No stranger to creating characters for his songs, this wasn’t the first time the rapper dabbled with the dark side, but Relapse found him working up something else altogether. Eminem’s accent is one of the more startling aspects of the album, and yet it’s integral to the character he was portraying. But the Bush-era was over, Total Request Live was ash and hip-hop’s stars were now the new pop icons that he previously took aim at.Īnd then there was the voice.

With “We Made You,” Em sought to recapture the antagonistic energy of 2002. On Relapse, this was more of a fake-out than ever. Released two months later, “We Made You” was a change of course, following what is perhaps the most long-standing Eminem tradition – the same one we’d seen on each of his solo releases, as well as D12 World: an early single (“My Name Is,” “The Real Slim Shady,” “Without Me,” “My Band,” “Just Lose It”) is poppier and wackier than a more serious and grounded follow-up (“Role Model,” “The Way I Am,” “Cleaning Out My Closet,” “How Come,” “Like Toy Soldiers”). A more complete version of the track followed a month later – as did confusion over whether the song was a promotional single, a 50 Cent single, an Eminem single, or some combination of the three. Rumors of Eminem’s return first began when an early version of “Crack A Bottle” leaked at the end of 2008. The rap world Eminem returned to was not the one he’d left behind. He missed an economic crash, Obama vs McCain, and the rise of social media. And then, for almost five years, Marshall Mathers disappeared. Curtain Call’s lead single, “When I’m Gone,” was Em’s most lyrical hit in ages, but the album’s other two previously unreleased songs, “Fack” and “Shake That,” were decidedly Encore-leaning.

Encore relapse recovery albums