much so that they are drowning. That's why there's been so much hype about gamma squeezes; the gamma and short squeezes are two separate things, but the gamma squeezing has been really good to us lately. It has triggered some crazy upwards price movements. I still think one was about to happen yesterday morning that would have triggered the squeeze-pocalypse, the Mother of All Short Squeezes. The bastards at the brokerages (acting with and for the clearing houses), took your tendies. It's criminal what played out. I actually think a gamma squeeze was possible today, as well, as the price shot up to $378 around noon. If it had gotten to $400, it stood a very good chance of running up to $500, which would have caused a run up to $650 and beyond. Then Robinhood said, "Oh, actually, you plebs cannot buy 5 shares anymore, only 2 now." The price came back down again. Oddly enough, the S&P500 sold off over a full percentage point (that's a lot of money) right after GME hit that $378 peak. Do you think this doesn't freak the finance world out? They know a gamma squeeze is like the fuse on a firework. It consumes itself until it ignites the rocket.
How will Wall Street defend themselves?
They will try to keep snipping the fuse. That's what all these restrictions on brokerages are about. They are trying to defuse the situation slowly because having it all get sorted out quickly and frantically is no good for them. We need enough upwards price momentum that those option chains keep going up and up and feeding on themselves. They need to become a self-sustaining chain reaction, fed by hedging pressure. And you need to put pressure on your elected representatives to tell them that Wall Street cannot be allowed to just shut down the game when they are losing. I hate to tell you this, but the squeeze has so far been stopped purely by the losers declaring that it will not happen at any cost. It's bullshit. Eat the rich. But there it is.
Do you feel you've used the word "squeeze" too much by now?
Yes. I've been writing and looking at the word "squeeze" so much that it is starting to lose its meaning. Squeeze. Squeeze. Squeeeeeeze. EDIT: TL;DR Shares most likely already bought so no gamma squeeze, doesn't matter anyway 🙌💎🚀 🙌💎🚀 🙌💎🚀 EDIT 2: STOP THANKING ME FOR THIS POST, RETARDS! Literally the first sentence is me giving credit to the original poster, THANK HIM.
Fellow Bettors, if you understand options, move on. First, proud of this community and all the giving it did yesterday. Truly phenomenal. I've noticed a lot of people on this sub legitimately don't know what options are or what they do. This is incredibly concerning, how are we going to get to the moon if we don't know how to build a rocket. As such, I've decided to write a quick reference options guide to help some of the newer, younger, or less experienced traders as a Christmas present to the sub. If you know what options are, move on. I'm going to try and make this as short and sweet as possible. A reference guide. As much as we all like loss porn, I like seeing gain porn way more and hate the thought of people losing life savings/tuition money/inheritance because they come to the sub and don't know anything about options but see a ticker with rocket ships and buy a 0 DTE 30% out of the money call with everything they have. Gotta know how to play blackjack to sit at the table. Depending on feedback, I may write a few more. If I get told to fuck off I completely understand, but if some people learn some stuff then I'll continue. I will be using $MSFT as my example.
What are options?
The Basics/Buying vs. Selling Options
The Money
Calls Explained
Buying Calls
Selling Naked Calls
Puts Explained
Buying Puts
Selling Naked Puts
Options Pricing
Intrinsic Value
Extrinsic Value
Do I Have to Hold to Expiration?
The Details
The Greeks
Helpful Links
Options Explained The Basics Buying an option gives you the right to buy (call) or sell (put) 100 shares of a stock at a specific price (strike price) on or before the expiration date (European options are specifically on the expiration date). Buying calls is bullish, buying puts is bearish. To buy an option you are going to pay a premium as the other party will be accepting risk with the trade (premium explained more later).
If you believe a stock is going to go up past a certain price on or before a certain day, you buy calls.
If you believe a stock will go down past a certain price on or before a certain day, you buy puts.
Selling an option obligates you to buy (put) or sell (call) 100 shares of a stock at the strike price on or before the expiration date, really whenever the buyer wants to exercise the option.
If you believe a stock is going to trade sideways or drop in price, you sell calls.
If you believe a stock is going to trade sideways or raise in price, you sell puts.
The Money For Calls:
At the Money - A call with a strike price equal to the current stock price
In the Money - A call with a strike price BELOW the current stock price, can immediately be exercised
Out of the Money - A call with a strike price ABOVE the current stock price. The stock MUST rise to or above the strike price to be exercised.
For Puts:
At the Money - A put with a strike price equal to the current stock price
In the Money - A put with a strike price ABOVE the current stock price, can immediately be exercised
Out of the Money - A put with a strike price BELOW the current strike price, must fall to or below the strike price to be exercised
Calls Explained Buying calls is a bullish strategy and the most popular on this sub, and thus will be covered first. I will be using $MSFT as my example stock. $MSFT is currently trading at $215.17 and I believe that the sale of the new XBox around Christmas time will increase the stock price to $230.0 by Christmas. I would buy a call. I decide to look at the Dec. 31 options which you can see below. Figure 1 This is Robinhood on a computer. At the top you can see what each thing is which is explained below.
Strike Price - The price the stock has to rise above to be exercised
Break Even - The price the stock has to rise above to not lose money
To Break Even - Percent change in the stock required to break even
% Change - Daily change in option price in percent
Change - Daily change in option price in dollars
Price - Price of the option
In the above example:
$215 Strike Price - In the Money, could be immediately exercised, but the buyeexerciser would experience a loss
$217.5 Strike Price - Out of the Money, could NOT be immediately exercised.
The Break Even point is always higher than the strike price for calls as you are paying someone to accept risk. This can be calculated by taking the strike price and adding the premium paid for the option. For the 12/31 $230, $230.0 + $1.67 = $231.67. The option CAN BE EXERCISED BELOW THE BREAK EVEN FOR A LOSS. Buying Calls Ok, so the 12/31 $230.0 strike is what we are going to buy, that is $1.67 dollars PER share, for 100 shares, so the buyer would pay a total of $167.00 for the trade (depending on the bid - ask, explained in The Details below.) We go ahead an buy that option for a debit of $167.00. As the month goes on BEFORE 12/31, some things could happen:
$MSFT goes up, the value of the option increases and can be sold for a profit at any time
$MSFT goes down, the value of the option decreases and can be sold for a loss at any time
$MSFT trades sideways, which will result in the value of the option decreasing (explained in Greeks)
On 12/31 if you still hold the option, there are a few possibilities:
$MSFT is above the breakeven, we'll say $240.0, you can sell the option for a profit, which would be almost entirely intrinsic value, the contract would be worth around $10.00 ($240.0 - $230.0 = $10.00). This is per share! So your profit would be: ($10.00 x 100) - ($167.0) = $833. The $167.0 is the debit paid for the contract.
$MSFT is above the strike but below the breakeven, we'll say $231.00. The contract will be very close to break even, and throughout the day will likely fluctuate to above and below. If you are still bullish on $MSFT, this is the ONLY time I would recommend exercising the option to buy the share (AND ONLY IF YOU HAVE THE CAPITAL TO DO SO). If you are bearish or do not have the capital, your best bet would be to sell the option for a slight loss. In this case it would be around $100. NOTE: ROBINHOOD RISK MANAGEMENT WILL AUTOMATICALLY SELL OPTIONS IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE CAPITAL TO EXERCISE THEM AND IT IS CLOSE TO THE STRIKE ON THE DAY OF EXPIRATION.
$MSFT is below the strike, hold or sell to avoid max loss. Your max loss in the trade is $167 dollars, and the stock may run up towards the end of the day. If $MSFT finishes the day below the strike, the option will expire worthless.
Selling Naked Calls If you are neutral to bearish on $MSFT because you think the PS5 will outsell the XBox, you could sell the 12/31 $230.0C. See below. Figure 2 Notice "To Break Even" turns into "Chance of Profit." This is a calculation using the Greeks of your odds of coming out on top in this trade. You sell this call. This would mean you would be CREDITED with $167 dollars initially. As the month goes on, if $MSFT goes up in value, you will begin to lose money on the trade, and if you desired to close the trade you would have to Buy to Close, meaning you payed more for the option then you sold it for. If $MSFT trades sideways or decreases in value, the options contract will decrease and you can Buy to Close the call at a lower price than what you paid for it or just let it expire worthless on 12/31. SELLING NAKED CALLS CAN BE VERY RISKY. If you sell the call, and $MSFT shoots up the next day to $240.0, the buyer of your contract can immediately exercise the call. This means that you as the seller are OBLIGATED to sell them 100 shares of $MSFT at $230. What happens if you don't have them? You have to buy them at the current market price. So $240.0 x 100 = $24,000. You would then sell them for $230.0: $23,000. Your max loss on the trade will be $24,000 - $23,000 -$167.0 = $833. And that is only if the price goes to $240.0. If the price at expiration is $250, your max loss would be $1,833. For every $10 increase in underlying, the max loss increases $1,000. To avoid this and collect premium you can sell covered calls, to be discussed later. Puts Explained Buying puts is a bearish strategy and the second most popular on this sub. $MSFT is still $215.17, and I believe the new XBox sucks. I think the stock will fall to $205.0 on or before 12/31. Below are 12/31 puts. Figure 3 None of the metrics change, except for what is in and out of the money.
$217.5 - In the Money, can immediately be exercised, but the buyeexerciser would experience a loss
$215 - Out of the Money, cannot immediately be exercised
Buying Puts The 12/31 $210.0 strike is what we are going to buy, so that is $3.58 for 100 shares, so if purchased and filled this would cost us $358.0 dollars. Note this is much more expensive than the $230.0 call, this is a result of the strike price being much closer to the current stock price. As the month goes on BEFORE 12/31, some things could happen:
$MSFT goes down, the value of the option increases and can be sold for a profit at any time
$MSFT goes up, the value of the option decreases and can be sold for a loss at any time
$MSFT trades sideways, which will result in the value of the option decreasing
On 12/31 if you still hold the option, there are a few possibilities:
$MSFT is below the breakeven, we'll say $200.0, you can sell the option for a profit, which would be almost entirely intrinsic value, worth around ($10.00). ($210.0 - $200.0 = $10.00) Again, per share, minus the debit, would again get us around $642. Notice how this trades profit was lower with the same difference in strike price to underlying price on expiration. That is because the premium we paid for this trade was higher.
$MSFT is below the strike price but above the breakeven, we'll say $207.0. The contract will very throughout the day, and unless you have the capital to exercise Robinhood risk management will likely sell the thing whether you like it or not.
$MSFT is above the strike price, you can sell to minimize profit OR hold until it expires worthless.
Selling Naked Puts If you are neutral to bullish on $MSFT because you think the XBox will be meh, you could sell the 12/31 $210.0P. This means you would be credited with $3.58. If $MSFT decreases in value, the option price will increase in value, and you will lose money on the trade. You can hold to expiration or Buy to Close at any time for a loss. If $MSFT trades sideways or increases in value, the option will decrease in value, and you can Buy to Close for a profit at any time. THE SAME RISK APPLIES TO SELLING NAKED PUTS AS NAKED CALLS, BUT IS "CAPPED" AS A STOCK CANNOT GO BELOW ZERO. Options Pricing The price of an option has two different parts, intrinsic and extrinsic value.
Intrinsic Value = |Current Price - Strike Price|
An Out of the Money option has no Intrinsic Value
An In the Money Option has an Intrinsic Value equal to the difference in stock price and strike price.
Example: $MSFT price: $215.17. For the 12/31 $212.5C, this option has an Intrinsic Value of $2.67 for each share, or $267. BUT you can see in Figure 1 it is $7.30, or $730 dollars to buy. That is where extrinsic value comes into play
Extrinsic Value
Effected by theta and implied volatility
Can be calculated by Extrinsic Value = Option Price - Intrinsic Value
Theta
The more time an option has to expiration, the higher it is priced. This is because the underlying stock ($MSFT) has more time to move.
The theta curve accelerates around the 45 day mark, see the figure below. You can see that as an option gets closer to its expiration it will lose value, regardless of if it is in or out of the money IT WILL DEPRECIATE
Implied Volatility - a lot of math goes into this one, but its essentially how much a stock is likely to move during a give amount of time
Steady stocks, like $KO, tend to have lower IV.
High growth stock or stocks that move a lot have higher IV.
The IV OF EACH OPTION will be different depending on expiration date, how far In or Out of the Money the stock is, and the movement of the underlying.
IV Crush - this occurs often after earnings and results from volatility decreasing. Even with no movement in the price of the underlying an options price can be cut in half if the volatility drastically decreases, decreasing the extrinsic value. BE CAREFUL IF YOU HOLD OPTIONS OVER A STOCKS EARNINGS.
Do I Have to Hold to Expiration? Lets say we buy the $MSFT 12/31 $230.0C. Do we have to wait until December 31? No. If the underlying increases to lets say $225.0 by next Friday, 12/4, we could sell the option for likely a pretty good profit. We payed $1.67 for the contract, but the price of the Call may increase to $3.67, so we could Sell to Close for a $200 profit, allowing us to move on to another trade. But as we approach the strike delta increases and therefore may be worth holding. The break even information is only if you intend to hold the call to expiration and profit from exercising and then immediately selling the shares back into the market. Due to time and market craziness, I recommend taking profit from the option itself rather than exercising and using the shares. The Details Going back to our out of the money 12/31 $230.0C on $MSFT, if you select the option, you will open up the details surrounding that option. This can be seen below. https://preview.redd.it/9jybsf99ju161.png?width=1156&format=png&auto=webp&s=28414c66b7307b4d47e6841693976f068c0af774 This explains more about the option and can explain why it is priced the way it is. From left to right.
Bid - Highest price a person is willing to pay for the option and the amount of options asking to be bought at that price
Ask - Lowest price a person is willing to sell the option and the amount of options offered to be sold at that price
Mark - Often in between the Bid and Ask, what you see on the main options tree
Previous Close - The price of the most recent option sold
High - Highest price paid during the trading day for the option
Low - Lowest price paid during the trading day for the option
Volume - number of contracts traded during the trading day
Open Interest - number of total contracts not settled
Bid-Ask Spread is the different between the Bid and Ask, in this case $.19. The closer the bid ask spread, the more likely you are to get an order filled. Slippage occurs as the spread moves up or down depending on if the movement of the stock. If the stock is rising rapidly and you are trying to buy a call, by the time you enter the order the Bid-Ask Spread might have moved up dramatically, and your order might not get filled. Open Interest is important as well. If very low open interest, Selling or Buying to close may be very difficult depending on how popular the options contract is. The lower the open interest and the wider the Bid-Ask Spread is, the more likely you are to get fucked by market makers. They will not be willing to meet at the mark or change their bid/ask and will expect you to do it. If they are moving millions of options a day, $.10 is a lot to them and they will profit off of it. The Greeks You can see the Greeks listed above for this call.
Delta - how much an options price is expected to change for every $1.00 change in the underlying. Calls have positive delta, puts have negative delta. If $MSFT goes from $215.0 to $216.0, the price of the option will increase $.1691. Puts have negative delta because the options price will decrease as the stock price increases. Delta will approach 1 as the stock underlying approaches the strike and moves through the strike, causing a natural increase in intrinsic value.
