Eminem - Relapse
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Free Music Notes for Relapse
Free Music Review: A Difficult Album That Improves with Each Listen
Hit: 5 Stars
I stopped listening to Eminem after Encore. I didn't stop liking him; I just didn't listen to him in the five years between that album and the release of this one. When Relapse was released, I remembered the love I once had for Eminem, downloaded the album, and threw it on my iPod. Listening to snippets of each song, I was bothered by his heavy use of accents, attributed that to just growing out of him musically, and deleted it. Once Recovery came out, I found my love for Eminem renewed and decided to give Relapse another shot. Relapse was Eminem's first album in five years and it was a successful comeback album, winning him Grammy awards and selling millions of copies. Eminem has since expressed his disapproval of the album and when an album is as successful as Relapse and an artist still expresses their unhappiness with it, something must be wrong. Sitting down to listen to Relapse, I expected something mediocre and found myself surprised.
The album has 20 tracks, 15 of which are actual songs, and 12 of those 15 have Eminem rapping in some type of accent. Despite the appearance of actor Dominic West and the way the skits tie together to create the feel of a concept album, I have nothing much to say about the skits...They're amusing at times, but I delete them off my iPod once I listen to the album. With that said, I'll discuss the songs.
While his lyrics do touch on the subject of his mother, his drug addiction, and his recovery much of the lyrics on Relapse detail murder fantasies and feature an extensive amount of celebrity name-dropping. It's Eminem's darkest album lyrically and a complete departure from the three studio releases that preceded it. The more I've listened to Relapse, the more it reminds me of The Slim Shady LP. Both are completely different albums, but Relapse resembles that album more closely than any other Eminem album and is likely the closest thing Eminem has done or ever will do to that record.
Listening to the album several times, there's not a single weak track on the album although at first I thought so. I initially couldn't stand the track "3 a.m.," but I now find it delightfully macabre. "My Mom" is very reminiscent of TSSLP, with lyrics that alternate between lame ("Now I'm on what I'm on cause I'm my mom") and clever ("...Then I fall in bed/With a bottle of meds/And a Heath Ledger bobblehead"). "Insane" is a song that is pure shock value, with a really cool beat that sounds like a remixed horror film score. "Bagpipes from Baghdad" is a witty, catchy track that began the Eminem-Maria Carey feud and the song itself exists somewhere between Encore and The Eminem Show.
"Hello" and "Same Song & Dance" (the latter being a murder fantasy about Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears) are good tracks, but not incredibly memorable. "We Made You" was one of the singles and it's a fun, fast, witty, and infectious track with a chorus by Charmagne Tripp that works remarkably well. It's also one of the only songs that appear to really work with the accent.
"Medicine Ball" is a blatantly offensive; not-to-be-taken seriously rap that actually has Eminem rapping as Christopher Reeve at one point. Next we have another murder fantasy ("Stay Wide Awake" which has a very memorable chorus), two "fun" songs featuring guests ("Old Times Sake" with Dr. Dre and "Crack a Bottle" with Dre and 50 Cent), a very catchy "fun" song ("Must Be the Ganja"), two of Eminem's most personal tracks ("Déjà vu" and "Beautiful"), and arguably the best track on the album ("Underground").
"Déjà vu" is the only track that has Eminem rapping about his drug addiction and "Beautiful" is the most personal track on the album; both, coincidentally, feature Eminem rapping in his real voice. But if you're looking for the deeply personal Eminem we all know and love, this is not the album for you. If all of Eminem's previous albums were non-fictional, this is his first fictional record. While murder fantasies are prevalent throughout the record, tracks like "Must Be the Ganja" and "Crack a Bottle" do bring a little bit of light to the dark record Eminem has created here.
