Eminem Reflects On "Relapse," "I'm Relapsing Back To The First 2 Albums"

News: Eminem Reflects On "Relapse," "I'm Relapsing Back To The First 2 Albums" [Audio]
Written by Cyrus Langhorne

Thu, 07 May 2009 15:50:00


Grammy-winning rapper Eminem recently spoke on the focus for his comeback album Relapse and promised fans to expect a sound similar to his first two projects as an Aftermath artist.

Along with confirming a follow-up album, Em detailed the main concepts behind his new project.

"There's two records, there's Relapse and there's Relapse 2," Em explained in an interview. "It'll be released later this year...The only guest appearance [on Relapse] is Dr. Dre, on this record. The production is all Dr. Dre, except for one song, it's called 'Beautiful.' It's not out yet...The main theme of the record is a lot to do with me getting sober. Like giving up drugs and also kinda relapsing back into the first two albums, it's like relapsing back to the first two albums. The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. It kinda feels like, the way these records feel it's like, to me, they kinda feel like those two records." (Skyrock)
In the new issue of Vibe magazine, Em breaks down his slow recovery from a struggle with drugs.

"I wanted to make an overall statement--I'm back," Em said. "It was a slow process. You gotta remember I hadn't recorded a song sober in seven years. So it took me awhile to even feel like I could record a song sober...I don't know the last time I shot a video sober, without drinking or taking anything. It's been years...I almost feel like a little kid again with rap. I wanna play around with different flows. If I don't feel like it's what I'm fully capable of, if there's one weak line, I wanna change it. Rap was my drug. It used to get me high and then it stopped getting me high. Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that...now rap's getting me high again." (Rap Radar)
After taking a comedic approach with his "We Made You" music video, Em released the dark-toned "3 a.m." video last weekend.

Following his previous music video, "We Made You," the rapper's latest features Em's protagonist staying in-tune to the song's lyrics as he sits alone at night in the woods recalling a likely murder spree he took part in. Appearing shirtless and with bandages, his character slowly begins to remember how he got there thinking back to each victim he killed upon leaving the fictional rehab-based facility Popsomp Hills. All taking place at night, much like most horror films, Em's video uses dark settings to enhance the 'scary' factor while using massive amounts of blood and a before/after effect of how each victim was slain. Similar to his violent-based rhymes from The Marshall Mathers LP, Em's new video did not feature any main cameos unlike 50 Cent and Dr. Dre's presence in "We Made You." (OnSmash)
Much like the rhymes found on his earlier releases, Em's wordplay via the song does not stray away from new forms of fictional bloodshed and violence.

His second single off the album, pushes shock limits even further. Eminem paints himself as a serial killer with lyrics such as "It's 3 a.m. in the morning, put my key in the door, bodies laying all over the floor and I don't know how they got there, but I guess I must have killed them." (Rolling Stone)
Relapse is scheduled to hit stores Tuesday, May 19th via Interscope Records.

Check out Em's interview below:

http://www.sohh.com/2009/05/eminems_relapse_reflects.html