Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Eminem: Why One Fan Is Still A Fan
Eminem's 'Recovery' Explodes At No. 1 on Billboard 200 With 741,000
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Eminem Speaks On Being Snubbed By MTV & Not Competing On 'Forever'
Days before his seventh album, Recovery, dropped, Eminem sat with VIBE for a short convo
VIBE: How'd you feel about the response to "Forever"?
Eminem: The response was great. I didn’t really look it like I’m competing against these guys. I’m on a record with them, but I just wanted to make a good song. Certainly, the response helped, as far as me being able to feel good about myself again. It took me so long to just even be able to do that. I was pretty down for a few years. I went through some things and not just with addiction, some personal setbacks and I was down. Just being able to get back up again feels good. I think everything played a factor of where I’m at now.
On Recovery, you have this one line on “25 to Life” where you talk about taking control of your relationship with hip-hop. How have you done that?
What the whole song is saying is that I have a strange relationship with hip-hop because I love it so much. I go through this thing in my head a lot, which I’m sure every rapper does, where you give your life to this thing. You literally give everything that you got. I come to work some days wearing the same thing two days in a row—baggy sweats—just dedicating my life to this. And there are times that I feel like I get the respect that I deserve and there are times where I feel like I don’t.
Like when MTV excluded you from their Hottest MCs of 2009 list?
That hottest MC list that I was left off, it was one of those things that I was glad that I am at where I'm at. I’m glad I’m in this place now, because a few years ago I would've let it bother me more than it did. I took it not as a slap in the face but more so like, "Maybe I’m not on that list for a reason. Maybe I’m not doing the things that I need to be doing. Maybe I need to look at myself and step it up." I don’t know what I would have thought being in the mind state that I was in. I just felt like maybe I need to do better.
As a person, are you proud of yourself?
I handle things a lot differently now. I’m proud to be able to say that I’m an addict without any shame in it. I’m proud that I’m able to admit that I have a problem with a certain thing and I have to leave it alone and accept it. I’m proud that I’m strong enough to be able to walk away form those things.
When did you realize that? During rehab? Therapy?
I got some tools in rehab when I went in 2005. I got the tools that I need, I just didn’t use them. I got the information, the analysis—I don’t know if that’s the word—of my personality. What type of person I am, why I have this addictive behavior, why I need instant gratification from certain things, why I feel a certain way because my childhood was this way or that way. I got all of those tools, which made me understand why I had to leave that stuff alone. But I didn’t use it and that’s why I went back to it.
Why did you decide not to release the songs you'd planned for Relapse 2?
On a record like the new record, when I mention the third verse of “Talking to Myself,” I try to sum up the last two records in a nutshell. Mr. Porter, who produced “On Fire,” had this analogy of Encore and Relapse that stuck with me: “Encore I was on drugs, Relapse I was flushing them out.” His view on Relapse was that I was flushing the drugs out my system and looking back at it, I probably was. My mind was coming back, my writing skills were coming back, so I was able to write again because I had writer’s block from the pills. I was backed up. I was writing so much and so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to stop and say, Are these good songs? Are they great songs? I was just going. I was like, 'I got so much material for three albums, but let’s narrow it down to two. Let’s put out Relapse 2 months later. That was the original plan. There are so many drug references on the last album; that’s just where my head was at. I came to life again and everything was like new. When they say 'in recovery' or 'in rehab', it’s like being born again when you get clean and sober. You start appreciating shit that you never thought you would appreciate, like, 'Wow, look at those trees. Look at nature.' Before, it didn’t matter. I just started appreciating things more. I got happy when I got sober, broke free from the chains—not to sound corny. I broke free from the chains of addiction and it was just like 'Ahh, I’m happy again. I’m not a prisoner.' I was just happy to be back.
Source:VIBE
Eminem Recovery Reigns Supreme
The final numbers aren’t in until tomorrow, but Hits Daily Double tally that Eminem’s Recovery has moved over 750,000 copies. If the figures hold up, the album becomes this year’s highest seller and Em’s fifth consecutive solo number one.
