"I still don't feel like I've made the perfect album"

[One Mic]

Eminem said this, after Relapse was released, and before Recovery dropped. Was an interview for "Complex Magazine" I believe. You can find most of the interview HERE, but the bit I want to draw your attention to, is the quote in the thread title.

So much of your best music was born of your addiction, but your writing is clearly inspired again. Where do you draw inspiration from now?

Eminem: [Long pause.] I don't know, that's a hard question. As far as the everyday inspiration to write? I guess I draw it from everywhere—conversations, something I saw on TV, whatever. But as far as inspiration to make music? Of all the albums I've made, I still don't feel like I've made the perfect album. I've had ones that touch on this, and others that touch on that, but never one that's just perfect and fully relevant. I don't know if I'll ever make it, but I'm certainly trying every day.

[flyingmonkey10]

maybe when he's dead

who the fuck knows? there's always hope cuz you never know what he's gonna come out with next.

everyone's bitching about collabs on with nicki minaj and LTWYL2 and the next day BAM he jizzes into our ears with god knows what (kinda music)

[Mikey1990]

i don't think he'll ever top mmlp,eminem show

[Devil'sAdvocate]

Great thread,and very well constructed.

SSLP is Eminem's best album,has to do with opinion but in the end of the day for me it is his best.

the hoax in people's mind that Em cant create a better album than (SSLP,MMLP,TES) is pure absurd,because using opinion which is a very vaild excuse,to me he did better than TES,Relapse is miles ahead of Recovery,and Relapse is a little better than The Eminem Show,maybe because im a skill obsessed cunt,but thats just me.

its just a stupid criteria,but all in all Em creates great album's except Encore which is shit all over a CD.

and im glad Em isnt a cocky guy who thinks he is all perfect.

[SajN]

Great thread,and very well constructed.

SSLP is Eminem's best album,has to do with opinion but in the end of the day for me it is his best.

the hoax in people's mind that Em cant create a better album than (SSLP,MMLP,TES) is pure absurd,because using opinion which is a very vaild excuse,to me he did better than TES,Relapse is miles ahead of Recovery,and Relapse is a little better than The Eminem Show,maybe because im a skill obsessed cunt,but thats just me.

its just a stupid criteria,but all in all Em creates great album's except Encore which is shit all over a CD.

and im glad Em isnt a cocky guy who thinks he is all perfect.

Wow, I didn't know you could write more than one sentence.

[HereHere]

He'll never make a 'perfect' album because there's no such thing. An album that's perfect to one person, could be awful to another.

Whether he'll make an album as good as TES/MMLP is a tough question. I'm not expecting him to, but I wouldn't rule it completely out. As long as he keeps making great music though, I don't really care.

[Innovation]

I don't completely discard the possibility of Eminem topping some of his earlier work, but I find it highly unlikely he will.

I mean, he has shown us glimpses of magic since his return. Going Through Changes as an example. That song, in my opinion, is up there with his earlier work.

He can still certainly write songs; Stay Wide Awake is a perfect example of that. I don't find this song to have much replay value personally, but I do appreciate it for what it is. Some of the rhyming in there is fantastic and up to par with previous albums.

Only the future will tell.

Great thread,and very well constructed.

SSLP is Eminem's best album,has to do with opinion but in the end of the day for me it is his best.

the hoax in people's mind that Em cant create a better album than (SSLP,MMLP,TES) is pure absurd,because using opinion which is a very vaild excuse,to me he did better than TES,Relapse is miles ahead of Recovery,and Relapse is a little better than The Eminem Show,maybe because im a skill obsessed cunt,but thats just me.

its just a stupid criteria,but all in all Em creates great album's except Encore which is shit all over a CD.

and im glad Em isnt a cocky guy who thinks he is all perfect.

I respect the fact that everyone has their own opinion, but for you to say Relapse is above The Eminem Show is crazy.

The Eminem Show has songs such as: Till I Collapse, SFTM, Cleaning out my Closet, Haily's Song and My Dad's Gone Crazy.

[Hiphopdane]

One of the things that makes Thriller so legendary is the production and I don't feel any of Eminem's albums have been THAT good (musically). Sure, they have all been good but we're talking about one of the biggest pop stars in the world and a dude Elton John once described as one of the best lyricist ever - or something similar.

I havn't listened to that many tracks but Rick Ross' new album seems to get all kind of praise because of the production. I'm just saying that beat picking is an area where Eminem needs to step up his game.

I think he tried a little too hard to please people with the new album. To me, it could just as well have been a compilation album because almost every song felt like it was taken from another album. Work with fewer producers on the next album, Em.

