It’s been five years since Eminem’s last album — the mediocre Encore — and I’m torn on whether his new one, Relapse, was worth the wait.
On the one hand, it is a return to form in many ways — the rhymes are fast and furious and Dr. Dre’s production particularly strong — but on the other hand, I wonder if Eminem in form is really enough of a draw anymore. The violent sexual fantasies that were so shocking and unsettling on his first two albums, especially when you found yourself guiltily chuckling through them, feel like retreads all these years later.
I wonder if there is something more than just tired repetition at work here. The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show both came out during Bush’s first term, at a time when many of us (certainly the people I hang out with) were frustrated and angry with our country and its leadership. The cathartic menace of Eminem fit the national mood of the minority.
Now we’re in the aftermath of that nightmarish eight years, rooting for Obama — an emblem of hope and change — to bring the country back together. Sure, there are still many things to be angry about, but there’s also a strong impulse to not be angry anymore. To reference another medium, we’re now in the age of Star Trek and leaving behind the age of The Dark Knight.
So maybe Eminem right now is an anachronism… and he certainly doesn’t do much to dispel that notion on many Relapse tracks, name-dropping Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Lindsay Lohan and Kim Kardashian as if anybody gives a rat’s ass about any of them anymore.
The other thing that struck me while listening to this album the first few times was how different it felt as the father of 7-year old and 3-year old daughters as opposed to just a 1 1/2-year old girl the last time he had a new album out. I find myself horrified at the prospect of my girls accidentally hearing the things coming out of my speakers. The violent misogyny sickens me even though I’m in on the “joke.”
Now, all that said, there is a lot to appreciate on Relapse, particularly the tracks that explore Eminem’s real-life demons. He has always been at his best when cleaning out his closet (as in the excellent song of the same name) and on several tracks here — ‘My Mom,’ ‘Hello,’ ‘Beautiful’ and particularly ‘Deja Vu’ — he is compellingly frank about the drug addiction and stint in rehab that occupied him for the past several years.
The final verse of ‘Deja Vu’ alone makes this album worth getting. It’s a poignant confessional that works staggeringly well as a hip-hop tune as well, the kind of thing Eminem was born to produce:
A couple weeks go by it ain’t even like I’m getting high.
Now I need it just not to feel sick, yeah I’m getting by,
Wouldn’t even be taking this shit if DeShaun didn’t die.
Oh ya there’s an excuse, you lose Proof so you use
There’s new rules, it’s cool if it’s helping you to get through
It’s twelve noon, ain’t no harm in self inducing a snooze
What else is new, fuck it, what would Elvis do in your shoes?
Now here I am three months later full blown relapse,
‘Just get high until the kids get home at two, holmes, relax’
And since I’m convinced that I’m insomniac
I need these pills to be able to sleep so I take three naps
Just to be able to function throughout the day let’s see
That’s an Ambien each nap, how many Valium? Three.
And that will average out to about one good hours sleep
Ok so now you see the reason how come he
Has taken four years just to put out an album, B
See me and you we almost had the same outcome, Heath
Cuz that Christmas, you know the pneumonia thing?
It was bologna, was it the methadone ya think?
Or the Hydrocodone you hide inside your pornos
Your VCR tape cases with your Ambien CR, great places to hide ain’t it?
So you can lie to Haley, I’m going beddy bye, Whitney baby, good night Elaina
Go in the room and shut the bedroom door and wake up in an ambulance
They said they found me on the bathroom floor, damn!
There is just enough of that sort of thing on Relapse to make it worthy of recommendation. The rest is well-crafted but tired. After Encore, I hoped Eminem would revisit the formula that made The Marshall Mathers LP such a wicked blast, and there’s really no disputing that he’s done that here. But I realize now that that isn’t enough.
Deja Vu
Beautiful:
Meet Me In Montauk 
What a fascinating review. So why do you think Haley’s growing up hasn’t had the same effect on her father? Perhaps eventually he’ll leave those songs behind. Does he explore the tension in any of his other songs?
I wonder what he really thinks about some of this material. It’s obvious he throws more of himself artistically into the serious songs. Does he put out the other stuff just to please the large fan base of mostly young men who make him a mega-star?
Even the titles of some of those songs suggest that his heart isn’t in them: ‘Same Old Song and Dace,’ ‘Old Time’s Sake.’
Still, just as you had a visceral reaction to playing music that would be offensive to your daughters, you’d think eventually his fathering insticts would kick in and make him reluctant to continue to dish out to those same young male fans the type of songs that might make them treat his own daughter in a less than respectful manner.
At what point, does it stop being about commerce and start being about philosophy?
I generally agree with this review, but I’d like to point out that “The Marshall Mathers LP” came out late in Clinton’s second term, and its constant references to the Lewinsky scandal ground it pretty solidly in the pre-Bush era.
Thanks for the correction. Didn’t realize it came out early in 2000.