Gamma - the change in Delta for every $1.00 change in the underlying. Gamma increases as the stock approaches the strike price and can be very powerful if the underlying is near the strike.
Theta - change in the option price for every 1 day closer to expiration. Theta increases as the option approaches the expiration date. If you hold onto the 12/31 $230C for a day it would decrease in value .06 per contract, so a total of $6. You can see how this is an options buyers Enemy.
Vega - How the implied volatility affects the price of the option. A drop in vega will typically cause both calls and puts to lose value. Compare vega to normal levels by looking at other options of other similar underlying. Again, BE CAUTIOUS OF IV CRUSH AROUND EARNINGS.
Rho - sensitivity to interest rates, has to do with the U.S. treasury, you have the least control over this and this arguably effects options the least.
Helpful Links Here are some awesome links that will help everyone get better at trading options. Options Strategies | Learn To Trade Options - The Options Playbook Investing with Options (robinhood.com) Options Trading Strategy & Education (investopedia.com) I hope you find this helpful. If you made it this far I'm astonished. I hope you all make massive amounts of money and are able to beat retarded hedge funds and dumb old traders. Our generation is changing the investing game for the better, making it more accessible. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know or send me a message. Panda Edit 1: Corrected some small inaccuracies. Added "Do I Have to Hold to Expiration?" Edit 2: Due to the overwhelming positive response I will write Part 2: Intermediate Strategies for next week to include Credit Spreads, Debit Spreads, Iron Condors, etc. Thank you all, humbled by the gifts. Edit 3: Corrected some small inaccuracies. Spelled 'bettor' correctly.
$EGLX.to - Epic eSports stock about to uplist to the Nasdaq
TLDR; EGLX.to is the single best pure-eSports play in the world.
Look I have an incredible track record of getting lucky picking stocks in the new reddit dominated market (PLTR, U, AI, BB, etc) and I want to tell you all about my next big one: Enthusiast Gaming. While our community has nearly quadrupled in size, I still believe EGLX is one of the most underappreciated plays out there. Since writing my first DD on EGLX, a few things have transpired:
The stock has gone up like 80%.
EGLX signed a massive deal with Samsung and Samsung will be the official sponsor of their 7 eSports teams.
EGLX has strengthened their balance sheet by $50M, taking care of the cash risk I identified in the original DD.
The stock price has formed some significant resistance, and has a solid foundation above $6.
Call of Duty has had their best year in franchise history, and was crowned the best selling game of 2020 -> Great news for a company who owns 1 of 12 professional COD esports licenses.
One of EGLX's streamers, xQc, found his way to the top of WSB... indicating people on that forum follow EGLX, but they just don't know it yet.
Their recent bought deal is set to conclude this week, and I am hoping for big news on their Nasdaq application to follow shortly thereafter.
Last and probably least, I was personally right again and won big again, in both BB and GME. And yes I realized my gains in both. So for whatever it's worth, I have proven my track record again.
Get in before the Nasdaq listing if you like money. Positions: I currently have 40% of my portfolio in Enthusiast Gaming. I hope the mods don't mind, but I wanted to repost this DD I wrote about a month ago, because it seems like none of the noobs know about the Enthusiast Gaming eSports revolution. So here it is below: --------------------------------------------------------- LINKto original post -POSTED JAN 6TH 2020: Greetings friendos. It's 12:20 AM where I live and since I can't sleep, I have decided to finally write a DD on Enthusiast Gaming that I have been thinking about for some time... EGLX is a stock that I believe can make you 5-20x gains in the next year. I have been watching this stock since like $1.50 during the darkest days of COVID, and I am kicking myself for not getting in until $4 just before Christmas. But I am now a proud shareholder preaching the gospel. What the eff do I know? For some background information on my own stock picking prowess and why my ideas might be worth considering, I previously wrote super early DD's on Palantir, Telos and C3ai before making money in all 3 of them. I have a large number of people who have sent me thank you messages on reddit for my DD's on those companies.
PLTR - I was in at 10.50 Telos - I was in at 20 C3ai - I was in at 95
As a final qualifying note, in addition to getting incredibly lucky at picking random stocks, I also work in the gaming and digital marketing spaces, and I believe that I am somewhat qualified to comment on the merits of an esports and influencer company such as EGLX.
Who the heck is Enthusiast Gaming?
Enthusiast Gaming is a giant network of websites, esports teams and streaming influencers in the gaming space. Actually, they proclaim to be the single largest esports platform in North America. As of yesterday, they have officially announced that all of their collective followings put them in the top 100 web companies operating in America. Note, the only downside here is that they are getting that number from a huge number of mid sized platforms, not one single super popular site like twitch or youtube. >Source: https://www.enthusiastgaming.com/news/
Actually this is where I think it gets particularly interesting. As a huge gamer and esports believer, I have been looking to find esports investments, but having a real hard time finding pure esports plays. There aren't many companies out there to invest in that are strictly set to capitalize on esports. Frankly, most of the stocks I have found are seemingly doing dick all. I would encourage you to google esports companies. You will mostly find a bunch of garbo sounding companies that are somehow valued at $25m-$50m market cap, but their websites are broken and aren't even up-to-date. Really the only "esports" companies to invest in are the tech majors like Microsoft, Amazon, or Facebook, and the video game companies like Sony, Nintendo, ATVI, EA etc. Sure these are all great companies, but none of them are strictly focused on esports and none of them are new or cheap enough to turn into a ten bagger. *** IF YOU ARE SKIMMING, THIS NEXT ARTICLE IS IMPORTANT**\* Forbes recently released a report on the top 10 most valuable esports companies. Obviously, EGLX is on the list, or I wouldn't be mentioning it. But get this, EGLX is not only the ONLY publicly listed company that forbes identified, but they also have the highest revenue by a long shot. >SORCERY: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasettimi/2020/12/05/the-most-valuable-esports-companies-2020/?sh=2e4769ae73d0 EGLX is honestly positioned as the supreme pure esports play in the world right now.
Who the hell is leading this little company?
Well my number one most important metric when assessing a little random undiscovered company is who is captaining the ship? The best way to tell if a small cap stock is a scam or the real deal is to see who is involved. In fact, the biggest reason I chose to invest in the above mentioned companies was because of who was leading them (PLTR = Theil,C3.ai= microsoft ties and the dude from oracle, Telos = a former US general) Good news of course, EGLX has an A+ grade with leadership legitimacy. Adrian Montgomery, the former CEO of the Aquilini Sports and Entertainment (AKA THE VANCOUVER CANUCKS) is running EGLX. These guys are the real deal and they aren't fuckin about in some scam company. If they can run the Canucks, they can run an esports team.
But how do they profit?
EGLX does not own games or huge streaming platforms like twitch. So you may be wondering how they actually make money? INFLUENCER MARKETING. That's how. They are generating money through ad placements and influencer marketing on their huge platform. (And remember, they are in the top 100 US online companies in terms of reach.) Facebook and Google are already soaking up ungodly amounts of money through online advertising and taking over the world. But paid ad placements only go so far. I don't know of a good source off hand, but I am telling you subjectively that influencer marketing is one of the "next big things". Companies are paying people with major social followings to review and talk about their shit. This is a very very big industry. I truly believe influencers are going to overtake hollywood and MSM. You shall see... No sources here. Pure opinion.
Is it actually making money?
Shit loads actually. This year EGLX is talking about increasing their total revenue from $9m last year to $120m this year for like a 1100% annual revenue increase. Obviously, if their proforma numbers turn out to be bogus the stock will collapse. But, referring to the fact that the owners of the Canucks are running this company, I am hoping we are not all being lied to and frauded out of our money. https://www.enthusiastgaming.com/financial-statements/
How do you know I will make the tendies though?
***IF YOU ARE SKIMMING, ALSO READ THIS PART**\* EGLX is currently trading at a $450m CAD or about $300M USD market cap. That is absolute peanuts compared to any other hype stock in the memesphere. With $120m annual revenue, that puts them at about a 3x price to sales ratio, which really isn't that bad at all for even a boring a blue chip. For a growth stock, it is extremely low. But if you dig into their investor presentation, they are actually claiming they will raise their Revenue Per User from $0.40 to $3 in the next 2 years, or a nearly 750% revenue increase, not accounting for growth in the size of their social reach. If you include reach growth, it could be nearly 10 times revenue growth. By that point, the current market cap would be a fraction of their annual sales. This stock is absurdly undervalued if the promises being made by the leadership come true. >Go look: https://www.enthusiastgaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/EG-Presentation-November-2020-Nov-27.pdf
Final Fun facts:
- They own the best Overwatch team. - They own the Seattle Call of Duty team, which happens to be among the nerdiest cities in America. - They claim to have the best Fortnite players, but idk that game is trash so I couldn't really say if it's true or not. But wait there's more! Saved the best info for last. The stock tripled in the past month. Why? Because EGLX is still only trading on the TSX and they have applied to list on the US stock exchange. They have appointed KPMG as the auditor for the application, and having nice big reputable firm involved certainly increases the odds it will get approved. Furthermore, I actually emailed their investor relations folks and asked when they expect to hit the US markets. Surprisingly, they responded and told me they expect their application to be approved Q1 2021. Once this puppy hits wallstreet, I see it breaking $1B USD in no time, which would be a 3x return. $3B-$5B doesn't seem unreasonable if the current market insanity persists through 2021. We have the opportunity to get in on this company before those darned Americans pump it to the moon. CANADIANS HAVE THE UPPER HAND IN THE STONK MARKET FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OUR DAMN LIVES. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT. -- PS: Risks. Risks. I think it's almost certain that these guys will issue more shares to raise some capital. They are kinda acting like the want to pump their own stock with unnecessary positive announcements, and honestly, they are pretty low on cash. Think they only have $9m on hand or something small like that. Too lazy to look it up again. Just watch out for dilution. My bet is that they will do it after listing on the US exchanges and mooning. But honestly I am not too worried in the long run because they need the cash to compete in this space. PSS: More risks. If the us exchange application gets denied it will be bad bad news for my TFSA.
My first memory of Blackpink was around the summer of 2017 when someone in the Popheads Plug.dj room played “As If It’s Your Last”. That song was stuck in my head ever since I first heard it. It had everything I wanted from a K-pop song at that time - a fire rap verse, beautiful vocals, an upbeat production that had an addictive pop bubblegum melody in the chorus. The gorgeous music video definitely played a huge factor on the song’s memorability. A few months later, I was watching Justice League with my relatives when Barry Allen aka The Flash arrives at his Flash secret den, only to be surprised to find Bruce Wayne aka Batman waiting for him. Why am I mentioning this scene? Behind Batfleck (a portmanteau of Batman and Ben Affleck) is the TV screen of the “As If It’s Your Last” music video and the song can be heard for a few seconds before fading into focus on the dialogue between Batman and The Flash. Being in a Southeastern Country where the influence of the Hallyu wave is huge since the early 2000s, everyone in the theater were pleasantly surprised by the fact that a K-pop song, let alone a song from a group with only 5 songs at that time, was featured in a Hollywood superhero movie. At that moment, I had a huge feeling that the song being featured in Justice League will increase the presence of K-pop in the West to the point that a K-pop song actually charts in Billboard Hot 100 soon and BLACKPINK is going to be one of those groups. To my surprise, I was actually right. BTS and Blackpink are the most popular K-pop groups right now thanks to their success in the West, which was the place that is quite hesitant to accept K-pop as a dominant force in pop culture despite its popularity outside the West, especially in Asia. The groups’ appearances in the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Charts definitely made Western labels realize that K-pop is a dominant force globally. As part of the Popheads Album of the Year 2020 series, I take a look at Blackpink's first full album appropriately titled “The Album''. Their debut full album was highly anticipated as it took four years since their debut in 2016 to finally make this happen. With this post, I deconstruct Blackpink’s history and their legacy, how the tracks fared as an album, and why “The Album” deserves its place as the “Popheads’ Album of the Year”.
PART 1. THE GROUP
When Blackpink made their debut on August 8, 2016, the anticipation was high as they were YG Entertainment’s second girl group after 2NE1. The high anticipation is also because the group was supposed to debut in 2012 after YG’s founder and now-former CEO Yang Hyun-suk teased a possibility of a second girl group back in 2011. The name for YG’s second girl group wasn’t even called Blackpink in the first place as the group was initially named “Pink Punk”. “Pink Punk” was supposed to be YG’s answer to SM Entertainment’s Girls Generation (SNSD) as the initial number of members were supposed to match the number of members of SNSD, which is nine members. YG even uploaded videos of some trainees who were likely to be members of Pink Punk to build public interest before the group’s supposed to debut. And then, Pink Punk never happened. Yang Hyun-suk’s indecisive, premature decisions during his time as CEO of YG is the reason why he earned so much infamy within the K-pop community, along with other things. But let’s not delve into that. Between 2011 and 2016, it was clear that this second girl group went through drastic changes. The line-up of members changed from nine to seven, then to five, to just four. Besides Pink Punk, the group had other possible names such as “Baby Monster” and “Magnum”. I honestly wonder what kind of crack did the people in YG Entertainment smoke to think that these are legitimately good names for their second girl group. Did they get that crack from Senguri? We may never know. Blackpink’s debut was an instant success as they released their debut double singles “Whistle” and “Boombayah”, compiled as a single album “Square One”. “Whistle” and “Boombayah” debuted at #1 and #7 at South Korean Gaon Digital Charts respectively. The group also became the fastest girl group to earn a win in a Korean music show as Inkigayo gave the group a trophy win for “Whistle”. Looking back, the group said that debuting with “Whistle” as their first single was risky at that time due to it having a “weird country vibe” and its minimal production, which led many people at YG against its release. They followed “Square One” with the next single album “Square Two” with singles “Playing with Fire” and “Stay”, which both aim to show Blackpink’s softer side, compared to the chaotic, party-vibe of “Square One”. While most K-pop groups usually have at least two to three comebacks per year, it seems like Blackpink only has one comeback per year based on the release pattern of when the group has their comebacks. On June 2, 2017, they released their comeback standalone single “As If It’s Your Last”. The following year, they finally released their first mini-album (which is basically an EP) “Squared Up” on June 15, 2018. “DDU-DU DDU-DU”, the mini-album’s title single (K-pop equivalent to lead single) propelled Blackpink to global popularity especially in the West as the single debuted at #55 and #78 in the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart respectively. This marks their first appearance in these charts. Additionally, the song’s music video is currently the second most-viewed K-pop music video with 1.4 billion viewers, being only behind Gangnam Style by former fellow YG artist Psy with 3.9 billion viewers. In 2019, Blackpink released their second mini-album “Kill This Love” on April 4. The release of the mini-album was significant as it’s the group’s first release under Interscope Records, which distributes their music and handles their promotions in countries outside Asia. The titular track peaked at #41 on Billboard Hot 100 and #33 on the UK Singles Chart. This era is best remembered for the group’s promotions in the West as a result of their increasing popularity, specifically their iconic Coachella appearance that made them the first K-pop girl group to perform in the festival. Their Coachella gig highlighted the group’s stage presence and high energy as performers, backed with a live band that complimented the group’s electronic-style music. It’s Blackpink like we never saw before and it’s definitely a refreshing contrast to their more calculated promotions in their home country of South Korea.
