Eminem - Relapse
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Free Music Notes for Relapse
Free Music Review: I guess its time for you to hate me again
Hit: 5 Stars
Thousands of underground rappers would have celebrated when Dr. Dre decided to cosign one of their own. For millions of shock core fans the acceptance of Slim Shady in the pop world opened a new lane in Hip-hop and music. This album is a dedication to those fans.
Technically, Eminem has never produced a better album.
His flow on this disc is better than anything he has ever done. The lyrics are darker, sharper and more focused than ever. The beats are more cohesive and while Dre rarely blows you away, he does the job in terms of creating a perfect landscape for Em to paint his gory pictures.
The concept of the album is tight without being overly restrictive, giving Eminem enough room to play his many characters without straying too far from the overall concept.
Outside of the first single `We Made You' which is standard fair for Eminem & the mandatory posse cuts `Crack A Bottle' and `Old Time's Sake' the album is absolutely uncompromising in its approach.
Radio is almost completely ignored and so are the clubs. You also won't find any of the current trends in hip-hop (unless in the form of parody) i.e. no auto-tune, no hustler/ bird talk, no Southern artist collaborations, no ad-libbing, no new dance song. No reference to bling and not even a single track dedicated to the ladies. This is strictly an Eminem fan club affair.
On numerous occasions the Dr. Dre & Eminem combination is completely irresistible and `Medicine Ball', `Say Hello', `Stay Wide Awake' & `Déjà vu' are absolute classics. Not to mention `Beautiful', `3 A.M.' & `Bagpipes from Baghdad'.
What counts against the album is the fact it sounds so familiar. While the theme of drug relapse is relevant given Em's recent experiences, it still feels all too familiar. The singles `We Made You' & `Crack & Bottle' sound like sequels to `Real Slim Shady' & `Encore' respectively. Even `Beautiful', as beautiful as it is, has a feeling of déjà vu (pardon the pun).
Eminem's fans have also matured since "The Marshall Matters LP" but there is very little evidence that Eminem has grown up on "Relapse". Perhaps darker but certainly not wiser.
Finally, the album is so inward looking that it is not always relatable and while it is easy to forgive Eminem for ignoring overused hip-hop trends, it would have been nice for him to spend more time on issues that affect us all as human beings (race, economy etc.).
These faults aside, this album is near perfect for me. It $h!t$ on convention and the combination of Eminem and Dr. Dre is unstoppable.
Free Music Review: Hooked.
Hit: 5 Stars
Before we Relapse lets Rewind, briefly, to The Eminem Show. On "Say What You Say" Dre raps: "If there was some magic s*** that I wave over the industry that could save it when I'm gone/and bury to make sure the tradition carries on, I would."
Well, Dre and Em are back with the magic...although as Dre mused, I doubt if it will save rap from its downward spiral. But for now, Relapse has put the struggling genre on life support.
Anyone who says that Relapse is the same ol' same ol' needs to go back and listen to Encore. That album fits that description. Relapse on the other hand seems to be Eminem breaking out of the flood gates and re-energized as if his addiction was to Crack and not prescription drugs. Somehow he manages to span an entire gamut of erratic emotions, oscillating from psychotic to psychedelic to schizophrenic to just down right silly! No wonder the poor guy was in rehab. If you were born with a "d*** in your brain" like Eminem was, you'd be asking for Dr.Dre to perform a removal surgery. Instead, Em allows himself to be "f**** in the head", taking the psychological set-back and running with it for 20 tracks. Amazingly, I don't get the feeling that he's exhausted himself after such a lengthy mileage.
His wordplay is as wordy and playful as it has ever been, evident in such killer tracks as "Bagpipes from Baghdad", "3am" and "DeJa Vu". He also interrogates himself more than any other rap artist, as evident in "My Mom" and "Beautiful." Although, it can be argued that in most of Em's songs he's scrutinizing all the things he hates about himself. This is why he can get away with dishing it out to everybody but himself. Everyone is fair game, which is only fair ;-)
Production wise Dr.Dre and Eminem both are telling us that its time for rap to put some light and shade to the music. "We Made You" is one of the most ambitious tracks on this album. Only the drums qualify this as a "rap" song. The rest of the parade is several steps beyond rap, and we can only hope that it encourages the rest of the industry to at least try to clear this remarkable musical hurdle. Maybe by the time we catch up with Dre's production and Eminem's tongue twisters will rap finally emerge from its sedated induced coma. Until then we might as well Relapse until the good Doctor prescribes a Detox.
Free Music Review: After 5 years since Encore, Eminem hasn't lost a step!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
I honestly think Relapse is much better than Encore. I would say it's around level of The Eminem Show. This album is better than most of the garbage that's put out these days!!! Eminem is the best rapper alive PERIOD!!! Lil' Wayne can spit and have nice punchlines but he can't do it like Em. I'm sorry. This album could've been better but I'm happy with it the way it is. The production on here isn't bad at all. Dr. Dre has put some nice beats on this album. Sometimes I be wondering about Eminem. That dude done lost it! And he really proved that on Relapse LOL! Anyways I basically like the whole album. It's hard for me to tell which song is my favorite on there but I do have a few songs that I like.