Eminem Has 'Beef' With Adrian Grenier On 'Entourage' Season Finale
Monday, June 28, 2010
Eminem On BET
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Eminem can't revisit 'creepy' home studio
Eminem can't go down to the recording studio he built in his Michigan home anymore - because it reminds him of a very dark period in his life.
The rapper admits he spent a lot of time down there at the height of the drug addiction, which kept him out of the spotlight for two years - and couldn't face returning to a place full of bad memories.
Instead he recorded most of his new album Recovery in a new hometown studio.
He tells Billboard magazine, "I still have the studio at my house, but it reminds me of when I was in a really dark place.
"As soon as all the pills were flushed out of my system and I started seeing things clearer, going downstairs in my basement and recording creeped me out a little bit."
Source:WENN.com
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Eminem will apppear on Entourage
Eminem Interview - "Rollin With Em"
Eminem Presents Road To Recovery
Eminem: The Billboard Cover Story
The rap superstar was rumored to be headlining this freestyle battle event, Red Bull EmSee: The Road to 8 Mile, named after his own Detroit origins and the Academy Award-nominated 2002 movie that chronicled them. Now, the night's host has finally confirmed that Marshall Mathers will take the stage
From the moment he does -- with "Despicable," a freestyle that was leaked in April to hype his new album, "Recovery" (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) -- Eminem looks furious. Neck pulsing, eyes alight, he plows through bars with the intensity of someone who has spent the past five years fighting just to stay alive, which, in fact, he has, due in large part to a lengthy and near-fatal addiction to prescription medications including Vicodin, Valium, Ambien and methadone. "Better not let up, better not let them breathe," he spits. "Last shot, give it all you got/Try to turn me down, bitch, get fucked with the volume knob/Fuck all you snobs."
His set ends not 10 minutes later, after performing two tracks from "Recovery": "On Fire," produced by his onstage hype man Mr. Porter, and the explosive "Won't Back Down," featuring pop outlier Pink on the chorus. Only when he says goodbye does Eminem hint at the calmer, now more sentient artist behind the lethal-as-ever rhymes.
"I do realize, man, for real, that if it were not for you guys I would not be standing up here right fucking now," he tells the crowd. "Honest to God, man -- thank you to each and every one of you." As he leaves, fans scream and chant "Encore, encore!" to no avail.
Eminem has good reason to feel grateful: June 21 marked the release of "Recovery," his second studio album in as many years after a long and turbulent hiatus. The first one, "Relapse," was released last May and followed 2005's "Encore," which sold 5.2 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Perhaps more so for Eminem than any other artist, "underwhelming" is a relative term when it comes to sales. At 2 million copies, "Relapse" has sold significantly less than his previous sets but was the top-selling rap album of 2009, affirming the continued loyalty of his fans and his music's ability to withstand leaks. All told, Eminem has sold 35.7 million albums in the United States in slightly more than 11 years and was the best-selling artist of the last decade. In its first week of release, "Recovery" is projected to add around 600,000 copies to his grand total.
"I don't think I've actually stopped to think about it," Eminem says by phone from his home in Detroit, while on a brief break between trips to promote "Recovery." "I never thought that my life would amount to this. But to be able to sit back and digest it is so strange to me, because I still feel so regular. I don't understand what people think the big deal is about me. It's a very strange relationship that I have with fame."
What Eminem has spent a great deal of time thinking about, however, is artistic merit. He continues to speak openly about what he believes is the mixed quality of his last two albums. "I was pretty much in full-blown addiction while I was creating ["Encore"]," he says, "and as far as 'Relapse,' when I first got sober I got really happy because I was not a prisoner of addiction anymore, so life was brand-new to me. I was like, 'Shit, man, trees are beautiful again. What a nice day it is.' I don't think I was paying attention to what the average listener might like or not like."
