Music Eminem Relapse Album Review - Page 5

Taco John · 05-15-2009, 02:42 AM

So I've listened to the new Eminem album about a dozen times, and I have to say that I think the album is brilliant. It's not perfect, but it's an effort that comes in at the A level.

To give some perspective, I really liked his Slim Shady LP, but I thought it was very rough around the edges and that he still hadn't pushed the level of his talent yet. I thought he came into his own with the Marshall Mathers LP, perfecting his style and gaining absolute control of his lyrical flow. To me, the MMLP is his best album, though I think he showed absolute mastery of his craft with The Eminem Show. The problem that I had with the Eminem Show was that I thought it was a little *too* slick and over produced. I love the album, to be sure, but it doesn't have the organic feel that The MMLP has. Encore, I thought, was terrible in comparison to all of them. I liked some of the stuff on there, but Eminem had said anything interesting that I thought he could say at that point in time. To me, he hit the wall that every successful rapper is bound to hit: we've heard it, you've got nothing new to say, and you're so rich that you no longer have street cred anymore. Frankly, I had thought Eminem had done the right thing by closing the book on his career and only doing small projects and producing (ala Dr. Dre).

Boy am I glad I was wrong about that.

This new album, while containing some of the same themes we've seen in the old album (namely the drug use of his mother and its fallout in his life), contains a lot of new and fresh stuff and gives listeners a peek into the world of Eminem since his pseudo-retirement.

The album is essentially therapy for Eminem, with the major theme being his relapse into the world of drug addiction and prescription pill popping. There's a lot of hate and anger in this album, and he hits you in the face with it right out of the gates, but what you find as you journey through those gates is that the deeper into the album you get, the more he aims that hate and anger at himself.

The first three songs absolutely put my jaw in my lap - the first song being an anthem to mass murdering. It's not a particularly new theme for Eminem, but it does have a more graphic edge to it than his past stabs at this theme (sadly, the pun was intended). The music and lyrics come together in a very haunting way that made me seriously question the guys sanity. But he doesn't stop there. As you leave 3am with the image of Eminem being a deranged psycopath who is ready to butcher people in a drug induced black-out, he does something very interesting by leading you back in time with the songs "My Mom" (My Mom does valium and lots of drugs, that's why I'm on what I'm on, cuz I'm my mom), where Eminem talks about how he has inherited his drug addiction from his mother. From there, he blows the hinges off the door with the song "Insane," where Eminem reveals a history of being sexually abused by a step father (If you could count the Skeletons in my closet). By this time my jaw was in my lap.

The first three tracks hit me like a ton of bricks, and I thought the album was going to be very heavy. Eminem doesn't necessarily lighten the load, but from this point on you no longer feel like you're staring alone at a dead baby in a dumpster. The next song, Bagpipes from Baghdad flashes to the not so recent past where Eminem does a little of his usual Slim Shady celebrity bashing stuff. It's a catchy beat, but not a particularly strong song. The most interesting thing is that he reveals that he's been clean and sober for at least a year now (who’s-gonna-go-see-the-doctor first? we’ll do a coin flip, i just got my one year sobriety coin chip).

The next song on the album, called "Hello," is a sort of re-introduction to Eminem. It's a very good song with some double meaning to it. The question is whether or not he's reintroducing himself to the fans, or re-introducing himself to the pill addiction (as though it were a person). It's an excellent song, and he doesn't hold back as he reveals how low things got for him:

I lose a pill and I'm recklessly wrecking the house
That was supposed to be breakfast where the heck is it now?
There's the necklace I lost, right next to Stephanie's blouse.
Man I should check to see if my mum left any out
Nope! Guess I'll reroute
Maybe somewhere in the depths of the couch
oooh, Jackpot, yeah
Open Sesame mouth!

In the song, he reveals that his recent "pnemonia" bout was actually an overdose situation where he had to be rushed to the hospital.

The album then takes another dark turn, as Eminem flashes back into his mass murdering persona with a skit about a stranded girl getting into the wrong car with the wrong person, and leading into "Same Song and Dance" where he basically kills Lindsay Lohan and Brittney Spears. By this time, the mass murdering schtick has worn a little thin, and the album leads into the Radio Pop friendly "We Made You." I'm not a big fan of Eminem's radio pop. I understand why he has to do it, and I think that he's very good at it. But I don't find it particularly interesting - and certainly not compelling. But it can be fun when I'm in the right mood. This one, in my opinion, is one of his better radio pop efforts, so at least there is that. But by this time in the album, I was starting to tune out a little bit.

