Has Eminem 'Recovered' With Latest Album?

Eminem has bid to justify his spot as the greatest selling rap artist of all-time with his new album Recovery. Officially released on April 29th in the USA, it has shot to number one across the globe. Now for the 3rd week in a row it has ranked #1 on the Billboard 200.

Eminem has sold over 80 million albums during his career. His success, in sales at least, even eclipses that of the late Tupac Shakur, who died age 25 in September 1996; and who is credited by many to be a founding father of modern rap – “every rapper who grew up in the Nineties owes something to Tupac" wrote 50 Cent.

But over the past five years, Eminem has seemed peripheral, spasmodically appearing as a ‘featuring’ member on Dre, 50 Cent and G-Unit singles, toting about drug-addiction and misogyny. At the start of this, his seventh album, Eminem admits he's faded and disappointed in recent times: "I just wanna thank everybody for bein' so patient, bearin' with me over these last couple of years while I figure this s**t out."

Within the album there lies the notion of redemption. Eminem persistently reminds us that he has changed, ‘This time around is different, the last two albums didn’t count: Encore I was on drugs, Relapse I was flushing them out/I’ve come to make it up to you now…’

Ironically, despite the focus on renewal, the album as a whole does little to suggest the new Slim Shady has changed from the old Slim Shady. No artist, nor indeed, no human, can fully recover from the tribulations that have plagued the troubled stars life.

For Eminem, his circumstances instil resilience, as well as a violent and emotive passion that is evoked in his lyrics. He is condemned for his language, his often vicious views, but ironically it is these criticisms that are in-fact his qualities. The greatest music comes from the heart.

Recovery is, and will continue to be a success as the lyrics represent Slim Shady in a way that he has not managed to replicate since the early 2000s. He is producing lyrics with meaning, emotion and clarity. Ultimately he sounds more confident and clearheaded than he has in years.

Eminem is no Lil’ Wayne, no Kanye West, no Tupac, but therein lies his greatness. In returning to the controversial and poignant rhyming of his early years, the brand of rapping that made him the greatest selling rap artist of all time; Eminem has recovered a potentially dwindling career.

What remains to be seen is whether this ‘Recovery’ can enter remission. We certainly hope so. ‘Remission’ sounds fitting for album #8.

Recommended Downloads: Not Afraid, Love the Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna), Cinderella Man

Rating: 4/5

By Josh Oware