The beat for The cross is sooo fukking garbage IMO

[Steezy]

9ths version is goated

 

[Left.A1]

I think Nas gets a bad rap overall for his beat selection, they all arent as bad as people say

but this one was inexcusable

Felt cinematic to me ..especially the hook

 

[Turbulent]

Never liked the beat. Zoneout wasn't my favorite either.

 

[Da_Eggman]

I hated that time in hip hop Em was so big they even were trying to call him a great producer

 

[JustCKing]

I hated that time in hip hop Em was so big they even were trying to call him a great producer

Well, up until 2004, he did have some heat. "Renegade", his beats on Eminem Show, GRODT, and Obie's Cheers was dope. He wasn't great, but good. However, by 2004 everything went down hill. He should've stopped making beats after Loyal To The Game. That was ban worthy from the production to forcing Pac vocals to rep G-Unit. Best songs on that album have nothing to do with Eminem.

 

[Sean7]

Never liked the beat. Zoneout wasn't my favorite either.

Zone out was horrible....

 

[re'up]

It was of it's time. I liked some of Em's stuff, and this was solid for what that style of production was.

 

[Mike the Executioner]

The story I heard was that Eminem was short on time when he produced "The Cross" and he didn't get to put his finishing touches on it. I think the song is classic, but I wonder what Nas would have sounded like on a beat like "Soldier" or "Patiently Waiting."

Also, someone remixed the song by adding Eminem's "Love Me" verse and it's fire:

 

[bigde09]

Terrible beat only Eminem himself would sound good on it.

 

[bigde09]

I thought the way the story went is that ‘Em gave Nas his trash beats on purpose, because originally Em thought Nas was asking him for a collab track like Renegade with Hov, but Nas was on some “nah I don’t want a verse I just want a beat”

Em felt dissed by that so he sent Nas some of his trashest beats and Nas picked The Cross out of the bunch

People have said em and nas had a Cold War over the years. Nas threw a few bars at Em over the years.

 

[KEEPITTRILLA]

Always liked that song but hated the fukking beat lol. Its almost so bad it works

 

[FunkDoc1112]

True.

But it setup 9th to lace it us the real version of The Cross.

Speeding up his vocals to fit the tempo ended up making it sound like an It Was Written era song when he was rapping with a higher pitched voice

 

[Hannibal Fox]

Eminems best beats are where he co-produces, when he's left up to his own devices the results are mixed AF. More often than not the results are like the reason for this thread.

Mind you it's hard to be a great producer and MC, both take considerable time and effort.

 

[chunky_mcdaniels]

Speeding up his vocals to fit the tempo ended up making it sound like an It Was Written era song when he was rapping with a higher pitched voice

Are you suggesting that the linked 9th Wonder beat was attempt at 9th emulating an It Was Written beat?

For the record fukk It Was Written, and for periods of 9th Wonder career the same goes.

But you’re way off with that observation.

 

[JustCKing]

Mind you it's hard to be a great producer and MC, both take considerable time and effort

And with Eminem's approach to music, it's no wonder he never elevated to being a great producer. He's way too technical. Technique can be an advantage with rapping because bending syllables and rhyming words sounds nice as long as it has dope flow and a bounce to it, which he's lost in recent years. With production, technique can kill the whole vibe you were attempting to create. It's like I was watching the Get Up movie. One of James Brown's band members were telling James "this won't work musically" and James responds "Does it feel good? Does it sound good?". The band member responds "yes" to both questions and James says "then it works musically".

Eminem is meticulous to the point where he sacrifices what feels and sounds good for technicality.