Let me firstly say that rap is far from the type of music I generally listen too. I have an open mind and thought I’d download Relapse Eminem’s comeback album, I used to be a fan back in the day of his earlier material and then lost interest.
One obvious thing about Relapse is the fact Eminem seems to have developed some kind of weird accent. I’m not sure who he is trying to be, but he sounds really foreign, remember the foreign sounding voice he did in the track ‘Without Me’? It sounds like that, only basically on every track throughout the whole damn album, it really fucking bugs me.
First impressions are it’s pretty good, and this is coming from a person who’s music library consists mainly of metal, hardcore and a few songs from Chamillionaire. The lyrics are as obscene as ever, something Eminem is synonymously known to have toned down on over the years.
This album kind of freaks me out, track #4 Insane is literally insane. It’s catchy, but in a disturbing kind of way. Most of the tracks have catchy rhymes and it’s obvious Eminem’s ability to write catchy rhymes has returned with a vengeance. It feels more of a solid album than his other pop-rap sounding albums did, he’s gone back to some of his roots on this album.
Relapse is obviously about Eminem’s battle with alcohol and pill addiction of which he has been getting treatment for the past 4 years. By the sounds of it and the way Eminem describes it, he nearly died due to his addictions. The album also paints a picture of a very depressed man who lost all direction probably because of his friend Proof from D12 getting shot.
In the Steve Berman skit track it is revealed that Eminem is planning to release a second album later on this year to follow up to Relapse (most likely titled Relapse II) or something. Let’s hope that Eminem’s second album is as strong as Relapse which is probably his best album yet.
It’s obvious Relapse has a strong Dr. Dre presence, the beats on this album are out of this world, a real work of art. I’ve noticed that references to Hannibal Lecter and Silence of The Lambs seem to be made in various tracks on Relapse, I’m not sure what the correlation is, probably to make them sound more sinister and twisted perhaps.
Overall assumptions of this are it’s pretty damn good, highly listenable and I’m on my second listen of the full album. I give this album a 7.5 out of 10. It’s good, but lacks in some areas. A really powerful album with powerful beats, lyrics and Eminem’s amazing rhyming vocabulary enunciation skills.
Stand out tracks on Relapse are:
Track 2 – 3am
Track 3 – My Mom
Track 4 – Insane
Track 10 – Medicine Ball
Track 12 – Stay Wide Awake
Track 16 – Deja Vu
Popularity: 1% [?]
the album is ok, but i strongly disagree about the beats. they are the weakest thing on the album, and i think that was intentional – very much akin to his first album, the beats play second fiddle to his lyrical wordplay. unfortunately, the topics, celebrities and themes that have worked so well on all his other albums are getting tired and lack the shock value that made him a household name, way back on TRL.
i can remember the first time i saw the my name is video, and i can distinctly remember saying “Dude, you have got to fucking see this shit!” Listening to this disc just left me waiting for the same old shit, his mother, kim, haley, homosexuals, vicodin, and vd. ten years ago no one would ever expect all of those personal references to be included in one five minute segment, but i could almost predict their appearances based on the mood of each song’s intro.
sorry for the long post, but your blog looked lonely
Asdf,
I liked the beats because they were simple because it’s obvious more effort went into the lyrics and not the backing music – which is something other hip hop artists don’t do.
I know he repeated past over used themes, but it can’t be disputed that he’s still got it considering he’s what now, 36? That’s pretty damn old.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Although this blog gets decent traffic, not many people seem to comment, so your long comment is welcomed.
It’s funny cause this review actually seems on point. I think it’s because your not a hip hop head, and you’re approaching this with much more of an open view. This was a great album, not perfect but better than 97% of most hip hop thats out right now. I thought the production was great also, the entire genre (these days) seems to rely so heavily on overdone and over the top beats that pretty much over take the artist. Dre understands the value of creating an atmosphere with his beats that exentuates the artists abilities and messages rather than compete for the listeners attention. Damn, I miss old hip hop
I’d say that Eminem’s Relapse and Relapse 2 will probably be the closest thing to old school hip-hop for a very long time. Although it doesn’t bother me really, I used to be heavily into the whole rap / hip-hop thing a few years ago before I matured and started listening to real music.
All in all, it was pretty good. Basic beats just mean that the rapper has too write better rhymes, and in this case, I think it’s worked well. Apparently Relapse 2 is going to be even better.
This album sucks there is like one good song which is beautiful. The whole thing sounds like eminem didnt put nothing into this like he had done with his past stuff. The last album wasnt that bad at least it was better then this crap. Its really odd to because eminem had top songs out late 90s early 00 then all of a sudden after 8 mile everything he did he tried to make funny and it just sounds dum… I like his old shyt personally when he raps about kim at least I could relate is some ways. This album just sounds wierd… Thats me anyway…
Mike,
That’s your opinion, I guess the rest of us have ears and mostly are pleased with it. Stop being one of those fans that expects their favourite artist to never change, things are boring when they stay the same.
He obviously put a lot of work into this album considering he wrote over 100 songs, you should try it yourself sometime, I bet you couldn’t get to 20 songs before wussing out.
I am a bit disturbed about how you could relate to his Kim stuff, it was pretty messed up.
Man, im lost. Just heard this cd in full seconds ago. Cant match his first 3 cds that were just soo menacing. These are just songs slammed together, sounds more like a mix cd rather than a cd that tells a story, IMO. I too mostly have hardcore few metal cds but “real” hip hop, its very alive. Check out MF Doom, mos def, talib kweli, aceyalone, etc, real lyrics about mature topics. Peace.
The beats are great. The last song–Underground has some of the wickedest sounding melody and beats I’ve heard in long time. Powerful song for sure. I honestly can say I can only listen to the Relapse in certain times of the day, because at other I get so fucking tripped out by the lyrics it disturbs me. The CD overall is real cool, a lot better than Encore. Basically it feels like we (the listeners) are his psychiatrist and he’s going on his rants in lyrical/poetic format. Except we’re paying for the session. Still all fun and games. Cheers. Love this site. Did it get resold?
Haven’t had the chance to listen to the album. But your review is a really good one. This album is definitely very personal for Eminem, and he must be trying some new stuff, trying to see if these will work out for him. I’m quite interested to hear about the accent thing you were referring to. Thanks!