As I said, there's not a weak track here...But my favorite tracks are Déjà vu, Beautiful, and Underground, all of which have him rapping in his normal voice. While I do prefer Eminem's style of rapping on Recovery, this album is actually a solid, eclectic effort from the rapper. His extensive use of accents extensively throughout the album may bother some, but it's a style that suits the morbid, dark subject matter much better than his normal voice would have. I can't say where this album ranks in the Eminem cannon, but it's a great album that only got better the more I listened to it. For me, this album solidifies Eminem's staying power in the rap genre and shows a rapper willing to experiment with his art. Who else could make an album with several murder fantasies that also happens to be witty and fun at the same time?
GRADE: A-
Free Music Review: Relapsing into the Shady we know and love...
Hit: 5 Stars
About as great a title as you could possibly have for an album like this, "Relapse" delivers on what Dr. Dre believes is what Eminem fans wanted to hear: "They wanna hear you go crazy again." You've heard the singles, "Crack A Bottle," "We Made You," and I'm sure the thought was, "this isn't much to be excited about, it's not `The Real Slim Shady' or `Without Me." I wouldn't disagree with you if that's your assessment, but the fact remains that nothing will ever top "The Marshall Mathers LP" or "The Eminem Show." So the question we ask now is, at this point in his career, what can we reasonably expect from the highest selling artist of the decade and arguably the greatest rapper of all time? We seem to have heard it all, problems with family, the media, government, censorship, and his impact on young people. Exploring homicide, suicide, misogyny, homophobia, club songs, toilet humor, all amid deep thought and reflection. All these on display through his 4 major albums, so what can "The Great White Hope" deliver on Relapse that we can bob our heads to and proclaim as the reason we listen to rap? The answer, in some form is, more of the same. Yeah, there's yet another song about his mom, couple about celebrities (and I don't mean just as references, I mean full songs), skits with the familiar characters Paul Rosenberg, Steve Berman, and yes, even Ken Kaniff. But just because it focuses on subject matter of years past, doesn't mean it can't shock and awe. Oh no, nothing can be further from the truth. Relapse grips you, shocks you, makes you laugh, and lets you know that, at the end of the day, there isn't a rapper more vital to the music industry than Eminem. Jay-Z comes to mind, but at times he seems more inspired by business than he does about just writing hip-hop. Lil Wayne is certainly up there, with the huge success of "The Carter 3," but I just don't feel he's reached the lyrical maturity, as far as content matter, that is required to be considered the best. I guess it's just the fact that Eminem puts so much of himself out there, on a personal level, that makes his music that much more compelling. T.I. comes to mind in this respect, and that's why I thought his "Paper Trail" album was the best thing in hip-hop last year because it showed a different side of T.I., one well aware of his personality problems that have caused him problems in the past (and are now putting him behind bars). The bottom line is, Eminem pushes buttons. On this album, he focuses more on depicting stories with the shock rap element that made The Slim Shady LP/The Marshall Mathers LP so great. It's like the child of those two albums rolled up for the new age, and behind spectacular production, I think it's his 3rd best album, behind "Show" and "Mathers." Simply because, at this point, it's amazing that he still manages to shock after we've thought we've heard it all. But the wordplay, the flow variation, it's all there. People complain about his celebrity bashing, but all of that is in jest, especially considering how relentlessly he pokes fun at himself. It's what makes his work different from some sort of sophomoric hate spilling (which is what negative critics have said about the album), and more a reflective piece of art. It's not perfect. I believe he should have included the two bonus tracks over the dismal "Same Song and Dance" or others, and I believe "Crack A Bottle" was out of place considering that two of the best songs on the album had just finished (De Ja Vu/Beautiful). It felt like "Crack a Bottle" should have been at the beginning somewhere. Quibbles aside, the album featured fantastic beats, and a delivery that is second to none on Em's part. It really hits a great home stretch during the last songs, as well as providing new Em favorites such as "My Mom," "Hello," and "3AM" at the get-go. To Relapse's credit, there are no full songs about Kim or Hailey (not that there's anything wrong