Despite the initially mixed reaction of Relapse and the lukewarm reaction of Recovery... when you actually look at the content on both albums, they house some pretty incredible stuff...
For a mainstream rapper as big as Eminem to put out an album as lyrical and focused as Relapse I think is amazing, no other mainstream rapper is being as lyrical right now.
I think that in a few years people will look back on these few years as a pretty prolific period for his penmanship. Obviously the content isn't as compelling as his best work and there are flaws, but, when you consider songs such as...
- Hello
- Same Song and Dance
- Stay Wide Awake
- Deja Vu
... fuck it basically nearly all of Relapse and then...
- Cold Wind Blows
- Going Through Changes
- Space Bound
- Cinderella Man
- Almost Famous (especially)
A lot of this stuff is out of this fucking world. Some of the writing and focus is sublime.
I know his wit isn't what it once was a lot of the time and some of the puns and attempts to adapt are not great, but overall, there's a lot of classic material here for me.