Eminem’s “Relapse” is the rappers latest album to hit the shelves and has already gone platinum within a week of its release.
“Relapse” comes after a four and a half year hiatus following Eminem’s last album, “Encore”. The hip-hop industry, as well as the American political and economic situation has changed dramatically since then. George W. Bush has gone out and Barrack Obama has come in; there is an economic recession that is threatening to impact America’s hegemony on world affairs. The hip-hop industry has a few new stars, namely Kanye West, Soulja Boy. In other words, the world has changed a lot since Eminem’s last outing.
As an album, “Relapse” is very personal – which is something of an overstatement considering that Eminem has never shied from venting his personal feelings in his songs. The music on “Relapse”, however, is uniformly dark and moody, and the first impression a listener gathers from the album is that Eminem has battled a lot of personal demons to get this album made.
The best two songs by far on the album have to be “Deja Vu”, and “Beautiful”. In “Deja Vu”, Eminem raps about his drug addictions, with a touch of sardonic, if at times masochistic humor. He chronicles his troubles with prescription drugs and the effect its had on his children and his music.
“Beautiful”, on the other hand, is quite in the vein of his earlier hit, “Hailey’s Song”. Its a dark ballad in which Eminem accepts that he “might be done with rap”. Primarily, its addressed to his daughter with an uplifting, inspirational chorus.
The other songs on the album like “3 a.m.”, “Stay Wide Awake”, and “My Mom” follow the same dark and depressive mood, although he does tire out of his rhymes. The other songs like “Insane” and “We Made You” are staple Eminem songs, full of humor, attacking anybody and everybody without discretion. But on an album as moody as this, these two songs feel out of place.
Overall, this might not be his best album. His rhymes have started stuttering, his choruses seem weak, his sense of humor has sagged. But in an industry long associated with flash and commercial values, a heartfelt and honest album like “Relapse” deserves at least one listen.
John writes regularly for the rap blog and rappers at Rappers.org. Visit our site for the latest rap news and interesting insights on your favorite music genre.
|
|
|
Latest Related Twits From Twitter
|
)
