A Retrospective Look: The Relapse Era

[rudeawakening101]

Even if Relapse was ehhhh, I find myself missing the Relapse era more than anything right now.

At the time the album leaked and the first couple of weeks after the album was officially made available, whether or not we thought the album sucked...it was still new material for the fans (the real fans who literally waited 5 years). Yes, the accents were horrible and the entire album was centered around rape and serial killing.. BUT, you still felt like the album was made for his fans. His real fans.

This album had the least commercial appeal to it compared to previous albums, which I can highly appreciate. This is Eminem, who put's out what he wants to put out and doesn't follow any bullshit trends. We Made You received less airplay than any of his previous first singles, 3 am was just way too dark for any station to bump, and Beautiful had okay air time. Other than that, the whole album had an underground feel to it. Eminem as an artist became a little more underground, too.

Now that we're well into the Recovery era, while I think it's a good album and better than Relapse....this is just not the album I wanted EMINEM to put out. Too mainstream, a complete lack of any kind of aggression and just way too girl/radio friendly. I can't even tell you how many girls I'm seeing now in love with Love The Way You Lie.

It's like EVERYONE is an Eminem fan now because he pushed himself back into the mainstream. Yes, he was huge in the mainstream and everybody loved him when he came up from 99 to 03, but he didn't water down his music. It was music for his real fans, first of all.. and because he was so good, everybody else had to love it too. Now it just feels like he's going entirely for the mainstream, completely forced.

[flyingmonkey10]

Even if Relapse was ehhhh, I find myself missing the Relapse era more than anything right now.

At the time the album leaked and the first couple of weeks after the album was officially made available, whether or not we thought the album sucked...it was still new material for the fans (the real fans who literally waited 5 years). Yes, the accents were horrible and the entire album was centered around rape and serial killing.. BUT, you still felt like the album was made for his fans. His real fans.

This album had the least commercial appeal to it compared to previous albums, which I can highly appreciate. This is Eminem, who put's out what he wants to put out and doesn't follow any bullshit trends. We Made You received less airplay than any of his previous first singles, 3 am was just way too dark for any station to bump, and Beautiful had okay air time. Other than that, the whole album had an underground feel to it. Eminem as an artist became a little more underground, too.

Now that we're well into the Recovery era, while I think it's a good album and better than Relapse....this is just not the album I wanted EMINEM to put out. Too mainstream, a complete lack of any kind of aggression and just way too girl/radio friendly. I can't even tell you how many girls I'm seeing now in love with Love The Way You Lie.

It's like EVERYONE is an Eminem fan now because he pushed himself back into the mainstream. Yes, he was huge in the mainstream and everybody loved him when he came up from 99 to 03, but he didn't water down his music. It was music for his real fans, first of all.. and because he was so good, everybody else had to love it too. Now it just feels like he's going entirely for the mainstream, completely forced.

exactly how i feel. who knows what the next album holds though.

[EminemBase]

Too mainstream, a complete lack of any kind of aggression and just way too girl/radio friendly.

Either you haven't heard the album or you misunderstand what the words 'mainstream' and 'aggression' mean. I'm betting on both.

First of all, just because he has 'big' names on the album doesn't make the tracks or the album mainstream. It's all about what's done with them. The artists featured may be mainstream but as always - The content is NOT at all.

People confuse more professionally made music with compromised music. Eminem can't help how big he gets, unless he purposely tries to 'devolve' his own fucking status lmao. Point is, none of the material on Recovery is compromised or 'radio-friendly' at all. You think the Rhianna track is radio-friendly just because it has her on it.

But the point is, nothing about it other than her is mainstream. He's not watering down his content at all, he's being completely him. How many pop songs would you hear "If she ever tries to fucking leave again I'ma tie her to the bed and set this house on fire"?... I mean are you fucking serious. That's not a pop line, that's not an 'easy to swallow line', that's an Eminem line.