Lyrically, I think he should start rapping about the world outside his own brain a little more. You can still make stuff that is easy to relate to without mentioning your own private life. Talkin 2 myself is a prime example of a song in which the message is totally unnecesarry.

It sounds crazy, but a few positive songs wouldn't hurt.

He has definitely peaked, but that doesn't mean he can't make another classic. He just needs to find the right formula (no cheesy singing, better beats, cut off some of the word play, less shouting).

[Devil'sAdvocate]

I don't completely discard the possibility of Eminem topping some of his earlier work, but I find it highly unlikely he will.

I mean, he has shown us glimpses of magic since his return. Going Through Changes as an example. That song, in my opinion, is up there with his earlier work.

He can still certainly write songs; Stay Wide Awake is a perfect example of that. I don't find this song to have much replay value personally, but I do appreciate it for what it is. Some of the rhyming in there is fantastic and up to par with previous albums.

Only the future will tell.

Great thread,and very well constructed.

SSLP is Eminem's best album,has to do with opinion but in the end of the day for me it is his best.

the hoax in people's mind that Em cant create a better album than (SSLP,MMLP,TES) is pure absurd,because using opinion which is a very vaild excuse,to me he did better than TES,Relapse is miles ahead of Recovery,and Relapse is a little better than The Eminem Show,maybe because im a skill obsessed cunt,but thats just me.

its just a stupid criteria,but all in all Em creates great album's except Encore which is shit all over a CD.

and im glad Em isnt a cocky guy who thinks he is all perfect.

I respect the fact that everyone has their own opinion, but for you to say Relapse is above The Eminem Show is crazy.

The Eminem Show has songs such as: Till I Collapse, SFTM, Cleaning out my Closet, Haily's Song and My Dad's Gone Crazy.

I knew i was gonna get called out for this.

But Relapse had so many diffrent flows,a great use of multies and punchlines,a pretty good diverse and constructed album,very consistent too,to the extent were Em seemed like a rapping robot,where dre threw a beat and Em just went crazy on it.

ur next reply may be the accent,but fuck that,the accent is a great idea that was used great in a matter of only one year,so quit bitchin and move on.

I AINT EVEN MAD THO!!!!

[EminemBase]

Well you're right nostalgia does play tricks and it's extremely hard to compare new material with material that's long cemented in the mind, known back to front / inside out and also, which made the first impression on you. That can't be understated.

At the same time, I feel that The Eminem Show is his best album. Now, the first Eminem album I heard was The Marshall Mathers LP. Then I went back and bought The Slim Shady LP and have followed him since then. So, if it was nostalgia that's the driving force, or the fact X was the first you were introduced too... I don't see how I and many others could say TES is his best despite it being the 2nd or 3rd album we heard from him.

I do think it takes a good-while of new material 'setting-in' before you can truly place it and rate it amongst the rest, but I have many objective reasoning points that I consider to myself when comparing Recovery to the rest. And I can validate why I think the lyricism and ideas aren't as good. So I think, if you can logically lay out why X isn't as good as Y, it's not an illusion, it's reality.

As for whether he could still make his best yet - Absolutely.

It's not guaranteed but typically speaking, the older we get; the wiser get. And, you can actually hear that in Em's music as he develops. If you take something like "Space Bound", that's written very poetically and maturely. And what's amazing is, you always feel like you've heard him do whatever he's doing, before, because he does it so well. But when you think about it, he's really never written in that lyrical style before. Same with "Cinderella Man", in particular things like...

So bat ya eyelashes, and keep winking and blowin kisses
Cuz your flirting with death
I'm destroying your livelihood, I aint just hurting your rep

There's a new edge to lyricism like that. And in many ways I feel that kind of lyricism and most of "Cinderella Man" is the logical progression from The Eminem Show. So, he's taken a while to get there but I think he's finally beginning to move forward lyrically. As hard as it's been.

That kind of writing sounds almost more... accute, more assured, more adult, there's just something more striking about it that I think really fits his age. Of course he then ruins a lot of it with puns and pointless adolesance, but hopefully that'll lessen more and more. I really think he's progressing and age and experience could really do wonders for a creative mind like his. It's not like he's 60, he's 38, he's still a young-man. Lyricists like Bob Dylan peaked and peaked again and again and wrote some of their best stuff in middle-age, no reason to think Eminem couldn't too.

Umm... So I mean yeah, given his consistency in his writing, his continued growth and the pressure to top what he's done - I think his best album could be right around the corner. As he's also a reactionary artist. Which is why MMLP is certainly his most powerful and 'important'. As he was reacting to a backlash, he reacted for an entire album and turned his rage and pushback into a powerhouse work of art.

