Relapse Review By Rollingstone

Europe Guy · 05-12-2009, 01:29 PM

4/5 stars

So how did Eminem spend his time off? Drugs, mostly. "I fall in bed with a bottle of meds and a Heath Ledger bobblehead" doesn't even begin to cover it. Relapse, Em's first album in nearly five years, is studded with brand names, but not Lexus or Cristal — more like Lunesta, Ambien, Vicodin, Valium, NyQuil and other brain candy that helped Marshall Mathers turn himself into a zombie, before he got clean last year. It's hard to keep all the drugs on this album straight, but that's probably the point. Relapse is like a hip-hop version of Richard Pryor's Live on the Sunset Strip, the classic 1982 stand-up flick where Pryor makes the audience squirm through jokes about freebase addiction and setting himself on fire. If it's stronger than his last album, Encore, that's because Em's doing what he does best: cleaning out his closet. And there's more psychotic shit piled up in there than ever.

The power of Relapse comes from Em aiming his beat-downs at his truest target, himself. By letting Dr. Dre take over the low-end-funk production, and rhyming about things he actually cares about, he comes up with a more painful, honest and vital record than anyone could have expected at this late date, up there with The Eminem Show or maybe even better. The album it recalls most is his 1999 major-label debut, The Slim Shady LP, from the stripped-down Dre beats to the self-lacerating wordplay. There are no familiar pop samples from Aerosmith or Martika or Heart, no rock choruses, no guest cameos beyond a couple of verses from Dre and 50 Cent. Instead, Em gets down to business, because this guy's got real problems. (None of which he blames on his ex-wife, Kim, who isn't even mentioned — whew.) "What's a beer?" he asks at one point. "That's a devil in my ear/I been sober a fucking year/And that fucker still talks to me, he's all I can fucking hear."

"Déjà Vu" is a brutally funny confessional, unpacking the whole gruesome story of where Em's been lately: addiction, rehab, overdoses, ambulances, hiding his pills from his daughter in video boxes. When he went to the hospital in December 2007, it was reported as pneumonia, but Em admits, "That whole pneumonia thing/That was baloney/Was it the methadone, ya think?" When Hailie finds him passed out in his car with a bag of Three Musketeers bars, he makes excuses and pops more pills: "It's 12 noon, ain't no harm in self-inducing a snooze/What else is new?/Fuck it/What would Elvis do in your shoes?" He's always made a joke out of identifying with Elvis, but the joke stings a little more now that he's passing out cold on the bathroom floor.

Sobriety hasn't brightened his personality, that's for sure. "Insane" begins, "I was born with a dick in my brain/Fucked in the head," and goes on to elaborate a disturbing tale of childhood molestation. "My Mom" takes on a familiar object of scorn, but with the claim that his mom is exactly who he's turned into, drugging himself into a stupor in front of his kid. In the singsong chorus, he chants, "I'm on what I'm on/Because I'm my mom." At the end, he mutters, "Sorry, Mom. I still love you, though." (Good Lord, is he doing Step Nine? Because that will take him at least three or four entire albums!)

Just as Richard Pryor looked miserable taking audience requests for corny old Mudbone routines, there are songs here where Em flogs himself through the motions to rehash same-old shtick. The singles "Crack a Bottle" and "We Made You" are two of the weakest cuts, recycling beyond-stale boasts and celebrity disses. (Who were Amy and Blake, again?) In phony woman-baiting and gay-hating rants like "Stay Wide Awake," he sounds like an old retired hockey coach yelling at the kids on his lawn. In moments like these, he sounds unsure of himself, trying to guess what people expect from him, and that eager-to-please sweat doesn't suit him. It's no coincidence that the one where he raps about killing Lindsay and Britney is called "Same Song and Dance," as if even he realizes how played-out these jokes are — the only shocker is that he left out Nicole Richie.

