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!