PART 2. THE MEMBERS
A huge part of Blackpink’s appeal are the members. Their beauty and charismatic personalities are some of the reasons why the group has a huge fanbase of Blinks, which is the fandom name of the group. Obviously, K-pop idols are trained to be charismatic. But there is something about the dynamic of the members that feel unmatched and they harmonize well together as a group. It’s sort of a relief that YG didn’t stick to their plan of having a nine-member girl group. During training, Jennie said that the female trainees are shuffled to different groups every two months and there would be “little fights” on who gets assigned to positions in the group such as vocals, rapping, and dancing. When grouped with Lisa, Jisoo, and Rosé, Jennie said it was already clear on who gets the parts. Each member of the group carries the whole group in their own different ways. They all have different backgrounds, different motivations on why they wanted to become idols and trainees under YG, and different skills that make Blackpink as a whole. I will be describing the members in the order they were revealed before their debut.
Jennie
Jennie Kim was the first member to be revealed as part of Blackpink on June 1, 2016. She is the group’s assigned main rapper and lead vocalist. Jennie was born as an only child to wealthy parents on January 16, 1996, in Seoul, South Korea. Jennie moved to Auckland at the age of eight after she was asked by her mother if she liked the place during their visit there. Jennie seemed to adjust her life well in New Zealand and she was featured in a documentary titled “English, Must Change to Survive” for South Korean broadcaster MBC about her experience as a Korean kid living in a foreign land. Jennie moved back to Seoul in 2010 after not being interested in taking up law in the United States, which was suggested by her mother who eventually supported her daughter’s decision. While Jennie didn’t have any formal musical background growing up, she was interested in K-pop during her stay in New Zealand. She auditioned for YG Entertainment as a vocalist, in which she performed “Take a Bow” by Rihanna. While Jennie was accepted as a trainee under YG, the judges advised her to train for the role of a rapper as she is the only trainee who can speak English. A trainee for five years, Jennie was one of the most popular trainees in YG and has already gained recognition before her eventual debut as a Blackpink member. YG uploaded videos of Jennie covering “Strange Clouds" by B.o.B. featuring Lil Wayne and “Lotus Flower Bomb” by Wale while she was a trainee. She also appeared as a featured artist for Senguri’s “GG Be” and G-Dragon’s “Black” in their respective solo albums, which she performed with the latter in Inkigayo making it her stage debut Because of her early popularity, Jennie was highly speculated to be part of the original line-up of Pink Punk before the idea was scrapped. After the release of “Square Up”, Jennie became the first member of the group to debut as a soloist. She released her debut solo single aptly titled “Solo” on November 12, 2018. The music video is the most-viewed music video by a Korean female solo artist with 600 million views on YouTube. Just recently, she launched her own YouTube channel on her 26th birthday where she intends to create vlogs about her everyday life. Her first vlog served as an introduction to her channel which included a cover of Tangled’s “When Will My Life Begin?” by Mandy Moore. The vlog has already gotten 10.9 million views two days after its release.
Lisa
Lalisa Manoban, known by her stage name Lisa, was revealed as the second member of Blackpink on June 8, 2016. Lisa is the assigned main dancer, lead rapper, and sub vocalist of the group. She is also the “maknae” of the group, meaning she is the youngest member of the group, as well as the only non-Korean member in the group. Lisa’s birth name is actually different as she was born under the name “Pranpriya” before legally changing to Lalisa. She was born in Thailand on March 27, 1997. Lisa took dance lessons at four years old and often competed in dance competitions. She was part of the Thai dance crew “We Zaa Cool'' with childhood friend and fellow K-pop idol BamBam from GOT7. She also competed in a singing competition where she represented her school, ending up as a runner-up. Inspired by her idols and eventual YG labelmates BIGBANG and 2NE1, Lisa had her eyes on the K-pop industry. She auditioned for YG Entertainment when the agency visited Thailand. Out of the 4,000 Thai applicants, she was the only one accepted to be a trainee under YG. Lisa began her 5-year trainee journey in 2011 as she is YG’s first foreign trainee. Like Jennie, she was speculated to be part of the original line-up of “Pink Punk”. Her highly impressive skills as a dancer have always led her to be assigned as the main dancer in different groups that she designs most of the choreography herself. While still training, YG released a video of 16-year-old Lisa performing “Turn Up The Music”, albeit she was nameless in the video. Lisa is the group’s most popular member as she is the most followed member on Instagram with 45.2 million followers. Her widely-shared dance performance of “Swalla” in the Blackpink In Your Area tour and the “Did It Work?” memes that surrounded her legs contributed to her worldwide popularity. In 2020, Lisa released a limited edition photobook on her birthday aptly titled “0327”, which consisted of photos she took with her film camera that included some shots of her fellow members. Outside of her Blackpink duties, Lisa is a dance mentor of the Chinese survival show “Youth With You”. She was dubbed as “Mentor Lisa” by Blinks as her strict mentoring style in the show surprised everyone since it was the opposite of her shy personality. Her fellow members have teased Lisa over her strict mentoring style.
Jisoo
Kim Ji-soo, more commonly known by her first name, was revealed as the third member of Blackpink on June 15, 2016. She is the group’s lead vocalist and “visual” member, meaning she is the most attractive member according to Korean beauty standards. She is also the eldest member of the group, making her the “eonie” of the group. Jisoo was born on January 3, 1995, in South Korea and she grew up with a close, extended family. Despite being a visual member, Jisoo was bullied as a kid about her appearance by her relatives who often called her a monkey. Being an idol was not on Jisoo’s radar growing up. She wanted to involve herself in the arts as she considered wanting to become an actress, a painter, or a writer. She developed her acting skills by joining a drama club during her time as a student. Despite not knowing about YG when she auditioned, Jisoo was accepted as a trainee and began her 5-year trainee journey. Like Jennie and Lisa, Jisoo was speculated to be part of the original line-up of Pink Punk. Before her debut, she made appearances in commercials for Samsonite, LG, and Nikon. There is always one member in a K-pop group that would likely become actors later in their careers and Jisoo is one of them. It isn’t surprising as she has openly shown her interest in becoming an actress and the members even remarked that she would win an Oscar for her “acting face” alone. Before her debut, she had a cameo appearance in an episode of the KBS show “The Producers” with labelmates Dara of 2NE1. Now a K-pop idol, Jisoo appeared in a role in tvN’s fantasy-drama “Arthdal Chronicles” where she played her first fictional character. Jisoo will be starring in an upcoming JTBC drama “Snowdrop” that is slated to premiere later this year.
Rosé
Park Chae-young, more commonly known as Rosé, is the fourth and last member to be revealed as part of Blackpink on June 22, 2016. She is the assigned main vocalist and lead dancer in the group. Rosé’s English name is Roséanne Park as she was born outside Korea and grew up living overseas. She was born on February 11, 1997, in Auckland, New Zealand. Her family moved to Melbourne, Australia when she was eight years old. While Lisa’s musical background is more on dancing, Rosé’s musical background is more on singing as she grew up singing in a choir and has played the guitar often in school. When YG went to Australia to look for potential trainees, she was advised by her father to try auditioning. After being accepted as a YG trainee, she had to drop out of school and move to Seoul within two months. Rosé said it was difficult to be separated from her family during training. Despite feeling homesick, she was determined to become a K-pop idol. Rosé had no formal experience with dancing, which caught her off-guard when she first trained. She definitely had a lot of time to hone her dancing skills that she eventually became the lead singer in the group. Before her debut, Rosé was a featured artist in G-Dragon’s song “Without You” in 2012. Given her position as the main vocalist, Blinks have been anticipating her solo debut. She has released covers of Halsey’s “Eyes Open” and Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song”, which really showcased her unique vocals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she covered a series of songs in a jam session that was live-streamed on her Instagram page. Rosé will finally make her debut as a soloist early this year and teasers are expected to pop-up as reports say that she finished filming the music video of her solo debut. Given YG’s well-recorded unreliably on their commitments, we could only hope this would finally push through. While I have described every member of Blackpink, there’s one more person that needs to be mentioned as he plays a crucial factor in Blackpink’s success.
Teddy Park
Teddy Park is a former member of YG’s boy group “1TYM” and now an in-house producer for YG Entertainment. He wrote and produced many iconic tracks for BIGBANG and 2NE1 such as Fantastic Baby and I Am The Best respectively. Teddy produced the majority of Blackpink’s discography and has received songwriting credits of Blackpink’s collaborations with Dua Lipa (Kiss and Make Up) and Lady Gaga (Sour Candy). According to the album’s production credits, he is credited as the album producer and creative director for the group.
PART 3. THE ERA
When YG announced on May 4, 2020, that Blackpink finished recording their first full album and will shoot a music video for their pre-single later that month, the news was met with cautious optimism. YG has a track record of promising things that didn’t come to fruition so this announcement was understandably taken with a grain of salt. It’s worth pointing out that the group was previously featured on “Sour Candy” by Lady Gaga as a promo single for her album “Chromatica”, which indicates that Blackpink might be coming out with their new material. Also, Interscope is capitalizing on the increasing popularity of K-pop in the West by investing Blackpink in their roster. With this, YG has to commit to its schedule. And so they did by dropping a teaser poster a month later that revealed that the pre-release single will drop on June 26. The pre-release single would later turn out to be called “How You Like That?”, which was met with huge anticipation as teaser posters and videos of the members were revealed until its release. The single became an instant success the moment it dropped as the music video’s premiere was watched by 1.66 million simultaneous viewers on YouTube, making it the highest-rated YouTube Premiere. It was also the fastest music video to hit 100 million viewers in just 32 hours before BTS’ “Dynamite” took over the title two months later, beating Blackpink with 24 hours The song itself was a hit in the charts. It debuted at #32 on Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the UK Singles Charts. Blackpink then teased the release of their second pre-release single featuring an unnamed artist on July 23 that will be released a month later. It was widely speculated that Ariana Grande is the unnamed artist that the hashtag “#AriPink” trended on Twitter. It was later revealed that Grande is actually one of the songwriters of the single and that Selena Gomez is the actual unnamed artist on August 11. The title would later be revealed as “Ice Cream” on August 22. The single’s music video, in which the scenes had to be shot separately in South Korea and Los Angeles due to the COVID-19 pandemic, gathered 79.08 million viewers in 24 hours. The single is currently Blackpink’s highest-peaking single on Billboard Hot 100, debuting at #13. Throughout the hype of Ice Cream, YG announced on July 28 that Blackpink will FINALLY release their first full album titled “The Album” on October 2. The name was met with mixed reactions, calling it “lazy”. However, Rosé said that they have worked on the album for so long that simply calling it “The Album” is the best way to describe their project because it’s so straightforward - “Blackpink: The Album”. Accompanying the album’s release on October 2 is the release of the album’s title track “Lovesick Girls”, which became the sixth biggest 24-hour music video debut at 61.4 million viewers. While the song peaked at #59 on Billboard Hot 100, the new Billboard Global 200 showed that the song debuted and peaked at #2, with the song topping the separate Global Chart that excluded the US. In-between the releases of the singles was Blackpink’s new reality TV show on YouTube called “Blackpink: 24/365”, which showcased various activities that the members participated in, such as pottery making and kart racing, as well as revealing behind the scenes footage of their music videos. The 16-episode reality series served as a way to promote the group and the album’s release. The series began on June 13 with a prologue until it aired its finale on October 24. It was supposed to have one more episode that was scheduled on October 31 before being pulled off after Chinese netizens were concerned over a clip of the episode’s teaser that showed the members touching a baby panda without gloves and masks during the pandemic. To cap off the era, a Netflix documentary film about the group was made under the title, “Blackpink: Light Up the Sky”, which documented Blackpink’s first four years as a group featuring behind the scenes videos and footage during their training days. It also showed the friendship between the members and their producer Teddy, their retrospective look on their training days, as well as their struggles of keeping up the busy lifestyle as K-pop idols. The documentary film also showed the girls recording the songs for The Album, as well as Rosé preparing for her long-anticipated solo debut. The documentary received positive reviews, which critics liked the documentary for showing the members’ work ethic and their fun personalities.
PART 4. THE TRACKS
“The Album” is a pop album that has influences of hip-hop, R&B, and EDM, all of which compose Blackpink’s musical signature since their debut. “The Album” is composed of 8 tracks (including the three singles) with a length of 24 minutes and 26 seconds. This is somehow normal for a K-pop mini-album, but too short for a full-album. In comparison, Twice’s second full-album “Eyes wide open” has 13-tracks with a length of 43 minutes and 29 seconds. As an eight-track album, it’s an equal mix of English and Korean songs as Blackpink attempts to market themselves in the West. All of these songs were recorded in The Black Label in South Korea, with some of the album’s mixing and additional input by producers made remotely due to the pandemic. Teddy serves as the album’s main producer, along with YG’s in-house songwriters and producers Danny Chung, R.Tee, 24, Løren, Vince, and Future Bounce. Frequent Blackpink songwriter Bekah Boom also worked on the lyrics of “The Album”. New songwriters and producers include Victoria Monét, Tommy Brown, Steven Franks, Ariana Grande, Ryan Tedder, Melanie Fontana, Torae Carr, Jonathan Descartes, Brian Lee, Leah Haywood, David Guetta, Tushar Apte, Rob Grimaldi, Chloe George, and Steph Jones. The featured artists in “The Album”, Selena Gomez and Cardi B, are also credited as songwriters in their respective tracks “Ice Cream” and “Bet You Wanna”. Additionally, Jennie and Jisoo received their first songwriting credits ever with “Lovesick Girls”. For this section on the post, I will give my thoughts on each track. I will also include the line distribution statistics based on random_k’s lyric distribution videos (with the exception of Love to Hate Me which I will base on HEXA6ON’s lyric distribution video of the song) and input my thoughts on the distribution as well.
1. How You Like That?
We begin “The Album” with the first pre-release single. “How You Like That?” is an appropriate opener to the album as it’s your typical Blackpink clap-back anthem. The best way to describe my mood on this song is the way AJay reacted to the song, in which she said “This is how you open the album”. Of course, many have criticized this song for being too familiar with the previous singles “DU-DDU-DDU-DU” and “Kill This Love” and I do agree that this song is definitely a rethread of these songs. However, I will disagree that this song didn’t serve anything new to the table. For me, “How You Like That?” basically re-defined Blackpink’s sound that complements the group’s pop and hip-hop tendencies that the previous singles haven’t reached before. It feels redundant to talk about Blackpink’s music videos because it always expected that their music videos would always serve BUDGET regardless of the quality of the actual song. Like, look at the budget! And they shot this music video during a pandemic!
