Hey, buddy, did you hear the news? It's track reviews.

Hi, everyone. Easily Tricked here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a track review.

Detroit's in the house. The D is here. We have a momentous musical occasion over here going on, a brand new one from the city's own, Eminem. Yes, he is back with a brand new track.

As many of you know, he has a new album cycle that he is in the midst of ramping up. On July 12th is when the new record drops The Death of Slim Shady. There were a lot of Eminem fans that were irrationally angry at the fact that I thought that the first single from the record, "Houdini," was annoying and also trying to desperately recapture an older sound and vibe while miserably failing in the process. We love and we welcome an angry Eminem fan in the comments, that's for sure.

Now, though, we are getting our second taste from the forthcoming album. It's a track titled "Tobey," and the reason I point this track out as a big Detroit deal is that we have three generations of Detroit artists in the mix on this track, Eminem, Big Sean, and BabyTron. Okay, maybe BabyTron wasn't literally born in Detroit, but a general area, general vibe. He represents a sound that's popular in the Midwest right now. You get it. You understand what I'm saying.

Anyway, look, before I play this song, I will say, personally, I think it's really cool, conceptually, that Eminem has pulled together a track like this that's obviously going to bring more attention to artists who are also from the same area as him, but also represent very different styles of hip hop and very different eras of hip hop, too. Because as singular and at this point old school as Eminem's vibes and influences may be, he does continue to show himself as somebody who is open to stuff that newer artists and up-and-comers are doing. Even if in the abstract of my mind, an Eminem, Big Sean, BabyTron track doesn't exactly seem like it would make a whole lot of sense. It's that perception of a lack of crossover potential and commonality artistically between these three that actually makes listening to this song exciting. How weird or surprising can it get? With that being said, let's give a listen to this new track, Eminem Big Sean BabyTron, "Toby".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xn0OHEZZ8Q

Okay, I respect it. I mean, there are some points where I feel like the production is falling a little short on the back end because obviously the way that it starts, it's like really shooting for something that's slowly and dramatically and cinematically building up. And you've got the pounding drums. I know the fried, brittle, distorted guitars. I can see the intentions behind what the beat is going for, but it never quite escalates to a point where it actually sounds larger than life. Again, I can dig that arpeggio.

I could see what it's going for, and I would love to hear what it's going for, but I feel like in actuality, in terms of execution for what it was attempting, it fell a little short. It's not that huge. It's not that big. It feels like it's trying to give me something that is just some action-packed shit you'd see on the big screen, but it's not feeling quite so big. It's more like a flat screen. A medium to large flat screen, though. It's not that far off.

With that being said, I thought everything else beyond that about the track was great. Loved the progression of it, loved that BabyTron had first, Big Sean had second, and Eminem tied it up on the back-end. I thought the consistent flows across every verse and the determination going on in everybody's voice really made the vibe of the track work well.

Each verse on the song had memorable lyrical moments that were witty, that were hilarious, that were entertaining. BabyTron's Iron Giant reference was clever. I also loved how he and Big Sean both lined up with Star Wars references at one point, too. Big Sean with that bar about moving keys, he's like a cord progression was really sharp and stand out. Also like that alliteration that he was going for with the like the "immersed in the merce. I show him no mercy," I thought it was great as well. He had a couple of lines that were running along that similar pattern, and they both sounded great.

Overall I just love Big Sean's progression over the years because I feel like lately he's been just getting better with the one-liners, getting better with the wordplay, and certainly with Eminem in the mix, he is not going to be a slouch on that front.

And Eminem sounded really solid, too. He wasn't hitting us with those obnoxious staccato flows, not like trying too hard to rap too fast. He was just very confident, a good presence in his vocals, per usual, making his case for, I'm a legend. I'm top five. I'm one of the greatest. I'm super influential. I love that bar on the back end where he said like a victim of child abuse, he's about to get the belt, the champion belt." That was one of those Eminem bars where it's like you hear the setup and you're like, "fuck. Is he going to fucking ruin this shit? Where is this going? And then the second part of it comes through and it's like, actually pretty good, fair.

Yeah, and the whole chorus and the Tobey Maguire getting bit by a spider, I got bit by a goat line is cute. I mean, maybe would have preferred a chorus that is a bit more blunt and direct and snappier as this one obviously is pretty wordy.

With that being said, I think this is a very, very, very good and solid second single from this record. Even happier now that Eminem made this crossover happen between him and Big Sean and BabyTron. I was already interested and excited about the track just based on that prospect alone. Now I'm even more pleased that it exists now that I've heard it.It's actually super solid, super entertaining, very fun, and is an effective crossover between the three because it found a way to make their respective styles all work in tandem. They found good, awesome common ground here, and it made for a song that's worth spinning again and again.

So, yeah, this is a very solid track. Very entertaining track. Kudos to Eminem. And I think we can leave it there.

Anthony Fantano, Baby Tron, Big Sean, Eminem, Forever.