Guess Who's Back, Back Again

I remember going to a record store after soccer practice one February day in 1999 (gulp, a decade ago) and picking up an album: the cover art depicted a car parked on a pier with a dead body hanging out of the trunk.  Also on this pier was the supposed killer who also happen to be the artist of the album.  It was some squirrelly, bleach-haired, white boy going by the moniker Eminem.  And the album:  The Slim Shady LP.  

I snagged it because I dug the hell out of the "My Name Is" song and the hype around the album was amazing.  Everyone knew the story by the time of it's release.  Poor white kid from Michigan.  Fucked up mom.  Fucked up girlfriend.  Meet up with Dr. Dre.  Made an album.  Slightly (or a lot) crazy. 

I was hooked from the beginning.  Every track I loved.  He was funny, a great rapper with a style all his own, and white.  Then he stayed right on top of his game and released The Marshall Mathers LP just a year later; and this time one hit on all cylinders.  It was loved by fans and critics alike (whereas The Slim Shady LP received mixed reviews).  To this day it still remains as arguably one of the greatest hip hop albums ever (I would put it top twenty).  Eminem had with the release of this album put himself into the discussion of the best lyricists ever.  And this rolled over into his next effort The Eminem Show.  While not on par with the previous release it was still an excellent album from start to finish.  

And I like to think of this album as his kind of swan song.  Because his next album, Encore, I prefer to act as though it wasn't even released.  That thing was awful.  There was no redeeming quality about it.  And I think Em knew this for he basically "retired" after releasing it.  He seems to put too much pressure on himself and this album was a failure.  And he realized it.

Enter five year hiatus.

Now he is back.  And on the 15th of this month he will be releasing Relapse.  And although the hype is there, it is nothing like it was five years ago (then again, nothing in music is like it was five years ago).  So about a month ago I decided to give him a second chance and watched a video for the first single entitled "We Made You."  I turned it on and watched/listened to it with a friend (a friend who I used to rap the entire Slim Shady LP with) and the consensus was:  it sucked.  He raps in that stupid Triumph dog voice ("Azz Like That") the whole time.  I could not overlook that so actually listening to the lyrics was a difficult task.

Then a few days ago he released another song.  And it is a gimmicky song of sorts with a video that I cannot imagine will be played on TV.  And I like this song.  Sure it's not groundbreaking in any lyrical or thematic sense but it's still pretty cool.  He has done this kind of thing before with "Mushrooms" or any of the songs in which Kim is killed.  He's just being offensive and the video is pretty (fucked up) cool.  The taste is definitely not for everyone but it gives me, an old fan, the tiniest bit of hope that he will redeem himself and make one more good album before he decides to go slightly crazy again and go unheard again for years (or forever).  

Welcome back Em.