Eminem – Relapse
// May 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // Music Reviews
It's that time....
It’s been 5 years since I un-wrapped my copy of Eminem’s “Encore”. I absolutely loved that album and that same feeling of nostalgia came back to me as I opened up that return CD, “Relapse”. But was I gonna feel the same this time around ?
The 1st thing I’ll cover is the message. Lying behind the various light-hearted Dr Dre beats and collection of ridiculous accents used by Em is something dark and sinister. “Insane” is a prime example of that. There were some quite frankly disturbing moments during that song. About how his step father raped him and the babysitter made him watch porn. Them sick-like moments are continued through “Medicine Ball” & “3AM”, neither of which I really feel.
The whole serious message issue is like piss in the wind when you listen to “Bagpipes From Baghdad” & “We Made You”. The first of those containing some harsh words for Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon “i aint playing no fuckin more, nick cannon you prick i wish you luck with the fuckin whore every minute there’s a sucker born” Cannon done not-so-well with his reply, resorting to them playground cusses: Slim Lamey etc etc. We Made You did appeal to me at 1st, but it’s not hard to send for the likes of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan & Kim Kardashian these days. A lot of clowning around is instrumental in ruining this album.
The old 8-mile style emotional tunes are not too far from reach. “Beautiful” is 6 and a half minutes of Slim at his very best, describing the emotions going through his head and why he has been missing for the past 5 years. The same can be found on “Deja Vu” & “Underground” and for those who love the Slim Shady who slags his mother off than “My Mom” is you.
Overall, there are loads of bits on this album that make you want to cheer and shout “Yes, Shady is back”. But there are more points that make you want to hit skip. “Crack A Bottle” could almost be single handedly blamed for the CD’s failure along with “Must Be The Ganja”, “3AM” & “Hello”. Get rid of them and you have an almost decent CD.
Out of 10 ?? Hmmm…gotta be a 5 I’m afraid.