with those, but it's a nice middle finger to those who claim that this is simply more of the same). It shows an Eminem who fully depicts every aspect of his battle with drugs, from the psychotic, homicidal thoughts they produced, to the fear of ruining his life for good, to his somberness at a possible end to his career all in a lyrical package that is bound to produce many "oohs and ahh's." More importantly, it sounds like he's just having fun with his music again. At worst, this album shows that no one has the same pure ABILITY flow-wise/wordplay wise as Eminem. At best (which is what I and many Eminem fans always perceive his work as), it's a classic, worthy of mention among the "Mathers"/ "Show" lore, certainly better than Encore, and better than "Slim" because of its more polished content and equally graphic nature. Hello Shady, it's really nice to meet you too and, we understand you never meant to leave us. Welcome back, and thanks for giving me a bigger reason to anticipate Relapse 2. In the meantime, I'll continue to bob my head to this classic.Free Music Review: 5th Album or 5th Step...5 Stars Either Way
Hit: 5 Stars
Addiction, or so any self-respecting 12-stepper will tell you, is about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. And the biggest rap on Eminem--at least since The Marshall Mathers EP--is that he's just repeating himself, trying with ever-more-evident effort to shock an increasingly jaded public. Granted, he may be expecting the same results--earning the love (or at least the dollars) of millions of fans, gaining attention (positive or negative) from every media organ in the land, regaining his place atop one of the higher hills in the pop-culture landscape. But otherwise he acts like a rap addict, and--as has been pointed out by other reviewers--he plays it up with a title that's about both substance abuse and a reversion to his Slim Shady persona.
And he has his fun playing to the public perception on this awesome album: "I know you're probably tired about hearin' about my mom, whoa-hoa-oh-oh," he says on "My Mom," an infernally catchy earworm of a song about someone whose face seems perpetually taped to the family-members-only section of his lyrical dartboard. "Hello" sounds similar to any number of earlier anthems--"My Name Is...", "The Real Slim Shady," and so forth. And he drops a few more fantasy murder songs of the sort that would give most post-Columbine psychologists an aneurysm, even entitling one of them "Same Song and Dance."
But I don't buy it.
For all the similarities, the seeming sniping at slow-moving pop-culture targets (or immobile ones, like Christopher Reeves), the family feuds that make most others seem like tame game shows, the Paul Rosenberg and Steve Berman skits, the awesome beats from Dr. Dre, there's some subtle-but-important differences.
First and foremost is a notable absence--the only Kim he mentions here is named Kardashian. It may seem like a little difference, but it seems Eminem's now committed to settling some things behind closed doors, or at least outside the studio. In place of the finely-detailed and often Kim-directed violent fantasies on earlier discs, this album's violence is a lot more cartoonish and absurd, easier to laugh at than to get worked up over.
Elsewhere, though, he feels honest about things that he hasn't--ahem--touched on yet. Indeed, "Insane" feels like Eminem's Rosetta Stone, unlocking the meaning of all the perplexing homicidal homophobe persona with lyrics that somehow make scenes of childhood incest both hilarious and horribly believable. ("We're going out back to the shed," he says in his stepfather's voice, to which his young self replies, "Can't we just play with Teddy Ruxpin instead?") It's like his fifth album is his 5th Step and he's finally being honest about the nature of his wrongs; later on, he raps convincingly and, one presumes, honestly, about his experiences battling drug and alcohol addiction. (Granted, he's never been one to avoid drug-and-alcohol raps before, but there's a lack or romanticism and bravado here that's a far cry from songs like "Drug Ballad.") It's entertaining to hear the devilish voice of his own addiction added to the cachophony of characters in his raps, and even more so to hear him turn the lyrical artillery he'd used on others around and fires for effect on his own distorted thinking. And near the end, there's even some fairly positive and optimistic stuff, like "You're Beautiful." We've never heard much positive from Em; it seems like even when he's been profound and sensitive and moving (as on "Stan" or "Mockingbird," for instance) he's been negative and depressing, but this song seems almost lovey-dovey, and when one hears it, it almost seems like everything else, all those bitter pills on the album, were just medicine to make the sugar go down.