The next song provides the funniest moment in the album, when Eminem gives Christopher Reeves the last word by rapping AS Reeves, complete with robotic voice and long drawn out mechanical breaths. Needless to say I was shocked but tickled by the picture he paints of Reeves battle rapping against him:

Eminem on coming to kill you [long mechanical breath]
Always hated you and I still do
You'll never fill my shoes my superman costume [long mechanical breath]
Doesn't even fit you they don't feel you
You're takign this shit to far [long mechanical breath]
Who do you think you are
Hang my suit up in the armoire
Everday I hate you more and more
Throw down the cardboard
Let's break dance if you think you're hardcore

The Paul Berman skit after this is probably the funniest moment of any of his albums.

From this point on, the album maintains a high level of interest. Stay Wide Awake continues the horror theme of the album - which really comes off to me as a self defense mechanism to protect himself from just how much of his soul he bares on the table (especially later on in the album, with Deja Vu).

Old Times Sake is a great collaboration with Dre that I think is one of the best they've done together. Must Be the Ganja has a good beat, flow, and is pretty catchy.

The album climaxes here with Deja Vu, which I think is probably one of the best songs of Eminem's career. It starts with a skit that is essentially a recreation of the scene where the paramedics are treating him for overdose as they start to rush him to the hospital. He goes from the extremes of painting himself as an evil murderer, to this song in which he completely bears his soul showing just how vulnerable he is. I think the song is brilliant. The beat is spot on. The flow is absolutely superb. The lyrics are deep and penetrating. When someone asks me why I listen to Eminem, this song is a good one to offer up as a damn good reason. The whole experience of this song is hypnotic and it just gets better with each and every listen as you're drawn deeper and deeper into the lyrics and the thoughts behind the lyrics. I can't say enough about how great this song is.

The next two songs are anti-climatic, but still worthy efforts. Beautiful seems like a song he wrote for his girls, which I dig. And then Crack a Bottle is the star studded reprise to the album, featuring Dre and 50 Cent.

At the end of the day, I find that each time I listen to the album, I like it more and more. It's what I wish The Eminem Show was (with the Eminem Show being Encore, and Encore being some B-sides that never made it into an album).

The bottom line is that it's a worthy effort. Eminem has reinvented himself with an album that fans will appreciate. This isn't the cruise control album that Encore was. This is Marshall Mathers working his ass off to produce something worth releasing, and definitely worth listening to.

4.5 stars.

ChiefsFan4Life · 05-24-2009, 06:39 PM

I've gone through this album a few times and I love it. The only songs that are "unlistenable" for me are Medicine Ball and Insane

Halfcan · 05-24-2009, 06:41 PM

why he gets lauded for his lyrics is beyond me

Pablo · 05-24-2009, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halfcan

why he gets lauded for his lyrics is beyond me

Uh, because they're really ****ing good maybe?

stevieray · 05-24-2009, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halfcan

why he gets lauded for his lyrics is beyond me

angst needs a face....

beach tribe · 05-24-2009, 07:32 PM

I know I shouldn't even post in this thread, but I just have to say that I haven't been able to relate to rap since about age 22. Seems like a novelty to me. Maybe that's what it's supposed to be. But I would imagine that 90% of all rap albums sold are bought by teenagers.

I do not hate it, nor do I judge people who listen to it, I'm just stating that I don't relate to it. No biggie, don't get pissed. I say that because a 20 year old kid that we hired to be a bar back damn near wanted to fight me because I told him that Lil wayne doesn't say a damn thing that pertains to me or my life. dude was seriously offended, and I thought to myself, damn, dude is mad over this? I guess he's the perfect audience for a rapper.

**KcMizzou** · 05-24-2009, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beach tribe

I know I shouldn't even post in this thread, but I just have to say that I haven't been able to relate to rap since about age 22. Seems like a novelty to me. Maybe that's what it's supposed to be. But I would imagine that 90% of all rap albums sold are bought by teenagers.

I do not hate it, nor do I judge people who listen to it, I'm just stating that I don't relate to it. No biggie, don't get pissed. I say that because a 20 year old kid that we hired to be a bar back damn near wanted to fight me because I told him that Lil wayne doesn't say a damn thing that pertains to me or my life. dude was seriously offended, and I thought to myself, damn, dude is mad over this? I guess he's the perfect audience for a rapper.

