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Opinion: Eminem - Relapse 
Sat, May 23
01. Dr. West (Skit) (Produced By Dr. Dre And Eminem)
02. 3 a.m. (Produced By Dr. Dre)
03. My Mom (Produced By Dr. Dre)
04. Insane (Produced By Dr. Dre)
05. Bagpipes From Baghdad (Produced By Dr. Dre And Trevor Lawrence, Jr.)
06. Hello (Produced By Dr. Dre And Mark Batson)
07. Tonya (Skit) (Produced By Dr. Dre And Eminem)
08. Same Song And Dance (Produced By Dr. Dre And Dawaun Parker)
09. We Made You (Produced By Dr. Dre And Eminem)
10. Medicine Ball (Produced By Dr. Dre And Mark Batson)
11. Paul (Skit)
12. Stay Wide Awake (Produced By Dr. Dre)
13. Old Time’s Sake Ft. Dr. Dre (Produced By Dr. Dre And Mark Batson)
14. Must Be The Ganja (Produced By Dr. Dre And Mark Batson)
15. Mr. Mathers (Skit) (Produced By Dr. Dre And Eminem)
16. Deja Vu (Produced By Dr. Dre)
17. Beautiful (Produced By Eminem)
18. Crack A Bottle Ft. Dr. Dre And 50 Cent (Produced By Dr. Dre)
19. Steve Berman (Skit)
20. Underground (Produced By Dr. Dre)
Via KevinNottingham
Five years ago was when we last heard an Eminem album (if you don’t count The Re-Up). Starting with his critically-panned Encore, Eminem went into a downward spiral that included the cancellation of the European leg of his Anger Management tour, his second divorce from the infamous Kim, and the tragic death of best friend and fellow D12 member, Proof. Eminem turned to sleeping pills to help him cope, and became addicted, making him a refugee from the spotlight and eventually led him to thoughts of suicide. But thanks to rehab, Eminem cleaned up and hit the studio with Dr. Dre to have a relapse with his favorite drug of all: hip-hop. With his new album Relapse, Eminem tackles familiar topics: drugs, addiction, celebrities, his mom, absurd violence, and some deeply personal stories. Is Eminem back? Hell yeah…
While the topics may not be fresh, it’s the Eminem that everyone clamored for when the silly Encore dropped. Relapse is something like a perfect storm of the many elements of Eminem: he brings the lyrical ability and complex rhyme schemes that he demonstrated on Infinite, the dark, maniacal serial-killer mentality of The Slim Shady LP, and the song-by-song structure of The Marshall Mathers LP. Add in some of the silliness and commerciality of Encore and you have Relapse.
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The album kicks off with actor Dominic West (of The Wire fame) portraying a doctor that Eminem visits as he checks out of rehab. Dr. West proceeds to reveal himself as a manifestation of Slim Shady’s addiction, trying to get him to relapse. The intro is spot-on, as it seamlessly transitions into Eminem’s horrific realization that he’s a serial killer on “3am.” Right off the bat, Eminem is establishing that this album isn’t going to be some commercial hodge-podge that many feared Relapse would be, based off the lead singles. He comes out of the gate with bloody corpses and Silence of the Lambs references. He follows it up with the neck-breaking “My Mom,” a rather funny tribute to his much-maligned mother Debbie and her love of Valium and other painkillers, a habit that she passes down to him through putting it in his food, among other things. Debbie is an old topic, but the song’s too good and too funny to dismiss just because we’ve heard it before. Eminem’s impression of his mother is still as funny as ever.
Next up is “Insane,” a song that’s equal parts obscenely graphic and imaginative, and most definitely disturbing. Eminem addresses being sexually assaulted by his stepfather, and the descriptions are cringe-worthy. Dr. Dre puts the “Psycho”-esque strings to work to give the song a haunting feel that serves as the background and basis as to why Slim Shady is as crazy as he is. He follows with similarly-themed joints like “Medicine Ball,” “Stay Wide Awake,” and “Underground,” tracks that stay on the serial-killer vibe. It’s like he’s unleashed his Slim Shady persona to wreak havoc all over Relapse, something we haven’t seen him effectively do since the Marshall Mathers LP.
Overall Score: 85/100
Read the rest here
Also, via NappyAfro
4 albums, 24 or so times platinum on those albums, winner of Vibe’s “Best Rapper Alive” tournament, and a life as THE benchmark for all white rappers and most wordsmiths entering the game….no pressure. Oh, not to mention that this album is one of the most anticipated albums in the past 5 years, second only to Detox. Let’s get Wright into this one, the wait is over.
1. Dr. West (skit)
Featuring Dominic West; Produced by Dr. Dre & Eminem
I’m not going to try and break things down to the nth degree, but this lead in is dope. I look at it as a great metaphor to what folks deal with on a regular basis. The more you try and do better and evolve, the more folks want you to fall into your old ways. The same folks you look at to help you motivate and change tend to try and hold you back in one way or another. Sometimes, that person is even your own voice. No, I’m not on drugs…just what I get from it.
