Recovery

After over a week of sitting in a wedding, reading the seventh Harry Potter, getting sun burnt, and eating cheese curds I'm finally back from Wisconsin.  Its nice to be home.  On to the review, and its gonna be a long one, its Eminem:

"Cinderella Man"

I was really anticipating the release of Eminem's new album "Recovery," and had been for a long time.  Anyone who reads my blog might have read a post I wrote about Eminem talking about why I hold him in such high esteem as a rapper.  After listening to his 2009 release "Relapse" and being severely disappointed, I was expecting a lot from this album.  When I first listened to it I was pleasantly surprised.  Where on "Relapse" Eminem took a dramatic turn towards his more comedic rapping style, in "Recovery" he definitely tries to return to the edgy, angsty, angry sound that made him so popular on his "Slim Shady LP" and "The Eminem Show."  At first, I thought the album was great.  After talking to a friend of mine, however, I realized that even though he is trying to dig back down to his roots, it isn't possible; there is absolutely no way Eminem can be the Eminem that Dr. Dre originally discovered.  He's changed drastically and he just isn't the same.  After listening to the album a few more times, I realized that this is even more true in terms of his rapping and lyrics.  The best way I can describe it is through this analogy:  Say you have a friend who you go out drinking with a lot; you have fun, get drunk, get schwasted, whatever.  Say later they become an alcoholic and are crazy out of control.  They check into rehab and afterward, you're glad they're sober, but they're just not as much fun as they used to be.  Well, that's Eminem.

Eminem has always been the epitome of edgy rap.  Certain rappers like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, 2-Pac, and the Notorious B.I.G. pushed what was typically acceptable to rap about by (as Steve Berman puts it in "The Marshall Mathers LP") "rappin' about big-screen TVs, blunts, 40's and bitches."  Eminem, however, took it to an entirely different level, as Steve Berman again puts it, "rappin' about homosexuals and Vicadin."  Its without question that Eminem is the edgiest most controversial rapper out there.  In fact that's what attracted me to him; he is entirely different from any other rapper that has ever picked up a mic.  In his 2009 release "Relapse" Eminem was almost entirely devoid of his typical edge.  "Relapse" focused more on his comedic side and although it did have some disturbing content, such as his song "3 AM," even those songs were rapped in his more joking style of rap seen in hits such as "My Name Is" and the "The Real Slim Shady" (save for the stand alone harder song "Underground/Ken Kaniff" at the end of the album).  In "Recovery" Eminem really does try to turn back to his harder edgier style, but, unfortunately, with little success. 

His single from the album "Not Afraid" conveys feelings of regret for his last album, confessing that he knew it was a disaster, saying "Let’s be honest, that last Relapse CD was 'ehhhh.'" He also addresses his absence from his fans right before by rapping "And to the fans, I’ll never let you down again, I’m back/ I promise to never go back on that promise."  Eminem really does stand out on this track and does sound a bit like his old self.  Its nice to hear him own up to his mistakes and actually apologize to his fans.  While this is all well and good on "Not Afraid," Eminem wears his apology a little too thin, the same subject matter appears in several other songs such as "Cinderella Man."  He exhausts several other themes such as how he hates "the fame" but loves "the game;"  how hip-hop can't be the same without him and he's not going away; and how he has been constantly doubted as a rapper.

To get the rest of the negativity out really quick, the only other serious downfall on this album is that Eminem doesn't make the most of his guest appearances.  In "Won't Back Down" and "Love the Way You Lie" he has P!nk and Rihanna as guest appearances respectively.  However, all they do is sing the chorus and nothing more than that.  Having two hot, popular female artists on a hip-hop album is huge and to not use their vocals to your advantage is a huge mistake.  The only guest appearance Eminem makes use of is Lil Wayne in "No Love;" however, even then, this song doesn't seem to compliment Lil Wayne very well and one would expect a duo of Eminem and Lil Wayne to make a hilarious rap song if used correctly.  Unfortunately, the end product is an almost cheesy, heart-broken ballad with Haddaway's "What is Love" as a back track.

Onto what makes this album good, namely three tracks: "Cold Wind Blows," "Almost Famous," and "Cinderella Man." While at first I didn't really enjoy "Cold Wind Blows," after listening to it a few times I liked it more.  Eminem has comedic rapping in it (my favorite line is "Yeah I laugh when I call you a slut, its funny!") while still having a sort of tough back beat.  I was unsure about the chorus at first because its Eminem singing which is never pretty.  However, after listening to Mariah Carey's "Obsessed" it is clear that this song is a little stab at her.  Although Eminem already DESTROYED Mariah and her husband, regrettably, Nick Cannon in his single "The Warning," everyone knows that Eminem tends to hold onto grudges for quite some time.  His flow overall is really solid and his content is decent making an overall standout song.  "Almost Famous" has an eerie, almost creepy sound that borders on a hybrid of "Amityville" from "The Marshall Mathers LP" and "3 AM" from "Relapse."  A female vocalist sings the chorus which really provides for the eerie atmosphere.  The lyrics in the song back track through how Eminem started out and made it famous.  Although this is a subject Eminem has touched upon several times in the past, the lyrics are strong, dynamic, and manage to paint an impressive pictures with lines such as "Now there he goes in Dre's studio cuppin' his balls/ Screaming the wood off the panel/ And cussing the paint off the walls."

"Cinderella Man"  in my opinion, is the best track on the entire album.  It starts with Eminem talking over a stomping and clapping beat, closely followed by a male choir singing.  The male vocalists also later sings the hook "Cinderella man, Cinderella man, Cinderella man" mingled in between Eminem's verses which really compliments the harshness of his flow.  The chorus on top of that, while being somewhat cheesy, is incredibly well constructed and really works as possibly one of the best he's ever created: "Now guess who who (hey)/ Here's a clue (hey)/ He came to a ball in a wife beater/ Lost his Nike shoe/ It's in ya ass (hey)/ He's in ya ass, he's all up in ya psyche too/ Now what's his name?" followed by the choir repeating "Cinderella Man."  The overall feel of the song really juxtaposes a calm, relaxing feeling with one of anger and triumph creating an epic song that really shows that Eminem still has his spark. 

While its not his best album ever, Eminem does have some shining moments in "Recovery," which ended up with an overall Metacritic score of 61, which is a huge success, considering that he started his release out with as low of a score as 30.  Thankfully he had high reviews from Entertainment Weekly (83) and Rolling Stone (80).  Where "The Marshall Mathers LP" (arguably his best album) has all good songs with stand out great songs, "Recovery" has some decent songs, some good songs, and one great song, "Cinderella Man."  Eminem will never be the edgy rapper he used to be.  He's not struggling as much as he once was and although I'm glad his life is almost entirely turned around, that in turn turns around his rap as well; his torment and anger is what originally fueled his fire.  Fortunately, "Cinderella Man" shows listeners that Eminem doesn't need to be at the bottom of the barrel in order to create something great.  Take a listen to it here.

"Recovery": 79/100

Check out Mariah Carey's "Obsessed" and Eminem's rebuke, "The Warning" and you be the judge as to who won the battle.