Eminem Recovery Review

I’ll admit when I first saw the track list for Eminem’s latest Studio Released Album, Recovery, released June 21, 2010, I thought he was on drugs again with some of the names of his songs i.e. ‘Cinderella Man’, ‘Seduction’ and ‘So Bad’. Thought he was going all Chris Brown, Usher and Michael Jackson on me. With that said, I still I went and bought the album from FYE because I support artist who put their stuff out instead of buying bootlegs. Plus I’m a loyal fan and Eminem has been my favorite artist for 10 years now. I listened to the album like I do all new albums, from start to finish. I’ll admit it’s different. Not close to vintage crazy Eminem, it was a shocker, like watching an NBA basketball game where Kobe Bryant plays 48 minutes and doesn’t shoot one time CRAZY! It’s a very casual record for the casual listener. My overall take of it, I loved the CD. And it points to one of the reasons I love Eminem as an artist, he’s very versatile, one of the few mainstream artist that can literally do any type of rap.

Let’s take a swan dive into Recovery for a second. The first thing that popped out in my eyes when I saw the record was who he had featuring. First one was with Lil Wayne, their song ‘No Love’ is one of the best songs on this album. Lil Wayne does what Lil Wayne does, and he collabs really well in this album. The theme of the song is what I liked the most, and the voice going ‘No more’ and “No love” just brought flavor into the rap. The other feature songs, kind of disappointed me, especially the one with Rihanna, she is such a wonderful talent, and she has a beautiful voice, and she was just a hook singer in their song “Love the way you lie” Granted Eminem went hard with the lyrics, I still would’ve loved to hear Rihanna do her thing. Pissed me off like when the movie Eragon came out, it ended like Lord of the Rings, except, they didn’t bring out the sequels, freaky producer should be punched in the face rapidly by an angry Gorilla. Eminem could’ve gotten anyone to sing that part. Pink is the same way, although hers had some flavor to it. And the one with Kobe, (Not KOBE BRYANT YOU MEATHEAD!), Talkin to Myself, was a good song as well.

So far, one of my favorite songs so far from this album is strangely Cinderella Man. Yes, Cinderella man, at first I didn’t like the song, but the more I listen to the lyrics, it’s a damn good song. And that’s one thing with people who listen to Hip Hop today. All they listen for is the hook and the beat, but the lyrics are watered down. I’m a poet myself, so good lyrics get you high on my list. Drake’s album is hot. That is why Eminem’s Relapse album wasn’t as bad as people are trying to claim it is, when you actually listen to the lyrics, granted they were demonic, drug supported, and just crazy honestly. It was also extremely creative, and shows how talented he is. And really only he could do something like that and go Platinum, he’s calling it a Trash Album; I don’t think it was his worst album. If I had to rank his Albums it would be

1. The Eminem Show (6 out of 5 Stars)


2. The Marshall Mathers LP (5 out of 5 Stars)


3. Recovery (4.5 out of 5 Stars)


4. The Slim Shay LP (4 out of 5 Stars)


5. Relapse (4 out of 5 Stars)


6. Infinite (3 out of 5 Stars)


7. Encore (2.5 out of 5 Stars)

I say that The Eminem Show is his best because it’s his first album he produced on his own without too much help from Dr. Dre. Encore he was on drugs when he did it, and Relapse he was getting off of drugs (His words not mine). Infinite was his first album, The Marshall Mathers LP is a classic, but The Eminem Show showed all his talents wrapped into one album, ranging from ‘Cleaning out my Closet’ to ‘Till’ I collapse’ to ‘My Dad’s Gone Crazy’ Eminem get’s mad respect from me. This Recovery Album is third best so far. If you haven’t heard it yet, listen to it, and remember it’s not the same crazy Eminem, it’s a very casual, matured Eminem, and I believe because he’s went so hard on other albums, and featured on songs (Drop the World, Renegade, Impatiently Waiting, We aint goin no where [Game]) and killed those songs, we give Eminem this impossible threshold to pass. But for a complete album, with no skits, no funny songs, it’s a great album. Now he needs to go back, do half of this CD and combine it with half of Relapse with some Skits, and we’ll get another classic like The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show that showed his diversity and versatility, rapping seriously and having fun at the same time. If Eminem can get back to that, watch out Hip-Hop!

R.I.P. Proof! (I didn’t know you, but I loved your talent and you were an obvious influence to Eminem and co-founder of D12.)

Recovery (Track List)

1. “Cold Wind Blows”


2. “Talkin’ 2 Myself” Featuring Kobe (Not Bryant)


3. “On Fire”


4. “Won’t Back Down” Featuring Pink


5. “W.T.P.” aka White Trash Party


6. “Going Through Changes”


7. “Not Afraid”


8. “Seduction”


9. “No Love” Featuring Lil Wayne


10. “Space Bound”


11. “Cinderella Man”


12. “25 to Life”


13. “So Bad”


14. “Almost Famous”


15. “Love the Way You Lie” Featuring Rihanna


16. “You’re Never Over”


17. “Untitled” Hidden Track

Go buy the CD support Eminem who is a charitable artist. Stay tuned I’ll be ranking his top 25 songs in a future Blog! My next Blog coming soon! “Kobe Bryant” G.L.O.A.T.!