Eminem placed himself in exile shortly after Encore wound down, a seclusion initially designed as creative down-time but which soon descended into darkness fueled by another failed marriage to his wife Kim and the death of his best friend Proof, culminating in years of drug addiction. Em none too subtly refers to that addiction with the title of Relapse, his first album in five years, but that relapse also refers to Marshall Mathers reviving Slim Shady and returning to rap. Relapse is designed to grab attention, to stand as evidence that Eminem remains a musical force and, of course, a provocateur spinning out violent fantasies and baiting celebrities, occasionally merging the two as when he needles one-time girlfriend Mariah Carey and her new husband Nick Cannon. Strive as he might to make an impact in the world at large -- and succeeding in many respects -- Relapse is the sound of severe isolation, the product of too many years of Eminem playing king in his castle in a dilapidated Detroit, subsisting on pills, nachos, torture porn, and E! Daily News. As he sifted through junk culture, he also tweaked his rhyming, crafting an elongated elastic flow that contrasts startlingly with Dr. Dre's intensified beats, ominous magnifications of his thud-and-stutter signature. Musically, this is white-hot, dense, and dramatic not just in the production but in Eminem's delivery; he stammers and slides, slipping into an accent that resembles Paul Rudd's Rastafarian leprechaun from I Love You Man and then back again. His flow is so good, his wordplay so sharp, it seems churlish to wish that he addressed something other than his long-standing obsessions and demons. True, he spends a fair amount of the album exorcising his addiction -- smartly tying it to his never-abating mother issues on "My Mom" -- but most of Relapse finds Eminem rhyming twitchily about his old standbys: homosexuals, starlets, and violent fantasies, weaving all of them together on "Same Song and Dance" where he abducts and murders Lindsay Lohan, suggesting more than a passing familiarity with I Know Who Killed Me. The many, many references to Kim Kardashian's big ass and minutely detailed sadism can get a wee bit tiring, Relapse isn't really about what Eminem says, it's about how he says it. He's emerged from his exile musically re-energized and the best way to illustrate that is to go through the same old song and dance again, the familiarity of the words drawing focus on his insane, inspired flow and Dre's production. That might not quite make Relapse culturally relevant -- recycled Christopher Reeve jokes aren't exactly fresh -- but it is musically vital, which is all Eminem really needs to be at this point.
The one thing Relapse gets extremely right is having a strong concept that flows ridiculously well from each song to the next. Quite the feat., when you consider some of the songs are the most twisted things you will hear from a modern day artist. The album is brutally honest, at the same time it [...]
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May 20, 2009 | Cutting through what is likely to be the biggest major-label marketing hype-blitz of the year, it's time to simply check out the music
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It's been five years since Eminem dropped his last solo album Encore. Since then, a lot of shit has happened to Em. Proof's murder, drugs, overdose, rehab...the list keeps going. A question a lot of fans (and probably Em himself) are asking is where the hell does one as high profile and as talented as Em go from here? Back to the beginning, of course. Now, Marshall Mathers' perverted alter ego
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Some people grow up, and others just get older. Em may be closing in on 40, but his rhymes are more immature than ever. It's getting sad -- Flava Flav sad.
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Eminem. Marshal Mathers. Slim Shady. Egotistical homophobe. Drug-riddled rap-star. Lyrical genius. Whatever you want to call the man or however you feel about him, theres no denying that he's possibly one of the biggest names in rap history. Let's rewind for a second, way, way back to when Eminem had just dropped The Slim Shady LP (ten years ago exactly).
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First off I would like to state that Relapse really didn't live up to my expectations. I am not saying I did not like the album but that it wasn't everything it was being hyped up to be. There were songs off of it that I like a lot while others I got sick of really quickly. I think there were four or five skits on this album, and letting all of you know, I hate skits unless they make me piss my.
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6.2 out of 10 starsI think as an Eminem fan and as a hip-hop fan in general, there is a certain level of genius that I have come to expect from this man. If the first half dozen listens of “We Made You” are any indication, the first single from Relapse (what was “Crack A [...]
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Here are the 7 bonus tracks that are included in Eminem’s Relapse: Refill that’s dropping on December 21st. A few of these are old and I’m assuming the new ones are throw away tracks. I see this as a smart move by Marshall – capitalize on the Christmas sales.01. People Make Me02. Taking My Ball03. [...]
