A Review of Eminem's Relapse

Eminem, America's most controversial white rapper, is back with his fifth album Relapse after a well publicized battle with drug addiction, the death of his best friend and a second quick marriage and divorce to the notorious Kim. He's only been gone for a couple of years (see 2005's Curtain Call: The Hits, and late 2006's Eminem Presents the Re-Up), but it feels like much longer as the rapper's last studio album Encore, released in 2004 largely lacked the rapper's trademark acerbic humor and intricate rhymes. It seemed as if his rage had been distilled by his worldwide acceptance, and that his darkly entertaining alter-ego Slim Shady was dissipating before everyone's very eyes. And in 2009, the confluence of events that heightened the impact of earlier Eminem albums-the novelty of an extremely skilled white rapper, Columbine, condemnation by parental and gay rights groups, etc. is absent, replaced by a recession-fueled need for distraction and an '01 Nas- or '06 Jay-Z-level expectation-equal parts anticipation and curiosity. After a mixed bag of promo material: a caustic freestyle I'm Having a Relapse-(that sounded like Eminem circa 1999-2000), an atypically shallow, but popular, duet with 50 Cent and Dr. Dre (Crack a Bottle), and a trademark silly single (We Made You), the planned album begs the question: can Eminem once again create an album worthy of his talents? Can he successfully meld his competing artistic impulses as he did on his debut and The Marshall Mathers LP to create a record equally brilliant, insightful, witty, satirical, and complex? Rising to the occasion, Eminem fills Relapse with some of the most obscene, hilarious, intricate, and focused rhymes of his career.

After the release of his third single 3 A.M., any lingering concerns about his capabilities should be off the table. The use of internal and broken rhyme are as impressive here as his wordplay. And as the leadoff track for the album, it sets the tone for the rest of the album. Clearly Slim Shady, Eminem's foul-mouthed alter-ego, is back. Over the next hour, over a funky collection of Dre beats, Shady proceeds to excoriate and skewer celebrities (Mariah Carey, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, Madonna, and Sarah Palin to name a few), his mother, political correctness, drugs, women, and himself, as well as either imbibe or attack everything in his path. Few songs make complete sense, much as those on his debut, but as on his debut, none is meant to be taken literally. The point is to see how far he can take his rhymes; it's like he's playing the dozens with himself. And it truly is a toss-up as to which song is the most offensive: the finalists are Stay Wide Awake and Insane, but most every other track is a close runner-up.

The concept of rapping the most awful things one can think of has also literary precedent-the work of author William S. Burroughs readily comes to mind. But even given precedent, many may be shocked and appalled by the content. Slim Shady is after all a fiction; Marshall Mathers is a 36-year-old, filthy rich man, and a proud father. But Relapse is Eminem pre-Eminem Show, pre-8 Mile, pre-diamond album sales. This is the vituperative rapper at work, doing what he does best. Check his early work if you forgot.

And it's refreshing how strong and enthusiastic he sounds about his rhyming. The Eminem of Encore sounded mostly put upon and petulant, and the Eminem of The Eminem Show didn't seem much concerned with quotable verses or humor. This time around, Eminem is reveling in the opportunity to entertain. The album is darkly (very darkly) funny and evokes some of the best songs of his career. His lyrical reintroduction Hello is nearly as strong, line for line, as that of The Marshall Mathers LP, I'm Back. Same Song and Dance recalls As The World Turns and '97 Bonnie & Clyde from his debut.Stay Wide Awake is as cringe inducing as Kim, from his second album. And Underground, following the same template as Criminal and Still Don't Give a F---, is more brutal, due to a monstrous Dr. Dre beat and the rapper's passionate delivery.

The lyrics, coupled with the lack of personal material, diss records, or political musings, may alienate those fans of the kinder, gentler Eminem of Lose Yourself. There's nothing crossover here, no Stan, no Sing for the Moment, very little that lends itself to radio play. You're in his head the whole time, or rather Slim Shady's world. And Eminem's life has been so public, his over-the-top claims on 3 A.M. or on Insane, may seem gimmicky, designed merely for shock value. But that's exactly the point; it's what he's been doing for years. This kind of material had more impact when Eminem was still a relatively unknown quantity, and you had a harder time distinguishing his fact from his fiction (who knew until the lawsuit that D'Angelo Bailey of his debut's Brain Damage was a real person?). But because of this, Relapse is akin to Jay-Z's American Gangster: as close a return as possible to the purity of early work.

It is by turns captivating and impressive. Eminem demonstrates his vast repertoire of tricks-internal rhyme, broken rhyme, alliteration, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, amplification, metonymy, onomatopoeia, tonal shifting, singing, storytelling, satire, etc. on practically every track, something few commercial artists have the luxury of doing. Relapse is, in some sense, more exercise than album, but the results are awe-inspiring. This is an emcee's album, and like many similar recent lyrical masterpieces before it: Illmatic, Ready to Die, Reasonable Doubt, Whut? Thee Album, Enter the 36 Chambers, Liquid Swords, Aquemini, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Capital Punishment, Supreme Clientele, Resurrection, Be, Food & Liquor, The Cool, Hell Hath No Fury, and Marshall's own Slim Shady LP and Marshall Mathers LP, it is likely to, at the very least, inspire a generation of aspirants to rededicate themselves to their craft. For the casual listener, the gruesome lyrics may be a turnoff. Then again, they may provide an entertaining diversion. And it's just the kind of album meant to provide an entertaining diversion, largely lacking the autobiographical tracks that saturated his recent work (see Encore's Like Toy Soldiers, Yellow Brick Road, Puke, Crazy in Love, Love You More, Mockingbird, Evil Deeds, We as Americans, and Ricky Ticky Toc).

Rain Man from Encore, revealed that the artist was, at the time, mired in a creative wasteland. Recalling his first single, My Name Is, which first introduced the world to Slim Shady, the hook of Rain Man:

"Cause I ain't got no legs, or no brain
Nice to meet you, hi my name is...I forgot my name!
My aim was not to become what I became; with this level of fame
My soul is possessed by this devil - my new name is...Rain Man"

suggests that he is now unsure of which of his personas should prevail on this album and on future recordings. Instead, at least then, he would be content to be the prodigy, the savant, able to exercise little control of his external environment (the rapidly deteriorating field of hip-hop), and just go where those forces took him. An insightful metaphor for his own drug addiction as well, on Relapse, a rejuvenated Marshall Mathers has decided to exorcise his demons in the way he knows best-externalizing them through Slim Shady, who he reintroduces on the beginning of Hello:

"Hello, allow me to introduce myself
My name is Shady, so nice to meet you
It's been a long time, I'm sorry I've been away for so long
My name is Shady, I never meant to leave you"

Shady or Eminem, the rapper is definitely back in top form, and offers one of the best albums of his career, easily outstripping The Eminem Show, Encore, and everything in between and since. It also easily outstrips about ninety percent of the rap releases of the past five years, and, as such, is a necessity for any hip-hop fan's collection.

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