Relapse
Well Eminem's finally back from his "retirement", Relapse just released last week and of course I bought it immediatly. While it didn't quite meet what I would have hoped for from him, it did bring back alot of his old style that dissapeared for his last album (Encore). But the content often seemed to contrived compared to the free way it flowed in the Slim Shady LP, lyrically though he is just a genuis as ever. Overall I think the album had too much drug content, I can really only name 3 or 4 songs without large amounts of drug content off the 20 song CD, but then itis called "Relapse" and is largely discussing his own real life struggles over the last few years so can live with it. Also I think he sometimes took his general "stalker" jokes a bit too far, really he didn't need more than one song about abducting women in parks... But while the content for some songs was over the line of what's funny and just became disgusting most songs had incredible flow and that's his genuis. Eminem's popularity came from him playing the tortured soul, who jumped from "eff everyone" on one song to "Poor me" the next one and doing it in a way that was believable and gave you a glimpse of his mind. He's managed to do this again, not quite as well, but still far more original and worthwhile than anything else that's come out of the rap industry in the last several years.
I give it a 4/5, here are my comments on a few of the better songs on the album:
3AM:
Excellent flow and rhyme, content is right on the line too, defenitely reminiscient of his older stuff, also not explicitly about drugs which is refreshing. It seems to represent him as a mentally ill psychopath killer. Really hardcore, but the rhymes and flow are so good it holds it together.
My Mom:
Ugh, I'm sorry Eminem but complaining about your Mom got old awhile back, also this song adds another song almost entirely about abusing Valium... Really adds nothing to the album and I think he did the Mom diss perfectly on "Cleanin' Out my Closet" in the Eminem Show, he should have let that thread die with that very well done song.
Insane:
Content for this one is just way over the line, it flows perfectly and his genuis in being able to rhyme together anything and make it sound good shows itself, but if you listen to the words it's just plain disturbing and loses it's entertainment value.
Medicine Ball:
Great flow and the Christopher Reeves verse was hilarious and incredible, on the otherhand making fun of him now that he's dead seems pretty low to me. Defenitely reminds me of some of his old stuff from the Slim Shady LP, great tongue in cheek lines and flow.
We Made You:
Great continuation of his old habit of tearing apart celebrities and I love the way Bill O'Reilly has flipped over his line about Palin. He was calling Eminem the voice of the radical left, which I would hardly consider accurate. Eminem speaks for no political movement and while he does lean left he generally is an equal opportunity offender and attacks whatever and whoever makes an easy target. He certainly had a lot of Bill Clinton lines on his older albums. Also I love the Star Trek scenes in the video with Dre as the captain, genuis!
Beautiful:
Hands down one of the best songs he has ever released. This is a logical continuation of the the songs "Lose Yourself and When I'm Gone.) The classic song where he brings out our own emotions and opens up, but manages to both complain about his life uplift us. Very powerfull positive song, and wonderfull lyrics and flow, I just love this song.
Steve Berman (skit):
LMAO, a continuation of this series of skits from earlier albums, I loved it!! Especially where Steve blames Eminem for the economic crisis, pure comedy here.
Underground/Ken Kaniff:
Underground jumps around to lots of topics and has really great llyrics, flow, and rhymes fantastic song and with a much better beat than Eminen typically has. The Ken Kaniff skit on the end is very good as well, and extremely funny.
Other Songs:
His other songs varied, Deja Vu, The Ganja, and Old Times Sake have great beats and are defenitely good songs. Same Song and Dance, Stay Wide Awake, and Hello, are a little too creepy and stalkerish, but still have good beats and excellent lyrics and flow.
Overall this is better than Encore, but not as good as the Slim Shady LP or the Marshall Mathers LP which were pure genuis. Still Eminem is a lyrical genuis and if you can accept his "eff tha whole world" mentality and play along with dissing everything and everything as some type of cosmic joke then it's a really great album. However it's clear from a wander into Conservative forums discussing the Palin references that if you don't have a sense of humor you will be deeply offended within the first 30 seconds.