While the line distribution is not totally equal as Jisoo is missing out on ten seconds compared to other members, I feel like the line distribution is justified. You can definitely hear each member contributing their own lines in the song. Lisa being the member with the most lines also makes sense as she basically she slayed the entire second verse
2. Ice Cream (with Selena Gomez)
When Normani released “Motivation” as a single, you can definitely tell that Ariana could’ve sang this song since she is credited as a songwriter. It has the Grande fingerprints all over it. Yet, with Normani’s strong vocals that complemented the 2000s-inspired production, she owned this song with ease. My expectations for an Ariana-penned Blackpink track are quite high based on my feelings on “Motivation” alone and Selena Gomez’s contribution as the co-artist of the song propelled that higher. And oh boy, I wish I wasn’t this excited. The most disappointing thing about Ice Cream is that it felt like Blackpink attempting to sing an Ariana reject with no sense of originality. I know it’s ironic to say this since Blackpink is basically “2NE1 Part 2” for longtime YG fans, but this song lacked that distinct Blackpink sound that made me a Blink in the first place. It’s so uninspiring and sometimes jarring to hear, even with multiple listens. Also, the sexual overtones in the lyrics are just too fucking awkward for Blackpink to sing. With their music video that had a cute concept, this is sort of uncomfortable to go through with the sexual undertones in mind. This is the same group that had them bragging how good their bodies look in “Boombayah” and they showed their “sexier side” way better in their cover of Wonder Girls’ “So Hot”. The only saving grace of this song, which was the reason why I could barely tolerate “Ice Cream”, is Lisa’s rap verse. I could imagine Jennie slaying if she had her own rap verse too. Honestly, Selena would have owned this song by herself without the autotune. But it’s nice to hear Selena in an upbeat song like this in a while.
Immediately, I can’t help but think about how Jisoo got only two English lines in the song despite having more seconds than Rosé. Half of Jisoo’s lines are just “Ice cream chillin chillin”. Ugh. I know Jisoo is not a fluent English speaker but many K-pop idols who are not English speakers can sing the language well with enough practice. Thankfully, Jisoo had more English lines in other songs, but I’ll tackle that a bit later in this post. I am honestly surprised Selena had more lines in the song than I thought because I feel like I heard more of Jennie and Rosé, which funny enough I thought Rosé had more lines. This is definitely not the worst line distribution I have seen. It’s just that Jisoo could have sung more lines.
3. Pretty Savage
Remember the distinct Blackpink signature sound that made me a Blink in the first place? Now, this is what I am talking about. This is the quintessential Blackpink sound that I have been waiting for since Kill This Love. I would’ve imagined that Pretty Savage as a pre-release single would've fared better than “How You Like That?” but somehow, I am sort of glad it didn’t. This is the song that Blinks needed to hear as antis have constantly dismissed Blackpink as “influencers with no talent” in response to their constant lengthy hiatuses. Of course, with this kind of song, it’s already expected Lisa would definitely slay this song. It's nice to hear Jennie rap again after she wasn’t given those parts in the pre-release singles. The way she rapped “F bois, not my bois' ' is just too damn iconic. However, the star of the song is Jisoo who has the second verse to herself and her talking rap flow surprisingly works here. The best part is definitely her saying “Blackpink in Your Area” after being the only member not to say the iconic catchphrase for years. And of course, Rosé’s vocals in the bridge are just as amazing. Pretty Savage is definitely one of my top favorites in “The Album”. Let’s just forget the messy choreography though.
This is definitely one of the best lyric distributions of Blackpink so far. While Lisa exceeded ten seconds, every member can be heard equally with their outstanding lines given to them.
4. Bet You Wanna (feat. Cardi B)
Coming off from the success and controversy surrounding WAP, Cardi B and Blackpink is an odd, yet exciting collaboration. I can’t imagine any of the members taking the second verse other than Cardi. It would have been nice to hear the “supposed” explicit lyrics she had to tone down for obvious reasons. If she was allowed to swear, she would’ve sung “I bet if you make me wet, I’ll still be fire”, which plays in my head now when I hear the tone-downed version lyric (“I bet if you make me sweat, I’ll still be fire”). Bet You Wanna could’ve been the next single after Lovesick Girls to capitalize on Cardi’s success from WAP. The entire production is so chill, yet so catchy which makes sense considering Ryan Tedder and Tommy Brown’s involvement. The song is completely in English so that this could’ve been a Top 10 hit with the right push. Unfortunately, the promotional cycle for “The Album” ended so I guess this is going to remain as a fan-favorite track for many Blinks and not a huge hit outside the fandom.
Not a perfect lyric distribution, but not too bad either. Each member can be heard just fine and Cardi didn’t dominate the song too much, which is fair since she is a featured artist. Lisa could’ve gotten a bit more lines, but this is also fine considering she has topped the lyric distribution in the previous songs.
5. Lovesick Girls
Considering that Blackpink’s single releases have always been upbeat clap-back anthems, the release of Lovesick Girls as a title track is quite refreshing as it aims to show the group’s more melancholy side, both in the lyrics and the production. The most striking lyric is from the chorus where the girls sang “We are all born to be alone/But why are we still looking for love?”. This isn’t the most groundbreaking lyric at all, but it does feel a bit weird hearing that from the girls. It brings me back to the documentary where Teddy said that the songs they made for “The Album” are going to show a bit of themselves a bit more as a group. Living as a K-pop idol is quite difficult as it is and we don’t know a lot about them since their image is very calculated by their agencies. It’s not to say they can’t be in a relationship because of the infamous “no dating” rule in the industry. The girls were probably asking themselves if they could really find love in an industry that is obsessed with perfection. Again, it’s not a very groundbreaking lyric but it does give me a bit of insight into the girls’ psyche a bit on their perspective of love.
Rosé taking up the top spot in this lyric distribution makes complete sense since this is the song that is best suited to her vocally. I have a feeling “Lovesick Girls” was a brief glimpse of what kind of song that Rosé will be releasing for her solo debut. Jennie taking up second place is quite surprising, especially her English rap verse didn’t take too long as well. The distribution on Lisa is fine, but Jisoo could’ve slightly sang more lines.
6. Crazy Over You
There’s isn’t much to talk about this song other than its production, which best utilized oriental instrumentals to hip-hop production. This isn’t the best song on “The Album”, but it isn’t as bad as well.
The lyric distribution could’ve been fair if Lisa was given more lines to rap. But I think this is fine since Jennie didn’t have a lot of rap lines in this album. It’s definitely nice to hear more of Jisoo in this song as she perfectly nailed the pre-chorus with her vocals.
7. Love to Hate Me
For some reason, Love to Hate Me reminded me so much of Ariana with the way the lyrics are sung by the girls, especially in the chorus and the ad-libs. This song serves as an appropriate penultimate track as the song delivers its final clap-back before “The Album” comes to a close with a softer pop ballad.
Rosé: 28.7% Lisa: 28.1% Jennie: 26.4% Jisoo: 16.8% Honestly, seeing lyric distributions like this where three of the members had equal parts except Jisoo makes me sad. She was close to having an equal lyrical distribution and this could’ve been done if she sang a bit more lines in the song.
8. You Never Know
We finally reach the end of “The Album” as it closes with a soft power-pop anthem that feels very in-character with Blackpink. This song already gained some attention when it was revealed that Teddy had no involvement in the song, making it the first Blackpink song without him. It’s worth pointing that out because Teddy has a mixed reaction as a main producer of the group. While I personally don’t mind Teddy as a producer, it’s quite refreshing that he isn’t involved so that the group can experiment with other producers. This is definitely the group at their most sincere in this album, in which they address the message of not judging people based on how they look outside. This particular message rings true to the members personally and Blinks can see why. Getting hate comments is nothing new in the K-pop industry. But Jennie seems to be the most bullied member as she was often villainized in the public eye, from her alleged “lazy dancing” scandal to the intense coverage of her short dating life with Kai from EXO. She was also unflatteringly called “YG Princess” because of accusations that the agency has favored her over other members. With this context in mind, it was so painful to hear Jennie sing “But you'll never know unless you walk in my shoes / You'll never know my tangled strings / 'Cause everybody sees what they wanna see / It's easier to judge me than to believe” because she has faced so much criticism over nothing. Other members have gone through similar scrutiny as well, but it’s not as bad as Jennie’s situation. All of the members worked so hard and sacrificed so much to be where they are now, so having this song that asks people not to judge them as a closer feels like the perfect ending statement from Blackpink.
It’s so nice that most of the members almost got the one-minute worth of lines and having Jisoo at the top feels satisfying after the limited line distribution she got with “Ice Cream. Vocal wise, this is their best song to date as they get to showcase their most emotional, sincere vocals in this track. The only problem is that Lisa should’ve gotten more lines, especially since her vocals sounded amazing that gives the song a more “heartfelt” feeling.
PART 5. THE CONCLUSION
Now that I have given my thoughts on each track of “The Album”, here are my overall thoughts on “The Album” and the era itself. In the [FRESH] Popheads discussion thread of “The Album”, a lot of users were disappointed with how short the album is. Yes, the album is unfortunately quite short given that this is their first full album in Blackpink’s fourth year as a group. Users are also disappointed with how “outdated” the songs felt. To be fair on Blackpink, K-pop tends to be a bit behind when it comes to trends. It isn’t surprising that “The Album” would have some kind of outdated production in Wester music standards. The most obvious one would be “Lovesick Girls'', which sounded like an Icona Pop song. Sonically, the entire album isn’t even revolutionary at all. “The Album'' is produced on what’s popular in the charts right now and even the biggest Blink here (not me) would know that. So with all these criticisms pointed out, why is “The Album” even considered as one of the Albums of the Year? Especially as someone who had Taylor Swift’s “folklore” as my own personal AOTY? For my case as a Blink, a huge part of the reason why I am a Blink is that not only their music makes me feel alive, but also because the group has such a charismatic personality that it’s easy to see why they have a huge Western appeal. Along with BTS, Blackpink is leading this new Hallyu wave where the West has finally taken K-pop seriously as a dominant force, not as a gimmick. With “The Album” debuting at #2 in the Billboard 200, it's the highest-charting album by a female girl group since Danity Kane in 2006. On top of that, they have sold approximately 1 million copies worldwide (estimated 319,300 copies in the US and Europe according to Pinkvilla as of October 27, 2020), which is a rare thing to achieve in the streaming era unless you’re Taylor Swift. This huge success for a K-pop girl group proves that Blackpink will always be in our area no matter what. Even with the criticisms that “The Album” had over its short-length and its outdated production, you can at least still hear the huge amount of talent, personality and hardwork of the group in this album. It’s not the content of the album that makes “The Album” an AOTY, it’s the influence that it’s going to make to its listeners and pop culture as a whole. You know what the Blinks will say, “BLACKPINK IS THE REVOLUTION”.
Simulating the NFL playoffs to price Super Bowl Futures
After a full 256 game NFL season, the playoffs have finally arrived. Unique from other major sports, the NFL playoffs do not feature a traditional bracket. Instead, the NFL is structured so that the highest seed in each conference plays the lowest remaining seed in the same conference. For example – as the #1 seed in the NFC, the Green Bay Packers will face the lowest remaining seed after this weekend. Depending how the games shake out, this could be the Los Angeles Rams, Washington or Tampa Bay. The other two remaining teams in the NFC will play each other. To accommodate for this added complexity and assess the likelihood of each team winning the Super Bowl, we turn to the Monte Carlo simulation. Monte Carlo simulations are an excellent tool to assess the likelihood of events happening when you are faced with a series of complex interactions or path dependent scenarios. To estimate the probability of each team winning the Super Bowl, I simulated the playoffs 10,000 times using my Power Rankings that I developed for betting during the NFL season. (Note: in addition to my Power Rankings, I rely on empirical data to convert the Power Rankings into a win probability. This is a topic for another day, but I would be remiss if I did not mention this.) Although I have the Chiefs as one of the favorites, I am not nearly as high on them as the betting markets. I give them a 20% chance (+397) of winning while many sportsbooks have them around +200 (which requires a 33.3% win probability to break even). I'm also low on the Buffalo Bills relative to the market, and they are arguably the hottest team in the NFL at the moment: Estimated Super Bowl Win Probabilities So what is a good bet? Well – generally I see the most value on the Saints (widely available at +800) and Ravens (widely available at +1000) who (unsurprisingly) rank #1 and #2 in my Power Rankings. If you’re in the mood for a long shot, you could do worse than the Colts (available at +5000). I’ve converted my estimated win probabilities into odds below:
Team
Odds
Kansas City Chiefs
+397
Green Bay Packers
+432
New Orleans Saints
+471
Baltimore Ravens
+694
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
+926
Buffalo Bills
+1503
Seattle Seahawks
+1827
Indianapolis Colts
+3674
Pittsburgh Steelers
+3806
Cleveland Browns
+7043
Los Angeles Rams
+8303
Tennessee Titans
+8750
Washington Football Team
+21177
Chicago Bears
+26216
How strong is this model? It’s important to note that the above percentages represent my raw predictions and don’t include any market data. While my EPA model has been strong thus far, no model is perfect, and every model can benefit from weighing the market odds. How should we bet these? SHOP. SHOP. SHOP. In futures markets, it is extremely important to get the best available line. THIS CANNOT BE OVERSTATED. Futures markets have notoriously high vig – so we must chip away at this vig by getting the best odds available. Case in point: across nine offshore sportsbooks, the average hold for Super Bowl futures is 17.4%. The synthetic hold for the best line at these nine sportsbooks: 6.9%. Add in the best available lines at the legal books in Colorado and the synthetic hold drops to 0.7%! How much should we bet? My partner and I have already wagered over $1.0 million on the NFL this season, with successful results, and I'm confident in my numbers. However, you should always respect the market and recognize that no model is perfect and the market always prices in considerations your model may fail to take into account. Longshots of this nature only comprise a small amount of our portfolio. As a result, I don't recommend betting more than 0.5% of your bankroll on any futures bet.
