Slim Shady is back.  It has been four years since Eminem’s last studio album, Encore.  Where has he been, you ask?  Back in the summer of 2005, Eminem was forced to cancel the European part of his “Anger Management Tour” due to an addiction to sleeping pills.  Later, he re-married and then re-divorced his ex-wife Kimberly Scott andhe lost one of his close friends and fellow rapper DeShawn Holton (who was shot).  Due to all of this pain in his life, he “relapsed” and became addicted to many kinds of prescription drugs.  This was a very dark period in his life.  In 2007, he was hospitalized due to an overdose.  After taking a 12-step program to rid his addictions, it has been reported that he has been sober since April 2008.  And this is where the history lesson ends.  Look after the break (click “more…”) for the full review.

Relapse contains 20 tracks, four of which are short “skits.”  Many of the songs are filled with emotions, specifically pain and suffering.  Em went through many rough patches since his last album dropped, and with Relapse he is making amends with himself by releasing all of his inner demons.  In true Slim Shady form, the songs are filled with expletives and inappropriate phrases.  These can be forgiven, though, due to the pure lyrical genius Eminem has always been.  The way he forms sentences and keeps the catchy rhymes flowing at a quick pace is very entertaining and great to listen to. 

Songs like “My Mom” and “Insane” reveal his familial and personal troubles.  During the course of the former song, he bashes and blames (for lack of more negative terms) his mom for his drug addictions and other issues.  At the end of the song he says, “Sorry mom, I still love you though.”  How sweet.  The track “Beautiful” actually holds a positive lesson to be learned by the listener.  He sings, “And be yourself man, be proud of who you are;
Even if it sounds corny, Don’t ever let no one tell you, you ain’t beautiful.”  Tracks “Hello” and “Same Song and Dance” reveal Eminem in full form; you can sense the excitement in his voice that he is happy to be back doing what he does best.  Other songs like singles “Crack a Bottle,” “We Made You,” and “3AM” are extremely catchy and more upbeat.

During the course of the album, often found in the short “skits” and during some songs, Eminem takes on his critics before they can start spitting on his lyrics and commenting on the tone of the album.  For example, on “Paul (Skit)” the narrator says that he can’t “handle the album” and that he “doesn’t have his back on this one.”  On “Steve Berman (Skit)” the narrator explicitly says, “Let me guess, another album about poor me, I’m so famous that it’s ruined my rich little life, and I’m such a tortured artist. Let me make music about it and my tragic love life, am I on to something here?”  It is very clever and interesting for Eminem to take this route.  I’m sure he found it amusing to incorporate; after all, it is a shove to his critics.

All in all, Eminem did a steller job with his latest studio album in four years.  Being the lyrical genius that he is, and his close friend Dr Dre being the king of beats who produced the entire album, Eminem has not let down his fans with this new batch of songs.  I am sure he had tons of lyrics stored in his head, held in since 2004, just waiting to pour out onto paper.  In fact, there is much more to come.  It has been reported that there will be a second Relapsealbum coming out soon.  Eminem and Dre created so many new songs that all of them could not fit onto one album!  If you go beyond all of the pain and drama—wait, stop there.  Don’t look past those things.  The strong emotion living in the tracks of the album, albeit negative and profanity-filled emotion, is what makes Relapse a solid album worth purchasing.  Listening to it takes you on a journey through rehab to becoming sober with bumps along the way, all the while finding yourself bobbing your head to the beat.  If there is anything to take away from all of this, let it be this: Relapse is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Click here to preview, purchase and download Relapse.

[History via Wiki]