Dec 8, 2023 WARNING: EMINEM-RELATED ESSAY BELOW People tend to blame drugs for Eminem’s fall-off, but rarely attempt to explain why he developed a drug problem when he did. A few months ago I made a pretty harsh remark: But I stand by it. I believe his outing as a "racist" with the Foolish Pride leak dealt a crippling blow to his self-esteem with regard to his standing in the hip hop world, even to the point of deforming his personality, and was the main contributing factor to his already creeping drug problem suddenly spiraling out of control and resultant downfall in 2004 with the shitwreck that is Encore. Look no further for the origin of the accent than his being exposed as a culture-appropriating, racist white dude in a genre created and dominated by black people (for the hard of thinking, I’m referring to a--- Like That). I think it’s no coincidence that the other two songs from that period featuring the accent are in part a response to him losing his “ghetto pass” (Classic s---) and a diss at Benzino (Armageddon / Invasion Pt. III), who leaked Foolish Pride. That said, I still have a soft spot for Relapse, as it was the last remotely vintage-sounding Eminem album. It's extremely flawed, but fortunately I think it’s entirely possible to create a very entertaining album using the best songs from the period and with a bit of audio editing here and there. Updated tracklist (3/8/24) Dr. West (skit) My Darling I'm Having a Relapse Hello Tabitha (skit) Music Box Skeletons in My Closet (Insane Remix) My Mom h--- Breaks Loose Paul (skit) Psycho Medicine Ball (interlude) Things Get Worse Bagpipes from Bagdad Chemical Warfare Drop the Bomb on 'Em The Warning Elevator Old Time's Sake Must Be the Ganja Discombobulated Mr. Mathers (skit) Déjà Vu Audio edits - all by me unless otherwise credited: Spoiler My Darling - Hook repeats more at the end I'm Having a Relapse - Instrumental outro added by C-Bro Music Box - Extended hook fadeout ending Skeletons in My Closet - Insane remix Psycho - Eminem version Medicine Ball - Christopher Reeves skit/interlude Things Get Worse - Sound effects and acapella drop-outs added by Infisrael, hook from B.o.B song added by me Bagpipes from Bagdad - Short hook and instrumental outro Chemical Warfare - Redone by shut Elevator - 2nd verse removed, hook repeats at the end, amplified outro fadeout and removed toilet humor Old Time's Sake - Removed some of Eminem's more annoying parts Must Be the Ganja - Removed 3rd verse Discombobulated - Instrumental intro & outro, added "blackout" ending Déjà Vu - Extended outro The track ordering is important, especially in certain places. My Darling makes sense as the opener and was probably originally intended to be, since Dr. West calls Eminem darling and tells him they’ll always be together, and the skit ends with his alarm going off and My Darling begins with him yawning. Chemical Warfare and Drop the Bomb serve as a prelude to the Mariah diss. The drug use in Old Time’s Sake and Ganja result in him becoming “discombobulated”, and the “discombobulated” beat at the end of that track in turn segues into him being found unconscious by paramedics. The obviously modern re-recorded verses in Discombobulated stick out a bit here, but I think the 2009 hook and Dre production easily make up for it. This makes for a more cohesive experience than what we got, and also runs 10 minutes shorter than Relapse, which I feel was too long especially with so many bad and annoying songs. That’s why I’m dubbing this the definitive version of Relapse. It’s also bound to piss off a lot of fanboys so that’s a plus!
Dec 9, 2023 His outing with the racial pride track? Give me a break. It was definitely embarrassing for him. But really it wasn’t that bad I mean he dropped the n bomb on the mmlp and edited out .
Dec 9, 2023 Apparently you can't tell the difference between mentioning (as opposed to using) the N-word in a joke and saying blacks aren't to be trusted, LOL.
Dec 9, 2023 Didn't realize you were referring to Criminal. Yeah, that's still a terrible argument. See my edit.
Dec 10, 2023 Besides Relapse, I think it's worth doing for Encore and Recovery, even if just for the fun of it. As for the others, MMLP2 is a lost cause most of all because of that awful voice he used back then, and his voice and style from Revival to MTBMB is similar enough that just I put the best songs from 2017-2020 and few from Shady XV together and called it Revival to complete the "Re" trilogy. Funnily enough of all 4 remakes Relapse is the only one I ever feel like listening to anymore from beginning to end.
Dec 10, 2023 You left (3am) half the (Bagpipes) good (Hello) songs off you (Stay Wide Awake) f---in spaz.
Dec 10, 2023 Update: slowed down and distorted the last few seconds of Discombobulated for a better transition into Mr. Mathers
Dec 11, 2023 Opinions will differ. Most of the songs you named except for Hello annoy the s--- out of me, much like your posts annoy the s--- out of me. For me, this is the official Relapse. The rest don't exist in my universe.
Dec 11, 2023 I used to have Stay Wide Awake with all the verses removed in it as a kind of interlude, but I've taken it out for now because I'm not sure where to put it anymore.
Dec 11, 2023 Things Get Worse really grew on me recently, especially this remastered version I found with the leaked verse as the 3rd. This >>> Stay Wide Awake
Dec 11, 2023 What's ur gripe with SWA? Regarding Relapse, I hated it at first but it grew on me as soon as I got used to the accents and childish humour but you gotta admit that's the last album he dropped with a consistent flow that was good. Recovery has it's moments but the p---- whipped tracks put me off the project as a complete body of work.
Dec 11, 2023 While the first verse isn't that bad, the entire second verse is unlistenable due that infantile "flow" he uses throughout, and the third is ruined by the forced broken English and infamous Jabba the Hutt line. Besides those grips though the voice gets old quick. As he said in an interview once there were several different versions of the accent. This is one of the worst for me.
Dec 12, 2023 f---, Music Box's is even better. Shame about the yelling over it though. So unnecessary.