It's all just about personal taste. I enjoy 90's rap (Tupac, Biggie, Dr. Dre, Snoop) Em, Tech N9ne, Atmosphere... but if someone disagrees, it's certainly not worth getting upset over. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

**KcMizzou** · 05-24-2009, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiefsFan4Life

I've gone through this album a few times and I love it. The only songs that are "unlistenable" for me are Medicine Ball and Insane

Odd, I don't care for Medicine Ball either, but consider Insane fantastic. The lyrics make me cringe, (gotta wear headphones if the boys are up), but the flow is amazing.

blaise · 05-24-2009, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beach tribe

I know I shouldn't even post in this thread, but I just have to say that I haven't been able to relate to rap since about age 22. Seems like a novelty to me. Maybe that's what it's supposed to be. But I would imagine that 90% of all rap albums sold are bought by teenagers.

I do not hate it, nor do I judge people who listen to it, I'm just stating that I don't relate to it. No biggie, don't get pissed. I say that because a 20 year old kid that we hired to be a bar back damn near wanted to fight me because I told him that Lil wayne doesn't say a damn thing that pertains to me or my life. dude was seriously offended, and I thought to myself, damn, dude is mad over this? I guess he's the perfect audience for a rapper.

I still like rap. I think it went through a sucky period there for a while though when 90% of the songs were just variations of rhymes about Cristal and rims on your car. In my head I think of it as the Cristal Era. Just totally crap music there for a while.

**kysirsoze** · 05-25-2009, 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiefsFan4Life

I've gone through this album a few times and I love it. The only songs that are "unlistenable" for me are Medicine Ball and Insane

Quote:

Originally Posted by KcMizzou

Odd, I don't care for Medicine Ball either, but consider Insane fantastic. The lyrics make me cringe, (gotta wear headphones if the boys are up), but the flow is amazing.

Hmm. I actually thought medicine ball was great. I love the beat and I always like when Em addresses the people who are offended by his lyrics.

Now that I've had a chance to listen to the album more, I am astounded at how much I like it. I feel like he takes the listener on a journey song to song more than he ever has. It has the ****ed up content of SSLP, the relentless flow and intensity of MMLP and the production value and theatricality of Eminem Show. I am not quite ready to say it's better than MMLP (His best to date IMO) but I might be soon. I gotta give the newness time to wear off and I will probably listen to MMLP through again.

The best part to me is how I don't have a track I don't love. We Made You is the weakest for me but, as others have stated, it's his pop song and it's still better than 99.9% of "hip hop" passed off by radio stations. All of his other albums had a song or two that I would almost always skip through. On this one, I love them all. I couldn't be more happy with the effort and I CANNOT WAIT till relapse two later this year.

PunkinDrublic · 05-25-2009, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

I think a lot of his popularity is due to his ability to capture the right tone of voice to invoke emotion in keeping with the particular song, whether it's sarcarsm or humor or anger or despair. Lil Wayne does a good job of this too.

Think of the tone his voice takes on over the course of Lose Yourself, it's almost like 'The Weirding Way' in Dune.

That, and who the **** comes up with

Well I'm back (*Batman Noise*) fix your bent antenna
Tune it in and then I'm gonna enter
Into the front of your skin like a splinter

Little Wayne is the most overrated rapper of all time. I don't understand why so many people kiss this guys ass he ****ing sucks. I like a lot of hip-hop but Little Talent is way overhyped.

PunkinDrublic · 05-25-2009, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halfcan

why he gets lauded for his lyrics is beyond me

Probably because he's one of the few mainstream hip hop artists not rapping about guns, having money and bitches or doing some stupid new dance craze. I feel bad for truley talented rappers who get overlooked because they don't put on a minstral show and wear gold teeth and rap about the same shit that almost every mainstream rapper is rapping about.

Halfcan · 05-25-2009, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PostRockPablo

Uh, because they're really ****ing good maybe?

house blouse

out reroute

couch mouth

seems very grade school

cat hat that sat fat

Halfcan · 05-25-2009, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PunkinDrublic

Probably because he's one of the few mainstream hip hop artists not rapping about guns, having money and bitches or doing some stupid new dance craze. I feel bad for truley talented rappers who get overlooked because they don't put on a minstral show and wear gold teeth and rap about the same shit that almost every mainstream rapper is rapping about.

I will give him props for that-he is not trying to sell some thug lifestyle-seems like a regular kid.