During the four years between "Encore" and "Relapse," Eminem grappled with events that would turn anyone's life upside down: the death of best friend and fellow Detroit rapper DeShaun "Proof" Holton in 2004; a second divorce from his high school sweetheart, Kimberly Mathers, in 2006; and a deepening dependency on pills. When he says, "Technically, I'm not even supposed to be here right now," on the introduction to "Recovery" cut "Cinderella Man," he's not joking.
"Anybody who's known someone fighting this kind of addiction knows it can be extremely challenging," says Paul Rosenberg, Eminem's longtime manager. "During that period I lost a friend, and I certainly didn't have as much of a business partner. All that's back now, though, and it's incredible."
Like "Relapse" before it, "Recovery" could be considered a personal triumph just by nature of its existence. But the album succeeds at far more than that. Eminem has written his most complete rhymes in years, and while Slim Shady -- the completely offensive alter ego that made him such a cultural hot button in the early aughts -- is largely absent on "Recovery," the severance feels necessary for an MC who will turn 38 in October.
For the first time, too, Eminem collaborated with producers outside of his tight-knit circle (Dr. Dre, Mike Elizondo, Mark Batson), employing Just Blaze, Boi-1da, Jim Jonsin and others. The result sounds quite literally like a new beginning, both reinforcing Eminem's lyrical dominance and presenting a clearer vision of his potential as a mature artist.
"It's everything that you would want to hear from him at this point in his career," says DJ Khalil, who helped craft four tracks on "Recovery," the most of any producer. "He's the best rapper, period, and he has a lot to say right now."
"As ["Relapse"] was coming along, I heard the song structures and production get broader and better," Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine says. "It all came together in the last month or two to a real crescendo. His last albums haven't sold as much, but this one will appeal to a much broader base. He shows all the signs of being one of the great lyricists, on par with [Bruce] Springsteen, Bono and [Bob] Dylan.
Eminem promised fans a different set of releases last year -- "Relapse" and "Relapse 2" -- but shifted gears almost as soon as he started the latter. In December, he dropped "Relapse: The Refill," a deluxe album with bonus new material, to keep fans satisfied as he kept recording.
"He already knew what sort of mistakes he had made with the previous album and where he wanted to go from there," says Just Blaze, who was the first producer to enter the studio with Eminem for "Recovery" sessions late last year.
"I would go back and listen to songs off 'The Marshall Mathers LP,' 'The Eminem Show' and some of 'Encore' and ask, 'Why don't my music feel like this anymore?' " Eminem recalls. " 'The Way I Am,' 'Criminal' and 'Toy Soldiers' were songs that meant something. I wanted there to be a reason why I was making each song, instead of making it just to make it."
Eminem recorded most of "Recovery" in his new hometown studio, built in part to combat his reclusive habits during addiction. "I still have the studio at my house, but it reminds me of when I was in a really dark place," he says. "As soon as all the pills were flushed out of my system and I started seeing things clearer, going downstairs in my basement and recording creeped me out a little bit."
While Eminem and Just Blaze had planned to work together for years, the rapper's collaborations with other producers came about differently. Most sent demos directly to his manager and de facto A&R exec Rosenberg first, then waited for a callback.
"I've always given my opinion on the creative side, but in terms of bringing him tracks it's the most involved I've been," Rosenberg says.
Jim Jonsin says he went for a "soulful, Southern rock feel" on "Space Bound" and heard from Rosenberg shortly after sending the demo. Within three days, Jonsin met Eminem in Detroit. "He had already done his vocals before I got there, so we just polished it up and tried out other song ideas," he says.
Khalil sent several beats to Rosenberg after hearing that Eminem admired some of his recent work, such as Clipse and Kanye West's "Kinda Like a Big Deal." His mentor Dr. Dre gave him a call around the time of the Grammy Awards in February and told him to meet them in Los Angeles. "Dre was like, 'Yo, Em wants to meet you,' " he recalls. "It was a dream come true."
