05.17.09

So here’s what you probably already know by now: Eminem still hates celebrities, still raps about killing and raping women, still uses that silly voice that he used on the song dedicated to dissing a hand puppet, and has become a lesser version of himself from nine years ago. But his relevancy has dropped considerably over the years and so has his ability to stay in touch with what the fans want to hear. Sure, in 1999 we had never heard someone so vocal in their lyrics about how cheesy American pop music was. Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, N Sync all got taken down a peg or two, and at the time it was a relief to hear someone stand up against that crap. Now that it’s 2009, all we see is ridicule of our pop stars and celebrities all over the tv, papers and internet. We don’t need Eminem to join in anymore and put his two cents in about these stale topics – it’s already taken care of everywhere else. We also don’t need a grown man (almost 40 now) rapping in character of a psychopathic murderer/rapist with a voice that sounds like Conan O’Brien’s evil villain impression. What we do need is a fired-up, aggressive and lyrically dominant Eminem – a ‘The Way I Am’/'Soldier’/'Lose Yourself’ Eminem. We need a heartfelt, thoughtful, smart ‘When I’m Gone’/'Stan’/'Like Toy Soldiers’ Eminem. Neither of those sides of Marshall Mathers show up for very long on Relapse, but I think I’ve figured out why.

The entire album is done in-character, this is the first thing that must be understood while listening. It isn’t Eminem rapping about drugging, kidnapping, raping and killing young women on ‘Same Song and Dance’, it’s his “evil alter-ego” Slim Shady, which somehow makes it ok to listen to; the same way Christian Bale made it ok to watch as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. So what Eminem is trying to do on this record is provide a similar cinimatic experience through the mind of this character and a psychotic drug binge murder spree. In this age of pick-and-choose iTunes shopping and zShare blogging, it’s easy (and I’m just as guilty of this) to misunderstand and misjudge the purpose of the songs without hearing them as a whole. Too many people are just looking for a hot song, not patient enough to sit through an entire concept album to get the point. When we hear a song like ‘Insane’ on its own, where Em raps, among other deplorable things, about being sodomized and molested by his stepfather, of course our first reaction is going to be “what the fuck?”. But to hear it as part of the story, it makes sense… kinda.

One of the things that I noticed after listening to Relapse a few times is that Eminem is pretty aware of how redundant his act has become, or at least aware of people’s criticisms of his act. On the drowsy ‘My Mom’, he starts off with the line “My mom, my mom, I know you’re probably tired of hearing about my mom“. Or a better example would be the inclusion of the latest in his series of ‘Paul’ skits, where Marshall’s manager leaves him the following hilarious voice message that summed up my entire first thoughts halfway through the album: “Em, it’s Paul. Um, I just listened to the entire album. You gotta be fucking kidding me. I mean with this Christopher Reeve shit? You know the guy’s dead, right? And then the whole gay, stepfather incest rape thing? I don’t have your back on this one, I can’t even fucking handle it. I’m done.” Yeah, he’s still bashing Christopher Reeve for some unexplained reason, although he gives a little bit of insight on the classic Eminem-sounding ‘Medicine Ball’ – “Now everybody’s pissed at me / like it’s my fault his name rhymes with so many different words, geez“.

While the subject matter might be tough to accept, the production is as tight (and in a few cases, tighter) as any Eminem release to date. Dr. Dre handles every track on Relapse, save for one, and he is a huge reason that this album eventually comes together. ‘Hello’ is a dark but bouncy gem that could almost go over pretty well in a party atmosphere. ‘Deja Vu’ has a ‘Mosh’-like slow headnod feel to it, and is one of the main bullet points for why the second half of Relapse is superior to the first. It also helps that Marshall’s lyrics are much more grounded in reality as he reflects on the drug issues that are now behind him. ‘Stay Wide Awake’ has the same horror movie vibe as most of The Marshall Mathers LP, and ‘Old Time’s Sake‘ brings us back even farther to the playfully mischievous vibe of The Slim Shady LP.

