Relapse

By far em's most divisive project. Half hails it as a masterpiece and half think it's weak at best and cringe at worst. so where do I lie? I mean even em has gone on record to say he hates it.

This is em's first full on attempt at a concept album with it being full on horrorcore, 3 a.m kinda shows what this album is in one track. Em rapping with this weird accent, a fire dre beat that sounds straight out of a slasher movie. I wish I liked this song but em's voice really annoys me on here and some of the flows and delivery are really annoying to me. My opinion on this song flip flops all the time though, so this is my most recent take on this but it's subject to change.

i user to think my mom is trash. Yeah i get it, i said "My mom is trash" its fuckin hilarious. in all seriousness I hate this hook and his delivery on most this song. I really like some of the flows and pockets he goes onto here. I love the impression he makes of his mother though it's actually a super interesting use of the accents he uses when rapping and It's actually a good portrayal of how I feel about this album. some super interesting ideas and kinda varying in execution. half the song also has some incredible flows and pockets he goes into.

insane doesn't use any accents but still fits the album. this beat is fucking incredible, I mean dre REALLY cooked on this album and the hook is pretty addicting. What about the lyrical content?... you can make your own judgement, cause i am NOT sure what to think of this shit.

hello which again, has a fucking IMMACULATE beat and some great flows and rapping from em. the song directly talks about his addiction (which placing after bagpipes from Baghdad is... certainly a decision but oh well) but in the most horrorcore way possible it's pretty decent

fucking same song and dance. this song is honestly the most effective horrorcore on the album and is legitamately kinda disturbing. Slim is portrayed as instead of cooky or fun in any manner, as a straight up ted bundy type serial killer who prays on vulnerable women. It's not an easy listen by any means but this beat really sells this aesthetic. The beat is haunting with that vocal line in the background, the drums are fucking great, the bassline adds intensity onto the repeated riff (is that term applicable here?) in the beat... SO WHY NOT PUT WE MADE YOU DIRECTLY AFTER???

hey it kinda works, but these are 2 completely different portrayals of slim here. anyway I'm kinda mixed on this song? but I don't think it's awful but I don't think this song should have been on the album. Medicine ball is pretty mediocre too but the "nice rectum, I had a vasectomy Hector, so you can't get pregnant if I bisexually wreck ya" is a pretty funny scheme and the rhyme scheme is incredibly solid.

okay this is getting long. stay wide awake is aight, old times sake is a fun dre collab (also RAIN MAN MENTION 🗣🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥💯💯💯), must be the ganja is the worst song on the album but then OOOOO WE PICK BACK UP CAUSE DEJA VU IS FUCKING INCREDIBLE.

for anyone who's experienced addiction no matter what it is you'll relate to this track in some way cause I know i have in the past and this same sentiment is echoed on beautiful but both show the different sides of recovery. deja vu is about the addiction itself while beautiful is about the recovery process and the emotional recovery on top of it as getting over addiction also means addressing the issues that lead to the addiction/worsened it and these 2 songs capture that struggle perfectly. both are heartfelt and (for lack of a better word) beautiful music, which works for the album conceptually, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't also feel out of place.

anyway back to the fun shit and FUCKING HELL CRACK A BOTTLE IS SUCH A BANGER. Em going back to the slim shady shit again after the last songs is definitely a decision, however this song itself is pretty great. Em's verse is fun, Dre's verse has the swagger that he normally has but 50 STEALS the show. He starts off more melodically and then he transitions into rapping so damn effortlessly and while he doesn't say much out of the ordinary for him, the way it's done is just so damn good.

we end off the album with underground and em raps his ASS off. Sure he's being a bit too overly edgy, but em raps on a 5/8 time signature which is incredibly out there for a rap song but he makes it seem so damn effortless.

anyway that was relapse! do i think this album is an underrated masterpiece? or do I think it's awful? well neither really, but i enjoy this album much more than I don't. The accents are definitely something I kinda neglected to mention in the review as a whole and it definitely works better in some places than others. same song and dance, old times sake, deja vu, crack a bottle and MAYBE my mom has some pretty well implemented usages of it and these rest is definitely a mixed bag (3 a.m is a toss up too) the rest of the songs definitely sound a bit awkward, while I will say that i do prefer the songs that don't use the accents i do understand what he was going for and it was actually an interesting experiment. while my opinion on this album often changes, I currently find myself feeling a decent 6 leaving it slightly below the slim shady LP.