THAT probably will not happen again as there's no way anybody will push against him that hard now, we're too used to him and it's a different-age. That being said, the fact that his last three albums in a row haven't gotten that same recognition, I do feel is eating at him and I think he will eventually blow, artistically and react in a way that results in another undeniable album.

So, who knows when it'll be, I think reaction is the key to his genius though.

[Jens14]

i don't think he'll ever top mmlp,eminem show

This.

Also I wonder alot about the nostalgia part. Are the songs really that much better from the old era or not?

[Sam.]

Maybe the day when he makes an album out of unused collection of lyrics ,the album that comes out of this lyrics would have all the things needed to make a perfect album.

One of the things that makes Thriller so legendary is the production and I don't feel any of Eminem's albums have been THAT good (musically). Sure, they have all been good but we're talking about one of the biggest pop stars in the world and a dude Elton John once described as one of the best lyricist ever - or something similar.

I havn't listened to that many tracks but Rick Ross' new album seems to get all kind of praise because of the production. I'm just saying that beat picking is an area where Eminem needs to step up his game.

I think he tried a little too hard to please people with the new album. To me, it could just as well have been a compilation album because almost every song felt like it was taken from another album. Work with fewer producers on the next album, Em.

Lyrically, I think he should start rapping about the world outside his own brain a little more. You can still make stuff that is easy to relate to without mentioning your own private life. Talkin 2 myself is a prime example of a song in which the message is totally unnecesarry.

It sounds crazy, but a few positive songs wouldn't hurt.

He has definitely peaked, but that doesn't mean he can't make another classic. He just needs to find the right formula (no cheesy singing, better beats, cut off some of the word play, less shouting).

And some really good production

[Devil'sAdvocate]

Well you're right nostalgia does play tricks although and it's extremely hard to compare new material with material that's long cemented in the mind, known back to front / inside out and also, which made the first impression on you. That can't be understated.

At the same time, I feel that The Eminem Show is his best album. Now, the first Eminem album I heard was The Marshall Mathers LP. Then I went back and bought The Slim Shady LP and have followed him since then. So, if it was nostalgia that's the driving force, or the fact X was the first you were introduced too... I don't see how I and many others could say TES is his best despite it being the 2nd or 3rd album we heard from him.

I do think it takes a good-while of new material 'setting-in' before you can truly place it and rate it amongst the rest, but I have many objective reasoning points that I consider to myself when comparing Recovery to the rest. And I can validate why I think the lyricism and ideas aren't as good. So I think, if you can logically lay out why X isn't as good as Y, it's not an illusion, it's reality.

As for whether he could still make his best yet - Absolutely.

It's not guaranteed but typically speaking, the older we get; the wiser get. And, you can actually hear that in Em's music as he develops. If you take something like "Space Bound", that's written very poetically and maturely. And what's amazing is, you always feel like you've heard him do whatever he's doing, before, because he does it so well. But when you think about it, he's really never written in that lyrical style before. Same with "Cinderella Man", in particular things like...

So bat ya eyelashes, and keep winking and blowin kisses
Cuz your flirting with death
I'm destroying your livelihood, I aint just hurting your rep

There's a new edge to lyricism like that. And in many ways I feel that kind of lyricism and most of "Cinderella Man" is the logical progression from The Eminem Show. So, he's taken a while to get there but I think he's finally beginning to move forward lyrically. As hard as it's been.

That kind of writing sounds almost more... accute, more assured, more adult, there's just something more striking about it that I think really fits his age. Of course he then ruins a lot of it with puns and pointless adolesance, but hopefully that'll lessen more and more. I really think he's progressing.

Umm... So I mean yeah, given his consistency in his writing, his continued growth and the pressure to top what he's done - I think his best album could be right around the corner. As he's also a reactionary artist. Which is why MMLP is certainly his most powerful and 'important'. As he was reacting to a backlash, he reacted for an entire album and turned his rage and pushback into a powerhouse work of art.

THAT probably will not happen again as there's no way anybody will push against him that hard now, we're too used to him and it's a different-age. That being said, the fact that his last three albums in a row haven't gotten that same recognition, I do feel is eating at him and I think he will eventually blow, artistically and react in a way that results in another undeniable album.

So, who knows when it'll be, I think reaction is the key to his genius though.

[SajN]

What EminemBase said.

[One Mic]

Some good points have been raised in this thread.

What EminemBase said "I think reaction is the key to his genius though." is spot on IMO.

Hiphopdane you made some valid points also and I agree entirely with the fact that he needs to step his game up when selecting beats/instrumentals. I've always said that for such a talented artist, and a guy who can call Dr.Dre into the studio anytime he likes, Em has rapped over some pretty forgettable beats.

I'd love to see an Eminem/Kanye West collab album.......but with Eminem rapping and Kanye producing.