My Relapse Review
I wanted to wait awhile and play the album through a dozen or so times so that I could give a fair review of the album.
Let me know what your thoughts are and share your reviews...skits omitted.
1) Dr. West
2) 3am - 2.5/5. Not a bad song, but not that good of a song either. It stars out rather nice with impressive wordplay, but by the last verse I find it to be kind of annoying.
3) My Mom - 4.5/5. Very catchy song, especially the chorus. I like it.
4) Insane - 4/5. This song is fucked up. Talking about incest with his stepfather but you know it's pure Slim Shady and tongue and cheek. I like how there's no accent on this track and it's very catchy. "I only get naked when the babysitter tells me." LMAO
5) Bagpipes from Baghdad - 3.5/5. An overall good song, but not a great one. It grew on me after a few listens, although I don't understand the title and what it's supposed to mean.
6) Hello - 2/5. Not really feeling this song. It's boring.
7) Tonya
8) Same Song and Dance - 4.5/5. I liked this song the first time I heard it and it has only grown on me since.
9) We Made You 2.5/5. Not much to say about this one. Not feeling it.
10) Medicine Ball - 4/5. This is also one of my favorite tracks on the album. I love the hook and the Christopher Reeves saying, "Eminem I'm going to kill you" is hilarious.
11) Paul
12) Stay Wide Awake - 4/5. I like this song as well although it's very disturbing. He's talking about seeking women and raping them and it's twisted and violent.
13) Old Time's Sake 2.5/5. Average song at best. I expected much better for a Dre collaboration.
14) Must Be the Ganja - 2.5/5. Another skippable track. Not much substance here.
15) Mr. Mathers
16) Deja Vu 4.5/5. One of my favorite tracks on the album. No accent, just an honest glimpse into his fall into drugs. "He's acting weird again, he's really starting to scare me. He won't shave his beard again and he pretends he doesn't hear me..."
17) Beautiful - 5/5. By far the best song on the album. I believe that this is the classic Eminem most true fans want to hear. Great track.
18) Crack A Bottle - 2/5. I don't like this song.
19) Steve Berman
20) Underground 3.5/5 Love the chorus and the fact that there's no accent. However, for some reason it's not one of my favorites. Not really sure why.
The average of these scores is 3.3/5, which I think is an accurate rating.
Overall, this is a good album, but not great. Certainly not with the likes of MMLP and TES, albums that I believe are among the greatest rap albums of all time. This is a different Eminem, undoubtedly trying to resurrect the Slim Shady persona by talking about rape, murder, incest and violence. However, I think it's not much of a success for a couple of reasons. I don't believe that Eminem needs to shock us anymore. He's already done that and it's what catapulted him to fame years ago. Now I think the fans want substance, introspective lyrics and brutal honesty and the rage that infiltrates into his words and sends chill down your spine.
Secondly, Eminem will always have fans. Certainly, there are tons of teenagers that love and will buy his work. But I think many of his true hardcore fans (like many on this board) that have been with Eminem since the beginning and loved the Slim Shady stuff, well, we have grown up. We're in our twenties. We're not teenagers anymore. Of course we still want to hear Shady, but I think now that we're adults, we're simply more interested in hearing Eminem.