Eminem's Relapse: Refill: A Review

During his promo run for his first studio album in five years, Relapse (read review), Eminem publicly stated that he had recorded enough material for two albums, and that after the release ofRelapse, he would release a follow-up, Relapse 2, within the same calendar year. As any hip-hop fan knows, no matter how sure an artist seems about a release date, their claim means nothing until you see the record in the store: think Lil Wayne's Tha Carter 3 - two years late, or Dr. Dre's near mythical Detox album - ten years late. And of course, there was some delay with Relapse 2. However, to avoid disappointing his fans, before the year ended, Eminem released Relapse: Refill, a re-release of Relapse with seven new songs to tide them over.

Two of the songs are not quite new. The first, Forever, was the only song on the More Than a Game soundtrack, released earlier in the year, to make any kind of impact. The reason? It features the still rather odd pairing of hip-hop's newest sensation Drake, the self-proclaimed heir to Jay-Z's moniker "the best rapper alive" Lil Wayne, and hip-hop's latest rapper turned singer Kanye West along with the newly rejeuvenated Slim Shady (scratch that, Eminem) on the same song. Everyone brings their A-game - metaphors and similes abound. But it is the rather punchline-less Eminem verse, ostensibly about his return, that makes the most impact, due to his passionate delivery and his use of triple cadence flow (the others vary between regular speed and double-time).

The second "old" song here is Taking My Ball, which was released on the DJ Hero soundtrack, also earlier in 2009. The song's preoccupation with bodily functions and singsong hook are reminiscent of his weaker work on Encore (read review), but his use of internal rhymes is far sharper, making this a throwaway song that's still more interesting than most of 2009's commercial singles.

Then there is the new material: Hell Breaks Loose, Music Box, Elevator, Buffalo Bill, and Drop the Bomb On Em. Of them, Buffalo Bill and Music Box are by far the strongest: Buffalo Bill is extremely similar to Relapse's 3 A.M. in tone, rhyme scheme, and substance (and the Yoda voice in the third verse is rather inspired); and Music Box, which opens up with a verse about cannibalism, gives Stay Wide Awake a run for its money in both shock value and technical precision. If you can stomach the lyrics, bar-for-bar, Music Box, the best of the Refill tracks, showcases an elite emcee at the top of his game.

The remaining tracks work moreso as showcases of Eminem's technical range than compelling songs. Drop the Bomb On Em, features a percussion-heavy Dr. Dre beat, perhaps slightly better suited for a gangsta rapper (Snoop, 50, Game, or even Dre himself), then Shady's sociopathic musings. Here, he plays with the word "boy" rhyming, in a faux Jamaican accent which, while slightly tedious, is a departure from earlier rhyme schemes. Hell Breaks Loose, a messy mishmash of percussion and synths, has both Eminem switching from double-time to triple cadence mid-verse. Eminem's verse is scattershot, and less precise than much of the Refill songs, and the beat coupled with an awkward falsetto hook, diminish the track's replay value, but the record is an interesting initial listen due to the changing cadences. And then there is Elevator, a track a la The Eminem Show (read review)'s My Dad's Gone Crazy, with a pseudo-personal hook, and vitriolic verses that highlight the emcees battle rap skills; its overall consistency makes it the best of the three.

Relapse: Refill, taken as a whole, is a strong statement that not only is Eminem/Slim Shady back in top form, but that he is easily one of the top five active rappers. There may be one or two misfires on Refill, but if you either did not buy Relapse initially or you want to hear some of the best pure emceeing from one of the most talented artists of the past decade (MTV's Hottest Emcees of 2009 list notwithstanding), Relapse: Refill is definitely a worthy purchase.