**Reaper16** · 05-25-2009, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halfcan

house blouse

out reroute

couch mouth

seems very grade school

cat hat that sat fat

Pablo · 05-25-2009, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halfcan

house blouse

out reroute

couch mouth

seems very grade school

cat hat that sat fat

Yeah. God knows Eminem is the only lyricist/songwriter to ever utilize rhyming verse. It's ****ing crazy, I tell ya.

On a related note, Roger Waters is an incredibly blah lyricist. Just look at how all of these verses rhyme!

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

See what sort of sense that makes?

05-15-2009, 02:42 AM
Taco John Sapere Aude Join Date: Jun 2001 Casino cash: $3357937	Eminem Relapse Album Review So I've listened to the new Eminem album about a dozen times, and I have to say that I think the album is brilliant. It's not perfect, but it's an effort that comes in at the A level. To give some perspective, I really liked his Slim Shady LP, but I thought it was very rough around the edges and that he still hadn't pushed the level of his talent yet. I thought he came into his own with the Marshall Mathers LP, perfecting his style and gaining absolute control of his lyrical flow. To me, the MMLP is his best album, though I think he showed absolute mastery of his craft with The Eminem Show. The problem that I had with the Eminem Show was that I thought it was a little too slick and over produced. I love the album, to be sure, but it doesn't have the organic feel that The MMLP has. Encore, I thought, was terrible in comparison to all of them. I liked some of the stuff on there, but Eminem had said anything interesting that I thought he could say at that point in time. To me, he hit the wall that every successful rapper is bound to hit: we've heard it, you've got nothing new to say, and you're so rich that you no longer have street cred anymore. Frankly, I had thought Eminem had done the right thing by closing the book on his career and only doing small projects and producing (ala Dr. Dre). Boy am I glad I was wrong about that. This new album, while containing some of the same themes we've seen in the old album (namely the drug use of his mother and its fallout in his life), contains a lot of new and fresh stuff and gives listeners a peek into the world of Eminem since his pseudo-retirement. The album is essentially therapy for Eminem, with the major theme being his relapse into the world of drug addiction and prescription pill popping. There's a lot of hate and anger in this album, and he hits you in the face with it right out of the gates, but what you find as you journey through those gates is that the deeper into the album you get, the more he aims that hate and anger at himself. The first three songs absolutely put my jaw in my lap - the first song being an anthem to mass murdering. It's not a particularly new theme for Eminem, but it does have a more graphic edge to it than his past stabs at this theme (sadly, the pun was intended). The music and lyrics come together in a very haunting way that made me seriously question the guys sanity. But he doesn't stop there. As you leave 3am with the image of Eminem being a deranged psycopath who is ready to butcher people in a drug induced black-out, he does something very interesting by leading you back in time with the songs "My Mom" (My Mom does valium and lots of drugs, that's why I'm on what I'm on, cuz I'm my mom), where Eminem talks about how he has inherited his drug addiction from his mother. From there, he blows the hinges off the door with the song "Insane," where Eminem reveals a history of being sexually abused by a step father (If you could count the Skeletons in my closet). By this time my jaw was in my lap. The first three tracks hit me like a ton of bricks, and I thought the album was going to be very heavy. Eminem doesn't necessarily lighten the load, but from this point on you no longer feel like you're staring alone at a dead baby in a dumpster. The next song, Bagpipes from Baghdad flashes to the not so recent past where Eminem does a little of his usual Slim Shady celebrity bashing stuff. It's a catchy beat, but not a particularly strong song. The most interesting thing is that he reveals that he's been clean and sober for at least a year now (who’s-gonna-go-see-the-doctor first? we’ll do a coin flip, i just got my one year sobriety coin chip). The next song on the album, called "Hello," is a sort of re-introduction to Eminem. It's a very good song with some double meaning to it. The question is whether or not he's reintroducing himself to the fans, or re-introducing himself to the pill addiction (as though it were a person). It's an excellent song, and he doesn't hold back as he reveals how low things got for him: I lose a pill and I'm recklessly wrecking the house That was supposed to be breakfast where the heck is it now? There's the necklace I lost, right next to Stephanie's blouse. Man I should check to see if my mum left any out Nope! Guess I'll reroute Maybe somewhere in the depths of the couch oooh, Jackpot, yeah Open Sesame mouth! In the song, he reveals that his recent "pnemonia" bout was actually an overdose situation where he had to be rushed to the hospital. The album then takes another dark turn, as Eminem flashes back into his mass murdering persona with a skit about a stranded girl getting into the wrong car with the wrong person, and leading into "Same Song and Dance" where he basically kills Lindsay Lohan and Brittney Spears. By this time, the mass murdering schtick has worn a little thin, and the album leads into the Radio Pop friendly "We Made You." I'm not a big fan of Eminem's radio pop. I understand why he has to do it, and I think that he's very good at it. But I don't find it particularly interesting - and certainly not compelling. But it can be fun when I'm in the right mood. This one, in my opinion, is one of his better radio pop efforts, so at least there is that. But by this time in the album, I was starting to tune out a little bit. The next song provides the funniest moment in the album, when Eminem gives Christopher Reeves the last word by rapping AS Reeves, complete with robotic voice and long drawn out mechanical breaths. Needless to say I was shocked but tickled by the picture he paints of Reeves battle rapping against him: Eminem on coming to kill you [long mechanical breath] Always hated you and I still do You'll never fill my shoes my superman costume [long mechanical breath] Doesn't even fit you they don't feel you You're takign this shit to far [long mechanical breath] Who do you think you are Hang my suit up in the armoire Everday I hate you more and more Throw down the cardboard Let's break dance if you think you're hardcore The Paul Berman skit after this is probably the funniest moment of any of his albums. From this point on, the album maintains a high level of interest. Stay Wide Awake continues the horror theme of the album - which really comes off to me as a self defense mechanism to protect himself from just how much of his soul he bares on the table (especially later on in the album, with Deja Vu). Old Times Sake is a great collaboration with Dre that I think is one of the best they've done together. Must Be the Ganja has a good beat, flow, and is pretty catchy. The album climaxes here with Deja Vu, which I think is probably one of the best songs of Eminem's career. It starts with a skit that is essentially a recreation of the scene where the paramedics are treating him for overdose as they start to rush him to the hospital. He goes from the extremes of painting himself as an evil murderer, to this song in which he completely bears his soul showing just how vulnerable he is. I think the song is brilliant. The beat is spot on. The flow is absolutely superb. The lyrics are deep and penetrating. When someone asks me why I listen to Eminem, this song is a good one to offer up as a damn good reason. The whole experience of this song is hypnotic and it just gets better with each and every listen as you're drawn deeper and deeper into the lyrics and the thoughts behind the lyrics. I can't say enough about how great this song is. The next two songs are anti-climatic, but still worthy efforts. Beautiful seems like a song he wrote for his girls, which I dig. And then Crack a Bottle is the star studded reprise to the album, featuring Dre and 50 Cent. At the end of the day, I find that each time I listen to the album, I like it more and more. It's what I wish The Eminem Show was (with the Eminem Show being Encore, and Encore being some B-sides that never made it into an album). The bottom line is that it's a worthy effort. Eminem has reinvented himself with an album that fans will appreciate. This isn't the cruise control album that Encore was. This is Marshall Mathers working his ass off to produce something worth releasing, and definitely worth listening to. 4.5 stars.
Posts: 78,034