On the Pink song he brags about the length of his cock, refers to himself as a shit stain on the underwear of life and turns his own voice down then up, then shouts to the listener to "shut the fuck up whilst my shit's playing". You think THAT is mainstream...

People like you take things at face-value instead of critically thinking about things.

Lets study your other claim. You say there's a lack of any kind of aggression... Okay now I'm convinced you haven't heard the fucking album. Either that or you listened with the volume at 0. Or bricks taped over your ears. This album is top to bottom fucking aggression. And whether you think the aggression sounds real or not is irrelevant, point is aggression is not mainstream at all. It's not an easy way to gain fans or any easy way to 'fit in' with everybody else.

I mean where do I start. Okay, let me take some of the opening lines (excluding the intro) to the very first track...

"You can get the dick / Just call me the ballsack, I'm nuts / Michael Vick in this bitch / Fall back ya muts, fuck ya worms / You never seen such a sick puppy"

Or lets go to "On Fire"...

"Saying you sick / Quit playing you prick, don't nobody care / And why the FUCK am I yelling at air?"

Or maybe a bit further into the album...

"I STUCK MY DICK IN THIS GAME LIKE A RAPIST, THEY CALL ME SLIM ROETHLISBERGER / I GO BERSERKER THAN A FED UP POST OFFICE WORKER"

Yeah right... No aggression? Still sure about that or... Would you like to retract your total ignorance immediately. Not only is the album a wonderful explosion of subversive madness but it's lyrically superb and the flows are intense. This album is pure hip-hop. Just because he has different beats and a few weird features does NOT make the album 'pop', 'mainstream' or any other ridiculous term people like to attach to Em now because they think it's cool and fashionable to do so. It's become a trend in itself to say he's sold out, especially with this album.

But anybody with a brain in their nut who knows what the fuck that term means knows he's NEVER EVER done that even in the slightest. He's always said exactly what he likes, whenever he likes. He's always made the music he wants to make, whether the music has come out good or bad is a different debate. But Eminem is not a mainstream artist. Technically he can be called that as he's very much IN the mainstream.

What I mean is though, he's an individualist in the purest sense. You buy an Eminem album (Recovery especially) and you're getting a single-vision from a phenomonally dedicated lyricist with a love for his art. He doesn't compromise what he has to say or how he says it for anything other than the music, if he feels that's what HE wants. Recovery is not not not watered down in any way.

People like you don't even understand your own criticisms.

[Drucifer]

I disagree, If you see any recent Eminem interviews he looks alot happier now then he did last year

I, personally, feel like Relapse was the forced album, I think he went into a meeting with Dre and Jimmy Iovine and they said summin like "If it Aint broke dont fix it, go make us another crazy album because thats what sells for you".........The interviews from last year, when talking about the album or anything, he had this "Why the fuck am I still doing this" kinda vibe goin on........With this record, everything seems to have turned around, he doesnt look uncomfortable on stage no more, he's alot more comfortable in interviews........

Just my opinion, Relapse felt like the "This is what everybody wants so this is what I have to do" album, every artist makes one of those

[EminemBase]

^ Relapse isn't that at all.

Putting out an album 95% about rape, torture and serial killing for his comeback album is not 'the easy' move by any means. That's about the riskiest move he could take in terms of mainstream success. It's also a flawless technical album. Again, not something for the light-hearted fan or average music listener - His flows are tight and crafted and his rhyming / lyricism is extremely complex.

It repulses mainstream. His fans may of wanted it but mainstream didn't.

[Fa-Q]

Kinda how I felt when SSLP and MMLP came out and then Eminem Show....same feeling...good overall album...but it lacked something

[classthe_king]

i hope his next album is more of a i dont give a fuck

I just hope his next album is good

[EmIsKingOfHipHop]

i hope his next album is more of a i dont give a fuck

I just hope his next album is good

recovery IS good. and its the current album, so enjoy it.

[rudeawakening101]

@EminemBase Recovery is mainstream whether you like it or not. The whole theme of the album is mainstream friendly because the theme of the album. It's a love album in a lot of ways.

