Eminem — Recovery

For "Relapse", Eminem recorded more material than an album could contain, so he was ready for a direct sequel to be released in 2009. However, the negative critical reaction from the public and reviewers convinced him to discard all the remaining material and start almost from scratch with his new product.

The album opens with "Cold Wind Blows" where the author spits hardcore on an annoying rhythm of Just Blaze, addressing themes dear to his discography. Rnb singer Kobe joins Mathers on track number two, on a beat by DJ Khalil. Mr. Porter makes a criminal attempt at an anthological beat to churn out an ideal soundscape for Eminem's sick fantasies in the horrorcore cut "On Fire". DJ Khalil returns behind the keyboards on the single "Wan't Back Down", where Eminem is joined by Pink in a tasteless rap rock track. The author spits hardcore on the carefree and festive "W.T.P.", on the electro-tinged production designed by Supa Dups and JG. "Going Through Changes" samples Black Sabbath's "Changes" to build one of the Detroit artist's most personal tunes, who faces his life so far over a soulful production by Emile, delivering with determination for five minutes and singing the hook.

"Not Afraid" is a motivational anthem produced by Boi-1da that becomes a global hit, winning 2 MTV VMAs (out of seven nominations) and the Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance, and snatching certifications all over the world, diamond disc in USA (five days after its release) and in Brazil. Boi-1da places the second beat in a row for a sexual joint. With "No Love", Eminem returns to drop a classic, sampling Haddaway's hit "What Is Love". Boom bap dance by Just Blaze, opens the Haddaway sample, mumbled hook. Weezy opens the dance like never before by pulling out one of the best verses of his career in spoken word, therefore in rapping. The hook is divided between Eminem's soulful singing and Lil Wayne's fresh cheerful rapping, spectacular bridge within the chorus with more space for Haddaway, then Eminem, like a hurricane sweeps away everything that came before and everything that will come after.

In "Space Bound", the author narrates a relationship that becomes violent on a hard rock production by Jim Jonsin and with a soul hook by the British singer Steve McEwan, uncredited. For the 11th pick, Mathers, inspired by the 2005 film of the same name, declares he’s regained the championship [rap] belt, spitting bars over a metal-esque beat created by Script Shepherd. DJ Khalil returns behind the keyboards on “25 to Life”, the Detroit rapper delivers hard over a soulful beat in a track where he laments hip-hop in what should be a tribute to the genre, and for a myriad of reasons fails to make history. The boy drops more hardcore bars over a hard beat crafted by Dr. Dre and Nick Brongers for “So Bad”, a breezy tune with sexual undertones.

In the next cut, the author tells the story of his rise in the game, stealing the title from the film of the same name over DJ Khalil's fourth production. The fifteenth choice is the hit single "Love the Way You Lie". Heavy production conceived by Alex da Kid, Rihanna joins Eminem to reflect on their respective abusive relationships with ex-partners: Eminem was on Chris Brown's side, as he claims in the leaked version of his song "Things Get Worse", then here he seems to have changed his mind. In any case, the most successful single in Eminem's discography is born, winning awards everywhere (except at the Grammys, losing all five nominations), is first in 23 countries, best-selling single of the year in Australia and the UK, snatching certifications on five continents. It was certified five times platinum by the RIAA within four months of its release, and diamond in 2013.

Just Blaze creates an electro-dance beat as a soundscape for Eminem's homage to the late Proof in "You're Never Over". Finally, the record is closed by the hidden untitled track produced by Havoc and Magnedo7, not a good track unfortunately. Then there are two bonus tracks, the first is "Ridaz": Eminem is saying nothing for five minutes over a dark, annoying and low-level beat devised by Dr. Dre until he hypocritically shouts out to his group D12, who in this period are recording several tracks for the two Shady records ("Relapse" and this one) that are all discarded by the boy for the final tracklist. In reality, D12 are already practically finished. And this thesis is ironically confirmed by the next track, "Session One", where Mathers inaugurates his brand new group, Slaughterhouse: on a purely hardcore boom bap with rock metal elements created by Just Blaze, Eminem opens the track with a carefree style, then leaves room for Royce da 5'9", Joell Ortiz and Crooked I. The latter two try to impress the lead rapper in one of their rare collaborations with him so far, and fortunately there's no Budden, which makes the track one of the best of the group despite the theme.

Album number seven in his catalog, a year after the previous one. The production is made by Just Blaze, DJ Khalil, Mr. Porter, Supa Dups, Jason "JG" Gilbert, Emile, Boi-1da, Jim Jonsin, Script Shepherd, Dr. Dre, Nick Brongers, Alex da Kid and Havoc. The guests are Lil Wayne and the singers Kobe, Pink and Rihanna. The album removes the skits, so far a constant of his efforts. Widely promoted by the artist before the release, it's received mixed reviews by critics: if the majority of professional reviews are largely positive, the album isn't spared from scathing criticism, in particular according to "Slant" and "Pitchfork" this would be his worst album and one of the worst of the year.

Distributed by Universal, the album confirms that Eminem has not yet returned to his finest levels and installs in fans the doubt that perhaps he will never return there. The boy releases something that is very distant from hip-hop. There's only one guest rapper, Lil Wayne, but more than anything there's an infinity of rnb hooks, sometimes sung by Mathers himself, in addition to a tasteless and generic pop production. The themes are the usual, but this time the misogyny seems to lose the justification of being contained within a horrorcore / hardcore rap album that could somehow round off its boundaries and make it almost legitimate, something that does not happen in the same way in a pop rap album like this. His rapping style doesn't sound as fresh as it used to, on the contrary, it sounds sweaty, drained, monotonous, soporific, completely devoid of any inspiration, confidence and energy, and it fails to hold the listener's attention for all these 77 minutes and it's one of the main reasons why this album sounds bloated and exhausting, impossible to get to the end without skipping half of it. Perhaps only the most hardcore Eminem stans will appreciate this thing, but otherwise it remains a huge fall from someone who was once in the running to be one of the best rappers in the game.

Rating: 3/10.