I think that...

[cheeseburger]

^ yeah but thats pretty much exactly what I meant. See I dont think he compromised that much, he just realised the crowd wasnt ready for such a hard on comeback that Relapse was. So he scrapped R2 and made the more bubblegumish Recovery and BOOM best rapper alive again. Theres more good shit on Recovery than bad, so just a couple (even though there are lots of them lol) corny punchlines and "inotherwords" he showed everyone including his "true" fans that he's still got it. And right after he shut everyone up with Bad Meets Evil. Above The Law makes me fucking forgive him for all his corny shit ever done.

[EminemBase]

He was WAY closer to the SSLP/MMLP feel on Relapse than he was on Recovery. Relapse was it's own monster in comparison to SSLP/MMLP. If he really wanted that feel on Relapse, then he should've never used accents, it would've sounded even closer to SSLP/MMLP.

I truly hope he has this figured out and goes through with it on this next LP. If Recovery was his idea of re-capturing the essence of SSLP/MMLP then he was way off.


EDIT: I love Relapse as it is, I'm just saying that's what Em should've done if he wanted more of the SSLP/MMLP feel. Stylistically, he was different.

He didn't say he wanted to sound like those records, he never wants to sound the same.

He just meant he wanted to go back to provocation and bear-baiting, which he did. And he never really left it alone, he just fully embraces it as a way of life again on Relapse, and due to the fact the relapse style is it's complete own style, humorous yet sadistic and slap-happy, it actually is reminiscent of SSLP yet sounds completely fresh.

Also, I wouldn't say he was 'way off' with shit like "Cold Wind Blows". He's funny, offensive, playing into the hateful misogynist character but in a real-world way. The music is just worlds apart, but CWB is almost an attempt at like a "Kill You", in fact I think subconsciously he tried to capture that spirit / kind of track, similar to how "Cinderella Man" feels like a sister track to "Till I Collapse".

[Jim Bob]

Recovery was across the board in terms of sound, so saying it's going to sound like that doesn't really say anything. If you mean it's going to sound "mainstream-y" and lighter compared to Eminem's earlier stuff , then I'd say there's a good possibly. But that doesn't bother me because I liked Recovery a lot.

[EminemBase]

Anyway, Ive always found that the corny shit on Recovery was done on purpose to "lure" bubblegum rap fans in.

That's possible; just to get his name back out there.

Well Em pretty much confirmed this in an interview I think in... 2011/12...

He basically said something to the effect of he felt like he was being counted out and dismissed after Relapse, like he was on his last leg. So in that sense... even though I see Recovery as a huge compromise; it makes more sense WHY he did it.

I don't believe he ever does things blindly for fame or money, there's never been any real evidence of that, there's always a reason to it... and after Encore and then a fairly flat reception to Relapse, especially as his comeback... maybe he just felt like his career could be fucked. As we take for granted how we just assume and know he will be huge no matter what he puts out, but to him, he's just HIMSELF, he's a normal human with fears and doubts and anxiety... and after like half a decade away from the public solo mic, to come back and get shat on; at this stage, I think he really did think his entire shit could be down the pan if he released RX2.

And when you think about it, Em has always made his albums as responses to reactions. It just so happens that this was a negative reaction towards the actual quality of the music rather than his thoughts and what he was intending to do. If you look at it...

The Slim Shady LP / whole persona was an angry 'I don't give a fuck anymore' response and attitude to people's reaction to Infinite.

The Marshall Mathers LP was a response to those who didn't understand the Slim Shady persona, and the use of his sarcasm and provocation. So he ramps it up ten-fold here.

The Eminem Show was a response to the assertion of him just being a 'shock rapper', and an attempt to be taken more seriously. It's more mature, more musically broad.

Encore was half ridiculous, and whilst that could have been the pills (I don't entirely buy this as I've been high on sleeping pills myself a lot, and they don't tend to make you goofy. They make you drowsy and repetitive ala "Like Toy Soldiers") - it may well have been a response to this notion going around at the time that he takes himself too seriously, after the Triumph the dog shit at the awards, that he was a self-serious bully etc. - he even spoofs that whole incident on the album!

