Eminem - Like Toy Soldiers Like Toy Soldiers is a song by American rapper Eminem. It is the third single from his fifth album Encore. The song samples Martikas 1989 hit song Toy Soldiers and features interpolations from the main title theme from the 1972 film The Hot Rock. The song peaked at number thirty-four on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2005, number one in the United Kingdom and the top ten in many other European countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Critical reception Allmusic highlighted this song.[3] A positive overview came from J-23: Like Toy Soldiers is among his best work here, from his production (complete with Martika sample), to his gripping recount, assessment and conclusion of the Benzino and Murder Inc beefs.[4] Pitchfork was also positive: a public hand-wringing over the feuds that Em and 50 Cent have been drawn into, the consequences of these battles, and-- most importantly-- the toll theyve taken, both physically and emotionally. The martial beat is a bit heavy-handed, but its counterbalanced by the pleasantly surprising chorus sample of Martikas Toy Soldiers, perhaps a nod to either Kanyes helium-vocaled samples or the 00s trend toward trance-pop covers of 80s hits.[5] NME wrote a favorable review: Like Toy Soldiers’ is a case in point. The best track of this album, and probably any album this year, it should be appalling. It interpolates (by which we mean ‘steals’) the chorus to a long-forgotten ’80s power ballad by Martika, which would be a surefire route to disaster in anyone else’s hands. Instead, with its martial drumbeat, unashamedly vast-scale soft rock dynamics and that similarly monolithic chorus, it is perhaps hip-hop’s first genuine lighters-in-the-air stadium anthem. And yet it’s probably the most personal track on the album...as Em tries to draw a line under the various beefs he and his cohorts have been embroiled in. “Even though the battle was won/I feel like we lost it/I spent too much time on it/Honestly I’m exhausted”, he admits. If the sheer volume and widescreen sweep of ‘Like Toy Soldiers’ is a cover for this exhaustion, then it sure works.[6] Rolling Stone described: its really mature, as when the Martika-sampling Like Toy Soldiers renounces battle rhyming and its deadly consequences.[7] USA Today noted: A military drumbeat drives Like Toy Soldiers, in which Eminem offers an explanation for his beef with the Murder Inc. rap clique, The Source magazine and its rapper/owner Benzino, and his part in a dispute between 50 Cent and Ja Rule. He seems to wish none of it had ever happened, and hes ready to move on.[8] RapReviews was less positive: Continuing to wring out sympathy from his tear-soaked towel of a life, Eminem doubles-up with Like Toy Soldiers, another self-produced, self-sorry introspection on the Slim Shady saga.[9] The Guardian was happy of sampling: Like Toy Soldiers, about Ja Rule and Benzino, is similarly brilliant. Set to the albums one genuinely fantastic backing track, involving a military drumbeat and a sample from Martikas forgotten 1980s hit Toy Soldiers, its lyrics switch from truce-calling to belligerent indignation and back again, often in the space of one line.[10] NY Times described: Toy Soldiers, scheduled to be the next single, recycles the 1980s pop hit by Martika so that Eminem can rehash his beefs with Ja Rule and the Source. But the vitriol is mainly gone, and he sounds sad and clear-eyed, ending the rhyme by proposing a truce: Its not a plea that Im coppin/Im just willing to be the bigger man./If yall can quit poppin/Off at the jaws well then I can,/Cause frankly Im sick of talkin/Im not gonna let someone elses coffin/Rest on my conscience.[11] Music video Released on December 3, 2004, the songs video starts with two young boys, one who is white and one who is black, reading a book called Toy Soldiers, which contains the lyrics of this song. It begins at the hospital where Eminem and other rappers are watching, in despair, the doctors trying to save a D12 member and Eminems best friend, Proof. Then Eminem is seen in a series of scenes rapping the song in a deserted alleyway. Then, it goes through a series of scenes showing the various feuds mentioned in this song. They include seeing the news, rappers battling in studios, and street encounters. Near the end, Eminem stands shocked seeing the shooting of Proof. It switches back to the hospital, where Proof dies and finishes at his funeral, which has a choir in which the black kid and the white kid from when Martika starts to sing. Cameo appearances in the video include 50 Cent, Luis Resto, Dr. Dre, Obie Trice, and D12. Deceased rappers 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Big L, and Bugz, a deceased D12 member, are also shown at the end of the music video to show the fatal consequences of rap wars.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 09:40:48 +0000
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