It has been a long time since Eminem released a full length solo album. To be exact, Eminem’s last album officially was released on November 12th, 2004 (‘Encore’). ‘Relapse’ released May 19th, 2009 is almost 4 and half years later. That’s a very long period of time for an artist to release an album in the Pop world, although Dr. Dre’s long hiatus and highly anticipated ‘Detox’ has been sitting longer. Dre’s last album was released November 16th, 1999 when ‘Dre 2001’ came out. While much has changed in Hip-Hop since Em released his last disc (Lil Wayne is a superstar now), Em picks up as if he never left and easily tops his last disc ‘Encore.’
While Eminem barked up the same tree with the opening single, “We Made You,” following the formula that seems more overdone then burnt toast. Just like all Eminem singles before, a funny video with a catchy hook and a high tempo happish beat. While “We Made You” is radio, MTV ready, ‘Relapse’ is not. ‘Relapse’ is dark, gloomy, and somewhat scary if it was made into a movie. While viewing what Interscope and Eminem have put together on their website TheRelapse.com you would assume they’ve accomplished this goal. “3 A.M.” starts the rampage of Eminem being what appears is a serial killer on a rampage. “3 A.M” has Em murdering 3 different people in a fictional rehab center, "Popsomp Hills.” On the third verse Em raps, “I dice and I slash, slice and gash/Last night was a blast, I can't quite remember when I had that/Much fun off a half pint of a jack, my last vic and a half.” One line later Em goes a barrage on how he “dismembered a family member” and “Cut him up into pieces, and just when I went to drink his blood” which he thinks is “fun.” On “Same Song & Dance,” Em murders Tonya, Lindsey (as in Lohan), and Britney (as in Spears) in a slightly upbeat, gloomy track with a catchy hook. Em stalks his prey (the girls) in each verse and captures them in different ways. Em raps to Tonya in verse one, “I got your back, why don't you put your laundry baskets in the back/And sit up front, I'm not askin', it's a trap.” Verse two he tells Lindsey, “See what I meant was, we should have a little intervention/Come with me to Brighton, let me relieve your tension,” and then on the third verse tells Britney, “And just as soon as you pass out in your alphabet soup/I'm bout to make a new outfit out of you.” Em continues he serial killer raps with Stay Wide Awake,” a ridiculous showcase of flow that is unmatched by any rapper, even the self-proclaimed best flower Jay-Z. Em right away lays into his serial killer mode rapping “I've seen my target, pit my car, and park and approach the tender/Young girl by the name of Brenda and I pretend to befriend her/Sit down beside her like a spider, hi there girl you might-a/Heard of me before, see whore you're the kinda girl that I'd-a/ssault and rape and figure why not try to make your pussy wider.” Dre’s cold strings and thunderous backing make “Stay Wide Awake” even freakier. A few tracks later on “Must Be the Ganja” Em goes in on the second verse about naming every serial killer in a row. His lines, “Don't wanna end up inside my refrigerator freezer/Be used as extra topping, the next time I make a pizza” is freakish in the sense that that’s what Jeffery Dahmer did when he was an active serial killer.
