"Medicine Ball" would be one of the most fire cuts on this record were it not for the stupid accent on the chorus, for example. That accent KEEPS popping up in songs like "Hello" and "Same Song and Dance", and it actually begs the question: why? What does this accent add to the album? It ruins the otherwise-honestly-decent flows, beats, and (occasionally) lyrics - most of the time, you won't be listening to these songs, you'll be listening to that racist voice he keeps insisting on. what's with the stupid accent? Why is Eminem so insistent upon this dumb new accent? Is this the new Slim Shady voice? Huh? And the exact same thing happens on "My Mom", this straight-up unfunny, kinda-Middle Eastern-meets-Indian accent ruining an already whiney chorus (and that's not even getting into the fact that we've already heard all this stuff before! We know that your Mom sucks, Marshall), as well as "Bagpipes From Baghdad", a song that was already outdated in 2009 because he went in on Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon with this ***, lyrics that don't only matter but are ruined by that accent that Eminem seemingly thinks is the funniest thing in the world. For example: "3 A.M." has some pretty tight bars and a fun beat, but. What a terrible idea!Ī lot of the songs on Relapse are ruined by one big, enormous problem that never stops popping up across the entire album. But instead of focusing on what worked about albums like The Eminem Show and The Marshall Mathers LP, it's like Eminem decided to hone in solely on songs like the goadwful seven-track stretch on Encore starting at "Puke" and ending with "Ass Like That" (which might some of the worst rap songs ever made), and dedicate an entire album around those kinds of songs.
Sometimes taking a break can be a good thing, but even with the passage of five years' time, Eminem's sixth studio album, Relapse, is somehow actually *worse* than Encore, his biggest dip in quality at the time.
Review Summary: Wait, it ain't funny, man, it's urgent, I need one.