Alex Da Kid, who produced the standout ballad "Love the Way You Lie," featuring Rihanna, says that Shady senior director of A&R Rigo Morales "heard my beat and what I had done with B.o.B on 'Airplanes,' and I guess they realized they kind of liked me."
Rosenberg says of "Love the Way You Lie," which chronicles an abusive relationship, "Marshall wrote it with Rihanna in mind and hoped that she was open to taking on that subject matter. She heard it and thought that it would be a great opportunity to do that."
All together, Eminem says he recorded "at least three or four albums' worth" of material for "Recovery." "I must have gone through 200-300 beats," he says. "I probably picked a hundred of them and made songs to all of them and then nailed it down. I wanted to put the best of the best on this record."
The perfectionism paid off most on "You're Never Over," a heart-wrenching tribute to Proof that his most devout fans are citing as a breakthrough. Eminem himself hasn't seen the feedback ("I can't read the comments, man. I'll go fucking crazy"), but he says it's especially meaningful in this case.
"It makes me feel like, 'Finally, I got it,' " he says. "It took me a long time to write the right song for him, and I think two things came into play with that. One was just being in a better place to be able to deal with it. And as soon as I got that beat from Just, the chorus came in my head and I was like, 'Yo, this could be it.' I wrote anywhere from eight to 10 records about Proof, but nothing was right until I got that beat."
Eminem made it clear that "Recovery" meant change the moment he released "Not Afraid." For years, his albums' lead singles -- from "My Name Is" to "We Made You" -- were celebrity-bashing tirades set to sing-songy choruses, meant explicitly to set tongues ablaze. In their accompanying music videos, he'd dress up like his subjects (Elvis and Michael Jackson, most notoriously) or subject them to violent fantasies (Moby).
With "Not Afraid," Eminem stuck to an inspirational narrative, telling troubled listeners to "come take my hand" over a propulsive Boi-1da beat. Fans immediately responded. "Not Afraid" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and again put him in rarefied company -- only 15 other artists have achieved the same feat, starting with Michael Jackson in 1995 with "You Are Not Alone."
"It's quickly taking its place next to 'Lose Yourself' as a record that people can connect with on a personal level," Interscope executive VP of marketing and publicity Dennis Dennehy says, referring to Eminem's Oscar- and Grammy-winning song from "8 Mile."
"We're going to hear 'Not Afraid' for a long time," says Peter Rosenberg, host of WQHT New York's morning show and "Real Late With Peter Rosenberg." That said, Rosenberg adds that the song isn't in heavy rotation at his station. "Hot 97 tends to gravitate toward its core artists—Kanye West, Drake," he says. "Em will always be a Z100 [WHTZ New York] artist also, so I think urban radio doesn't always know what role he can play because of that. That being said, I think the record with Rihanna will be a hip-hop and a pop smash."
"Not Afraid" did, in fact, receive repeat play on national network TV during the NBA playoffs. It aired frequently during HBO's "24/7" series, which previews high-profile boxing matches, and as Ultimate Fighting Championship star Chuck Liddell's entrance music during a recent pay-per-view fight.
"We were very aggressive in licensing the music so that we could support the radio campaign as much as we could as early as we could," Interscope vice chairman Steve Berman says. "That was a key goal for us. Now it's become a kind of sports anthem."
"Won't Back Down" was featured in a prominent TV spot for "Call of Duty: Black Ops," the anticipated next installment of Activision/Blizzard's top videogame franchise. "We worked with Eminem's team last year and used ' 'Til I Collapse' in the spot for 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,' " says the game's head of marketing, Rob Kostich. "Our demo is squarely focused on males ages 18-34. Eminem is one of the top-selling artists in the world and this is a top game, so it's perfect."
Selecting the right brand involvement for an artist who has always courted controversy comes with challenges, but his manager Rosenberg says, "For him, it's all about things that make sense. He's not necessarily out there looking for the next way to make more money. He's just looking to do the thing that he enjoys."
