so what was the general thoughts of relapse from the fans?

[Shadysapathy]

stay wide awake and Underground are the only great songs of this album
Encore is much better.

[embm]

gr8 shit som classic shit on there

[MikeNUFC]

Relapse is on a different level to Encore. I know people say they prefer to listen to Encore but I would rather listen to Stay Wide Awake than Crazy In Love or Deja Vu than Like Toy Soldiers.

I love listening to great flows and rhyme technique and of course content is important but Em on Encore managed to make a single out of playing a puppet that was on some shitty TV programme.

Great songs: Yellow Brick Rd, Crazy In Love, Spend Some Time
Good songs: Like Toy Soldiers, Evil Deeds
Average songs: Mosh, Mockingbird, Encore, Never Enough
Crap songs: One Shot 2 Shot, Puke, Rain Man, Just Lose IT, Ass Like That, Big Weenie, My 1st Single

whereas Relapse

Great Songs: Stay Wide Awake, 3AM, Deja Vu, My Mom, Hello, Same Song & Dance
Good Songs: We Made You, Medicine Ball, Underground, Crack A Bottle
Average Songs: Must Be The Ganja, Old Times Sake, Insane, Beautiful
Crap Songs: Bagpipes From Baghdad (horrible to listen to)

I know what I prefer anyway.

[Mikey1990]

Relapse >>>>>> Encore

[professor]

Relapse is dope. Still bumpin it in the whip. The songs on refill are good but not better than the material on Relapse.

[OMEGA]

My favorite Eminem album. Took me a few tries to like it, but now I love, love, love it.

Nothing can touch Stay Wide Awake

[dR3]

After reading that awesome review, I appreciate it much more.

[kylenthat]

From the moment it leaked I've been bumping this album, there isn't a track I disslike. In my opinion Em came back so strong, his flow, structure, content and rhymes are as sharp as ever and I think the hated 'accent' only adds to the effects of the track. 3am wouldn't as hit me as hard if he didn't rap it that way but I guess that's just my opinion. Also I'm a massive horrorcore and horror movie fan so the content was brilliant for me.

[tigs6969]

i must say that i really didnt like crack a bottle eminems SOLO version kicks ass but the album version is not really good and the chorus was just plain and i hate 50 cent with a passion... dr dre wasnt bad on it but yeah ems solo version was fantastic shouldve been the only version made imo
and forever has fantastic chorus whoever that was but first time i listened to it im like HURRY UP EM and he took ages to come so now i just listen to the choruses and skip to ems verse

[LLockhart86]

Relapse was amazing.

Best songs : 3am, bagpipes, same song and dance, stay wide awake, deja vu, crack a bottle, hello


Good songs : my mom, insane, medicine ball, beautiful


Not good : we made you, old times sake, must be the ganja, underground

[EminemBase]

It's not quite a classic but definitely in the 'great' category for me.

If I could swap "Crack a Bottle", "We Made You" and "Beautiful" for "Buffalo Bill", "Taking My Ball" and "Music Box" then I think it would probably be a classic to me.

People say "oh it's not just about rhyming" and I agree. And with Relapse it's not either. This album is a truly phenomenal experimental album in the art of flow. Every track is something incredible and new.

Nobody has his versatility and ability to sound totally fresh each album... In fact nearly each fucking track. His wordplay is also outstanding. The album is missing punchlines and his 'classic' wit but he's still very witty and twisted in places. And the descriptive writing and novelist techniques are beautiful.

If he had committed to the concept fully and not stuck "Beautiful" and CAB on there would of been way better. They both stick out like sore thumbs and 50's verse is so bad it brings the legacy of the album down because it's always remembered. Because with an album of orgasmic verses you have that total sack of shit from rap's biggest delusion.

So yeah. I would probably give it 3.8 out of 5.

All of the flows are so addictive and he sounds so utterly energized and accomplished again. Such a great surprise after the slow, lazy nature of some Encore tracks and the predictive, depressive growling of "When I'm Gone". He sounds completely electric again.

Oh to finalize - I feel ashamed to be adhering to such a common highlight but "Stay Wide Awake" is other worldly. He's become so totally adept at weaving in and out of 1st and 3rd person, narrator and victim... It's amazing. Further example of this is "Buffalo Bill" - INCREDIBLE. But on "Stay Wide Awake"... The bit where it goes...

Victim: "Who's waking me so violently and why's he on top of me?"
Victim again: "He's raping me"
/ transition...
Narrator: "She tries to scream, somebody please get him off me!"
Victim: "He's taping me, he's biting me, he's laughing like it's funny"
/ transition...
Killer: "She's scraping me, she's fighting me, she's scratching like some dumb freak"
Killer again: "Escaping me, no dice ya see, I might just be Ted Bundy"

---

Just... Excellent. The way he keeps the conversation sound naturalistic and smooth. And play on the realism whilst constantly switching perspectives, making it flow effortlessly and seamlessly and being descriptive and witty. The little subtle bits of twisted wit from the killer 'no dice ya see'... Cocky in his capture. Lmao. Totally brilliant.

That is why he's the best ever. Nobody comes close to this type of writing. This many layers of literacy within rhyme, within flow, within structure.

Now he's clear and in his zone, I think this is why R2 could be his best album period. "Music Box" was further progression in this. This is why he's improved so much since he came back. Before it was more random and 'rapper' like, now he blends all his attributes together to make it one big consistent Eminem-ism song.

[tigs6969]

Not good :must be the ganja, underground

LIES :P

[LLockhart86]

Underground is aweful. Its his worst song lyrically in my opinion.

lecter in the fruit and vegetables section and gave him a lecture , and , lookin like a tripple fat goose

shows how rusty he was. That beat was too hard for that song to be weak.

@embase - Crack a bottle was the shit. Take out dre and 50's verse and just have em that song woulda been more amazing that it already was. Plus that beat was probably the best beat on the album. Besides stay wide awake

[EminemBase]

@embase - Crack a bottle was the shit. Take out dre and 50's verse and just have em that song woulda been more amazing that it already was. Plus that beat was probably the best beat on the album. Besides stay wide awake

Well if you notice the only thing I criticized was 50's verse. Em's verse is class as is the flow, beat and chorus. But a verse that bad is enough to ruin the whole song for me.

Plus it stuck out anyway. Good song without 50 but shouldn't of been on the album.

[LLockhart86]

See I personally believe crack a bottle with just em should have been the first single. That song hyped up the album so much, if it would have been made properly and released correctly it would have done the album good. Plus we made you wouldnt have been on and would have made room for buffalo bill

Plus, em shouldnt be writing dre's raps. Im under the impression em wrote his verse on that song since he spit his verse on the original leak. It didnt sound like dre should have been spittin that, but that might have just been because i heard em spit it first.