Granted, the ratio isn't dramatic. There is far more of that same old stuff we collectively OD'd on back in the day; it's still executed with sick flow and wicked beats, and it passes what, for me, is the only important test for music--when I listen to it, I find myself wanting to listen to it again. And the blending of old and new, of renewal and relapse, makes this perhaps his tightest album, conceptually--it's almost a shame no one's buying CDs any more, because unlike the scattershot "Encore," this is thematically solid down to the packaging, with a CD that looks like a pill-bottle top, and prescription-type labelling.
But of course, it's the contents of the bottle that we're after, and everything here is just what the doctor ordered--or rather, what we talked the doctor into giving us. And I am not complaining about that in any way. Although I've given up on some other addictions, listening to Eminem's one I hope to fall back into time and again for years to come.
Free Music Review: Slim Shady's shadiest: how to like the scariest album ever and why
Hit: 5 Stars
Okay, here we go with draft #101 of my ever-evolving review of this endlessly enjoyable album. Yep, that's right. Endlessly enjoyable. Sorry to disappoint kind readers who gave me points for feeling an internal struggle over this album in previous drafts, but the more I listen to it, the more I like it. Hence my now one-sided review which gives this album two thumbs up. For the principled and faint-hearted, this album will be too nasty to stomach. But the rest of us are in for a treat: tight raps, catchy beats, and hooks. Long-time Eminem fans, who "get" his signature vile sense of humor will know when to laugh and are surely callous now to disturbing tales of rape, murder, drug abuse, profanity, homophobic fantasies, and all-out lascivious. So if you've already been converted to the dark side, don't worry! You can handle it.
First off, this album is not only catchy, it is packed with a rage and ferocity only Eminem can summon, e.g. songs like "8 Mile," that are bursting with so much intensity they give you goosebumps. That is the vibe (only creepier) of this album and it's Eminem's signature sound; no one else does it quite like him. As a songwriter, I know that it is next to impossible to write material that is so striking; in fact, I've never achieved it, and that's why my hat goes off to Eminem. Eminem invested a lot in this album. Deep beneath all the profanity and sensationalism, all the flinging of every taboo in my face, I sensed an artist who just *had* to get it all out, an artist hell bent on expressing himself, freaking the bejesus out of everyone, and doing it all in the most ear-catching way musically possible.
Some people are criticizing this album as mere pandering to a sensation-starved public, but I disagree. The songs are just too potent. If it were mere mass-produced fluff, the material would sound apathetic and be easier to digest, but it isn't. Eminem keeps you guessing. It sometimes sounds like he's rapping for the masses, but more often it sounds like he's rapping for personal catharsis. Sometimes his raps are alarmingly direct, sometimes camped up and ironic. Lyrics pertaining to the exterior world, (pop culture references and social commentary), are intertwined with twisted, personal tales from deep inside his brain. Misogynistic stories are juxtaposed with statements of concern about his daughter and parenting. Tracks riddled with sleaze, innuendo, and silliness mingle with deep tracks about believing in yourself and finding purpose. At varying points he demands respect, makes fun of himself, or plays the victim. And when he spits a tight rhyme using an incongruently bratty, whiny, juvenile voice . . . yep, that's what I'm talking about. Who in the heck is this guy? Lesser artists are more transparent; you instantly know what they're all about. But with Eminem, his persona and tone are constantly in flux. Offensive as it may be, a riveting personality emerges from the madness.
