Relapse 2009 Album

Eminem

First off, I've gotta say it's great to hear some new Eminem again whether the material is brilliant or not. In the past while I've loved his best songs like 'Sing for the Moment,' 'Lose Yourself, etc, The Eminem Show (4/5) aside I've never dug a whole album from him. Nevertheless, he is one of the best rappers from a skill and flow point of view and lyrically he offers something unique to all of the other artists out there. As one would expect, lyrically Relapse is different than most and features great flow and wordplay most of the time from Eminem, and apart from 'Ken Kaniff' the skits work well which is unique for a hip hop album these days. Normally they just get in the way - See College Dropout. Track for track there probably ain't any I love and would group near the songs I mentioned at the beginning of this review but quite a few I like and not many I hate. 'Bagpies From Baghdad' is probably my favourite due to the production and Eminem's flow throughout the song even if it's not as lyrically deep as some of the other tunes. The track just has lots of energy to it. The track proceeding that, 'Insane', is also a highlight and 'Medicine Ball' is another with again great flow and a good hard beat being a feature. Other picks are '3 a.m.', 'Old Time's Sake' & 'Stay Wide Awake'. However, as I mentioned earlier though, nothing is mind-blowing. As he has often had, what also lets the album down are some of the stupid lyrics at times. The Christopher Reeve stuff isn't necessary and I don't see the point of it. I guess to a point Eminem is going for that shock value but still...and musically it fits everything well but isn't groundbreaking by any means. Overall Relapse is a good album that feels like an album, like back in the day when one producer produced almost all the album. 3-3.5. Best Tracks: Bagpipes From Baghdad, Medicine Ball, 3 a.m., Same Song & Dance