Eminem, local and live
“It feels so good to be back!” Eminem screamed at the beginning of “Square Dance.”
Late last year, Detroit native Eminem, along with Jay-Z, performed a pair of concerts each in their respective hometowns. Featuring other artists like Drake, B.o.B and Kanye West among others, each show had their own special guests.
What separated the Detroit show from the NYC performance is that Eminem released a free live album from that evening titled “The Comerica Park Mixtape.”
While “The Comerica Park Mixtape” is not the entire concert from that evening in Detroit, it does feature the entire Eminem set and a few songs from sets of 50 Cent, D12 and Dr. Dre, overall 22 tracks (each track contains two to three songs) and almost two full hours of music.
What makes “The Comerica Park Mixtape” special is the variety of songs performed. Eminem features songs from every point in his career such as “Renegade,” which features Jay-Z and is from his first album, The Slim Shady LP, and “Stan,” from the Marshall Mathers LP.
From the beginning of the mixtape, Eminem is full of energy and shows his love for the city and his fans in almost every track.
Opening with “Won’t Back Down” and “3 A.M.,” Eminem shows that his time out of the spotlight in Rehab hasn’t slowed him down at all.
Midway through the show, he brought on his crew D12 to perform “Fight Music,” “Purple Pills” and “My Band” from their 2004 album.
Soon after the D12 set, the audience was surprised with Young Money member Drake and Eminem performing their verses in “Forever” without Lil Wayne, who was serving time in jail.
“I’m so honored to be here tonight,” said Drake, at the end of Forever, giving respect to his musical counterpart. “This is history in the making and I want you to make some noise for the legend, Eminem.”
Considerably one of the great moments on the mixtape is when Eminem and Dr. Dre performed the classic hip-hop song “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang” with Eminem rapping Snoop Dogg’s verse with the same smooth vocals as the Long Beach native.
Ending with a song from the movie “8 Mile,” “Lose Yourself,” Eminem concluded the show with a bang, and it seemed fitting the show ended with a song that brought his career to a whole new level.
“Everybody in here, I want to thank you for the support you have shown me, and for not giving up on me,” said Eminem. “Especially you Detroit. I love you!”
Even for those who aren’t a fan of Eminem, respect for his influence on the image of the city and state is deserved.
This night was one that shouldn’t be forgotten in the history of music in Detroit.
Luckily, because of this album, even those not present at the concert can be a part of it.
“The Comerica Park Mixtape” is available at www.987ampradio.radio.com