EXHAUSTIVE List of the Buggy, the Bad, and the Baffling (LONG)
This might seem like A LOT of preamble and fluff before getting to the main event but I think it's sadly necessary because of the state this sub and the broader conversation around this game. It's very toxic, it's very divided, it's very silly. I'm saying all this stuff to establish context and to show you, dear reader, that I am aware of myself and not pretending to objectivity. This is not a hate post. It's a post-mortem on my personal thoughts and issues with the game. You don't have to read it. Anyway. There will be spoilers. The Deets I played the game on PC with I'd say mid-tier hardware. A ryzen 3600, a GTX 970, an SSD, and a non-4k monitor. I used a controller to play the game. The good news (for me) is that I didn't have many serious bugs of the kind you'd see in crowbcat's video, for example. I can leave most of that stuff out since it's both been exhaustively covered and is the stuff most likely to be fixed as CDPR try to recover or obscure the hit their reputation has taken. I sympathize a lot with you console players who did endure some of these bugs and issues. I find the trolling of you guys embarrassing for all of us. Just because you bought a game they said would work, on hardware they said it would work on, does not mean you're somehow at fault for what you got. Other people made decisions you could not control and being disappointed about it isn't a failing. It'd be like blaming people for getting cold food because of where they sat in a restaurant. It's asinine and we should all ignore people who think and talk that way. I wanted to get this out before 1.1 drops since none of us know how much of this is likely to change and I want this here as a record of where the game was at before whatever happens next. I do this because there is already a natural movement toward revising the narrative around C77 to one of "bad bugs, bad launch, good game, good CDPR" and I think the situation is far more complex and troubling than that. When you see melodramatic demonstrations of loyalty in this subreddit, you KNOW the situation is more complex than that. It's complex because there's a lot to say about this game, it's a major moment in gaming not least of which because it's the biggest and highest profile instance in a series of overhyped AAA release disasters. Only a handful of which ever recover more than a small but ardent fanbase of players. I expect C77 is going to stay relevant and stay widely played. I expect that in a year, with the game patched to a better state, people are going to re-evaluate it and see more of what the game does well. This is a normal part of the process and people trying to rush you through it are doing you both a disservice. Later will be the time to reassess C77 and write about how much the game has improved and how much faith in CDPR that restores for you. For now, it's the time to criticize, hold feet to fires, and try to at least protest the practices that led to this mess. And since others are doing that, I'll record a list of things I think the game does poorly which are not a matter of hype or bugs. I mean, I'm not setting out to create or reflect meme fodder here. I'm not even trying to be especially snarky. The above said, I'll be pleased but not satisfied if many of my issues are addressed in 1.1 or 1.2 or whatever. I think it's a shame that C77 released this way even if they do manage to fix a lot or most of it later. Respect that because I'm not someone who's gonna be convinced that companies get a pass to treat gamers like outsourced QA. This article or essay or list or whatever is subjective. It's personal. It's about what I think. It is not about me telling YOU what to think so you're free to disagree (in good faith) or plain not read it. I don't, and I can't stress this enough, care about objectivity or telling people what to think. If this helps anyone, cool, but I'm writing it for me. I'm expressing my view on a public forum. That's all, nothing more and nothing less. If you don't like what I have to say, be respectful about it and I'll engage you in discussion if that's what you want. Some of the below will seem like nitpicks or stuff that's likely to be fixed. And that's okay. I'm not living or dying on any of the opinions expressed here and I didn't much distinguish between which issues on this list are nitpicks and which are things that really bothered me a lot. The difference is only a matter of degree and that difference is subjective. It'll depend on how YOU want to see it. What I think matters here is that even if you avoided a problem, didn't see a bug, or played such a way that certain mechanics weren't an issue for you, it doesn't mean any of these issues aren't in the game. That logic seems imply that we should all be playing a certain way or is just that classic gamer deflection of "it didn't happen to me, so where's the issue?". Not here for that shit. I accept that C77 is more like The Witcher series than anyone probably expected. Especially people who are new to CDPR's games. I have a lot of the same criticisms for that series and I'm not alone. Never was a CDPR fanboy but like many, I respected them before this. The honest truth as I see it is that C77 carries over many of the same design flaws that were present in their earlier games. CDPR have always been pretty bad at combat balance, itemization, UI/menus, etc. They sometimes fix some of this, but they often don't. There seems to be a bit of a (in design terms) conservative or traditionalist CRPG streak in their design team, is my theory. But C77 is not a CRPG any more than the Witcher games were. So I think these are mistakes. I didn't have overinflated expectations about this game and you won't hear me use the word "promise" except right now. I don't believe in the idea that marketing equates to "promises" and I don't feel personally put out when marketing claims aren't met in reality. I've been playing video games for decades and this is normal bullshit everybody hates then forgets. Marketing is out of control in general and if I have issues with this element of C77's release, it goes way beyond CDPR itself. Not that they get a pass. CDPR notoriously spent more on marketing than the game and it sure as shit shows. That all said, I am totally interested in replies that (respectfully) correct me on any of these points. I may have missed things! I also get it if you're reading this hoping to see me mention a specific thing and I didn't, feel free to sound off. There's a lot of stuff I didn't really cover because it's been covered elsewhere plenty or I didn't care about it. That doesn't mean you shouldn't care about it, either. I bet whatever you like or dislike about this game is perfectly valid for you. This is also why the "things I like" list is relatively short, because right now I care more about the stuff that "doesn't work" which isn't a result of expectations or obvious bugs. Other people can complain from those positions if they want. To me, this is what I have to say right now but I reserve the right to change my mind. Hell, I might even be talked into a more negative outlook on the game rather than more positive. Who knows. TL;DR Your Fucking Essay: COOL. Did you post to tell me that though? C'mon. Don't be surprised if you're confused about the content, then. Mostly it's just me writing an introduction of sorts, like any good essayist would. Though the below isn't formatted like an essay, it's pretty much a deconstructed essay and should be read that way if I at all know what I'm doing (Narrator: he doesn't). This is only this long because I've been jotting these down since I started playing. After 100+ hours, would you expect a weekend grocery list? The Biz: The Buggy, The Bad, The Baffling If you made it this far, buckle up. Things about to get specific. The following is broken down by broad category of gameplay. These are my subjective categories and they might be messy and overlap sometimes. Not gonna debate about this since the only purpose of these categories is this piece. If you can't get your head around that, oh well. We'll start with CRAFTING, ITEMS and GEAR because it's the stuff I think they fucked up that most affected my enjoyment of the base game mechanics:
Legendary Gear seems designed to promote save scumming. Slots are randomized and critical for item progression and keeping gear relevant as the game RNGs you junk.
Armadillo mechanics are a great example of this. The reliance on this modification and its scaling seems bizarre and unintended as it trivializes most gear. If this is intentional, it's an eccentric mechanic that seems stuck in there at the last minute as a patch on item progression issues.
The above mechanics are responsible for a lot of the complaints people had early on about feeling forced to use patchwork gear with aesthetics they didn't like for mechanical reasons. How relevant this actually is in the game is immaterial because the game leads you to believe Armor stat is relevant.
Incomplete, random, and arbitrary craftable clothing list. Same for loot tables, vendor stock, and availability of clothing/armor in general. Lots of repetitive hand-placed gear that is bizarre and useless. How many Arasaka Hazmat Suits did YOU pick up in your run?
Items show up on HUD/scan as lootable but aren't. The terrain, clipping, and physics problems cause some of this (enemy drops getting trapped in debris). Some of these are placed like lootable junk, you can see that it's a pack of cards or w/e, and it shows up on scan, but you still can't pick it up. Probably buggy, but most of this doesn't even need to be in the game in the first place...
...because who even likes "junk" systems in games? I dunno why CDPR insists on this, the Witcher games had it too. If there wasn't so much other loot, I could see the crafting argument, but the junk you do find is baffling. Staplers? It all seems like an afterthought.
Overabundance of consumables, particularly healing items, makes healing tedious and almost meaningless. You can buy and craft the best healing items very early with extremely cheap prices and recipes. Maybe unintended. Baffling anyway.
Buffing is limited to a handful of non-scaling, core stat buffs that are extremely powerful throughout the game and make things like carrying capacity redundant and meaningless. Again, you can craft most of these.
I think the above is the result of "drugs" being cut out of the game for whatever reason, as it seems clear from their marketing that this was one of their planned ways for buffs. This seemed like a good idea, one of the elements I think most people can agree works well in Bethesda's Fallout series, but it's gone. Drugstores and street dealers sell supplements and medicine.
Buffing in C77 didn't have to be as intricate and fiddly as in the Witcher games, but this implementation really makes me nostalgic for the immersion and variety of options in TW3 and the previous games.
Skill Shards do not appear consistently across the game. I am not sure what mechanic determines which gigs and NCPD stuff drop these as rewards but I never saw any until the second half of my run, when I was doing more content in the "lower" districts of NC. Maybe this is just my bad luck. Maybe not.
Armor and damage values of many items, especially quest rewards, are not leveled so it's luck of the draw based on what order you do things in. Which is arbitrary in a game this dynamic. Johnny's Gun is a great example as most people will get this late in the game and its stats will be too disappointing for most to use.
Many of the Gear mods don't work or don't work as intended. This includes most or possibly all of the "Legendary" mods with hidden stat limits on things like crit chance and crit damage. Someday, someone might work out the mechanics behind all this but right now it's mostly meaningless numbers and head-scratching UI discrepancies. More on that later.
A lot of weapons and armor (individual pieces and broader categories) are vanishingly rare, potentially because of RNG or, again, the path a given player takes through the game. I don't think this is intended in most cases.
It's so weird that there's only one LMG in the game and that it has a barrel slot that does nothing.
Backpacker mod is useful only in the early parts of the game where you may not have the Capacity buff (50% increase every time is optimal to other methods).
The mods you can craft and at what tier make no sense. Mods don't follow the tier rules of other equipment types and there's no distinction made in game. This kind of info is left to player discovery but represents weird implementation, not clever design.
No mass-crafting means CDPR expects you to just hold down that button/key over and over and for fun, there's also a progress bar. I imagine they thought it would keep players from accidentally crafting the wrong thing. There are simply better ways to do this.
Recipe requirements for upgrades and SOME crafting are nonsensical, wildly imbalanced, random, and arbitrary. Why is Johnny's gear so much more expensive than others? It's only the best gear if you get lucky with slots or force it by reloading or spending A LOT of resources on recrafting from the earlier tier that the game for some reason forces you to carry. Probably so you could recraft it as you progress in the game. The reason this is baffling is because iconic weapons don't work the same way. Why have a separate system just for Johnny's gear?
Speaking of which, why are some Iconics craftable and others not? These mechanics being inconsistent and poorly explained is the reason a lot of people accidentally disassemble iconics, thinking they can recraft at a higher tier later. The game only lets you do that for some items and either you have the recipe or it's Johnny's Gear or River's Gun (Crash). There may be other gear affected by this but I'd love to hear a reason behind why x gear works one way and y gear works another way. I can't see there being a good one.
Several crafting perks are useless or cause more problems than they are worth. Auto-dissassembing of "junk" also gets rid of valuable sellable junk (the very little that's in the game). Up-cycling materials is weirdly implemented as well, almost like we're missing a perk for the Upgrade portion. With components being available in bulk in most stores and the up-cycle costs being too expensive (people have done math on this one) and unrewarding, this perk is a waste.
Now for the MENUS, UI, and BASIC MECHANICS:
Incorrect stats in various UI windows. Eg: Weapons will report random DPS changes in UI. It's unclear how much this is being affected by perks, but you can slide over the same weapon in the crafting menu and it'll change stats. Crafting it with different numbers seems to actually change the outcome stats SOME of the time. Again, figuring this out is left to player discovery rather than explained in game. That's bad.
Many tooltips are incorrect. Some are clearly from a previous version of the game and were never rewritten or updated. The clearest example of this is in cyberware, particularly the "arm" upgrades.
A LOT of perks don't work. A lot of em. Not just the crafting ones. There are lists on this sub and elsewhere.
Numbers in the game are misleading, unresponsive to perks or mods, or flat out incorrect. Resistances, crit stats, etc are either misunderstood or just buggy/unfinished/poorly thought out. Again. Unclear.
Endless list of shards separated by tabs but with no other sorting and a Menu system that can't decide whether to remember your place or not each time you go in the menu. In my run, I had two blank tabs, several blank shards, etc by the end. I didn't read a lot of these because it was a pain in the ass to go through them.
The "hold" button mechanic and mouse-like floating cursor suck and have always sucked. For controllers. This'll be one of the things others will consider a nitpick or just flat disagree with and you know what? I'm okay with that. I hate this shit and if I'm honest, I suspect no one actually prefers it, they just tolerate it in otherwise good games.
Odd item behavior in menu like items failing to disassemble, Johnny Gear (and River's Gun for some reason) duplicating, etc. Could be a bug but I have a theory above on what they could have been going for if this is intentional.
Many perks are redundant with cyberware and this can be difficult to spot. Tooltips can be misleading because the same ability might be worded differently from menu to menu. Some handgun perks are especially good examples of this.
All of the inventory management UI is subpar. Difficult to work with, follows design principles of games like Destiny which aren't well suited here, etc. For example, why is the crafting menu a huge unsortable list of item icons in a block configuration? The game doesn't use space for encumbrance like a Resident Evil game. It uses weight. Why implement the representation this way?
Item tabs are nice to see but they feel like they were afterthoughts. The game remembers which tab you're using inconsistently and stuff like DPS has its own tab, even for armor. My own google docs are better indexed than this.
Many items don't belong to any particular tab and are only visible if you look at ALL items, which again is a mess to look at. Some items are blanks or duplicates or have no actual in-game effect with no indicators either way.
Some scannable things in environments retain the "yellow" scanning icon for no discernible reason, or are already grayed out before you look. Why is Joss Ward scannable every time I see her? This is probably a bug but I found the scanning mechanics, outside of combat situations, to be unevenly implemented and often feeling like afterthoughts.
The minimap is mostly bad. I didn't hate it as much as some but I agree with the criticisms. It's another feature that feels like an afterthought or like someone wrote the code for it 10 years ago and hasn't played a single open world game since.
Vehicles appear as full fledged side missions for no reason. They clutter up the map and in game language, are displayed as urgent objectives. The psychology behind this is intentional -- developers and UI designers use bright colors and symbols like exclamation points to draw a player's attention. Anyone can ignore this, but the intent is clear. Question then is... why?
Variety of shops, bars, etc isn't really bad, but that they are unnamed adds a sense that they are all generic points of interest. The bars especially have a lot of personality but it's easy to lose track of which one is where. If they can have names pop up over quests, they could have had names pop up over other locations. Why make it harder for players to find specific things they are looking for?
Police System is notoriously bad and undercooked. A tacked on afterthought or a buggy mess. Either way, no fun for anyone.
Why is there a blank Attribute category? And don't say DLC because the question is really, why is it there and unexplained? The DLC explanation is make believe for now, no one really knows. That I know of.
What do the three progression meters at the top of the menu even mean? It seems like it's based on what priorities you have as aggregate of all the choices you make? We're supposed to just figure it out?
Stashes are not shared except for in vehicles. This makes the few additional "quarters" V gets useless. Can't sleep in 'em either so why are they in the game? Bug?
There isn't much I can add to the issues already well established with CONTROLS and DRIVING, so it's a short list:
Pace of driving is bizarrely slow especially with how fast most vehicles accelerate.
Brakes are bad and it's difficult to stop suddenly (in most vehicles) -- which leads to accidents which leads to NPC deaths which leads to dealing with the bad cop mechanics
Bikes show stashes but not one I used actually had a stash. It's just broken.
The driving AI and road mechanics are notoriously bad.
Button remapping is limited or nonexistent (especially on controller)
No alternate layouts.
The default control layout is a mess. Everyone hates the crouch/dodge bit and in general, the functionality of the "B" or "O" button is a mess.
I have a bit less to say about COMBAT than other fields, even though it is one of the primary pillars of the gameplay. This is because I mostly liked the combat, or at least didn't think it was much worse than many other Open World games. Still, there were some things that stood out to me:
Enemy AI is notoriously bad. Get behind their cover and see.
Most combat scenarios are shooting galleries. You have almost full control over entering and exiting combat (enemies won't even chase you most of the time).
Netrunning trivializes stealth and vice versa. They seem set up to synergize well, but the combo is both seductive (it's cool, dammit) and destabilizing to the thin veneer of balance the game already has. Bad balancing in a game like this is hard to avoid, but with the perks system being broken the way it is... there's a lot to fix here. Lots of people have pointed this out but for some, this kind of thing is fun and I don't wanna take that from anyone. Tricky one.