2. 3am
Produced by Dr. Dre
What better way to open an album than with a 5 minute story complete with dead bodies, chases, blackouts, abuse and self mutilation, and a quote from Silence of The Lambs as the chorus. Eminem is at his grizzly best on this one. One of my favorite songs he’s ever done. Dr. Dre somehow keeps getting better…I don’t understand. He’s not overly complex, he doesn’t sample the world but what he does is just make shit to keep ya heads ringin’. This song is a flawless victory.
3. My Mom
Produced by Dr. Dre
I really like this track, it feels so Hip-Hop. The horns and drum variations on this one keep it funky for me. You can tell by the title, it’s another song about his mom and the drug use and abuse (shout out to lawsuits). If Em is nothing else, he’s consistent. This song is a fun song to me and would really fit in well on the Slim Shady debut* album.
Eminem’s first official album was Infinite.
4. Insane
Produced by Dr. Dre
I think the name for this song is based on the beat. I love this track! Eminem kills this shit too. Now, it is Eminem, I’m sure that typing the lyrics out will make you cringe. But rest assured my man is on top of his game on this one. I’d put this right up there with one of his best songs too.
5 Bagpipes From Baghdad
Produced by Dr. Dre &Trevor Lawrence
Hey, sometimes Hip-Hop comes with bagpipes I guess. This track comes off a lot better than some other stuff that is currently out in the same vein as this. “Mariah whatever happened to us/why did we have to break up/all I asked for was a glass of punch/see I never really asked for much/I can’t imagine what’s/going through your mind after such/a nasty break up with that Latin hunk.” Eminem has his sights on Mariah for this song and even with a topic that I don’t care for much (not a big Mariah fan) his lyrics don’t falter on this one. I dig his delivery and flow on this one completely. Oh, shouts out to Nick Cannon who’s taken offense from Eminem of all people. If a man can get sued by his own mom, I doubt he gives a shit about you being upset.
6. Hello
Produced by Dr. Dre & Mark Batson
Flat out, if Dr. Dre has beats better than the ones he’s putting on this album, Detox may very well be one of the best albums ever. This is another beat that goes hard as hell. “I don’t mean any harm all I wanted to do was just say hello/and are you menstruating baby my lil’ friend is waiting to say hello/the way your titties are wigglin and your booty’s shaking like jello/girl I don’t mean any harm all I wanted to do was just say hello”. The hook on this one is catchy as hell, can’t front on it at all.
7. Tonya (skit)
Nice set up for the next song, sick as usual, but it works well.
8. Same Song & Dance
Produced by Dr. Dre & Dewaun Parker
Serial killer song anyone? The track goes with this horror movie made Hip-Hop song quite well. Methodical and haunting back drop as Eminem paints the picture as a serial killers confession comes to life. Hey, you listen to drug deals and shoot outs on albums, why should this be any different? I’m diggin’ this one…no Manson-O.
9. We Made You
Produced by Dr. Dre, Doc Ish, & Eminem
We featured this one on the site, most of you didn’t like it…I was with you. It has since grown on me, mostly influenced by the beat. When you listen to Em, it’s not a bad song at all. I think his videos are sometimes to off the wall, that we don’t pay attention to what he’s saying. “Damn girl, I’m beginning to sprout an alfalfa/why should I wash my filthy mouth out/you think that’s bad you should hear the rest of my album.” Well said homie.
10. Medicine Ball
Produced by Dr. Dre & Mark Batson
At this point, I can’t do anything but shake my head at the tracks I’ve heard thus far. The production on this album is scary good. Dr. Dre is giving Eminem some dope ass tracks and Eminem somehow manages to step it up as well. Right from the offset, “Welcome to the Slim Shady Mecca, Rebecca/it’s the village in New York right next to the Tribeca/it’s my secta’(sector)/homosexual disecta’/come again, rewind selecta’/I said nice rectum/I had a vasectomy Hecta’/so you can’t get pregnant if I buy sex and errectya.” The hook on this one is just as ill. “I guess it’s time for you to hate me again/Let’s begin now hand me the pen/how should I begin it and where does it all end/my medicine ball, you’re in my medicine ball friends.” Damn…he didn’t have to bring up Christopher Reeves though.
11. Paul (skit)
This skit will never get old to me
12. Stay Wide Awake
Produced by Dr. Dre
I don’t know what else to say. From here on out, I’ll only try and mention Dre in the review if there is something else to say other than “another dope beat by Dre” cause he’s really got his foot in this shit. Eminem vocally rides the beat and when it builds and the guitar comes in, Eminem gets even more frantic with it.
13. Old Times Sake
Featuring and Produced by Dr. Dre
This beat sounds like a leftover from Chronic 2001. I think the real tragedy is that Dre may have written his own lyrics on this one. Eminem even sounds more pedestrian on this one. I’m sure this one is aimed at the radio as it was released as a single. I’m not feeling this song in relation to the rest of the album. It’ doesn’t really fit well on here at all.
Overall Score: 4/5
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01. Dr. West (Skit) (Produced By Dr. Dre And Eminem) 02. 3 a.m. (Produced By Dr. Dre) 03. My Mom (Produced By Dr. Dre) 04. Insane (Produced By Dr. Dre) 05. Bagpipes From Baghdad (Produced By Dr. Dre And Trevor Lawrence, Jr.) 06. Hello (Produced By Dr. Dre And Mark Batson) 07. Tonya (Skit) [...]
Source: oghiphop.com
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