Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Review #1: Eminem - Relapse (2009)



I decided to start the blog off with one of  my favorite albums of all time, Relapse. It was Eminem's return to the rap game, and generally considered with Encore as one of his worst albums. But I never bought into that. I think lyrically, it's Slim's best album, and it takes you into the mind of the character everyone loves, Slim Shady. On to the album!

1. Dr.West (skit)
Em starts the album on a darker note, with his doctor at rehab turning into a demon, leading him to relapse. A nice lead-in to track two, 3 AM, at the end with the alarm clock.

2. 3 AM
Not a bad horrorcore track, sets the tone nicely for the album, with a great non-stop flow. The hook gets a little bit annoying though. Although I enjoyed this track, I've overplayed it...also,the basic idea of the song gets redundant. Still, I get a chuckle out of the "I killed dem" line sometimes.

3. My Mom
Wow, this song was terrible. A little bit funny at some parts, but just another song about Em's mom, with a turrrible hook. And also at one point he says "I'm my mom!". Seems legit.

4. Insane
I like the shock-value on this track, and a couple of the refrences are pretty sweet. A lot of people were probably offended by this song, which I always see as a plus for Em.

5. Bagpipes From Baghdad
Another good track, hopefully putting an end to the whole Mariah Carey drama, which was getting a bit annoying. Em drops some good verses on this on a sweet beat.

6. Hello
This track kinda reminds me of I'm Back off The Marshall Mathers LP. Not a bad overall track, as Em has decent flow.

7. Tonya (skit)
A little bit of a creepy skit, fits in nicely with the album. Still, it covers the same content as Same Song & Dance.

8. Same Song & Dance
A great song, one of my favorites off the album, with a great flow over an eerie beat. Covers much of the same stuff as Tonya, although some nice refrences in this one too.

9. We Made You
A really funny track, although it doesn't fit in with the rest of the album. Slim's back to his old ways with poking fun at other celebs. Also, a sweet hook on this track too.

10. Medicine Ball
The beat straight up BANGS on this shit. A few of the lines about gays were funny (I don't take offense to stuff like that), and the Christopher Reeves cameo was prety funny.

11. Paul (skit)
Pretty funny, but I'm not feeling the amount of skits on here.

12. Stay Wide Awake
Possibly my favorite track on here. Solid rhyme scheme, and good imagery for a horrorcore type track.

13. Old Time's Sake (Feat. Dr. Dre)
Another track with amazing beat. The lyrics are kinda boring at times, but overall a nice track, possibly the best beat on here. Nice to see Dre make an appearance too!

14. Must Be The Ganja
This track was solid, the part where he list a bunch of killers was kinda dope. Nothing else really sticks out here though.

15. Mr. Mathers (skit)
Like I said, skits get boring after a bit. Like one or two is fine. This is the fourth.

16. Deja Vu
I know that has accents on it, but im too lazy. This track has an ok beat, and is some solid real talk from slim. The hook's kinda boring though.

17. Beautiful
I wasn't a fan of this. The flow reminded me too much of Encore, and always shitty to see em whining.

18. Crack A Bottle (Feat. Dr. Dre & 50 Cent)
Solid beat, and I like em's hook (you won't see that too much). Pretty un-inspired efforts from 50 and Dre make this track pretty skipable though, even though it was a single.

19. Steve Berman (skit)
And we've hit skit five. This is easily the worst part of this album.

20. Underground/Ken Kanniff
And we finish things off with one of my favorite Eminem songs of all time. Great flow, kinda overly dramatic hook, and funny lyrics make this up. I'm gonna count Ken Kanniff as our sixth skit, although it was my favorite so far, reminds me of Em's earlier stuff.

Favorite Tracks: Stay Wide Awake, Underground/Ken Kanniff

Grade: 9/10

And that was one of my favorite albums of all time. I'll be listening to way more stuff for this blog though, including mixtapes, underground releases, and the giant mainstream artists. If you want something reviewed, leave a comment on any post!

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