Grenades are mostly useless (maaaybe depending on build) because of their physics. It is difficult to use them "tactically" though I feel like they represent some interesting utility. Homing grenades don't seem to work right, but other types do. It's just hard to throw them to the right place, the game seems to be pretty finnicky about the spread and I've hit enemies on the face with grenades that did no damage to them (and they didn't have resistances to em soooo). The "quick throw" with just a light press of the button seems to work better than aiming your throw in my experience. It should be... the opposite?
This next part is really hard to pin down. Questions of IMMERSION, FLOW, and PACING are even more subjective than other categories of the list.
Quests with downtime between phases are nearly all set at 12 or 24 hrs. Kerry Eurodyne's quests were the one exception where it felt like I needed to wait a reasonable amount of time between phases. In other cases, it's way too fast and discourages freeplay. It suggested to me that I should stick to questlines until completion, and sometimes this feels narratively appropriate, but I wish they stretched these out or let us approach the quest-givers ourselves like in most Open World games. Even the ones with phones usually work this way for a reason.
The phone system here is a mess in terms of pacing and flow. Fixers and story characters call on top of each other because of conditions that trigger the calls. Everyone has missed dialogue in the game because of this stuff. This can even cause a bad bug that breaks phone calls and rewards from fixers (I know how to fix this at least).
Fixer texts about missions are overwritten and all sound like they are mostly written by the same person in the same voice. It's a weird choice to even offer this very redundant information after the phone call sections, which are arguably more immersive anyway.
Fixer calls tumbling over each other in the early and mid-game add a Preston Garvey feel of being badgered by the game. No one likes this.
Texts for cars can occur basically all at once after you get your first call from a fixer. This is dependent on what order you play the game in and how early or often you branch out to new districts so YMMV.
The relic malfunctions were a bad idea and occur so frequently it feels like the game is trolling me. I half-expected to find out that Johnny was doing it to test your defenses or by accident. Nah, it's just one of those annoying "forced immersion" things that wastes your time, reminds you that eating noodles and buying clothes makes no sense when you're about to die (for in-game weeks and months, but I digress). These malfunctions are completely unnecessary outside the handful of scripted moments where they feel appropriate. The ludonarrative dissonance here is jarring and would have been easy to fix.
The game's progression is a bit messed up thanks to the Street Cred system, which might be my least favorite novel mechanic in the game. It's responsible for many of the knock-on effects described above and elsewhere. If you level up this stat fast, which you almost certainly will, it contributes to almost all the pacing issues in the game. More open gigs means more calls from fixers as you wander around. I had 20+ Street Cred by the time I left Watson and I couldn't get 3 steps down the street without calls and texts. Choosing not to do these jobs right away meant forgetting the context hours later when I returned to them. I am sure I'm not the only one who felt overwhelmed by this.
Game, in general, doesn't have enough progression to fit its massive amount of content. If you do the side stuff, you're going to hit max SC fast. You're going to run through the gear progression fast (without crafting), etc. You can choose to avoid side stuff, sure, but it's still in the game the way it is.
General debris and junk on the ground is a waste of resources outside of aesthetic clutter which is often buggy (floating in the air and shit) anyway. See: the whole junkyard area.
Characters are often missing items they are holding or using. Misty's Tarot Cards only showed up during a reading in the final scene. NPCs have guns, food, and cigarettes disappear or float in the air. Almost every time I had a Johnny Smoking bit, his cigarette would stay in the air while he zapped around. Probably a bug. Still really annoying.
The game has notoriously thin customization options for an Open World RPG (it is an RPG, part of a subgenre that used to be called "Action RPG" but now everyone thinks RPG means whatever they want it to, smh). The appearance options are limited in ways that are arbitrary and uneven. Why have two digits worth of options for ears and almost none for other categories? Why show us a plethora of interesting cybernetics but allow us to have none of it? We hardly even see a change in V based on the cyberware we CAN install. Devs also still can't seem to get hair to clip with heads in a realistic way (where the hair doesn't float off the head) yet manage to get everything else on your avatar to clip in the bad way. Never ceases to amaze me.
The NARRATIVE and story elements are the strongest part of this game, no surprise with CDPR. I don't agree with people who say the story is bad, but there are certainly issues:
Text convos present texts in the wrong order in many cases and don't always alert for every new text. They also typically come all at once even before you respond. You should have more control over this, or the game should have had a slower-paced, more realistic flow for this. Probably a bug in some cases, but in general the button controls and UI for texts don't feel great either. Try finding them in the menu.
Shards are mostly not worth reading and there are way too many. They provide shallow context for shallow in-game activities. They are cheesy, over the top, and written in the NC street vernacular that falls flat without good voice actors to sell it. I'm sure there are hidden gems, even found a few, but overall I think it's baffling.
A lot of dialogue is choppy and disjointed because characters will gormlessly repeat back info or questions that the other character just finished saying -- screams that there was lackluster quality control for this and VOs recorded lines in a vacuum with flow being arranged in the edit, and often not very well. Lots of scenes where the inflection and volume changes are inappropriate and weird. V growling one line and then the next he's yelling cheerfully. It doesn't happen all the time, but it's noticeable. Probably unavoidable in a game like this but can be improved on.
The core relationship with Johnny is inconsistent and oddly paced. You'll be friends one minute and enemies the next and the game doesn't respond well to previous choices you've made which reflect your attitude toward Johnny and his role in the story. Some of this is down to "order of play" but there are cases like the Johnny-focused missions that have to be done right before the end of the game. Your relationship with Johnny can veer wildly and inorganically from scene to scene in what is a largely linear quest chain with predictable patterns.
There are occasional broken triggers and NPC locations, for example my Judy was still in her apartment while she was texting me pics from Oregon and so on (she left the city in my run) -- probably a bug but par for course, right?
The game treats sex like a reward and personally, I'm tired of seeing that. It corresponds too much with naive and ignorant attitudes about sex in real life and caters specifically to young (and underage, ffs) players who don't have a mature perspective on sex or relationships. That the relationships in this game are so well done, only to lead to a perfunctory "final reward" sex scene adds a level of gamification to sex that I could forgive on its own if C77's whole approach to sexual content wasn't so warped, backward and forward, and poorly conceived/designed to be faux-edgy, inconsistent, and patronizing to pretty much everyone. The game treats its extreme violence more responsibly than it treats sex. It treats drinking a beer in a cutscene with more sensitivity. This subject is complex, though, and probably deserves its own lengthy post. I'll spare you guys for now.
TL;DR Your Fucking List: I did say it was exhaustive. You made it this far (or skipped here) and since before was the tea, here's the cookie: I liked a lot about C77. I have played through it only the one time, but I did play through all the lifepath intros. I went with Street Kid in the end. I think C77 has a good game lost somewhere under the poor decisions, bad bugs, and incomplete features. I think, in the end, that C77 will be a game I enjoy more as I became more aware of these flaws and their place in the game. I think that's often the case for most flawed games: you stick with it and you learn to live with the problems. C77 is like that. The people claiming it's a perfect game are just signaling brand loyalty or lying through their teeth. This doesn't at all mean that people don't or can't like the game. Of course they can! We all like flawed stuff. It's only recently that trolls have made it all about such extreme loyalty and fan tribalism that they feel like they are personally attacked when something they liked is criticized. Criticism is not an attack, it's an evaluation. All things are worthy of criticism if they're worthy of attention at all. Anyway. Here are things I liked about the game, mostly small things I thought went largely overlooked, in no certain order:
I liked the V graffiti that shows up in some districts. I wasn't sure if this was showing up more as I played or is just random or pre-placed. I liked the idea that V was getting known and chose to see it that way. Immersion is more than half what you make up in your own head, after all.
I liked that players always had a choice to drink or not drink, except in some Johnny scenes. I thought this was a nice touch for people who want to play sober Vs. Why not?
Sometimes NPCs will respond to V in a way that gives players something they always ask for in games like this: a certain amount of responsiveness to who the character is throughout. They did a good job with this in the Witcher games as well.
I thought the vast majority of the beefier missions were well-written, well-conceived, and obviously given a lot of attention and love. They obviously worked hard on these and they must have been in the game from an early state.
I loved that many of the missions were just hangouts and dialogue scenes to deepen relationships between V and other characters. Again, this is something CDPR are great at. It's all here in C77 in spite of the issues.
I liked the side chatter you could have with vendors, even though a lot of is out of place and disjointed. Asking about the good drugs a medicine vendor has only to find... supplements. Still, this is a nice little touch.
I like the variance of NPCs on the street and how many of them deliver information via their appearance, where in the city they are, etc. They can tell a story if you can get over the duplicating, weird pathing/movement routes, and bad AI. A lot of them also have funny, antagonistic shit to say when you talk to them. It does get old, but I'm glad it's there.
Like in some of the better Open World games, there are a ton of ambient conversations V can overhear and many of these are well-written and occasionally even touching -- if they don't bug out.
I'm not sure I'll like all the endings, but I really like that they are each their own ending SEQUENCE. This is better than other games that offer a static ending choice, some cutscenes, and then credits. C77 offers an hour or more of gameplay for each of 4-5 ending sequences. I only played Panam's so far.
The romantic relationships in the game are as well done as the friendships. They are well written, believable, and sidestep some of the problems in relationships like this in games by allowing you to spend some downtime, not making it too obviously easy to game the result you want, and so on. The Panam sex scene weirded me out, but I appreciate that each sex scene in the game has its own gimmicks and aren't as generic as ones you see in other games.
The FRIENDSHIPS THOUGH. I thought this game did an excellent job with giving the player a lot of side characters you could form attachments to. Even the fixers all have distinct personalities (if you ignore their texts) and different attitudes toward V. The ones that come into play in the endgame are also a nice surprise. I didn't get any calls from them during the credits, but I wish I had because characters like Regina, Padre, Okada, and Dakota all made an impact on me.
The Nomads earned my preference for their ending. It was not an arbitrary or "gamed" choice. I thought that the Rogue path made more sense for my V in some ways, but I couldn't forget the Nomads and particularly Panam (even if I hadn't romanced her, I think she'd be hard to turn your back on). So I went with them and I'm glad I did, it was a satisfying ending (and I hear the best one). I'm probably gonna save all the other endings for other playthroughs or future experiments because I thought this ending made my V feel complete for now.
Cyberpunk is my favorite genre of fiction for a lot of reasons. I grew up reading William Gibson and I was an early adopter of new technology. I stayed a technological optimist for most of my 20s and have become more pessimistic and cynical since. I have watched Cyberpunk become more or less real, killing the genre for years before our current "ironic cyberpunk" phase. Outside of the themes and philosophical shit, I love the aesthtic of classic 80s Cyberpunk which C77 delivers in spades. The single greatest achievement in this game is its aesthetics. From the city design to the clothes and weapon skins, a lot of love went into at least how things LOOK. That's not the only thing that matters, but it's not nothing.
PHEW. THAT WAS A LOT. If you read all that, thanks. Even if you hated every second of it, you're still my hero. I feel seen. The tears and the hate that'll no doubt come streaming down atop me if this post gets attention will be worth it if even one person read all this and was like "yeah, I get some of that". See ya, Night City.