05-24-2009, 06:39 PM	#61
ChiefsFan4Life DT: HOF Class of 2009 Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: House Springs, MO Casino cash: $10004900	I've gone through this album a few times and I love it. The only songs that are "unlistenable" for me are Medicine Ball and Insane
Posts: 2,031

05-24-2009, 06:41 PM	#62
Halfcan In Search of a Life Join Date: Aug 2005 Casino cash: $7327995	why he gets lauded for his lyrics is beyond me
Posts: 43,200

05-24-2009, 07:32 PM	#65
beach tribe Keep doubting J MFing Houston Join Date: May 2007 Location: ft.lauderdale Casino cash: $4768036	I know I shouldn't even post in this thread, but I just have to say that I haven't been able to relate to rap since about age 22. Seems like a novelty to me. Maybe that's what it's supposed to be. But I would imagine that 90% of all rap albums sold are bought by teenagers. I do not hate it, nor do I judge people who listen to it, I'm just stating that I don't relate to it. No biggie, don't get pissed. I say that because a 20 year old kid that we hired to be a bar back damn near wanted to fight me because I told him that Lil wayne doesn't say a damn thing that pertains to me or my life. dude was seriously offended, and I thought to myself, damn, dude is mad over this? I guess he's the perfect audience for a rapper.
Posts: 21,429