In conclusion, buy this album to be guided by a mesmerizing MC with some of the best chops in the business who will lead you down a dark path you (hopefully) would never find on your own. Eminem is so good at conjuring up all the ugliness in our society that you feel confronted by it, you stare at it straight in the face. The experiencing is kind of jolting, definitely exhilarating. But Eminem's always been good at that. What I like about this album in particular is that he sounds less bratty going about it. I revisited the Slim Shady LP after listening to Relapse and found it (only slightly) annoying. On Relapse, Eminem tackles the dark tales with more imaginative scope and maturity. Another reviewer, J. Berger, felt that this album was more about "art for art's sake" and I think that sums it up. Eminem tackles the same old topics here, but the effect is more probing and less whiny. His voice even sounds a little deeper. I love it.
Eminem . . . if you read this . . . don't you think I maybe deserve an autographed Relapse for working ever so hard on this review and shining a bright light on the strengths of this, your latest and heavily contested album? Why don't your people call my people, etc. etc. ;)
Free Music Review: Slim Shady is back and badder than ever!
Hit: 5 Stars
Well I'm wasting my lunch break to write this review so it must be something I feel deeply about. I am glad to see so many positive reviews despite some very average to below average ones. I don't think this album is for everyone but nor do I think Eminem is! A lot of negative reviews have pointed out that this album is all over the place, a desperate break to try to regain the spot light. They say there's no content. Some of that I can understand but let me shine some light on the negativity. Yes some of the content is not there. A lot of times in this album there's nonsense and no point just rhyming words and sick flow. For instance the Christopher Reeves lines don't impress me and on Bagpipes from Baghdad he does a miraculous job tearing down Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey but why did he switch to talking about haveing sex with brain dead lesbion vegetables? He could shot out another verse about Drum Line or some other Nick cannon corny moments and Mariah breakdowns. And the final negative moment for this album is 50CENT. God, let that guy go and get some credible MCs. Can you imagine if Royce and Shady put out a duet. Crack a bottle is a very very average track but the rest is all GREAT and let's get to that!
If you don't love this album you either don't like real hip hop, you like that krunk club crap you hear on the radio with fools who sound like they have a mouth full of food. You only like songs about bitches, blunts, clubs, guns, and cars, or LOVE and SEX. YOU don't watch Law and Order SVU cuz you can't stomach it. Or you are jealous and hate the white boy cuz his flow and lyricism are better than anyone else who gets radio play. This is Slim Shady at his finest!
You have to start there, this is a SLIM SHADY album. If you're more of a fan of his Marshall Mathers persona theres songs like Mockingbird and When I'm Gone and the 8Mile soundtrack for you. If you love Eminem, the Eminem Show is an incredible album along with all his mixtapes and destruction of JaRule and Benzino. Encore could have been much better! And if you love Slim Shady this album is hot. I dare anyone to listen to The Slim Shady LP and then listen to Stay Wide Awake on this album and tell me any track on TSLP is better. He has evolved. Em locked Shady away and now he's out breathing the air, taking back whats his and reaping hell on a mainstream that has deteriorated into American Idol and Krunk Juice mixed with a little bit of over synthesized voices(Lil Wayne) and annoying voice samples(Kanye West). Ya he changes his voice throughout the album but that adds to the dimension. Its clever and amazing and exactly what it should be after years of anticipation. Think about artists like Jay-Z who are great but every time he comes out of retirement and puts something down its the same recycled stuff dumbed down and we never like it as much as the old original stuff. Em and DRe returned to the formula and put out something both raw, fun, spooky and real! Its fresh and different and unexpected and that's why they are the best! No he's not a mass murderer but we watch horror flicks and are entertained by the gore without criticizing the actors for acting. Em's lyrics are just that telling a horror story. Its fun and doesn't have to be "real".
Just sit back and listen to some the most intelligent rhymes ever put together. Try to recite some of them, its insane hard. This is Slim Shady at his best. I would say Eminem at his best is The Eminem Show and Marshall at his best was songs like Lose Yourself. Love it for what it is people and stop getting so hung up on it being different. Its supposed to be!