REVIEW: Eminem's Relapse

Eminem's has always been one of hip-hop, even America's, liveliest personas. The "Steve Berman" skit from 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP highlighted the rapper's depth: he was topical and controversial for reasons other than drugs, sex and money. Slim Shady defied his unmarketability and became a smash hit. And on "Mosh," Mathers proved a political backbone that made for one of his most interesting tracks.

In the five years since Encore (and in the years before), Mathers experienced drug addictions and recoveries. So Relapse, Mathers' first album since 2004, presents the rapper the opportunity to tackle a hard subject and present his best work to date. And on tracks like "Deja Vu," Slim does. His personal demons become the victim of his lyrical assaults, replacing the Backstreet Boys and his mother. "Underground," despite a built-in skit/coda to "We Made You," lets Mathers rudely announce his comeback. He is sharp, ruthless and uncompromising. The track possesses all the characteristics that earned Mathers a place in our hearts; it's brilliantly homophobic, misogynistic and self-celebratory. Mathers hold a middle finger up to all the listeners and critics, but the song embeds an attack on his days of drug abuse, showing new depth and life to his music. This isn't rehash.

Unfortunately, much of the album is. "We Made You" is another one of Em's arrogant send-up of celebrities. But unlike the likes of "Without Me" and "The Real Slim Shady," "We Made You" falls flat. The moment is wrong, and his targets (Jessica Simpson, Jessica Alba, etc.) seem arbitrary. This might be the kind of track that he built his career on, but it's not what he needs to be doing now. "My Mom" too has its relapse references, but it doesn't feel any better than any of his other tracks about his mom. It seems like somewhere between sharing the stage with Elton John and winning a plagiarist's Maureen Dowd's approval, Eminem went from being "the most evil rapper alive" to the most predictable.

I don't doubt that Eminem is one of the better rappers to grace us with his lyrical abilities (after all, he did deliver one of the decade's best albums). But Relapse feels unfocused, and Mathers a bit dated. When Relapse 2 drops later this year, this album might have new meaning. We can hope that will be a better album and companion. But on its own, Relapse isn't as razor-sharp as the rapper's glory days.