Eminem — Relapse

After the release of "Encore" (2004), Eminem wants to leave his artistic career to become an artist producer for his own label, Shady Records. In the summer of 2005, he was forced to cancel some dates of his world tour due to a crisis caused by his addiction to sleeping drugs. In the following year, Mathers marries and a few months later divorces Kim a second time, while his best friend, the rapper Proof, dies in a shooting in Detroit. Having fallen into depression, Eminem emerges from a dark period by managing to return to the studio and produce music, working on his next album. However, in late 2007 he ends up in the hospital due to a methadone overdose that almost killed him. He manages to recover from his addiction and becomes and stays sober by the following April.

Eminem subsequently began recording new material for his next album. Having fallen into a period of writer's block, the artist began recording freestyles produced by his long-time collaborator Jeff Bass. Dr. Dre later chose to dedicate himself to Eminem's project, which was supposed to be called "King Mathers", then changed to "Relapse" during 2008. The boy began an intense recording phase, creating enough tracks to release two albums, the second originally called "Relapse 2" and later changed to "Recovery". The project is kept secret until the end, managing to contain leaks and bootlegging as much as possible.

Skit with the actor Dominic West (McNulty in The Wire) as Dr. West, drug counselor who's revealed to be Eminem's alter ego Slim Shady. The first real cut is "3 a.m.", where the author becomes a serial killer who commits murders after his escape to a rehab clinic, over a gloomy boom bap realized by Dr. Dre that set the tone for the whole horrorcore record. According to Complex the first stanza is one of the finest by him. The rock remix of Travis Barker is a gem. It follows another song in which Eminem turns negatively towards his mother, again insisting that his mom's drug abuse has affected his life. Shady sounds not inspired here, West Coast beat by Dre without infamy nor praise. In "Insane", the author also addresses the stepfather accusing him of abusing him, creating a violent and disturbing track.

The next choice starts a series of dissing with Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon over a pungi sample. "Hello" it's an interlocutory joint in which the rapper feels the need to reintroduce Slim Shady, as if he had never done so before. Skit, then "Same Song & Dance", Eminem vents his violent fantasies over a dystopian beat. The author returns serial killer over a festive boom bap in "We Made You", focusing his attention on the world of celebrities in a cheerful banger and second single of the disk. "Medicine Ball" represents a bit of the whole album, the author spits weak, senselessly, without saying anything on an insipid production giving life to useless tracks that don't remain in the memory. "Stay Wide Awake" presents a less-inspired beat, the rapper stretches out his lyrical pattern and lets himself go in yet another horrorcore cut, without adding elements that could take the it to the top. The following choice sees a bouncy boom bap by Dre and Mark Batson in a joint with Dre. "Must Be the Ganja" is another drug anthem, skit, then "Déjà Vu", tied with that skit, where the main producer invents a dark and sharp boom bap to provide the musica carpet to Em, that faces his recent overdose and his drug dependency.

Towards the end of the album, the best track of the whole CD suddenly arrives and goes straight into the greatest hits of the emcee. It has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the disk in every sense. It's the only song recorded by Eminem when he was still in the period of addiction and rehab that the author decides to include in his new album, because it's also the only one of a large group of songs that gives him positive and optimistic feelings, despite being a depressive cut. Self-produced, he lets breathe a sample from Queens and Paul Rodgers' "Reaching Out". Light boom bap, heavy dry drum machine, soft bass, sweet guitar riff. The rapper delivers three verses with a slow, subdued, resigned rapping style, singing the chorus, and realizing one of the deepest, most powerful and personal songs in his discography, recorded in one of the darkest periods of his personal life. Appropriately chosen as the album's final single, is considered as one of his finest tracks post-"Curtain Call".

The last single of the album is followed by the first, "Crack a Bottle": fresh and sunny boom bap created by Dr. Dre, perfect, the author delivers with energy along with Dre himself and 50 Cent, taking the track to the next level. The piece wins the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, also brings the rapper from Detroit to number one on the Hot 100 after "Lose Yourself", reestablishing him as an absolute commercial force in the mainstream. Skit, then comes the final track, "Underground": boom bap gloomy by Dr. Dre at least as much as the previous ones, the producer tries to make it become the sickest, heaviest and most disturbing beat of the entire set and maybe he succeeds. The musical painting is ideal for Eminem, who delivers hardcore for four minutes on one of the most violent tracks of the album and returns to the carefree days of hip-hop in which everything could be said and few really had an opinion on the matter. There are two bonus tracks, "Careful What You Wish For", in which the author performs one of the more serious songs on the album over good production by Mathers, and "My Darling", a self-produced battle between Eminem and Slim Shady.

Final Thoughts

Eminem's sixth studio album, as he returns to the game after his announced retirement. The album is entirely produced by Dr. Dre. Additional beats are provided by Trevor Lawrence Jr., Eminem, Dawaun Parker, Mark Batson and Jeff Bass. Guests include Dominic West, Elizabeth Keener, Paul Rosenberg, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Angela Yee and Steve Berman. The album is a concept about the end of his drug rehab, appearing as a relapse under the influence of drugs (hence the title and the cover, in which the author's image is built from a myriad of pills) and also the return of Slim Shady, inspired by his personal experiences and by criminal and serial killer themes, creating a horrorcore album.

It's the best-selling hip-hop record of the year and one of the best-selling in Canada, certified double platinum. The effort was met with mixed reviews by critics, garnering praise from more favorable reviewers and being panned by more severe critics. The producers believe that the album is rated a classic by retrospective critics, especially because the beats are good, however, even in retrospect, the album is one of the worst in Eminem's catalog. Even the rapper himself considers it his worst album. In fact, it sucks almost everywhere in these 76 minutes, only "Beautiful" is worthy of the author's name.

Rating: 4.5/10.