Same Song and Dance: Eminem’s Relapse
12 years after Eminem tried to lock up Cage’s career before it even began, he’s essentially co-opted his fellow white rapper’s schtick: Clockwork Orange rap. Or to scavenge the carrion of rappers wounded in his “5 Star Generals” days, this is closer to what you’d imagine the Insane Clown Posse would do, were they blessed with the ability to rap better than anyone outside of Big Punisher, Pharoahe Monch, or Kool G Rap.
Ian Cohen’s Pitchfork review limns the big picture (and most of the ancilliary details.) Relapse is a devisive record, alright. Intended to viscerally convey an anomic unraveling, it’s unsurprisingly schizophrenic, yet shockingly disturbing. Even if you keep in mind that Eminem is more likely to get botox* than he is to serially murder and rape, there’s something unsettling about hearing him unspool fantasies about dismembering corpses, his creepy fixation with Mariah Carey, and that always fun party topic: graphic psycho-sexual incest tales.
Roughly half of Relapse is un-listenable, the other half re-defines the way people can string words together. All of it is practically unsuited for repeat listenings. It’s like listening to The Craig’s List Killer: The Concept Album. Yet there’s undeniably something great here, buried side-by-side with the faux-Goth malevolence, the homoeroticism dressed up as homophobia (Ken Kaniff, again?), and the execrable radio bids. On a purely technical level, this is easily the most adroitly-rapped album of the year. With some judicious editing and sequencing, this had the potential to be a macabre look inside the mind of a madman–think the Gravediggaz had they not been played for laughs.
But as the Steve Berman skit illustrates, there’s too much riding on this album. With the industry imploded, this might be one of the last true blockbuster rap records. Eminem was the last pre-Internet rap superstar**, and the fact that his new record can’t be readily dismissed, is something of a triumph in itself. Unfortunately, Marshall Mathers and Slim Shady can’t co-exist. For Relapse to have fulfilled its potential, it needed a new structural framework, one free of old formulas, familiar plot devices, and trite skits. For longtime fans of Eminem, the good news is that the bottle’s still full–the bad news is that the pills are stale.
* I refuse to believe that air-brushing is solely to blame for causing a 36-year old man to look like the Gerber Baby.
** You can probably include Jay-Z in there too, and Dr. Dre, should he stop doing power cleans long enough to release Detox.
Download:
MP3: Eminem-”Old Time’s Sake” (Songs removed due to bullshit label threats.)
MP3: Eminem-”3 A.M.”
Stumble It!
May 19th, 2009 at 7:37 am
Power cleans are vital to building explosive strength. Just ask my personal trainer, Timbaland.
May 19th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Great review. You nailed everything I like about the horrorcore tracks. Sad that the album suffers from major-label-overblown-rap-album-itis.
May 19th, 2009 at 11:59 am
everyone keeps mentioning how technically great Em still is…and i guess, from a strictly rhyming standpoint, maybe it’s true (dunno about “redefining” though,) but his flow on this album just kills all that for me. not that i think he should necessarily keep rhyming like on “MMLP,” but he hasn’t switched it up to something as good or better. that, and the production here is trash. kinda funny that even though Dre produced almost the whole thing, Em has the best beat.
good review man
May 19th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Thanks Trey. Agree that the beats on this are generic boiler-plate Scott Storch. Also, congrats on graduating–isn’t that happening right around now? Hopefully, Sherry Lansing was less dull than the speaker I had.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
thanks man, yeah i’m done. no real idea what i’m doing yet though. i’m just hoping that the places i apply to will go “oh isn’t that the school Obama went to for two years? that’s so cool, you’re automatically hired.” if only
May 19th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
At the least the name recognition’s higher now, and you won’t have to field, “is that a dental school,” inquiries.
May 19th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
“the good news is that the bottle’s still full–the bad news is that the pills are stale”
Pretty much sums it up for me. His flow can still, at times, be ridiculous (in the best way), but all the references to pop stars and starlets will date the album horribly by next week.
May 19th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Surfing every channel until I find Hannah Montana than I reach for the aloe and lanolin
Bust all over the wall panel and dismantling every candle on top of the fireplace mantle
Grab my flannel and my bandanna than kiss the naked mannequin man again
You can see him standing in my front window if you look in
I’m just a hooligan who’s used to using hallucinogens, causing illusions again
Brain contusions again, cutting and bruising the skin; razors, scissors, and pens; Jesus when does it end
Mazes that I go through, gazed and I’m so confused, days that I don’t know who, gave these molecules too
Me, what am I gon’ do. Hey! the prodigal son. The diabolical one, very methodical when I slaughter them
—
horrible verse, content wise, but leagues beyond anything Wayne or even Jay, can write. if you can’t appreciate that, than rap might as well be pop music.
May 20th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
I appreciate that verse, but “Bagpipes from Baghdad” with all its Mariah Carey-baiting makes me roll my eyes no matter how well-written his verses are throughout the album.
And, of course, “We Made You.”
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Dick rider here, cmon one had to pop up. . . ok bad pun. W
May 26th, 2009 at 7:44 am
The worst thing to me about the labum is that it’s boring. And unlistenable. (All of it, not half.) Em used to be an honest rapper, even when it made him look bad. Now he’s so determined to be seen as the best that he won’t let himself look soft.
It’s sad. I was a huge fan. At least when Jay-Z got old, he tried to tell the truth about being an loder, rich guy trying to break into the game. Kingdom Come might not have been close to his best album, but it wasn’t boring. Relapse is boring.