He sounds more honestly screwed up in "Beautiful," his touching attempt at an inspirational ballad, singing, "Don't let them say you ain't beautiful" in his gawky voice. On the other end of the emotional spectrum, there's "Old Time's Sake," where Dre drops tasteless lines about getting Em stoned again. "Medicine Ball" goes back to cracking mean jokes about poor old Christopher Reeve — but in one of the album's funniest moments, Em turns himself into Reeve so the late, great Superman can get the last word in from beyond the grave: "Eminem, I'm coming to kill you/I always hated you and I still do."

There's a lot of hate on Relapse. Eminem hates himself for getting sober only slightly less than he hates himself for doing drugs in the first place. He hates himself for being famous, for hating his mom, for taking so long to make this album. (In one skit, his old nemesis Steve Berman taunts him, "You hide out in Detroit for almost five years while the music industry melts the fuck down? You know how many people lost their jobs because of your fucking vacation?") All that negative energy helps him fight the temptation to become comfortably numb. If you hate Em, he probably wouldn't blame you. But Relapse is reason to be glad he's still around.

Europe Guy · 05-12-2009, 02:00 PM

the last album they gave at least 4 stars was Nas Untitled.
lmfaoo at them giving T.O.S. 1,5 and Soulja Boy 2

ImmortalTechnique · 05-12-2009, 02:28 PM

pretty good review, even if it focuses on content (which was the weaker side of the album) and mostly ignores the craft

DaKillahWitNoFace · 05-12-2009, 02:42 PM

Get outta here man. Rolling stone magazine needs to stick to rock.

JoshNeal123 · 05-12-2009, 03:01 PM

There are moment's of this review I disagree with. Like the bad remarks about Beautiful, Same Song & Dance & Stay Wide Awake. Other than that its great to see this album get such a good response from a credible source.

Precinct Phantom · 05-12-2009, 03:13 PM

gd read.
Gd 2 c the album getting a nice reception as well!

xPaperPlanes78x · 05-14-2009, 08:30 PM

good shit....naw i loved beautiful but found it werid...it just felt weird coming from EM..but overall a very very solid album! best part is i get another cd this year...awww yea

Mazarati1986 · 05-15-2009, 10:01 AM

Low end funk???? What THE FUCK.???????????/

Funk and Eminem do not belong in the same sentence

Threyev · 05-17-2009, 03:43 PM

i thought some of the lyrics were hot, but couldn't get into it because eminem's voice drove me crazy, and a lot of the beats were pretty weak.

Mcca555 · 05-17-2009, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by khoop07

i thought some of the lyrics were hot, but couldn't get into it because eminem's voice drove me crazy, and a lot of the beats were pretty weak.

word

Audible · 05-18-2009, 01:05 PM

Hell yeah....I think Rolling Stones' reviews are the closest to the truth

Audible · 05-18-2009, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by khoop07

i thought some of the lyrics were hot, but couldn't get into it because eminem's voice drove me crazy, and a lot of the beats were pretty weak.

Not true...listen to it again...and don't think of it as eminem, slim shady, or marshall mathers...imagine he designed a whole new name....don't judge it and you'll hear what everyone else is hearing