And I haven’t even mentioned yet that Eminem’s rhyming skills are still top notch, despite the words he sometimes chooses to use or the voices he sometimes chooses to rhyme in. His flow is always sharp, like in the tongue-twisting ode to Mariah Carey/Nick Cannon throwdown track ‘Bagpipes From Baghdad’. Once again, it’s Em picking on pop stars and lesser calibre MCs, but his talent can’t be denied, and Dre’s instrumental is crazy. The only song that Eminem produces himself is ‘Beautiful’, a Queen-sampling rap ballad in the same vein of The Eminem Show’s ‘Sing For the Moment’. It’s a nice departure from the Slim Shady character that tyrannizes most of the album, and is a great example of why Relapse isn’t as terrible as it may seem at first.

Because of the staleness of ‘We Made You‘, and the mediocrity of ‘Crack a Bottle‘, people’s expectations of Relapse were progressively lowered before the album came out (or leaked to the net). Then for the first twelve tracks of the album, all we hear is a Marshall Mathers LP ripoff by a once-musical genius. Combined with the sour taste left from the Encore album, automatically we’re convinced that the record just sucks, and Eminem has fallen off. Our mind is made up before we get to the really good stuff on the tail end, like the frantic, heavy closer ‘Underground’, one of the best songs that Relapse has to offer.

The thing is, we have to either accept the album as a fictional, fantasized story from front to back (not to mention accepting the fact that he’s done all of this before), OR we have to look past the tired gruesome themes and just bump the music for what it is to be able to enjoy Relapse at all. To most people, that’s a lot to ask, and that’s a fair request; they want something to easily digest straight out of the packaging, especially from a rap album. But once you get deeper into the LP you start to appreciate Eminem’s attempt at this concept. And you start to dig the Dr. Dre instrumentals. And then you start to hear glimmers of what made you love Eminem’s music in the first place, and you forget about how just a few weeks ago you were wondering what the hell he was thinking. The man is still a genius. He’s just stuck in a strange place creatively: somewhere between trying to recreate his own success in a new landscape where that old formula doesn’t work so much. Relapse is a product of that, however there’s enough quality sprinkled behind the forefront to not lose all hope yet, and to expect Relapse 2 to be a better album for it. But the routine has run pretty thin.

Album: Relapse
Artist: Eminem
Label: Shady / Aftermath / Interscope
Featured Artists: Dr. Dre, 50 Cent
Featured Producers: Dr. Dre, Eminem
Rating: 7.5
Highlights: ‘Hello’, ‘Stay Wide Awake’, ‘Deja Vu’, ‘Beautiful’, ‘Underground’

05.05.09

Song: Old Time’s Sake [ft. Dr. Dre]
Artist: Eminem
Album: Relapse
Label: Shady / Aftermath / Interscope
Producer: Dr. Dre
Notes: none
Analysis: Now that I’ve sort of accepted that we probably aren’t going to be getting any real new Eminem material off of Relapse, I have to just sit back and take in the music for what it is, which so far has sounded like lost tracks from the Marshall Mathers LP sessions. ‘Old Time’s Sake’ fits that same description, but more in the essence of what it was like to hear Dre & Em rap together for the first time. The song is playful and catchy in a much better way than what ‘We Made You’ was supposed to be, and features Dre’s trademark West Coast keyboard & bass production. This is the type of old Eminem that I can enjoy; a song without outdated celebrity bashing, and without pointless five minute-long hypothetical murder sprees. It’s just Em being Em and it’s something I have to get used to again.
Rating: 7.5
Source: Dajaz1.com

05.03.09

Song: 3am
Artist: Eminem
Album: Relapse
Label: Shady / Aftermath / Interscope Records
Producer: Dr. Dre
Notes: 2nd single from LP
Analysis: The buzz surrounding Relapse is sort of low, thanks to an awful first single and accompanying video, followed up with a single that’s better lyrically, but too brutal to play on any radio station. Thankfully, the video for ‘3am’ is really good. It’s just as harsh as the song and it plays out like a fast-cut slasher film. I’m still kind of torn about whether I’m upset that this is the same Eminem as ten years ago, or happy about it. I’m still going to need to hear the entire album before I can make a judgement on that.