Then Relapse... well, I know as a long-time fan and from seeing where he was at with Encore and "When I'm Gone" etc. - there is just NO-FUCKING-WAY-IN-HELL I thought he would have comeback with something so dark, intricate, detailed, and uncompromising as Relapse. I wished for it, I hoped for it, I wanted it, but I never ever expected he'd do it, not like that. So Relapse may well have also been somewhat of a response to the idea he was too mainstream / lost his edge.

Then Recovery was a response to that mixed reception / idea he couldn't be relevant now.

We've always known Em is a pure reactionary artist, he feeds off it and uses it as fuel. If you look at "The Way I Am"... that incredible song was a reaction to label pressure. So a lot of his best work is reactionary and that's the essence of what he is as an artist, it just so happened that the reaction of Recovery was the first true artistic compromise, rather than do what he did with The Slim Shady EP/LP, he appeased, whilst pretending to care less than ever (in much of the Recovery content). But perhaps this was because he took it as low and fucked-up as he could on Relapse and that didn't get the reaction he wanted, so he felt that honest route would be ironically, more shocking.

Either way he always figures out a way to surprise us, and every album is basically a reaction to the last, which is a good thing in that... that would mean this next album is going to be somewhat of a reaction to the idea of him being a full-blown pop rapper who compromises etc. - given the BET Cypher verse and his latest demeanor / look... I reckon he's genuinely quite angry and has some dark art cooking. Just no fucking blatant hit attempts or shit production, PLEASE EM.

You add all that up and ironically, 'Mr. Don't Give a Fuck' gives just about more fucks than anybody else in the business. I mean, he basis much of the direction of his work on the reaction to what he puts out, which sometimes works in his favour as it fuels him to create a masterpiece (MMLP), and sometimes it fuels him to create a compromised body of work (Recovery). I think he's just about run that well dry now, and I hope hope hope he's proven to himself he can be as huge as he wants, he's still relevant and to make something that isn't so self-obsessed or about his fucking career (I mean seriously, making art about your own art as it's happening and then just after it's happened!?) and his past. He's in a great lyrical space right now... with production from himself and No.Id, and no bullshit tracks, he could definitely create a classic. I just wonder, will he.

I just hope he actually does, for the first time in his career, NOT GIVE A FUCK what anyone but him thinks. Just fucking create art Em! you've sold 100 million records, you're in the fucking books, go out with a 100% uncompromising classic you fuck! I mean to go from 'too mainstream' to create Relapse... then 'not relevant / mainstream enough' to create Recovery... and now probably back again? he's going back-and-fucking-forth based on public opinion! STOP CARING EM!

[Sam.]

Wait for the next Encore. The way his latest collaborations are sounding, I'm sure we're looking at another Encore. Now, quote me on this.

[EminemBase]

Wait for the next Encore. The way his latest collaborations are sounding, I'm sure we're looking at another Encore. Now, quote me on this.

[cheeseburger]

Those EmBase posts gonn´ crash the server lol.

Well put though

[Sam.]

I just asked you to quote me, not take it seriously. EmBase, do you think after reading your post and talking to you about his Solo work, I would believe in that?

[EminemBase]

I just asked you to quote me, not take it seriously. EmBase, do you think after reading your post and talking to you about his Solo work, I would believe in that?

Oh, you were just kinda taking the piss? My bad.

[Sam.]

Yes, kinda. lololol

[EminemBase]

^ Cinderella Man!? That's a fucking awesome track.

[EminemBase]

^ Cinderella Man!? That's a fucking awesome track.

I'm not saying it's bad, I was saying that his reaction to criticism on those songs is handled poorly.

With Cold Wind Blows and On Fire he was pretty much saying "I'm still the same dick head rapper and nothing you say or do will change me"

Then with Talking 2 Myself he apologies, on Not Afraid he bashes Relapse by saying that he let his fans down (when he really didn't), then Cinderella Man has senseless Relapse bashing as well.

The songs themselves aren't bad songs, I just cringe everytime I hear him diss Relapse.

Yeah him dissing Relapse was stupid.

But "Cinderella Man" flow, delivery and lyricism, and concept >>