Review: Eminem – Relapse

Rating: 7/10
Replay Value: High
Release Date: May 15, 2009

Track Listing:

1.     ”Dr. West” (skit)
2.     ”3 a.m.”
3.     ”My Mom”
4.     ”Insane”
5.     ”Bagpipes from Baghdad”
6.     ”Hello”
7.     ”Tonya” (skit)
8.     ”Same Song & Dance”
9.     ”We Made You”
10.     ”Medicine Ball”
11.     ”Paul” (skit)
12.     ”Stay Wide Awake”
13.     ”Old Time’s Sake”
14.     ”Must Be the Ganja”
15.     ”Mr. Mathers” (skit)
16.    ”Déjà Vu”
17.     ”Beautiful”
18.     ”Crack a Bottle” (featuring Dr. Dre and 50 Cent)
19.     ”Steve Berman” (skit)
20.     ”Underground”

Info:

Relapse is the sixth studio album by American rapper Eminem. It was released by record label Interscope Records, along with subsidiaries Aftermath Entertainment and Shady Records, first on May 15, 2009, followed by May 19 in the United States. Relapse is Eminem’s first studio album since Encore in 2004, thus ending the rapper’s musical hiatus of five years. Dr. Dre, who produced for Eminem throughout Eminem’s career, produced most of the tracks on Relapse and performed on the number-one single “Crack a Bottle”, which also featured 50 Cent. “We Made You” followed and also made the top ten on the U.S. singles chart. Other singles included “3 a.m.”, “Old Time’s Sake”, and “Beautiful”, which were all top 40 hits in the U.S. Relapse debuted #1 on the U.S. albums chart, selling over 608,000 domestic copies in its first week and over 1,000,000 worldwide.

(source: wikipedia.com)

Opinionated Review:

First of all I would like to say that I am a huge fan of eminem. Like a lot of people, I believe that Eminem is the greatest “rapper” of all time. This fact makes me feel almost guilty when I say the days of the old Slim Shady are over forever.

The first hint of change can be found in the introduction track. Slim’s voice has definitely matured, and, after hearing the album numerous times, a change in his music can be heard, too. He has stuck with the trademark use of controversial lyrics, which I like because thats what makes Eminem different and entertaining.

The track “Same song and dance” talks about eminem abducting and killing Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. This is classic slim, taking hits at teeny bopper pop stars, but it sounds a little darker now. You can tell by his lyrics he has a somewhat “tortured soul,” even more so than before.

This album released 5 singles in the month before the album drop: “Crack a bottle”, “3 AM”, “We  made you”, “old time’s sake”, and “beautiful.” As always, the more “poppy” tracks were released as singles, and didn’t give the full insight to his album. Now that Eminem is sober he seems darker to me. “My Mom”, “insane”, and “Deja Vu” perfectly demonstrate this point. The no holds barred honesty he displays makes these songs really cut deep and provoke an unfamiliar reaction.

“Insane” speaks of his step father’s sexually abusive tendencies and his mother’s indifference to the whole situation. I believe this may be too honest for some people to swallow. Although it does give a deep personal glance into the psyche of our pop icon. On the other side, there are songs like “must be the ganja” and “hello” that provide a more playful tone and have a much higher replay value. The album is packed with the classic slim shady humor that disgusts the conservative but intoxicates a classic shady fan.

Lyrically Eminem came as hard as ever. Each individual line on the album has more rhymes than an entire soulja boy track, showing that even after a prolonged hiatus, he still hasn’t lost a step. The instrumentals on the album were largely provided by Dre, so the beats are all as solid as concrete. The chemistry between dre and em continues stronger than ever.

For the people who say that the album “isn’t the same as the old eminem,” I say of course its not. A lot of things happened to slim in the 5 years since his last album. I would assume he is a changed man, and thus his music would naturally change too. You will be hard pressed to find another artist of any genre that has come as hard as Eminem for their entire career.

For that fact, I have an unconditional respect for him, and I believe that, no matter the lyrical content, Eminem will always produce music worth hearing.

- Dstructive