05-12-2009, 01:29 PM	#1
Europe Guy Veteran Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Lithuania Posts: 2,280 Repped: 501 Repped 224 Times in 108 Posts Neg Reps: 0 Neg Repped at 12 Times in 12 Posts	Relapse Review By Rollingstone Relapse Review By Rollingstone 4/5 stars So how did Eminem spend his time off? Drugs, mostly. "I fall in bed with a bottle of meds and a Heath Ledger bobblehead" doesn't even begin to cover it. Relapse, Em's first album in nearly five years, is studded with brand names, but not Lexus or Cristal — more like Lunesta, Ambien, Vicodin, Valium, NyQuil and other brain candy that helped Marshall Mathers turn himself into a zombie, before he got clean last year. It's hard to keep all the drugs on this album straight, but that's probably the point. Relapse is like a hip-hop version of Richard Pryor's Live on the Sunset Strip, the classic 1982 stand-up flick where Pryor makes the audience squirm through jokes about freebase addiction and setting himself on fire. If it's stronger than his last album, Encore, that's because Em's doing what he does best: cleaning out his closet. And there's more psychotic shit piled up in there than ever. The power of Relapse comes from Em aiming his beat-downs at his truest target, himself. By letting Dr. Dre take over the low-end-funk production, and rhyming about things he actually cares about, he comes up with a more painful, honest and vital record than anyone could have expected at this late date, up there with The Eminem Show or maybe even better. The album it recalls most is his 1999 major-label debut, The Slim Shady LP, from the stripped-down Dre beats to the self-lacerating wordplay. There are no familiar pop samples from Aerosmith or Martika or Heart, no rock choruses, no guest cameos beyond a couple of verses from Dre and 50 Cent. Instead, Em gets down to business, because this guy's got real problems. (None of which he blames on his ex-wife, Kim, who isn't even mentioned — whew.) "What's a beer?" he asks at one point. "That's a devil in my ear/I been sober a fucking year/And that fucker still talks to me, he's all I can fucking hear." "Déjà Vu" is a brutally funny confessional, unpacking the whole gruesome story of where Em's been lately: addiction, rehab, overdoses, ambulances, hiding his pills from his daughter in video boxes. When he went to the hospital in December 2007, it was reported as pneumonia, but Em admits, "That whole pneumonia thing/That was baloney/Was it the methadone, ya think?" When Hailie finds him passed out in his car with a bag of Three Musketeers bars, he makes excuses and pops more pills: "It's 12 noon, ain't no harm in self-inducing a snooze/What else is new?/Fuck it/What would Elvis do in your shoes?" He's always made a joke out of identifying with Elvis, but the joke stings a little more now that he's passing out cold on the bathroom floor. Sobriety hasn't brightened his personality, that's for sure. "Insane" begins, "I was born with a dick in my brain/Fucked in the head," and goes on to elaborate a disturbing tale of childhood molestation. "My Mom" takes on a familiar object of scorn, but with the claim that his mom is exactly who he's turned into, drugging himself into a stupor in front of his kid. In the singsong chorus, he chants, "I'm on what I'm on/Because I'm my mom." At the end, he mutters, "Sorry, Mom. I still love you, though." (Good Lord, is he doing Step Nine? Because that will take him at least three or four entire albums!) Just as Richard Pryor looked miserable taking audience requests for corny old Mudbone routines, there are songs here where Em flogs himself through the motions to rehash same-old shtick. The singles "Crack a Bottle" and "We Made You" are two of the weakest cuts, recycling beyond-stale boasts and celebrity disses. (Who were Amy and Blake, again?) In phony woman-baiting and gay-hating rants like "Stay Wide Awake," he sounds like an old retired hockey coach yelling at the kids on his lawn. In moments like these, he sounds unsure of himself, trying to guess what people expect from him, and that eager-to-please sweat doesn't suit him. It's no coincidence that the one where he raps about killing Lindsay and Britney is called "Same Song and Dance," as if even he realizes how played-out these jokes are — the only shocker is that he left out Nicole Richie. He sounds more honestly screwed up in "Beautiful," his touching attempt at an inspirational ballad, singing, "Don't let them say you ain't beautiful" in his gawky voice. On the other end of the emotional spectrum, there's "Old Time's Sake," where Dre drops tasteless lines about getting Em stoned again. "Medicine Ball" goes back to cracking mean jokes about poor old Christopher Reeve — but in one of the album's funniest moments, Em turns himself into Reeve so the late, great Superman can get the last word in from beyond the grave: "Eminem, I'm coming to kill you/I always hated you and I still do." There's a lot of hate on Relapse. Eminem hates himself for getting sober only slightly less than he hates himself for doing drugs in the first place. He hates himself for being famous, for hating his mom, for taking so long to make this album. (In one skit, his old nemesis Steve Berman taunts him, "You hide out in Detroit for almost five years while the music industry melts the fuck down? You know how many people lost their jobs because of your fucking vacation?") All that negative energy helps him fight the temptation to become comfortably numb. If you hate Em, he probably wouldn't blame you. But Relapse is reason to be glad he's still around.

