Street Date: May 19, 2009

Label: Shady/Aftermath/Interscope

Eminem has finally returned after his hiatus beginning in 2005 with his fifth major album, “Relapse.” (Note: This is actually Shady’s 6th studio album… “Infinite” was his first in 1999. “The Slim Shady EP” technically was not a studio album, and some of the tracks on “EP” were used on “The Slim Shady LP,” in case you all were wondering… which you were). And it has been well worth the wait. Not his best work, but it would take nothing short of a miracle for Em to top the masterpiece that is “The Marshall Mathers LP.” But it would take another article to explain that fact, which we don’t have the time for.

This album truly is a Relapse. Stylistically, it should be placed somewhere between “Slim Shady” and “Marshall Mathers.” The album contains complete production by Dr. Dre (with the exception of the track “Beautiful”), and seemingly, Slim Shady went back to the formula, went back to what worked, before he had gotten fame, fortune, and ran out of material to write about. I mean, you can only flow about your mom, homosexuals, drugs, and killing people for so lo… oh wait, what’s that? The third track on the album is entitled “My Mom?”

HAHAHAHA… we’re gonna be in for a ride. Here’s the track listing, and a couple notes about my favorite tracks off the album:

Track Listing:

Dr. West (Skit)

3AM

My Mom

Insane

Who would of thought I would like a song about getting abused by your father. But, this IS Eminem we are dealing with. Dre outdid himself on this track, and Shady ripped it. You can’t help but bop to this… in between raising your eyebrows at the lyrics

Bagpipes from Baghdad

Hello

This proves Em’s statement from “Rain Man”: he can do a whole song and not say anything of substance, and it will still be hot. Well, I mean, it’s about taking drugs. But not really. Just listen, vibe, and you’ll understand.

Tonya (Skit)

Same Song & Dance

We Made You

Medicine Ball

The last verse of this track is Eminem pretending to be Christopher Reeve. The man died, Slim! Why must you be so ridiculous, yet so good? I feel so bad for liking this track.

Paul (Skit)

Stay Wide Awake

Old Time’s Sake (feat. Dr. Dre)

This is the Dre & Em track of this album; there’s always one. And it’s always golden. These two feed off of each other like nemonefish-anemone mutualism. I’m a biology major, suck it. It means they work well together.

Must Be the Ganja

Mr. Mathers (Skit)

Déjà vu

Em’s reflection track, which sounds eerily like a cross between “Mosh” and “’Till I Colapse.” Maybe that has something to do with the title… You’re a quick one, B. Regardless, its lyrical cat nip. And we’re the cats.

Beautiful

Crack a Bottle (feat. Dr. Dre & 50 Cent)

Steve Berman (Skit)

Underground

Easily the best track on the album. This is the Eminem everyone was waiting for: Angry, staccato flow over a hard beat. Songs like this are the reason why I would never want to go up against Em in a freestyle, because there’s no coming back from delivery like this.

Overall Album Score: 4.5/5

The first comment I’m going to get for this rating is that Eminem is so much better than this, that he is capable of so much more. Just listen to “Marshall Mathers LP”!!!!! This album doesn’t deserve this high of a score! The thing is: it does. Yes, Slim Shady could walk lyrical circles around this album, if he wanted to. What people fail to realize is that halfway-decent Eminem is better than a lot of other people’s decent stuff. The man is talented, and there is no dispute about that.



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