 | Tracklist:
1. Dr. West
2. 3am
3. My Mom
4. Insane
5. Bagpipes from Baghdad
6. Hello
7. Tonya
8. Same Song & Dance
9. We Made You
10. Medicine Ball
11. Paul
12. Stay Wide Awake
13. Old Times Sake
14. Must Be the Ganja
15. Mr. Mathers
16. Deja Vu
17. Beautiful
18. Crack a Bottle
19. Steve Berman
20. Underground/Ken Kaniff
Release Date: 2009 | |
| | other reviews | Blswylde (4.5)
Eminem is back with a different, but outstanding album.... | sublimefan1991 (4.5)
Accent, schmaccent, this was Em at his straight up sickest in years, if not ever.... | Smevin Bravis (4)
Relapse shows Eminem at the top of his game once again. Brilliant rhymes, great beats, and he flat o... | HollywoodConstantine (3)
Relapse is a mature Slim Shady LP. It is not quite as entertaining as The Marshal Mathers LP and it... | Nihilum (3)
Relapse features an Eminem who can't decide with he's 36 or 26, can't decide if he wants to give a m... | Joe Schmoh (3)
Eminem is the most bipolar motherfucker of all time.... | Jayy (3)
Am I the ONLY one who likes this album?... | themindtrick (2.5)
Relapse - (n.) To regress after partial recovery from illness.... | BenjLaud (2.5)
An album that, for the most part, is not worthy to carry the 'Eminem' name... | Sam A. (1.5)
... | Meatplow (1.5)
... |
On 28 Lists
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| Summary: It's about 10% as good as The Marshall Mathers LP, so how much did you enjoy that? |
Let’s cut to the chase; the big, massive problem with Relapse is that it isn’t The Marshall Mathers LP. People can bitch about how “Oh no, it’s not that, it’s that he isn’t INTO it anymore”. Same stuff, people. Eminem is about 9 years older, well into his 30’s, and if you think he is going to make a song like “Kim” or “Kill You” when he has a teenage kid and a fiscal empire to protect, well, you are pretty naive. Relapse has the same feeling as Encore did and to a lesser extent, The Eminem Show. It ends up landing in the middle of those two, quality wise, and while it surely isn’t up to his potential, it certainly smacks expectations.
A couple of the songs are god awful of course. “We Made You” is probably the worst song Eminem has ever made that is not on Encore, with probably the most offensive use of his new accent. Despite a surprisingly good chorus, Em really stinks up the rest of the song. Then there are the two odes to marijuana, “Old Time’s Sake” and “Must be the Ganja”, which are just retarded songs on the level of “Puke” (Dre’s verse on the former however is up to his usual standards, though).
Most of the other songs are pretty much just new Eminem songs, if you catch my drift. “3am” can get kind of grating because of his accent (who the hell knows why he has decided to adopt it), but otherwise it is one of the biggest throwback songs on the record. “My Mom” is total filler, but isn’t a disgrace to his name besides the weird whiney chorus. To create a trio of mediocre songs, “Bagpipes from Baghdad” features a pretty ill beat but idiotic lyrics targeting Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon. Who cares?
I suppose you could say that’s what is wrong with Relapse, it is almost completely non-sequitur, with no real lyrical substance until the last half of the album. While “Same Song & Dance” shares this, the beat is still something startling for an Eminem song, with a breathy female “ah” in the background. While it is undeniably retro Dre and sounds like something you would have heard in 2002, once you get over the pretension of expecting a revolution, it’s really easy to just enjoy. Outside of the three previously mentioned tracks, after this point the album gets a lot more on point and consistent.
While a number of the other songs are solid, the two standout tracks from the album come right at the end; “Beautiful” and “Underground”. “Beautiful” sees Em tackle the issue that everyone else has been discussing, whether or not he should continue on in hip hop. A strong beat and atmosphere, as Em really reveals his intentions and contemplates whether or not he is done with pretty much everything he has accomplished in the past 10 years. “Underground” has one of the best beats he has ever gotten to utilize, and while the lyrical results are more wtf? than insightful, it’s still a sick song.
Really, most Eminem fans are going to think this is garbage because it is sort of what Eminem set out NOT to create in his early career. It’s a lot of more laid back rhymes and less abrasive beats, and songs that are better enjoyed as commercial pop songs than deep underground classics. He is a completely different artist then he was 9 years ago, and while it is easy to dismiss this as merely completely losing it, it’s more reasonable to just realize he is thirty-something now and doesn’t have the bite and edge he did back in the day. Take Relapse for what it was meant to be, a sometimes silly, sometimes slightly deeper work from Eminem that was made as a release for what he had in his mind, and you have a much better chance of enjoying it than if you were looking for a real “return to form”.
Of course, I’m just kidding. Relapse sucks.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
let's cute to the chase.
| | | Album Rating: 5 | Sound Off
yeah i like the word cute so much it pervades every ounce of my being
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I enjoyed the Marshall Mathers LP 10%. So, I enjoy this 1%.
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here was i thinking you liked this
there are like five songs off this i enjoy the rest range from ok to fucking terrible
| | | Album Rating: 5 | Sound Off
I do like this, probably more than most people
I know it blows though
| | | Album Rating: 1.5 | Sound Off
no shit...nicely done.
Digging: Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music | | | Album Rating: 2
Good review.
This Message Edited On 05.15.09
Digging: fun. - Some Nights | | | Album Rating: 5 | Sound Off
yeah kit brown informed me of this i fixed it
| | | Album Rating: 5 | Sound Off
haha just realized i said the samething about qualitywise as bastard nice Iluvatar
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lololol
congratz?
| | | Album Rating: 5 | Sound Off
i guess its really just that obvious
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aparently
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SIT DOWN JOHN! YOU MOVE AGAIN I'LL BEAT THE SHIT OUTTA YOU!
Really tho, good review. I'll check this out just because, but I'll end up in the same place as you.
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he doesn't have to make songs like kim or kill you, but he can make intelligent hip-hop.
but who am I kidding? Then he would have no fans!
Digging: Meshuggah - Koloss
| | | Album Rating: 3
Good review, though its no where near a 1 imo. Sure theres a few really bad songs (Same Song & Dance) but the rest is pretty solid, though rarely spectacular.
Digging: Beach House - Bloom | | | Album Rating: 5 | Sound Off
Same Song & Dance is one of my favorite songs on it
| | | Album Rating: 3
Same Song & Dance is one of my favorite songs on it
Ive only listened to the album once but that was the song that stood out to me as the worst. Hello was pretty awful too imo.This Message Edited On 05.15.09
| | | Album Rating: 5 | Sound Off
It's a little bit schmucky but I like it
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good review. even the album cover art is shit
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review is way good
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