Sure, he has aggressive lines and out of this world lines...but that's all they are, lines. They're simply thrown into the songs to make it feel like he hasn't completely sold out. When fans say they want an aggressive Eminem, they mean the kind of intensity he has on songs like Soldier or The Way I Am. That's real emotion.

And why would Eminem even need Pink or Rhianna on his album? Those are POP artists. Why does he never sing his own chorus anymore, either? It's clear he wants to be in the mainstream and follow the trend of what the other swag rappers are doing.

[EminemBase]

^ Total nonsense. You have no idea what you're talking about.

Themes of this album of complex and well done. It's metaphors, similes, purposeful contradictions / complexities throughout. It's pure lyricism.

As for Pink / Rhianna on there - Pink has roots in punk and Em sees her as a rebel, he likes her. So just because you don't doesn't mean he has to adhere to that too. As for Rhianna - the track is about domestic abuse and what happened to Rhianna lately? Exactly that. Using her on that track was a brilliant choice. He's perceived as a fucked up psycho wife beater in his music and she was recently beat up by a man herself. The fact that she's a huge name simply intensifies the situation, the paradox here is a wonderful idea.

Just because there's a few songs on there about love doesn't make them or the album mainstream. Mainstream doesn't own love. Mean people feel love to you know lmao, he is a human being. But he in no way dumbed down his execution, he complicated it. "Space Bound"... Mainstream? Get real.

At the end of the track he strangles the woman then blows his brains out. Yeah, how pop.

Him not on all the hooks was a creative choice. You can only take choruses so far with rapping, he's quite clearly trying to reach higher artistic strides with his music and isn't the best singer. It's also a way of adding in spice at this point and changing it up. He normally does everything, he needs to try new things. And he is not AT ALL trying to do what other rappers do. Trying to say this album or Eminem as an artist is mainstream in his intent or execution is just ridiculous. And with that said, me even arguing with somebody who thinks that is pointless. You're 100% wrong. Done.

[Fetou]

I honestly think he sampled so much to release this album so damned quickly. He must have hated his status after he released Relapse and most, including his own fan base, was not happy with his comeback album and most people were just like, WTF?

Either way, it isn't mainstream. It does feel a bit rushed, but it's still great work.

[77o77]

@EminemBase Recovery is mainstream whether you like it or not. The whole theme of the album is mainstream friendly because the theme of the album. It's a love album in a lot of ways.
Sure, he has aggressive lines and out of this world lines...but that's all they are, lines. They're simply thrown into the songs to make it feel like he hasn't completely sold out. When fans say they want an aggressive Eminem, they mean the kind of intensity he has on songs like Soldier or The Way I Am. That's real emotion.
And why would Eminem even need Pink or Rhianna on his album? Those are POP artists. Why does he never sing his own chorus anymore, either? It's clear he wants to be in the mainstream and follow the trend of what the other swag rappers are doing.

Eminem is doing what he wants. Rihanna, Pink, and Lil Wayne don't make it mainstream.

Eminem makes Eminem mainstream.
He has ALWAYS BEEN MAINSTREAM.
Even when he said he doesn't give a fuck he has said in interviews that any artist cares if people like them....
Name anyone know that has sold more than 500k first week EVER that isn't "mainstream"

@Eminembase he's not worth it man just let hiim keep his opinion. Everyone here likes your opinions.

[Emadyville]

Embase for the fucking win on this thread


everything he said is what's real, not saying you all don't have good points, i agree on some, but embase said it best and the truest

[SoldierShady]

Why? Just because he types up long ass paragraphs?

[SoldierShady]

Name anyone know that has sold more than 500k first week EVER that isn't "mainstream"

^ Brilliant question.

ALTHOUGH....."Mainstream music denotes music that is familiar and unthreatening to the masses, as for example popular music, pop music, middle of the road music, pop rap or soft rock..."