04.23.09

Song: 3 AM
Artist: Eminem
Album: Relapse
Label: Shady / Aftermath / Interscope Records
Producer: Dr. Dre
Notes: 2nd single from LP
Analysis: Maybe because I’m ten years older than I was when Eminem first started this shtick, or maybe because I just got finished reading a sickening story in my local newspaper about a man who killed his own family and then himself (one of several family murder-suicides in a short number of weeks in this country), but hearing a really vivid rap song about a mass killing spree is just not my idea of entertainment anymore. Em is obviously reverting back to his old Slim Shady character here, but as he describes the serial killer’s point of view, I’m not understanding the point of the song. They seem to have no metaphorical value. Is he lyrically dismembering other rappers trying to battle him? Is he hypothetically murdering the beat that Dr. Dre has provided? From what I can tell, the lyrics are meant to be taken as they are, and to be written off as just another Slim Shady fantasy in the vein of ‘Kim’ and ‘Kill You’. So what I’ve learned recently about Eminem, one of my personal favorite rappers ever, is that in ten years he hasn’t changed. He has a formula, and he sticks with it no matter how outdated or pointless it is. And despite his all of his talent, Eminem’s ‘3 AM’ is pretty fucking pointless. It’s really disappointing.
Rating: 5.5
Source: RapRadar

04.07.09

Song: We Made You
Artist: Eminem
Album: Relapse
Label: Shady / Aftermath / Interscope
Producer: Dr. Dre
Notes: 1st single from LP
Analysis: Interesting marketing technique to release your first single for consumption the same day as the music video. Usually there is some time for the lead single to marinate with the public before the visuals are unveiled, but the Interscope team decided that giving both to the fans on the same day is the way to go. It’s a smart tactic, but only if the material is good. The video for ‘We Made You’ is again, the typical video from Em, dressing up as random celebrities in goofy scenarios to go with the weak lyrics. I’m actually glad that we got both of these on the same day, because the sooner this song gets played out, the sooner we get to the juicy stuff that has earned Eminem his crown as one of the best rappers alive. That is, if he still has it in him.

04.07.09

Song: We Made You
Artist: Eminem
Album: Relapse
Label: Shady / Aftermath / Interscope
Producer: Dr. Dre
Notes: 1st single from LP
Analysis: Eminem is stuck in a formula. It’s a formula that has worked for him in the past, but I’m not so sure it’s the direction for Relapse to go. It’s pretty much universally agreed upon that Encore was a disappointment, and five years later, it should be time for Eminem to move past the silly voice rapping and unprovoked celebrity bashing. Maybe it was what made him a household name ten years ago, but they aren’t his strongest musical qualities. ‘We Made You’ is his expected formulaic goofy first single, and even compared to his past lead singles, it’s not so good. It seems like Em is rapping twice as fast as he normally does on this song, trying to fit as many syllables into a bar as he can. But the beat doesn’t keep up with him and it comes off sounding off. The content isn’t much better, talking about wanting to bang Lindsay Lohan, Portia de Rossi, Jennifer Anniston & Sarah Palin, among more, but done without any real cleverness or wit. The saving grace of the song, though, is Dr. Dre’s instrumental. His signature keys & bass are still as heavy as ever, and with a better concept it’d be a better song. But the inside of Eminem’s albums are usually where the best stuff is, not the commercial singles. Here’s hoping that if he’s following a formula for his new record, it’s the one from The Eminem Show and not from Encore.
Rating: 5.0
Source: RapRadar

01.06.09

Song: Crack a Bottle [ft. Dr. Dre & 50 Cent]
Artist: Eminem
Album: Relapse
Label: Shady / Interscope Records
Producer: Dr. Dre
Notes: First single from Relapse
Analysis: Eminem officially returns after a 5 year hiatus (aside from a few compilation albums), and he sounds…meh. That’s not to take away from my excitement for his return, because I have extremely high hopes for Relapse, after the pile of trash that Encore was. But after five years, shouldn’t he seem hungrier than this? His verse on this track is – I hate to say it because I’ve never used this word to describe an Eminem song – almost boring. But, there’s the catchy hook and the Dr. Dre produced circusy beat that both work for me. And it isn’t nearly as annoying as ‘The Real Slim Shady’, which is always good. Dre & 50 Cent also provide verses that aren’t up to their own standards; 50 basically sings half of his and pretty much brings the song down singlehandedly. After ripping into it a bit, I realize that I might be overrating this song, but I am just happy to have Em back on the mic. Here’s hoping the rest of the new material just gets better.
Rating: 7.5
Source: Nah Right