‘Relapse’ contains three incredible tracks. The first of those incredible tracks is “Beautiful,’ a sample version of “Reaching Out” by Paul Rodgers. The only song produced by Em on ‘Relapse’ is flipped incredibly. Said to be the only song kept from Em’s bout with drugs, “Beautiful” uses Rodgers hook, “Lately I've been hard to reach/I've been too long on my own/Everybody has a private world/Where they can be alone/Are you calling me/Are you trying to get through/Are you reaching out for me/I'm reaching out for you/” perfectly to describe where he is/was at of the time of this recording. Em’s opening lines puts you in his shoes right away, “I'm just so fucking depressed, I just can't seem to get out this slump/If I could just get over this hump, but I need something to pull me out this dump.” The second track that stands with “Beautiful” above the rest is “Underground,” the most lyrical and intense track. Finishing off ‘Relapse,’ and maybe giving us a thought of what ‘Relapse 2’ will be like later this year. Backed by Dr. Dre’s hard twitchy drums, sharp strings, strong pianos and a plucking guitar, Em raps multiple multi’s like “Through every nook and cranny, lookin' for trannys/Milk and cookies, spilt on my silk negligee, looky/Razor b-lades with me to make you b-leed/Cases of Maybelline make up lay on a table of weed.” On the third verse Em takes on every movie killer. Targeting Michael Myers first with the line, “To turn Halloween back to a trick or treat holiday,” and then threatens to “Swipe his powers, replace his knife with flowers and a stack of flyers.” Em then goes after Jason Vorhees and Hannibal Lector with raps, “Hit Jason Vorhees with a 40, stuck a suppository up his ass/And made him tell me a story, gave Hannibal lector a fuckin' nectarine/And sat him in the fuckin' fruit and vegetables section and gave him a lecture.” Once finished with them, Em continues his assault on to Edward Scissorhands and Freddy Kruger. Rapping, “Then came out with a little scratch, ooh/Looking like I got in a fucking pillow fight, with a triple fat goose,” Em’s decided they don’t stand a chance. The last of these three is the track that describes the album and what Em was going through when he in fact relapsed, and that is “Déjà vu.” Dre’s typical drums almost take away from one of the most well put together tracks. The mixture of guitars, strings, and bass make “Déjà vu” more of a complete song than just a beat Em’s rapping on. On the hook Em raps his thoughts effectively with lines, “Sometime's I feel so alone, I just don't know/Feels like I been down this road before/So lonely and cold, it's like something takes over me/As soon as I go home and close the door/Kinda feels like deja vu, I wanna get away from this place I do/But I can't, and I won't, say I try, but I know, that's a lie, 'cause I don't/And why I just don't know.”
‘Relapse’ doesn’t skate by without fault. Although “Medicine Ball” has one of Eminem’s best verses on the disc (verse 2), the Christopher Reeve obsession has to stop. The ending of “Medicine Ball” makes you not enjoy the track as much but a slight shot at Madonna is interesting when Em raps, “But the chick's so old, she looks like she out lived a life sentence.” “Old Times Sake” featuring Dr. Dre sounds like a run-of-the-mill Dre feature and so does “Crack A Bottle.” I understand the addition of “Crack A Bottle,” though. The song did have 427,000 digital downloads in one week breaking the first week record at the time and is at 1.5 million DD’s currently. ‘Relapse’ could easily hold just “Crack A Bottle” and then had one of the bonus tracks not a bonus (“My Darling” and “Careful What You Wish For”).
After listening to ‘Relapse’ you really have the feeling of wanting to hear what’s next. After ‘Encore’ left most of us all with a bad taste in our mouths, ‘Relapse’ leaves us wanting more and wondering what is next. Will Eminem gives us more tracks like “Beautiful” and “Déjà Vu” or will we have “Old Times Sake” and “Medicine Ball.” With every Eminem release we know pretty much what we’re going to get in content. Now it seems like as fans we’ve heard Em rap about his loved ones, hated ones, himself, drugs, murder, his love interests, celebrities, and his mother. The main knock being chatted around on ‘Relapse’ is where is the Proof dedication track? I understand as a person if he was unable to make that one song, as he says none of the tracks came out with what he expects from the song, but his fans, me included, will pine for this song. Maybe it’s just that every rapper makes a song about their best rapping friend dying. Maybe Em’s unable to make the song because Proof and he are real best friends and writing about the lost of that is too much for him. So while ‘Relapse’ isn’t perfect, there is plenty of substance to keep you replaying ‘Relapse’ to catch more of what Em’s spitting (during this write up I caught the line about Madonna completely) and make you wonder, what’s next from arguably,” The Best Rapper?”
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