Eminem - Relapse (2009)
Sometime after the awful disappointment that was "Encore" in 2004, Eminem announced he was going away for good, due to the death of his best friend Deshaun 'Proof' Holton, who is also a member of D12, and his depression/drug use was at an all-time high because of it. Fortunately enough, he survived an overdose and decided to pick the microphone up for the first time in five years to hit the mainstream again, which really shocked people to see him with his natural brown hair instead of the dyed blonde, and people were really excited to see what he'd put out next, hopefully in the same vein as "The Marshall Mathers LP", but when Eminem dropped this.. Fuck. Everyone shut up, aside from the very vocal haters of the album. This is undeniably the black sheep in Eminem's discography, even more so than "Encore" ever was, because at least with that album, people understood it sucked, but it was still within a few degrees of what they liked to listen to Eminem for in the first place, although it was drugged out to fucking shit. Now, this album? This album is something different entirely. This album is.. FUCKIN' GREAT.
On this album, which is produced entirely by Dr. Dre for the most part, Eminem returns after having devoured an entire dictionary, and decided to do something unheard of: Throughout the entire album, Eminem constantly raps in different accents to explore previously undiscovered flows, and to make words rhyme that normally wouldn't. This divided a LOT of people, and when I heard it in 2009, I thought "this is fucking bullshit" as I heard Eminem imitate a fuckin' Jamaican accent, and this complete fuckin' dumbass I knew asked me "Isn't it weird how Eminem is the only Mexican rapper on the radio?" and I cringed severely and said "Immortal Technique should be on the radio" which makes me cringe so much more years later, and even though my brother kept insisting "No, it's actually a pretty good album!!" I let it fly under my radar entirely because I had better things to listen to, like the exotic sounds of a million ska-punk bands that I couldn't really tell apart that well. This was also during the timeframe that I thought Megadeth was a death metal band (even though I had never listened to them) because of their name, but it turns out they're just.. There!
Along with rapping in various accents, this album is even nastier than "The Marshall Mathers LP" was at its most obscene. This album features Eminem pretty much non-stop describing murders, rapes, being molested, and drugs (GASP!) in such graphic detail that it makes you want to email the dude (I imagine his email address is noteminem@eminem.com or something) just to try to get information out of him as to his whereabouts so you can call the fucking cops on him. I mean, when this dude is saying "Don't you know what felch means? (Yeah!) Well, then tell me: Would you rather get felched or do the felching? Fuck 'em in the ass, suck the cum out while you belchin'. Burp, belch, then go back for a second helping." you have to wonder what the fuck was going through his mind, but surprisingly enough, he was completely sober for this album. Funnily enough, Eminem came up with his most disgusting and graphic lyrics through this entire album without the help of any substance, which, to nail that home: He was high for the entire time of "The Marshall Mathers LP" in Amsterdam.
There are so many songs on here that feel a shitload more genuine than his previous threats in songs, like in "Same Song & Dance" in which he describes kidnapping three women, one of which being fictional, and two being Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, with the title alluding to them screaming and trying to kick out the windshield during it. This album is just pretty fuckin' dark, but no matter how dark it gets, the flows are ABSOLUTELY INSANE. It sounds like he's doing lyrical gymnastics in a lot of these songs, with "Hello" being a prime example as he flows so effortlessly over such a simplistic beat, or the second verse of "Stay Wide Awake" in which he drops one of the most lyrical verses of his entire career, with him rhyming 14 ENTIRE FUCKING LINES with each other with a shitload of internal and multi-rhymes, along with rapping about opening an umbrella inside of a girl (oh FUCK). It's not that he's just entertaining to listen to on this album: He destroys dictionaries in the attempt to make the most complicated verses he can, while rhyming words that you normally wouldn't be able to rhyme together.
This album temporarily takes a break away from the murder, rape, and drug themes in the form of "We Made You" which is such a cringeworthy way to try to capitalize on "HEY, I'M SLIM SHADY!! I'M BACK!! LISTEN TO ME INSULT THESE CELEBRITIES!! YOU CAN'T GET RID OF ME HAHAHA!!" in the way that "The Real Slim Shady" did, but it just doesn't even fucking come close to succeeding as a great single or even a particularly noteworthy song at all. The other song is a song that I roasted my old friend Mark (nicknamed "Moto", I wonder what he's up to nowadays) for crying to "Beautiful", but truth be told, the song lives up to its title. I normally hate when Eminem tries to be inspirational but dammit, he really hits home on this song and sounds like he's genuinely speaking to you directly, and also of note is that it's the only song for this album he actually recorded while trying to recover from his drug addiction, and you can hear it in his voice. There's so many imperfections to the song, but it helps nail the message of "I'm going through some shit right now, but I believe I can get through it, and so can you" and it's just.. Fucking great. It's honestly really fucking great, and should've ended the album, but instead, it's followed by a few more songs with the theme of "I'm a fucking psycho" so that hurts the album, especially since the last song "Underground" is disappointing compared to his typical "holy shit, this might be the best song" last songs on his albums (excluding "Infinite" and "The Eminem Show", y'know), especially since the track sounds so much like "I'LL SAY WHATEVER I WANNA. I JUST SAID "FAGGOT" WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO" which had been done to death by him at this point, but still.
An old friend once told me "You know what would be funny? Put up an ad on Craigslist as someone you hate, saying you LOVE rough sex, and give your address to a really shady guy, saying that you want to really indulge the fantasy by having him smash open your window and take control of you." and while that's painfully unfunny and fucked up, that sounds exactly like the shit Eminem would've laughed at and said "holy shit, I gotta write that into a song" when recording this album, to give you a further idea of the content of it. This album definitely won't rest well with a lot of people, due to the graphic nature of the lyrics and the whole accents thing, but honestly, it's a great album for what it is. It's an album that truly defines the horrorcore genre down to a T much better than Esham or Insane Clown Posse ever did, and while it's far from being perfect, it's still something that's definitely worth checking out, especially if you want to hear Eminem somehow be even more offensive and extreme than ever before. I feel like a dumbass for not having enjoyed this album in 2009, and you most likely will as well, or els- OH NO, A STAN HAS THE KEYBOARD NOW!! ENIEME WILL FUKCIGN KILL YOU MOTHERFCUEEK oh fuck I have the keyboard back!! Thank the fucking Lord that I don't end my reviews on cheesy shit like that except for when I do. Shh.
8/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