Interscope chose online video platform Vevo as its partner to premiere the "Not Afraid" video. "We live in a different marketplace today," Berman says. "MTV does not have nearly the power it used to in pushing a visual out, so it was very important for us that we go to the places that are powerful to do that." On the day of the premiere, Vevo flipped the E in its name to reflect Eminem's logo.
Like much of the "Recovery" campaign's key elements, the Vevo premiere was announced without much advance warning, heightening excitement around the album. On April 14, Eminem simply wrote, "There is no Relapse 2" on his Twitter page, sending his followers and media outlets into a speculative frenzy for several hours before announcing "Recovery." After the album leaked two weeks early, his camp waited until just a few days before street date to announce that the release had been moved from June 22 to June 21.
Like his surprise set at the Red Bull EmSee event, Eminem's TV appearances have come with little advance fanfare. A viral spot with former ShamWow spokesman Vince Shlomi surfaced without warning, and on the album's street date, he played the rooftop of Manhattan's Ed Sullivan Theater with Jay-Z, a performance that will air June 25 on "Late Show With David Letterman." A performance of "Won't Back Down" with the Roots will air on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" the same night.
Other appearances, however, have been much less stealth. On May 12, Eminem and Jay-Z attended a baseball game in Detroit to announce that they'd play two joint stadium shows in their hometowns. The concerts, scheduled for early September, will be produced by Live Nation Entertainment. "They brought the idea to me and as soon as they mentioned Jay, I was good," Eminem says. "I'm always honored to work with Jay." Though Eminem is booked to perform at a series of European festivals in July and the Epicenter 2010 Festival in Fontana, Calif., in September, he's taking his time with planning a full-fledged tour.
"I'll do these shows and see how I feel afterward, then set up a couple more," Eminem says. "I've had to relearn to do shows sober, because there were so many years that I didn't know how to do it. Alcohol, Valium -- all these things were crutches for me so that I didn't have to feel anything when I went onstage. Everything right now is a step at a time, a day at a time."
Now that Eminem is signaling a new era in his music, it would be natural to wonder how this affects his business. But despite his respect for fellow rap icon Jay-Z, Eminem doesn't plan to follow in his entrepreneurial footsteps.
"I don't think he wants to be that kind of businessman," Rosenberg says. "I think he's really focused on the creative side. He's never been someone who's set out to have a bunch of different companies out there, sort of playing the system. He's just not that kind of guy."
The one project Eminem and Rosenberg are focused on is the rebuilding of their label, Shady Records. "What we mean by that is finding great new artists," Rosenberg says. "That's one of the things he is passionate about." Eminem has cited underground all-star group Slaughterhouse as his first planned signing, and he says more artists are on the table but not ready to be announced.
How Eminem's post-"Recovery" world evolves is unclear, but focusing on art over money is a plan that has yet to fail him on both ends. "Honestly, as long as people enjoy the music, that means the most to me," Eminem says with unabashed sincerity. "I could sell 80 million records in the first week, and if my peers or fans of real hip-hop didn't like it, it really wouldn't mean anything."
Channel 955 (Detroit) Interview
EM Honors Dre at ASCAP Ceremony
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Breaking Down Eminem’s Underwhelming Recovery Lyrics
First, a disclaimer: The only reason pointing out the lackluster lyrical punch on Eminem's new album Recovery feels like a worthwhile endeavor is because for over a decade, Eminem's lyrical punch was taken for granted. The guy's been laps ahead of everyone else for so long that seeing him come down to earth is as surprising as it is unsettling. That said — as more than a few criticshave pointed out, and as Vulture has to agree,Recovery is Eminem at his weakest lyrically. But how exactly is he underperforming? The five ways that Em misses the mark on his new album.
REFERENCES
Eminem's vitriol toward easy teen-pop targets has been criticized going back to The Marshall Mathers LP. Still, at least back then he knew who the teens were into.
"This ain't a song, this is a warning to Brooke / Hogan and David Cook / that the crook just took over, so book." ("On Fire")
Brooke Hogan. Yep.