Eminem was born in 1972. Rakim-1968, LL Cool J-1968, JayZ- 1969, Ice Cube-1969, 2Pac- 1971, Big Pun-1971, Snoop Dogg-1971, Nas-1973, and five months after Notorious B.I.G. So these are his contemporaries but he had the luxury of being able to study rather than compete. Now folktales will lead you to believe that he was just being slept on because he was white. But when you look at Beastie Boys, Vanilla Ice, 3rd Bass, etc. such disparities are not present. And that is quite irregular for someone who we are led to believe to be the greatest of all time. That would be like Magic Johnson being drafted to the NBA in 1979 and Larry Bird not being drafted until 1986 even though they competed against each other in college. How is it that no one from his age group was aware of him when during that era, one of the quickest, easiest and best ways to get on is attack folks directly? Now I’m not hating on Eminem because he’s white either. There’s a lot of white artists whom I enjoy to varying degrees: Paul Wall, Mac Miller, Your Old Droog, Derek Pope, Machine Gun Kelly, Evidence, El-P of Run The Jewels, etc. What I am saying is that the aesthetic which his lyricism was packaged in is what has ahd folksputting all kinds of extras on him. Reminds me of when folks where caping for Jeremy Lin “Linsanity”. Like yeah he was doing his thing, but it was WHO was doing it that had folks putting extras on it. Stuff like his BET Cypher Donald Trump freestyle was cool as well as his song “White America”, but as the number one rapper in the world who happens to be white? This is what I consider low hanging fruit of liberals who try to simplify and reduce racism as isolated boogeymen that once exorcised, everything will be all good. But when has Eminem used his music and his platform to really speak to systemic racism white supremacy on a micro and macro level and be a champion of black empowerment while profiting off black culture? February 2003 The Source Magazine published “The Unbearable Whiteness of Emceeing: What the Eminence of Eminem Says About Race” which I found to be very insightful. Eminem’s first project was in 1995 as a duo with Proof (rip). Same year as Only Built For Cuban Linx by Raekwon, The Infamous by Mobb Deep, Me Against The World by 2Pac, Soul Food by Goodie Mob, among others. Some of the most highly regarded albums and MCs ever and yet no one was checking for “the goat” Eminem? Now in 1996 that is when Eminem put out his official solo project with Infinite. Same year as All Eyez On Me and Makaveli from 2Pac, Reasonable Doubt by JayZ, It Was Written from Nas, The Score by Fugees, ATLiens from OutKast, etc. Who was checking for Eminem?? We’re going to just skip all the fire that came out 1997–98 such as DMX, Redman, Big Pun, Juvenile, Method Man. But do your Googles and see what songs from those years you’d rather hear than anything Eminem put out from 1995–1999. It is not until 1999 that we get the much heralded Slim Shady LP. This is after the “East Coast/West Coast” feud when everyone was going at whomever, whenever. Plenty of space and opportunity for Eminem to assert himself whether attacking someone or defending someone. I’m not saying that he might not have been able to hold his own. But the way people used to go at each other back then, they definitely would’ve been on his ass. You either had to rhyme and/or throw hands. However, after the dust cleared, he comes out during the peace and prosperity of the “shiny suit era”. But you tell me what songs from Slim Shady LP resonate with the culture and have had the lasting appeal as: Dr. Dre’s Chronic 2001, Pharoahe Monch’s Simon Says, Missy Elliot’s Da Real World, and JayZ’s Vol. 3? Better yet, this is the same year that B.G. put out “Bling, Bling” and Ja Rule’s “Holla Holla”. And the icing on the cake — Mobb Deep released “Quiet Storm”. Nuff said! The year 2000 brought us The Marshall Mathers LP. Great album indeed. But ask yourself, what song has been in rotation in the last 20 years with the likes of: OutKast’s “So Fresh & So Clean”, Ghostface Killah’s “Cherchez La Ghost”, M.O.P.’s “Ante Up”, Prodigy’s “Keep It Thoro”, or even Three 6 Mafia’s “Sippin On Some Sizzurp”? And I just heard Ludacris’ “What’s Yo Fantasy” last week. And you can’t forget this is the year Nelly debuted. I’ll add Big Tymers’ “Everybody Get Your Roll On” to that list too. 2001 is when JayZ released The Blueprint. Eminem’s verse on “Renegade” is one of those watershed moments along with Nas saying on “Ether” how JayZ got bodied by him that really began to crystalize public opinion, but it is the same record which the same is said of rapper Beanie Sigel. And that is just as debatable. Eminem released his group D12 in 2001 with Devil’s Night. It debuted #1 and went 2x platinum, the same year as Put Yo Hood Up by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz, but despite the disparity in sales, you tell me which album has the most songs that have rang off the most in the hood (no pun intended)? 2001 also brought us Pain Is Love from Ja Rule, Stillmatic from Nas, and Word of Mouf by Ludacris The Eminem Show dropped in 2002. Another fine project. Was it as innovative as N.E.R.D’s In Search Of…?But are there any songs that had the staying power in the hip hop community like State Property’s “Roc The Mic” (which features Beanie Sigel), or “Say I Yi Yi” from Ying Yang Twins? And this was the same year as ’03 Bonnie & Clyde with JayZ & Beyonce and Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz sparking the dawn of the crunk era with Kings of Crunk. Also, we can’t leave out Nelly’s Nellyville and Nas’ God’s Son. So not only did Eminem not have the definitive sound of the year but he also did not have either of the two songs which defined 2002. I submit to you: Clipse “Grindin’” and Missy Elliott “Work It”. But Eminem is the goat?? Now let’s juxtapose what we’ve learned so far with 50 Cent who put out the mixtapes Guess Who’s Back and 50 Cent Is The Future also in 2002. Keep in mind 50 Cent, born in 1975, was discovered by Jam Master Jay (rip) in 1996, had a deal with Columbia Records in 1999, and released his first mixtape Power Of The Dollar in 2000 with the song How To Rob. So in 2000, 50 Cent was already buzzing on the street way more than Eminem was before he came out. And Eminem was two albums in. 2002 is when Eminem not discovered by rather “Columbused” 50 Cent after he lost his deal in 2001 due to infamously being shot nine times. Eminem re-introduces him on the mixtape drop No Mercy, No Fear and simultaneously 8 Mile soundtrack in 2002 with the song “Wanksta”. “Wanksta” produced more anticipation for his debut Get Rich Or Die Trying in 2003 than Eminem did leading up to his. But Eminem is supposed to be the goat? And he’s often ranked over 50 Cent. Eminem is from Michigan. The hip hop scene from 1995–1999 was pretty localized unlike today where you can be whoever from wherever and find an audience on social media and SoundCloud. How is it that one of “the goats” managed to not have any buzz in the Midwest prior to his debut? Common and Twista were three albums in, and although they have had moderately successful careers, they haven’t reached any of the sales as Eminem. 1994 Common dropped the seminal classic “I Used To Love H.E.R.” And by his 3rd album he had features from Lauryn Hill, Black Thought, Cee-Lo, De La Soul, Q-Tip, and Eminem’s former arch-rival Canibus. And yet we are led to believe that nobody was checking for an eventual goat until 1999? People talk about his mythical rap battles. But who did he beat?? Eminem lost in 1997 at the Rap Olympics to a rapper named Otherwize and at the ’97 Scribble Jam to MC J.U.I.C.E. So not only are the only known records of his battle rap days are L’s but they are against virtual nobodies (no disrespect). You’ve heard stories about the back in the day with the Juice Crew/Boogie Down Productions ‘Bridge Wars’, JayZ vs. Busta Rhymes in the cafeteria, etc. And we are supposed to believe that a goat like Eminem NEVER crossed paths with anyone notable until he really, really got on? Hip hop has often paralleled the NBA and when have you ever heard of a goat that nobody hooped with in the park, high school, or even seen on the block? So aside from 50 Cent and eventually G-Unit in 2003, there were other people who dropped indelible hits: Freeway, Fabolous, T.I., Youngbloodz, DMX, JayZ, Ludacris, OuKast. But how is it that 50 Cent with the same Dr. Dre/Interscope engine can make better records than Eminem and his group G-Unit is vastly superior to Eminem’s D-12? So Eminem is a goat but has one of the WEAKEST crews in terms of skills and relevance to the culture: 50 Cent and G-Unit, JayZ’s State Property/Roc-La-Familia, 2Pac’s Outlawz, Outkast’s Dungeon Family, Nas’ Bravehearts, Cam’ron’s The Diplomats, Master P.’s No Limit, Birdman’s Big Tymers/Hot Boys, Ludacris’ DTP, you can just go on and on. You’re a goat but ain’t produce not one hit record except for “Purple Pills” and that ain’t even a banger?! Not one person from Eminem’s crew has had a hit record either. Yet when you look at all of the aforementioned, you can name one if not several from each who had respectable outings. Obie Trice wasn’t a superstar. Furthermore, when checking out Slaughterhouse, Royce da 5'9", Joe Budden, etc. were already doing their thing. And he was unable to take their careers to the next level despite his star power. Because as a implied from the beginning, his elevation is completely overstated. Rappers such as those in Slaughterhouse and Griselda gang are of a similar skill set and rhyme style but don’t get nearly the mainstream attention that Eminem has received. Then 2004 rolls in and Eminem releases Encore. Now aside from the solo debuts from Young Buck and Lloyd Banks from G-Unit, this was the same year that Kanye West released The College Dropout. Nuff said! In 2004, Eminem released another D12 group project with D12 World. Another 2x platinum album, which peaked #1. It even had higher first-week sales than Kanye if that makes any sense. However, what songs from that album can you name have been more popular than The Diplomats’ Diplomatic Immunity 2 and Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz’ Crunk Juice? 2005 is Eminem’s greatest hits album Curtain Call. Explain to me how it is 7x platinum yet Kanye West’s Late Registration is only 3x platinum. By this time Eminem was only 4 albums in. Are we supposed to believe that from 1999–2005 he had 4 projects better than 4 JayZ projects during that time? Kanye West pretty much OWNED hip hop until Eminem returned in 2009 with Relapse. That 5 year run was way more impactful than any Eminem stretch from music releases to production to fashion. Also during this time you have the introduction of rappers like The Game (another G-Unit soldier), Rick Ross, Jeezy, and Gucci Mane. T.I. was becoming a staple. Lil Wayne was cementing his legacy. Lupe Fiasco, another rapper, highly touted for his lyricism, was doing his thing. 2009 was also the year “Swag Surfin’” came out. Nuff said! Eminem puts out Recovery in 2010. Same year as Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Drake’s Thank Me Later. Both albums which have had way more staying power than Eminem. “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled came out that year too. 2010 also saw the rise of Waka Flocka Flame with “O Let’s Do It” and “Hard In The Paint”. Eminem has yet to create such anthems for the culture but is supposed to be a goat?? So in 2011, Eminem drops the album Hell: The Sequel with Royce Da 5'9" as the duo Bad Meets Evil. Now the single “Lighters” from that album along with “I Need A Doctor” a song he did with Dr. Dre and Skylar Grey, both peaked at #4 on Billboard. “I Need A Doctor” is Dr. Dre’s second highest peaking song on the chart ever. Now who do you know that if you asked them to name their top 5 favorite Dr. Dre songs and that song is on their list? When was the last time your heard Lighters? These songs peaked higher than But 2011 is the year Tyler The Creator and Big Sean dropped their debut studio albums. Section 80 by Kendrick Lamar also came out in 2011. But one duo was the pulse of 2011, JayZ and Kanye West with Watch The Throne. 2012 is the year Kendrick Lamar officially arrived with Good Kid, M.A.A.D City. There really isn’t anything more that needs to be said after that. But you also have Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded from Nicki Minaj and 2 Chainz debuting as a solo act. Eminem didn’t come back on the scene until 2013 with Marshall Mathers LP 2. It had higher first-week sales than Nothing Was The Same by Drake, Magna Carta Holy Grail by JayZ, Yeezus from Kanye West, AND Born Sinner from J. Cole. How Sway?! It makes about as much sense as Macklemore winning Best Rap Album and Best New Artist and being nominated for Album of the Year in 2012 with The Heist. “Thrift Shop” was the equivalent of My Name Is… or The Real Slim Shady, a cool little bop but not hardly a hip hop classic in the least. 2013–2017 was Eminem’s longest hiatus not returning until the end of the year with Revival. And yet he was being nominated and oftentimes winning awards and accolades from the dominant society while his contemporaries were putting out quality product. Revival was the first album that you could argue was panned by critics although it still went gold and debuted at #1 on Billboard. DAMN from Kendrick Lamar and JayZ’s 4:44 were the talk of 2017. 2018 brings us to Eminem’s Kamikaze. Another album which debuted #1 and went platinum. It had more first-week sales than Invasion Of Privacy by Cardi B., KOD from J. Cole, and Culture II from Migos, but who has had more of an impact on the culture? In 2018 were more people talking about Eminem or Pusha T with Daytona? Eminem was like a rap Weird Al Yankovic when he came on the scene who used crazy videos and shocking antics to propel his career. After the initial press run of his projects, real hip hop heads drop off really quickly and move on to that real shit. Jimmy Iovine and Interscope Records knew that with his talent, the street cred and music production of Dr. Dre, a great package could be sold to the masses. That otherwise would just be another “spherical-lyrical-miracle rappity rap” rapper. Where are the Eminem fans who champion other backpack, lyricist lounge rappers in the same regard? The film 8 Mile has been romanticized into people thinking it was an autobiography. However, it was presented as “based on a true story” or as to say fictionalized for dramatic effect. One of the main purposes for doing so is that it allows Hollywood to embellish events and have “creative license”. Consequently, then people put all kinds of extras on Eminem’s rap battle career like he’s Rocky Balboa. Eminem is supposed to be goat but when you look at his career he never went up against anyone except for women and pop stars. People put all these extras on Eminem but who has he defeated to be warrant such fear? No one has been afraid of anyone ever in the history of rap but all of a sudden Eminem is above reproach? Nelly wasn’t afraid to respond to KRS-One. Common and Ice Cube went at it and Common had no problem going at Drake either. But Eminem’s resume of targets are: NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Insane Clown Posse, Britney Spears, Moby, Christina Aguilera, and Michael Jackson. Jermaine Dupri isn’t a rapper. Benzino respected in the hood but not top-tier. Is he even top 5 out of Boston? Are we giving him the crown because he went at Fred Durst of rap/rock group Limp Bizkit? Machine Gun Kelly is not a top-tier rapper either and he BARELY won. I would argue that he had the better bars but MGK had the better song, beat, and rollout. Even in the beef with Ja Rule, 50 Cent did most of the heavy lifting and dropped the finishing blow. Eminem stayed away from damn near all of 50 Cent’s beefs with real heavyweights like Lil Wayne and The Lox yet 50 is always putting on the cape for Eminem at slightest sign of trouble. Much respect to Lord Jamar but some would say that he Grand Puba was the best rapper in his group not him? However, on one of their top hits “Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down”, Grand Puba isn’t on it. Name one D-12 hit without Eminem. Notwithstanding the fact that Brand Nubian and Dead Prez are much more highly regarded in the pantheon of hip hop than D-12 has ever been. Canibus was probably the only lyrical challenge but he proved to be a choke artist and already took a L from LL Cool J. People are taking his side during the Nick Cannon beef but the facts are this began with Eminem again going after a popstar in Mariah Carey. Nick is supposed to defend the honor of his (ex)wife and the mother of his children. And the criticism he’s received is that he’s getting help from the Wild N’ Out cast?! Well Bizarre jumped out the window with lackluster diss records for Joe Budden and MGK. But even Uncle Luke from 2 Live Crew didn’t backdown from Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg with Cowards In Compton. Uncle Luke and Kid n’ Play even had beef at one point. 2Pac and De La Soul had issues back in the day as well. Eazy-E (who didn’t write his own rhymes), got help on “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s”. 2Pac had “Hit Em Up”, Ice Cube had “No Vaseline”, JayZ’s “Takeover”, Nas’ “Ether”, how is it that Eminem hasn’t made a classic diss record? Not even a legendary diss verse or battle along the lines of Lil Flip vs. T.I. or T.I. and Ludacris? Gucci Mane dissed Eminem on a song with Mariah Carey entitled “Obsessed” and he threw shade at him in a radio interview, but Eminem has never addressed it. The goat wouldn’t and shouldn’t be taking any direspect from anyone especially your reputation is that you’re not the one to be messed with on the mic. Prodigy (RIP) has battled more top-tier rappers and held his own than Eminem. Eminem came at Tyler The Creator for criticizing his music. And while I would contend that Tyler isn’t a better MC than Em, is there any question that the style and innovation of Tyler and Odd Future has superceded that of Em of D-12? Who did you know that wore Eminem’s brand, Shady Ltd./Shady Wear and what did they look like? And how does it stack up to other rapper clothing lines like Wu Wear, Apple Bottoms, State Property, or even Tyler’s Golf Wang? How is it that Eminem is the goat but he’s the least sampled, least referenced goat? Not a beat, hook, or anything that’s been flipped or remixed? And he has the least amount of notable features. Now the “stans” will say it’s because they don’t want to be outshined but why hasn’t that stopped people from working with other greats? So not only does Eminem have a classic diss record but he doesn’t have a classic street anthem, party record, song for the ladies, conscious rap, dance move, or any other prominent category. Of the goats, Eminem has the least noticeable impact in look, style, flow, voice, or slang. The people who have apparently patterned themselves after him are folks like G-Eazy, Hopsin, Joyner Lucas, Merkules, Yelawolf, and Logic. And I rest my case. If Eminem were black he would be Hopsin at worst and Redman or Busta Rhymes at best (much respect to them). Let him and Royce da 5'9" switch places. Eminem takes liberty to reiterate this on the song “Fall”, but aside from being from Detroit, how has Eminem inspired Big Sean and Royce? That’s like saying JayZ, Mos Def, Big Daddy Kane, Sean Price and Fabolous gave us Tekashi69 because they’re all from Brooklyn. Em is the biggest rap artist from the entire state of Michigan. However, what Eminem song would you recommend someone hear to get that feel? Hip hop has always been very sonically regional in its essence. What Eminem song puts on for the city that makes you see and feel Detroit? There’s no Detroit references, slang, visuals, bridging of musical history (Motown, techno, etc.) Not even a “What Up Doe?!”