Favorite tracks:
3 A.M.
My Mom
Hello
Same Song & Dance
We Made You
Medicine Ball
Stay Wide Awake
Must Be The Ganja
Beautiful
I know that my least favorite songs is Crack A Bottle for the reason that 50 Cent dumbass was on there LOL! He messed up the song! Other than that I like this whole album. I bought the REAL copy of Relapse 5 days before it came out in stores! No bootleg I promise! I would say to those that are deciding on buying Relapse: If you're a REAL Eminem fan I would cop this CD fa sho! Even if you're not and you want to hear something different than the other trash that's out in stores right now I would cop it! The best rap albums that I have heard since Eminem dropped Encore in 2004 are:
Kanye West - Late Registration
Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor and The Cool
Nappy Roots - The Humdinger
T.I. - Paper Trail
Chamillionaire - Sound of Revenge & Ultimate Victory
Now Relapse will be added to that list. If I had to rate it compared to the albums named above, it would be tough to do. I think the albums on the list that would be better than Relapse is both of Lupe Fiasco's albums and Kanye West's Late Registration. These albums have to be the best that came out in rap since 2005! I'm happy that at least those albums stuck out for the reason being that they are different from the garbage that's been out since that year! I am so happy that Eminem has came back to take over the rap scene and he will too!!! Keep doing what you doing Em! I'm behind you 110%! If not higher!
Free Music Review: Relapse
Hit: 5 Stars
Eminem's music has always been entertaining. Most of his songs are either hit or miss. He was sucessful on his first 3 albums (not including infinity which I have never heard) but then encore was released. Encore proved to be the worst of his albums so far. After encore Eminem took a break from rap as Curtain Call and The Re-Up were released without much new eminem music. Now to talk about relapse. Relapse is better than Encore, but cannot stand up to his first 3 releases. about 9 or 10 of the tracks are good and some are classics but the rest of them are annoying or skits. Here is a track by track review from 0(horrible)-10(classic). (I will not review the skits because they are just skits)
3am-9 one of the darker classics from relapse, just feels too long
My Mom-7 I like this song but it gets a little old and the chourus doesnt feel right.
Insane-9.5 Great song with great instamental and great chourus. Another dark song that is very explicit.
Bagpipes From Baghdad-5 A new sound, but a bad song. I dont like it
Hello-5 Not very good
Same song & Dance-4 dont like it
We Made You-8 Solid song but doesnt feel right with a cd full of dark songs. Reminds me of the days when Eminems songs were funny.
Stay wide awake-7 Liked it but it got annoying
Medicine Ball-4 bad song
Old time's Sake-8 good stoner song
Must be the Ganja-5 has some quality, but a failure
Deja vu-10 Classic song great instramental
Beautiful-10 another classic song
Crack a bottle-8 doesnt fit in but a good song
Underground-8 Too long. but it has good parts. Ken Kaniff at the end is hilarious.
Overall an album you should buy if your an Eminem fan. The Delux version has 2 tracks that are classic and should replace hello and medicine ball.
Anybody who gave this album under a 3 is a eminem hater and should just get over the fact that their parnets wont let them listen to rap.
So buy this album or if your like me and you only have digital copy, wait for a relapse/relapse 2 pack
Free Music Review: no comparison
Hit: 5 Stars
and shouldn't be looked at with his previous work. "Relapse" is something new and different for Em. He shows that the fire that he started with years ago is still there.
Yes when i had listened to a couple of singles prior to the album release yesterday and I wasn't all that impressed. But those are just something to let you that Eminem has a cd out. They aren't indicative of "Relapse" on the whole because if anyone listened to the cd more than a couple times. I believe that their impression of it might just change a bit. Some might now like it and that's cool. But for me the cd allows us access to Eminem recharged and reenergized. Whether he's attacking Hannah Montana or Mariah which is a part of what he's being doing for years.
He's introspective about his battle with his addiction and the attempts at not relapsing back into that same old frame of mind. He dishes out lyrical assaults throughout the entire cd. Yes, it's Eminem and he has changed from the past but haven't we all. If there's one cd that you buy over the next several months "Relapse" should be it. It will keep you entertained and enlighten you on what he's been through over the past several years.
Of course it's something that he's talked about in the past, but on that same note. He still does it better than a good portion of those out there and he still doesn't care about who he pisses off. I love that he continues to stay true to what got him into the game...the lyrics and rapping.
Welcome back, glad your back bringing it to those that release half-finished and unpolished crud. The only songs that were just okay to me were and I could do without: We Made U & Must Be the Ganja.
Some of the songs that I put on repeat and on my Ipod:
My Mom
Insane
Hello
Same Song & Dance
Medicine Ball
Stay Wide Awake
Deja Vu
Beautiful
Underground
3am
I am not saying it's a classic. I don't care for the term honestly. But "Relapse" is easily one of the best cds released in 2009 so far.