METAPHORS/SIMILES
He's prone to gushy sentimentalism on the whole album, perhaps best summed up in this stunning string of clichés:
"I got a hole in my heart from some kind of emotional roller coaster / Somethin' I won't go on till you toyed with my emotions, so it's over / It's like an explosion every time I hold you, I wasn't joking when I told you / You take my breath away, you're a supernova." ("Space Bound")
Also, this:
"I shoot for the moon / But I'm too busy gazing at stars." ("Not Afraid")
PUNCHLINES
These are all meant to be clever. They are not.
"Listen, garden tool, don't make me introduce you to my power tool / You know the fucking drill." ("Won't Back Down")
"I'm an uncut slab of beef, laying on your kitchen floor / Other words, I'm off the meat rack." ("Won't Back Down")
"Need I remind you that I don't need the fucking swine flu / to be a sick pig." ("Won't Back Down")
"Stick my dick in a circle / but I'm not fucking around." ("Cold Wind Blows")
"You don’t get another chance / Life is no Nintendo game / But you lied again / Now you get to watch her leave out the window / Guess that’s why they call it window pane." ("Love the Way You Lie")
FLIRTATION
This bit of complaining is reserved just for the Recovery tracks "Seduction" and "So Bad." Why did Eminem decide, even for the ten minutes those songs make up, to try to be late-career LL Cool J?
"It's like we're playing lyrical tug of war with your ear / You hear it, girl, come here / Put your ear up to the speaker, dear, while I freak this / world premiere." ("Seduction")
This is Eminem! The same guy whose idea of a party song used to involve accidental mushroom overdoses and girls with daddy issues chugging Lysol!
MECHANICS
Most open to debate is Eminem's slipping technical ability. As we see it, Em used to drop chunks of intricately layered internal-rhyme lines at will — not necessarily the greatest example, but probably our favorite: "Raw dog, get your arm gnawed off / Drop the sawed off and beat you with the piece it was sawed off of," from Dr. Dre's "What's the Difference" — but almost every time he tries to pull out those old tricks on Recovery, it comes out flat and soft.
"Shit, dissin' me is just like pissin' off the Wizard of Oz / Wrap a lizard in gauze, beat you in the jaws with it / Grab the scissors and saws and / Cut out your livers, gizzards, and balls / Throw you in the middle of the ocean in the blizzard with jaws." ("On Fire")
"Coldhearted / from the day I Bogarted / the game my soul started / to rot, fellow / when I'm not even at my harshest / you can still get roasted cause Marshall is not mellow." ("No Love")
"Does a bird chirp, Lil Wayne slurps syrup till he burps / And smokes purp, does a word search / gets circles wrapped around him like / You do when I come through, I'd like you to remind yourself / Of what the fuck I can do when I'm on the mike." ("Won't Back Down")
Source:nymag
Eminem Set To Sell Over 600k First Week
Eminem Talks Ending Royce Beef & Future
EMINEM’S RECOVERY PROJECTED TO GO GOLD
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Eminem's Greatest Hits Reconsidered
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Jay-Z, Eminem Surprise NYC With Rooftop Concert
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Source: cbs13.com |
Epicenter 2010 confirms KISS, Eminem, Blink, Bush
Though Southern California used to sport a single day festival call Inland Invasion in the Inland Empire,Epicenter Festival is only in it’s second year and already it has doubled in length. That was one of the many announcements the Fontana, California event made via Southern California radio station KROQ.
As reported here, Epicenter 2010 will feature headliners KISS and Eminem on Saturday, September 25th, with Blink 182 and Rise Against featured on the 26th. Supporting the first day will be the reunited Bush, Papa Roach, B.O.B., The Knux, Travis Barker (I guess he is working both days?), and New Politics. Sunday will feature more of a punk influence, with Suicidal Tendencies and Bad Religion on the bill, not to mention 30 Seconds to Mars, A Day To Remember, and Black Pacific.