. How did he avoid to not do any work with Slum Village or the legendary J. Dilla (RIP)?? There’s often been comparisons between Eminem and Elvis Presley. But I liken Em to martial arts star Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris is one of the most successful martial arts stars ever but he is not a creator, innovator, nor master of any martial arts style. Yet he is quite larger than many of the originators. Like Norris, Eminem is quite proficient in various styles but he’s a master of none. And then created his own style (Chun Kuk Do), and put himself at the top. Eminem never shies away from crediting O.G.’s Kool G Rap, Naughty By Nature, Poor Righteous Teachers, etc. However, I think Em has a bit of a white savior complex of asserting his authority and dictating what is/is not real hip hop leaving black folks as just receptacles. Then getting upset when we reject it. Moreover, like Norris and his “Norris facts” or the “sniper skills”, Eminem has been mythologized and mysticized as a “Rap God”. No, I don’t think Eminem is a culture vulture or guilty of cultural appropriation . I think he could be a better cultural steward. Good stewardship being defined as “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care”. I would consider people like Stretch Armstrong, DJ Muggs, Alchemist, and Steve Rifkind such exemplary custodians of the culture. Ask yourself what exactly are Eminem’s top 5 songs? When and how often have you listened to them after they initial release? After the media machine of Viacom took it out of rotation on MTV’s networks and shows like TRL and subsequently, BET. And when do you put them in rotation at the club, barbershop, with your lady, hanging with the fellas, etc.? Then compare those top 5 songs to the top 5 of his contemporaries. Name your top 5 Eminem songs and see if it was the #1 rap song that year in the hip hop community. One of the main talking points regarding Eminem being “the goat” is in regards to his record sales. This is rather moot when you after you consider the consumption of the dominant society, record sales, have never been solely indicative of the measure in which hip hop determines greatness as an MC. If that were the case, then rappers like Nelly, MC Hammer, Flo-Rida, Chingy, and Lil Nas X, should be on people’s top 10 list. Likewise could be said of awards. Otherwise, who’s saying Young MC Coolio is top tier? DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (Will Smith) won the first rap Grammy in 1989 but I would hardly consider that to be the best album of ’89 nor are they top 10 in duos/groups of all-time. Institutions primarily in the dominant society choose who to praise, credentialize, and reward including the categories of merit. Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, Nas, and Busta Rhymes are just a few who have NEVER been nominated for a Grammy. Just focusing on rap/hip hop categories, let’s break this down even further: In 1999, Eminem won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Hip Hop over Beastie Boys, Busta Rhymes, Puff Daddy, and Will Smith. (See #5)I’m confused about the nominees as well as him winning. Interesting in 1999, Eminem also won an MTV Music Award for Best New Artist “My Name Is…” but he was not nominated in neither the Best Rap Video nor Best Hip Hop video categories. Now in 2000, Eminem began winning awards regarding his video starting with two Billboard awards. Again, the outlandish videos were one of the things that has kept him in the minds of the public. Blockbuster (yeah that Blockbuster Video) decided to create their own awards from 1995–2001 and gave Eminem the award for Favorite Rap Artist in 2001. Go figure?! In 2001, the MTV Europe Music Awards, Eminem won Best Hip Hop. D12 was nominated as well along with Missy Elliott, Outkast, and P. Diddy. D12?! You have to be kidding me! So not only throw in a June 2001 release into the mix with projects from the previous year, but they want you to believe that this was the best hip hop of 2000–01. (See #7)Eve with Scorpion was a better album than D12. A German association of record companies puts on a ceremony of their own called the Echo Awards. Check out the link and see how preposterous the nominations were. I’m not going to go through ever single one but it was pretty much a foregone conclusion they would give him the award every year. Notwithstanding the fact that in 2001, Eminem won over Nelly’s Country Grammar. Now of course, Eminem is a better MC but if you’re talking about which album had the most hit records in the hip hop community, I’m going to have to say Nelly. Are we really saying in 2002, D12 Devil’s Night was a better album than Outkast Stankonia?! 2003 they gave it to The Eminem Show over Nellyville. Again check this discography and you tell me which has gotten more play over the years. 2005, the Echo Awards nominated D12 and Eminem AGAIN, for D12 World and Encore, respectively. And to add insult to injury, the Beastie Boys were nominated for To The 5 Boroughs. But not College Dropout?! The Echo Awards nominated Eminem for Curtain Call: The Hits in 2006 and 2007 (winning in 2007). So A F#KIN GREATEST HITS ALBUM that was released in 2005 was nominated TWICE and won Best Hip Hop over albums released the previous eligible year like T.I.’s King, Rick Ross’s Port Of Miami, and Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, but EVERYONE knows the best rap album of 2005 was Late Registration. Even Common’s Be was a smash! You’re awarding a greatest hits album over original content?! The only thing Eminem put out in 2006 was Eminem Presents: The Re-Up kanyeshrug After 2008, when Eminem stopped putting out records, they just disbanded the category altogether for the most part staying local except for 2011 when they awarded him AGAIN for Recovery. That is until 2014 awarding him yet again for MMLP2 over JayZ’s MC-HG. They also nominated Macklemore for The Heist, which was released in 2012, but skipped over Kanye and Cole which came out the actual review year (see #18). And after 2014, the Echo Awards were just like fuck it and stuck to only local German acts. This is a blueprint tho of how whenveer Eminem puts outs an album, he wins. And when he doesn’t the industry is just like meh whatever when it comes to rap/hip hop. (The coupe times 5o Cent don’t count because he’s under the Shady umbrella). So staying in 2001, we get the Grammy Awards. Reflect and tell me what has stood the test of time: Best Rap Album The Marshall Mathers LP — Eminem …And Then There Was X — DMX Dr. Dre — 2001 — Dr. Dre Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter — Jay-Z Country Grammar — Nelly Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group “Forgot About Dre” — Dr. Dre featuring Eminem “Alive” — Beastie Boys “Oooh.” — De La Soul featuring Redman “The Next Episode” — Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg “Big Pimpin’” — Jay-Z featuring UGK Best Rap Solo Performance “The Real Slim Shady” — Eminem “The Light” — Common “Party Up (Up in Here)” — DMX “Shake Ya Ass” — Mystikal “Country Grammar” — Nelly 2001 the Japan Radio Popular Disc Awards named Best Male Vocalist. So vocalist we’re talking rapping, singing, or any musicality with the mouth and Eminem’s who’s voice and cadence has been the subject of ridicule for many years, is the winner?! Now Eminem winning the Juno Award for Best Selling Album in 2001 and 2003 does make sense. Again, Eminem being able to sell records, being internationally popular, or being a great rapper has never been in dispute. My argument is against Eminem being the goat. This is why without question he’s won several World Music Awards for Worlds Best Selling Rap/Hip Hop Artist. The Billboard Awards has an inconsistent history of including and excluding rap categories at their whim. In 2002, they decided to combine Rap and R&B Album Of The Year into one category: The Eminem Show Ashanti, Ashanti Nellyville, Nelly Word of Mouf, Ludacris But what’s interesting is that year Eminem WAS NOT nominated for neither Rap Artist Of The Year nor R&B/Hip Hop Songs Artist Of The Year. Nelly was nominated for both and won the former. He also beat Eminem for Artist Of The Year and Male Artist Of The Year. Similar to the ECHO Awards, the MOBO (Music Of Black Origin) Awards in the United Kingdom inconsistenly gave an award for Best Hip Hop Act. Primarily awarded to British acts, Eminem won in 2000. But in 2010 he won Best International Artist and there hip hop was relegated to only within the U.K. The MTV Europe Awards kept up the fuckery in 2003–04 awarding Eminem Best Hip Hop Act over 50 Cent, Missy, JayZ, and Nelly. That’s cool I suppose. But explain in 2004 Best Hip-Hop Act. In a category that includes Kanye, Nelly, and JayZ, they nominate Beastie Boys and awarded D12. AGAIN we are talking BEASTIE BOYS BEING NOMINATED AND D12 WINNING BEST HIP HOP IN 2004. How Sway?! The 2005–06 American Music Awards were another contrived example of people not from the culture credentializing who’s the best. Will Smith (The Fresh Prince) won Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist in a category with 50 Cent. Neither of whom would say they do neither pop nor rock music. However, 50 Cent was also nominated for Favorite Rap/Hip Hop Male Artist along with Ludacris, both losing out to Eminem. I would contend that Eminem makes rap for more of a pop audience than 50. Eminem also won for Favorite Rap Album for Encore over 50 Cent’s The Massacre and T.I.’s Urban Legend. What’s interesting is that they skipped over the 2004 release of College Dropout for the 2005 outing of 50 Cent. In 2006 for Favorite Rap Album the nominees were: The Black Eyed Peas, T.I. for King, and Eminem for Curtain Call. The Black Eyed Peas won rap album in 2005 (including favorite pop album) and 2006. They also won Favorite Rap Group over Dem Franchize Boyz and Three 6 Mafia. Name one Black Eyed Peas song that has impacted the culture like Lean Wit’ It? Not only NOBODY from the culture checking for The Black Eyed Peas like that but they nominated a damn greatest hits album over original work just like the Echo Awards did. Eminem also won Favorite Rap/Hip Hop Artist over Kanye and T.I. 2005 also saw Eminem win Teen Choice Awards for Best Rap Artist and Best Rap Song for Mockingbird. What 15 year olds in 2005 were bumpin this that you know?! 2008 VIBE Magazine again helped crystalize public opinion by creating an online bracket-style tournament naming him the Best Rapper Alive. This is how you manufacture public consent 2010 won an American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip Hop Artist and Album over B.o.B. and Drake. Neither Kanye nor Nicki Minaj were nominated. At the Grammy Awards, explain this. Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group: “Crack A Bottle” — Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent “Too Many Rappers” — Beastie Boys & Nas “Money Goes, Honey Stay” — Fabolous & Jay-Z “Make Her Say” — Kid Cudi, Kanye West & Common “Amazing” — Kanye West & Young Jeezy When was the last time you heard or even would want to listen to Crack A Bottle over Make Her Say or Amazing?! Then look at Best Rap Album: Relapse — Eminem Universal Mind Control — Common R.O.O.T.S. — Flo Rida The Ecstatic — Mos Def The Renaissance — Q-Tip First off, Flo-Rida is hot garbage! Second, Q-Tip and Common’s albums were released in 2008. So if you’re reaching back to ’08, then you have to include Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreak, T.I.’s Paper Trail, and Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III. I’d put Shawty Lo’s Units In The City and Soulja Boy’s iSouljaBoyTellEm up there. Dey Know and Turn My Swag On had a bigger impact on the culture than anything off of Relaps. And ’09 you’re neglected JayZ’s The Blueprint 3. 2010 also saw Eminem win a MTV Europe Music Award for Best Hip Hop Act over Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, T.I., and Kanye West. And at the Teen Choice Awards, Eminem won Best Rap Artist, Rap Album, and Rap Song for “Love The Way You Lie”. I don’t know what teenagers they were polling but I can take a guess. The Soul Train Awards wanted you to believe that “Love The Way You Lie” was the Best Rap Song of 2010 as well. And at the People’s Choice Awards, Eminem won Favorite Hip Hop Artist over Flo Rida, JayZ, Lil Wayne, and T.I. But again as we reflect back, tell me who and what sound was running hip hop 2008–2010. So the 2011 Billboard Awards roll around and Eminem wins Top Rap Artist over Drake, Lil Wayne, Ludacris, and Nicki Minaj. Hmm, I guess. Then he gets Top Rap Album for Recovery over: Thank Me Later — Drake Pink Friday — Nicki Minaj I Am Not a Human Being — Lil Wayne My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy — Kanye West Help me make sense of it! Then again at the MTV Europe Awards, Eminem won Best Hip Hop. And once more they conflated 2010 releases with 2011. So the nominees included Snoop Dogg and Pitbull who dropped in 2010 and Lil Wayne and JayZ/Kanye West from 2011. This is JayZ/Kanye West as Watch The Throne. But we’re to believe that Eminem’s Recovery was running the rap world more than Watch The Throne. And at the 2011 People’s Choice Awards, Eminem was given the award over Drake, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, and Ludacris. Eminem beat Drake who put out Thank Me Later and Take Care, back to back?! Same year at the Teen Choice Awards, he beat out Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and Pitbull. 2012 People’s Choice gave it to him again over B.o.B., Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, and Pitbull. MTV Europe Awards back with the bullshit in 2013 giving Eminem the Best Hip Hop Award over Jay-Z, Drake, Kanye West, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Even though Macklemore is wack AF, still gotta concede that “Thrift Shop” was a bigger record than Eminem’s 2012–13 output. 2014 at the American Music Awards, Eminem was nominated with Drake but didn’t win. Iggy Azalea incomprehensibly won! 2014 Billboard Awards was a complete sham. Eminem won Top Rap Artist and Top Rap Album over Drake, Pitbull, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and Jay-Z. The nominees fot Top Rap Song was even more outrageous. “Can’t Hold Us” — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Ray Dalton beat out: “The Monster” — Eminem ft. Rihanna “Holy Grail” — Jay-Z ft. Justin Timberlake “Thrift Shop” — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Wanz “Timber” — Pitbull ft. Kesha “Started From The Bottom” by Drake didn’t even make the cut. At the 2015 Grammy’s, Eminem won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “The Monster” over ILoveMakonnen’s “Tuesday”. Doesn’t make sense. And although it wasn’t nominated, this is the same year as Chris Brown “Loyal”. And Best Rap Album was in complete shambles from the artists chosen to the consistency of the releases: The Marshall Mathers LP 2 — Eminem The New Classic — Iggy Azalea Because the Internet — Childish Gambino Nobody’s Smiling — Common Oxymoron — ScHoolboy Q Blacc Hollywood — Wiz Khalifa 2017 MTV Europe Awards awarded Eminem yet again for Best Hip Hop in the same category as Drake, Future, Kendrick Lamar, and Post Malone. I could even see Post Malone winning but Eminem?! And this is following the same year as “Hotline Bling” from Drake. Eminem but no J. Cole 4 Your Eyez Only?! Eminem but no Kanye The Life Of Pablo. Eminem but no Travis Scott Birds In The Trap Sing Midnight?! EMINEM but no Chance The Rapper Coloring Book. Make it make sense! Those are all 2016 releases. Eminem didn’t drop until 2017 with Revival. So then you’re talking Kendrick’s DAMN, Drake’s More Life, Rapsody’s Laila’s Wisdom, Jay-Z’s 4:44, and Vince Staple’s Big Fish Theory among others. MTV Europe Awards even had the audacity to nominate him again in 2018 this time along with Travis Scott, Drake, and the Migos. Fortunately, his lost out to Nicki Minaj. These award shows create the machinations of validity the lens of the mainstream society. Even when rappers like 2Pac, Snoop, JayZ, Missy Elliott, DMX, etc. crossover, the favorite songs of the mainstream vary quite differently than the favorites of those from within the culture. And now in 2021, we are already dealing with the propaganda from Eminem’s latest outing Music To Be Murdered By Side A and Side B. He’s already been certified gold and outsold artists like Roddy Ricch and DaBaby who dropped end of 2019. And like his previous projects, it debuted #1 on Billboard, but has an immediate drop off in terms of word of mouth after the first week, and it has ZERO hit songs that resonate in the streets. Once again proving that record sales don’t always equate to moving the culture. What does it profit black people to create, when others receive the lionshare of the accolades and profits? There’s a system which enabled Elvis to co-opt and supplant Chuck Berry and Rosetta Tharpe. There’s a system which put out the images on television. Moreover, who determined and changed the trajectory of hip hop from its Afrocentric roots to violence, materialism, sex, and drugs? The historical lack of black toys, superheroes, and action figures was by design. So the question is as Eminem ends the “Pespective” skit, how has he made a difference? In conclusion, I have to reiterate that none of this is to say that Eminem isn’t a great MC and an amazing lyricist. Again, I’m just saying he is not The GOAT. Source: https://medium.com/@russelllawrencebenford/why-eminem-is-still-not-the-greatest-rapper-of-all-time-6bd14eead52d
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