Flashback Friday: "Shake That" - Eminem ft. Nate Dogg (2006)

You know, there were times when Eminem at least had a personality to back up his misogynistic lyrics. Not here, though. Here, he just goes for the typical rap tropes and we're all worse off for listening to it. This is "Shake That".

Yep. Eminem is doing an ass anthem. And this one's not even hilariously lame, like "Ass Like That". This is just a straight-up, misogynistic, downright creepy ass anthem. This is one of the two new singles off of his greatest hits album, and while one I can forgive for being schmaltzy but at least sincere, this one is a complete waste. Right from the beginning, you can tell that any rapper could have done this.

Shaking that ass on the floor
Bumpin' and grindin' that pole
The way she's grindin' that pole
I think I'm losing control

Wow. I think I legitimately forgot which song I was talking about after hearing that set of lyrics. Was it this one? Or this one? Or maybe even this one? Who knows? And more importantly, who cares?

This is not what Eminem should be about! When he first came onto the scene, he stood out as legitimately more dangerous and insane than any other rapper that preceded him. He slapped women, ate shrooms, then OD'd. And every angry white boy wanted to grow up to be just like him! But this? Who wants to grow up to be like this hack?

Say what you will about the new Eminem, at least it's him! At least I can't picture anybody else rapping those lyrics but him. This is so peripheral that I can only slightly detect it in my vision. Eminem's Encore album may have been awful and unfathomably stupid, but it was also unique in its awfulness. This is just generic.

That's also why this is probably the Eminem song that offends me the most. Worse than anything else he's ever released. The song that this reminds me of the most is Rocko's awful 2013 hit "U.O.E.N.O.", in which Rick Ross spits these lyrics:

Put Molly all in her champagne, she ain’t even know it
I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain't even know it

Now the main problem with these lyrics aren't that they're disgusting, and awful, and indicative of a society cloaked in rape culture. They are, but those aren't the main problem. The main problem is just how blasé Rick Ross sounds when he says it, as if this is a perfectly normal, "thug" thing to do. Incidentally, that's the vibe I get when I hear this song, and these lyrics:

Pop a little champagne and a couple E's
Slip it in her bubbly, we finna finna have a party

And it's not helped by the fact that Eminem sounds the most bored he's ever sounded, which was honestly a huge problem with "Just Lose It" as well. Somewhere along the line, Eminem lost the edge in his voice, and it's a huge detriment to the song, not that the song really needed any detriments. How are we supposed to invest in this ass anthem if Eminem won't even invest? At least Nate Dogg tries to add some swagger to this terrible song, but Em just clocks out.

Thankfully Eminem would try to correct himself later in his career, to less-than-stellar results, but still better than this tripe. This is a bad song. One of the worst of this man's career. Of course, there were also the songs from that Greatest Hits album not released as singles...

...but they were never released as singles, so we don't have to talk about them! Seeya next time!