Though it seems many more will be added to accommodate two days of programming, the hipsters who find this to be a hardly relevant event will be happy to stay near the coast, where Muse w / Passion Pit, Band of Horses, and the Vampire Weekend at Hollywo0d Bowl are all going on at the same time. Hell, even nostalgic punks can go to The Music Box for Rancid. Los Angeles: there is something for everyone!
Finally, there is a venue change from last year’s event at the hardly-inland Pomona Fairplex. This year’s festivities go down at the Auto Club Speedway, home of NASCAR. Inland enough for you? If you thought last year’s Tool, Atmosphere, and Alice In Chains rock party was big, this place can hold 100,000 +. We’ll see how big they let it get, but the potential is huge..
Tickets go on sale Saturday, June 26th at 10am PST through Ticketmaster at $149.50 for both days and $79.50 for one day. There are also packages available with hotel and camping included that can run you up to $1,300.
TAGGED AS: 30 Seconds to Mars, B.o.B., Blink-182, Bush, Eminem, Epicenter Festival, Kiss, Rise Against, Suicidal Tendencies, Travis Barker
Source:consequenceofsound
Monday, June 21, 2010
Eminem's Recovery: A Track-By-Track Guide
Eminem returned from a five-year hiatus last year with the release ofRelapse, and, fortunately for fans, he's back again just a year later with his new offering, Recovery, which was released Monday (June 21).
The collection marks the first time the Detroit MC has broken free from his network of go-to collaborators, like Dr. Dre and the Shady Records camp, to work with outside talent such as Just Blaze, DJ Khalil, Jim Jonsin, Pink and Rihanna. The album continues Eminem's post-drug-dependency life as he narrates his experiences through sober eyes. Here, MTV News delivers the goods on the set:
1. "Cold Wind Blows"
Eminem reasserts his lyrical dominance on the opener, forcefully spitting his rhymes with the bravado of a young backpack MC and avoiding any kitschy humor or the accents that bogged down verses on his previous effort.
Illuminating Rhymes: "Drop the anvil, these are shoes that you can't fill/ Sh--, the day that happens the world will stop spinning and Michael J. Fox will come to a standstill."
2. "Talkin' 2 Myself" (featuring Kobe)
Em turns inward on this one. Instead of reveling in the details of his drug dependency, à la Relapse, he spins a tale about the psychological toll his demons caused.
Illuminating Rhymes: "I went away, I guess, and opened up some lanes/ But there was no one who even knew I was going through growing pains/ Hate was flowing through my veins/ On the verge of going insane/ I almost made a song dissing Lil Wayne."
3. "On Fire"
The Shady One takes it back to his 8 Mile days here: straight rhymes with a hook that's present by happenstance.
Illuminating Rhymes: "I just put a bullsh-- hook in between two long-ass verses/ If you mistook this for a song, look, this ain't a song it's a warning/ To Brooke Hogan and David Cook that the crook just took over, so book."
4. "Won't Back Down" (featuring Pink)
A defiant Eminem unleashes a battle-rhyme salvo to his detractors.
Illuminating Rhymes: "Listen, garden tool/ Don't make me introduce you to my power tool/ You know the f---ing drill/ How you douche bags feel?/ Knowing you're disposable, Summer's Eve, Massengill."
5. "W.T.P."
Marshall Mathers revisits his roots on this one, taking it back to backyard boogies in this ode to white-trash parties.
Illuminating Rhymes: "Pull out a fifth of Bacardi from out my underwear/ And walk around the party without a care, like a body without a head/ Looking like a zombie from 'Night of the Living Dead'/ And tomorrow probably still be too high to get out of bed."
6. "Going Through Changes"
On one of the heavier tracks on Recovery, Eminem turns confessional, touching on past suicidal thoughts, fears of failing to be a good father and his friends not being able to relate to the new Marshall Mathers.
Illuminating Rhymes: "Marshall, what happened that you/ Can't stop with these pills and you falling off with your skills/ And your own fans are laughing at you?"
7. "Not Afraid"
A departure from the usual lead cuts, Eminem eschews jabs at pop-culture icons and goofballing in favor of introspection.