05-12-2009, 02:42 PM	#4
DaKillahWitNoFace Veteran Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Queen$, New York Posts: 2,538 Repped: 708 Repped 1,782 Times in 202 Posts Neg Reps: 1 Neg Repped at 7 Times in 5 Posts	Get outta here man. Rolling stone magazine needs to stick to rock. Last edited by DaKillahWitNoFace; 05-16-2009 at 12:18 AM.

05-12-2009, 03:13 PM	#6
Precinct Phantom Veteran Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Lincoln Posts: 1,229 Repped: 282 Repped 125 Times in 95 Posts Neg Reps: 2 Neg Repped at 22 Times in 20 Posts	gd read. Gd 2 c the album getting a nice reception as well! __________________ Links you need to checkout: myspace.com/precinctphantom myspace.com/grandangel510 myspace.com/macwasey

05-14-2009, 08:30 PM	#7
xPaperPlanes78x Swagga on a hundred thous Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Atlanta Posts: 485 Repped: 30 Repped 84 Times in 54 Posts Neg Reps: 5 Neg Repped at 31 Times in 24 Posts	good shit....naw i loved beautiful but found it werid...it just felt weird coming from EM..but overall a very very solid album! best part is i get another cd this year...awww yea __________________ If you rep me ill do the same...

05-18-2009, 01:05 PM	#11
Audible YouTube.com/Audible484 Join Date: May 2005 Location: Sunny Southern Cali Posts: 2,998 Repped: 1,381 Repped 832 Times in 188 Posts Neg Reps: 0 Neg Repped at 0 Times in 0 Posts	Hell yeah....I think Rolling Stones' reviews are the closest to the truth __________________ Audible : Myspace.com/TheeAudible

05-12-2009, 02:00 PM	#2
Europe Guy Veteran Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Lithuania Posts: 2,280 Repped: 501 Repped 224 Times in 108 Posts Neg Reps: 0 Neg Repped at 12 Times in 12 Posts	the last album they gave at least 4 stars was Nas Untitled. lmfaoo at them giving T.O.S. 1,5 and Soulja Boy 2

05-12-2009, 02:28 PM	#3
ImmortalTechnique OPEN WIDE! Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Brew City, Milwaukee Posts: 3,041 Repped: 188 Repped 845 Times in 371 Posts Neg Reps: 7 Neg Repped at 231 Times in 140 Posts	pretty good review, even if it focuses on content (which was the weaker side of the album) and mostly ignores the craft

05-12-2009, 03:01 PM	#5
JoshNeal123 Jay Daniels Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Sydney Posts: 1,188 Repped: 86 Repped 492 Times in 101 Posts Neg Reps: 17 Neg Repped at 87 Times in 44 Posts	There are moment's of this review I disagree with. Like the bad remarks about Beautiful, Same Song & Dance & Stay Wide Awake. Other than that its great to see this album get such a good response from a credible source.

05-15-2009, 10:01 AM	#8
Mazarati1986 Banned Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 1,533 Repped: 233 Repped 271 Times in 151 Posts Neg Reps: 101 Neg Repped at 65 Times in 48 Posts	Low end funk???? What THE FUCK.???????????/ Funk and Eminem do not belong in the same sentence

05-17-2009, 03:43 PM	#9
Threyev Join Date: May 2006 Location: The Bronx Posts: 553 Repped: 82 Repped 46 Times in 29 Posts Neg Reps: 3 Neg Repped at 5 Times in 5 Posts	i thought some of the lyrics were hot, but couldn't get into it because eminem's voice drove me crazy, and a lot of the beats were pretty weak.

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