Feb 20, 2017Let me start off by acknowledging why this was his least selling album and why everyone seems to dislike it. Relapse came out immediately after Eminem's hiatus in music (due to drugs and such), Marshall had very little popular momentum going for him. Relapse also has probably the most unattractive cover; it's just a very round, bloated looking Eminem made up of cartoony pills, a very odd choice. Lastly, this album wasn't MEANT to be a popular album. Eminem took every aspect of his music that was controversial and just magnified it infinitely. The album seamlessly jokes about topics regarding incest, pedophilia, gay r---, drugs, misogyny, slicing people up, more drugs, depression, hatred, and even more drugs. This is probably the only album where Eminem really did just whatever the f--- he wanted to.
If you're wondering how any of this could add up to a decent album, then don't worry, you're just like the other millions of people who hold this as Eminem's worst album. If you look deeper, however, you might find it to be quite the opposite.
The album starts off with a skit setting up the entire theme. Marshall has a nightmare that his rehabilitation doctor ( Dr. West) is actually a personification of his drug addiction. The doctors voice becomes more and more demonic and Marshall's screams fade away, only for him to wake up to find that, not only had he relapsed back into drugs, but back into an apparent serial-killer tendency. It is evident by this skit that listeners should not be expecting a blunt, down-to-Earth album ahead of them. Instead, one should look forward to a deep voyage into the mind of a crazy addict with a dark past, an album that you can listen to when your mental state has hit "f----it" mode and you just need to listen to something to take you off the rails for a few minutes, an allegorical tale of the parallels between a crazed-bloodshedding-maniac and a depressed addict.
The majority of the album consists of Eminem performing rhyme aerobics while pushing the envelope of atrocious lyrics as far as possible. This is the reason for the odd middle-Eastern accent which shady utilizes constantly. The accent helps Em bend words to complete more complex rhyme schemes. It sounds odd at first, but with enough listens, one might realize that the words seamlessly flow over each other, adding a defining touch to the album. The second verse of Stay Wide Awake, for example holds the same FOUR SYLLABLE rhyme scheme for nearly 2 full minutes. It is really quite an incredible feat.
Admittedly, the insane crudeness of this album CAN get old. It's not every day that I want to be reminded that poor little 10 year old Marshall was supposedly force-fed Valium. Thankfully, the last fourth of it takes a turn. Marshall continues his tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic manner in what should be a very realistic view of a drug addict's shameful life in Deja Vu. Almost as if to hide his pain, Marshall jokingly rambles off a dark, solemn tale of how drugs have ruined his life. The last line of the final verse goes as follows, "Go in the room and shut the bedroom door and wake up with an ambulance, they said they found me on the bathroom floor, d---". The only truly self-aware part of the song is the chorus, in which Marshall explains to readers how alone he is and how he doesn't know how to climb out of the hole he has dug himself in. This track, immediately after an album of scurvy, rapey jokes adds up to an impressionable, heartrending musical collection. An allegory of a joking persona born from a dark, scary past of drugs and horror. This album truly is a masterpiece.