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Relapse bonus tracks, anyone? And I did these last two posts concurrently on purpose. Props to X.DOWNLOAD: Eminem - My Darling | MediafireDOWNLOAD: Eminem - Careful What You Wish For | Mediafire
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This video is how I imagine it would be exploring each other's musical collections by becoming them, album by album. A montage of multiple personalities and dripping with pop culture references. (Or more simply, iTunes album flow with an Eminem plug-in?)Eminem's new video for "We Made You" ft. Jessica Simpson, produced by the chronic crusader himself, Dr. Dre: Maaaaaaadness!! This video is b...
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Head over to Spin.com to take a listen to Eminem's new song "Crack A Bottle" featuring Dr. Dre and... of course 50 Cent. Some of you might hear some elements of a beat you have heard before. The beat is similar to Preservation's (producer) beat from the song of the same name, "Preservation," by Aesop Rock & Del Tha Funkee Homosapien off of Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture.Del & Aesop's versio...
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The album is in stores today. Do your part and support hip hop. And since we all know Em has a few screws loose, hit the jump for his latest photo taken…
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It's been five years since Eminem dropped his last solo album Encore. Since then, a lot of shit has happened to Em. Proof's murder, drugs, overdose, rehab...the list keeps going. A question a lot of fans (and probably Em himself) are asking is where the hell does one as high profile and as talented as Em go from here? Back to the beginning, of course. Now, Marshall Mathers' perverted alter ego
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This is a great listen. Eminem takes us through Relapse. From the fucked up fairy tale of Insane to the amount of music actually recorded. Part 2 and 3 are after the jump…Spotted at RR.
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So while I've been sitting on my ass not doing a cot damn thing, folks in Los Angeles have been enjoying Eminem and Jay-Z perform during a DJ Hero event. *sigh… times like these (and many more) are why I hate Las Vegas. And of course, Meka lives 2 minutes from the event and didn't [...]
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This > Relapse. Just saying. Obviously credit to YN.Sidenote: Here is what Em recently said about Asher Roth:I really wanted to check him out because people have been telling me to check him out. And I think the kid is dope. I think he's good and I don't think he sounds like me. It's kinda sad that just because he's white and he raps, then he's automatically gonna get that.PigeonsandPlanes
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First off I would like to state that Relapse really didn't live up to my expectations. I am not saying I did not like the album but that it wasn't everything it was being hyped up to be. There were songs off of it that I like a lot while others I got sick of really quickly. I think there were four or five skits on this album, and letting all of you know, I hate skits unless they make me piss my.
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HOLY SHIT!!!Now I want to see the full video! It will be world premiered on Cinemax Sat, May 2nd at 10pm EST! PigeonsandPlanes
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When Eminem was in the full throes of addiction to alcohol and prescription meds, he turned to his pal Elton John for advice. Needless to say, Sir Elton had a bit of experience in that area."I talk to Elton a lot. We became friends and I talk to him about things, career wise. And he had a substance abuse problem in the past. So when I first wanted to get sober, I called him and spoke to him ab...
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6.2 out of 10 starsI think as an Eminem fan and as a hip-hop fan in general, there is a certain level of genius that I have come to expect from this man. If the first half dozen listens of “We Made You” are any indication, the first single from Relapse (what was “Crack A [...]
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First single off Relapse is officially leaked! And there's a video! Good to see how much Em has matured over the years. Ha the video basically consists of Eminem poking fun at everything that has been on MTV, VH1, and TMZ in the past couple years. Eminem - We Made You PigeonsandPlanes
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Dr. West (Skit) |
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| 2 3 A.M. |
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| 3 My Mom |
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| 4 Insane |
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| 5 Bagpipes from Baghdad |
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| 6 Hello |
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| 7 Tonya (Skit) |
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| 8 Same Song & Dance |
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| 9 We Made You |
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| 10 Medicine Ball |
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| 11 Paul (Skit) |
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| 12 Stay Wide Awake |
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| 13 Old Time's Sake |
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| 14 Must Be the Ganja |
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| 15 Mr. Mathers (Skit) |
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| 16 Déjŕ Vu |
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| 17 Beautiful |
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| 18 Crack a Bottle |
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| 19 Steve Berman (Skit) |
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| 20 Underground |
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Click to purchase…
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 "Relapse")