Illuminating Rhymes: "To the fans, I never let you down again, I'm back/ I promise to never go back on that promise/ In fact, let's be honest/ That lastRelapse CD was 'ehh'/ Perhaps I ran them accents into the ground/ Relax, I ain't going to do that now."
8. "Seduction"
Slim Shady turns Don Juan as he lures the ladies with his lyrics over this woozy production.
Illuminating Rhymes: "She's sitting here getting liquored up at the bar/ She says it's quicker to count the things that ain't wrong with you than to count the things that are/ There's a seven-disc CD changer in her car/ And I'm in every single slot and you're not, aww."
9. "No Love" (featuring Lil Wayne)
Eminem and Wayne face off on this Just Blaze-produced number, on which the two trade verses and leave the track smoking hot, like one of Suge Knight's cigars.
Illuminating Rhymes: "Get these wack co------ers offstage/ Where's Kanye when you need him?"
10. "Space Bound"
Eminem is bitten by the love bug in this tale, but unfortunately the girl of his dreams isn't — which causes the rapper to take his own life if he can't have her.
Illuminating Rhymes: "Don't play games, it'll be dangerous/ If you f--- me over, 'cause if I get burnt, I'mma show ya/ What it's like to hurt, 'cause I've been treated like dirt before ya/ And love is evil, spell it backwards, I'll show ya."
11. "Cinderella Man"
He's the baddest MC at the (rap) ball, and with a clearer conscience, Em's not taking his talent for granted.
Illuminating Rhymes: "Who forms pyramids and rap circles around square lyricists/ Who? Here's a clue/ He came to the ball in his wife-beater, lost his Nike/ Now it's in your ass, he's in your ass, he's all up in your psyche too."
12. "25 to Life"
Eminem compares his career to a bad marriage, detailing how his devotion to hip-hop and the resulting fame left his life devoid of simple freedoms.
Illuminating Rhymes: "Look at how I dress, f---ing baggy sweats, go to work a mess/ Always in a rush to get back to you, I ain't heard you yet/ Not even once say you appreciate me, I deserve respect."
13. "So Bad"
Eminem boasts and brags here, revisiting his "Superman" days.
Illuminating Rhymes: "Same sh--, different toilet, oh you got a nice ass, darling/ Can't wait to get you into my Benz, take you for a spin/ What you mean we ain't f---ing, you take me for a friend?"
14. "Almost Famous"
Shady wags his fingers at those who want to trade places and fill his shoes, a heavy task, according to him.
Illuminating Rhymes: "I stuck my di-- in this game like a rapist, they call me Slim Roethlisberger/ I go berserker than a fed-up post-office worker/ A murker with a Mossberg, I'm pissed off, get murdered."
15. "Love the Way You Lie" (featuring Rihanna)
The Detroit rapper revisits old material — his love affair with ex-wife Kim — but this time, a sober, more mature Eminem places their relationship in the context of how they hurt each other.
Illuminating Rhymes: "Wait, where you going? I'm leaving you/ No, you ain't, come back/ We running right back/ Here we go again/ It's insane, 'cause when it's going good, it's going great/ I'm Superman, with the wind to his back/ She's Lois Lane/ But when it's bad, it's awful/ I feel so ashamed/ I snap, 'Who's that dude? I don't even know his name'/ I laid hands on her/ I'll never stoop so low again/ I guess I don't know my own strength."
16. "You're Never Over"
A dedication to Eminem's late best friend, D12 member Proof.
Illuminating Rhymes: "For you, I wanna write the sickest rhyme of my life/ So sick it'll blow up the mic, it'll put the dyna in mite."
17. "Untitled" (bonus track)
Shady's back on this one, as Eminem pushes the boundaries with his bawdy rhymes.
Illuminating Rhymes: "Shady, I don't understand your flow, understand my flow/ Bitch, I flow like Troy Polamalu's hair, boy/ Don't you dare try to follow or compare, boy."
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Source:MTV